Roobar76 t1_j6g4tb9 wrote on January 30, 2023 at 2:15 AM

Reply to comment by Saint_D420 in Eli5....can you dig a well anywhere and hit water...and how did the early ranchers in the West know where to dig for water. Especially in the really dry areas? by pinkshrinkrn

There’s a bit of confirmation bias there. Rural areas developed where there was water and didn’t where there wasn’t. So where there is a long farming history there is generally surface or ground water, and the bits that ended up in national parks/reserves it’s either deeper or not there.

CyberneticPanda t1_j6gm8w7 wrote on January 30, 2023 at 4:19 AM

Not really true. In the 19th century people in Congress believe that" rain followed the plow" and God would bring rain to the west if people turned it into farms. They let people homestead places like Arizona and it went terribly for the homesteaders. Later they spent lots of money on water projects to bring water to the places that needed it. But by that time the holdings have been consolidated and the homesteaders who survived had sold their holdings for next to nothing.