How to Survive the Desert: Cities of the Southwest

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

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Summary

How did cities grow in America's largest and hottest desert? How did the rivers of the South West shape its history? Don is joined by Kyle Paoletta, author of American Oasis, to explore the complex and diverse history of the American South West.

Edited by Aidan Lonergan, produced by Sophie Gee, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In the life-giving rivers of the American Southwest, history runs deep.
0:07.8	The Salt River winds through the heart of the desert, cradled by jagged mountains, burning gold at dawn, turning violet at night.
0:16.9	Under a sky as wide as forever, and a sun that won't give up, it is a river that comes and goes.
0:23.9	It floods, it dries, but it always returns.
0:27.6	For more than a thousand years, each time it came back, its waters were welcomed, coaxed through hand-dug irrigation canals, turning the desert green.
0:39.9	Then new voices were heard along its banks, Spanish missionaries, planting wooden crosses along its way. Later came ranchers,
0:47.3	then railroads, dreams demanding more and more water, and so the river was captured behind dams,
0:56.2	forced through concrete tunnels,
1:01.7	to quench the thirst of a new city risen from the desert. Phoenix, Arizona. Welcome back to American History Hit. Glad you could join us. I'm Don Wildman.
1:18.6	In 1848, after victory in the Mexican-American War, the United States grew its landmass by about a third, some 525,000 square miles, a gigantic geography that would go
1:33.1	on to become the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, even some of Wyoming.
1:41.2	The Rio Grande River was recognized as a major stretch of America's southern border with Mexico, and Mexican claims on parts of Wyoming. The Rio Grande River was recognized as a major stretch of America's southern
1:45.2	border with Mexico, and Mexican claims on parts of Texas were relinquished. Manifest destiny
1:51.1	was essentially made manifest by the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty, which ended that war. The United
1:57.5	States of America would now officially stretch from sea to shining sea.
2:02.2	This vast territorial annexation was obviously a boon to national pride and economic potential.
2:09.1	It was now a realistic option for any American with horse and wagon to go further west and not just to Oregon.
2:15.1	But this presented huge challenges as well, heightening divisive national
2:18.9	issues having to do with enslavement, state and federal jurisdictions, and the rights of indigenous
2:23.5	peoples. No less complicated was the practical consideration of how these new regions would be settled,
2:29.6	when so much of them were made of dreadfully arid lands and parched desert.
2:40.1	Somehow, some way, they would be settled, making a deep and continuing impact on American culture,
	...

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