ABSTRACT
By the early twentieth century, the abuses of previous land-grant policies were well known, and Congress wanted to correct the mistakes of the past by opening up new land for settlers in the West. Irrigation was expected to allow the West to become a new Midwest, characterized by farms that were owned and operated by families. This transformation would be based on massive federal reclamation (irrigation) programs, which were authorized by the Reclamation Act of 1902.
