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.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.
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In the life-giving rivers of the American Southwest, history runs deep. The Salt River winds through the heart of the desert, cradled by jagged mountains, burning gold at dawn, turning violet at night. Under a sky as wide as forever, and a sun that won't give up, it is a river that comes and goes. It floods, it dries, but it always returns.
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. Then new voices were heard along its banks. Spanish missionaries, planting wooden crosses along its way. Later came ranchers, then railroads, dreams demanding more and more water. Phoenix, Arizona
Welcome back to American History Hit. Glad you could join us. I'm Don Wildman. 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 on to become the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, even some of Wyoming.
The Rio Grande River was recognized as a major stretch of America's southern border with Mexico, and Mexican claims on parts of Texas were relinquished. Manifest destiny was essentially made manifest by the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty, which ended that war. The United States of America would now officially stretch from sea to shining sea.
This vast territorial annexation was obviously a boon to national pride and economic potential. It was now a realistic option for any American with horse and wagon to go further west and not just to Oregon. But this presented huge challenges as well, heightening divisive national issues having to do with enslavement, state and federal jurisdictions, and the rights of indigenous peoples.
No less complicated was the practical consideration of how these new regions would be settled, when so much of them were made of dreadfully arid lands and parched deserts. Somehow, someway, they would be settled, making a deep and continuing impact on American culture, altering the nation forever.
Journalist Kyle Paoletta has authored a brand new book on the subject entitled American Oasis, and tracks the historical, cultural, political, and economic impact of this dry, dusty, yet vibrantly populated realm we call the American Southwest. Hello, Kyle. Welcome to American History Hit. Thanks so much. Great to be with you. A vast subject matter to take on, the American Southwest.
But you grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, so this is a personal mission for you, I suppose. What prompted this book?
Yeah, I mean, I think part of it is very much having grown up in New Mexico and then lived and worked on the East Coast in New York and Boston for the better part of two decades. And what happens when you're from the Southwest and you spend a lot of time, especially in the people in the rest of the country know about the place you're from.
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