In 1806, American explorer Zebulon Pike looked out over the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains beyond and saw a desert – entirely inhospitable to American settlement – that would constrain the young nation’s growth to the boundaries of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Oh, what a difference two centuries can make.

Projects

Water

Water

Roaring. Burbling. Lapping. Still.

Crystal clear. Deep green. Bottomless blue. Murky red.

Free-flowing. Appropriated. Frozen. Impounded.

No matter what form it takes, water is a precious commodity in the arid U.S. West. From urban water supplies to popular recreational pastimes, the Center of the American West explores the complex issues that bubble up around this precious resource.