Go West: New Manifest Destiny Comes to the Desert

High & Dry surveys the legacy of human enterprise in the California desert. Together, writer/historian Christopher Langley and photographer Osceola Refetoff document human activity, past and present, in the context of future development.

The myth of cheap fast wealth still drives a rush to the West.

There is a wave of energy projects supported by government incentives, expanding housing developments, environmental impact reports to be written, the monitoring for federal and state business and natural resource regulations and much more. The land is still open for economic opportunity.

When Horace Greeley borrowed “Go West, young man, go West” from John B.L. Soule who used it first in 1851, Greeley was identifying one of the most pervasive myths associated with the American West. This legend carries many pseudonyms and alternate personalities like “the frontier myth,” “strike it rich” and even “Manifest Destiny.” They all say find your destiny and your fortune in the West.

Greeley went on to add: “Washington is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country.” This sentiment is heard in the comments of Western-looking populations still. Individual success was based on “honesty, thrift, self-reliance, industry, a cheerful whistle and an open manly face.”

Another cheerleader for entrepreneurialism and the achievable American dream was Horatio Alger, Jr. The Horatio Alger myth has been nicknamed “from rags to riches,” but more accurately it was to “middle class respectability.” Gold fever also contributed to the rush to the West that happened in 1849.

The faces going West now are new but something feels familiar. Engineers, land developers, construction workers, and moneymen are all migrating west to get the easy money. Easy money is seldom easy in the end. The target for the compulsion to find rapid wealth lies out there in the empty desert lands ripe for green energy development. They are often right next to the played out mining claims, which once seduced people to think wealth lay about the ground ready to be picked up.

This land rush is fueled by federal renewable energy incentive programs and get-rich-quick dreams. Solar projects could be seen as a new kind of landrush, as many utility-scale solar projects have been approved for public lands by the Department of the Interior.

There were no government subsidy programs when the Forty-niners set out for California. Extracting gold at the beginning took elbow grease but not much financial investment. The government's legacy in the desert is complex. Obama recently created a massive preservation project protecting 1.8 million acres in California's desert. Yet, on July 24, 2012 when the Obama administration announced their “roadmap” to spur renewable energy development in the country, especially on public lands, a major target became the California deserts. California has two-and-a-half times more acreage labeled for solar development than any other state. There are 154,000 acres of public lands in California that have been so designated. They were chosen because they avoided major environmental, cultural and other conflicts. More "variance” areas have also been selected. These lands are less appropriate for development, but can be used for solar construction. The federal government, however, offers fewer incentives in these areas. California has 750,000 acres of variance areas.

In 2012, The Los Angeles Times stated, “Some conservation groups fought to prevent approval of utility-scale projects in the region, contending that the desert -- home to scores of endangered plants and animals -- was not capable of absorbing industrial scale projects.” Reporter Julie Cart further commented, “Many of those (over 300 applications being process by the BLM) are for land in California’s Mojave desert, where counties have seen the cost of private land soar and the desert given over to thousands of mirrors.”

The various historic rushes to achieve fast easy money in California did enormous environmental damage to the land with the development of hydraulic extraction systems. Those projects in the past sometimes poisoned the streams and lakes and brought Native Americans into conflict with white settlers who wanted the land. The influx of the money into the economy perhaps jump-started California and had positive effects in the national and world economy. In the West, growth often comes with a cultural cost. 

Much work has been done by historians in the last 30 years, debunking our beloved myth of the West. This complex legend included the promise of personal freedom, economic advantages and a suggestion that personal problems would be solved easily there. Only about half of the people who worked in the West actually broke even or prospered. The rest lost money. There was great suffering and many families were separated or destroyed. Failed miners switched to agriculture, which created a wealth of new product for the California economy. One hundred years ago there were few real cowboy heroes. Today, most of the workers seeking their fortunes seem to be simply guys trying to make a living.

We know, generally speaking, green energy is good for our planet and points the way to a better future. But how do these projects continue the ideas of Manifest Destiny, the notion that the land is ours for the taking? The recent federal expansion of protected desert lands is a start. But is it too much to hope for a new legend for our children? 

To explore more High & Dry: dispatches from the land of little rain visit desertdispatches.com or the project's Facebook page. We welcome your questions and comments.