Reclamation Act

Irrigation has been crucial to North Dakota’s development. On this date in 1907 it was announced that western governors would gather for the National Irrigation Congress in Sacramento, California. Governors of sixteen western states and territories under the National Reclamation Act were expected to attend. The Federal Government was engaged in many reclamation projects throughout the west, and the National Irrigation Congress was an opportunity for the governors to have input into those projects.

Theodore Roosevelt’s initial concern for the staggering dryness of the Western landscape was fostered by his Badlands experience. Water is naturally…