Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Embudo and the history of measuring water

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From this morning’s paper, a visit to Embudo, where stream U.S. stream flow measurement began:

In the world of U.S. water management, this narrow strip where the river funnels between high bluffs is historic.

Powell, most famous as the first person to survey the Grand Canyon, had realized that the ambitions of the continent’s European immigrants spreading west across North America were running up against an arid reality that Easterners failed to understand. Collective effort would be needed to confront the region’s aridity,

Powell realized, and one of the first things the young nation needed was to measure how much water there was in the rivers.

2 Comments

  1. John,

    Great article. I noticed that the USGS made note of this occasion a few days ago on the website. It should be noted that the acting Director of the USGS will never make it as a hydrographer. She was holding the Sontek Flowtracker all wrong.

    I’m also going to forward the article to the Flowtracker’s designer. I’m sure that he will get a kick out of that.

    dg

  2. DG – But she has my enduring admiration for wanting to get in the river and do it. She *really* wanted to do it.

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