Southwestern States (2nd Ed.)

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] the southwestern region of the united states texas oklahoma new mexico and arizona is sometimes regarded as a great empire new mexico and arizona alone span the broad rocky mountain plateau a high-level plane marks the plateau's eastern boundary and mountains thrust their jagged peaks into its northerns rainfall is heaviest toward the east where many streams begin threading their way down through the fertile farmlands of oklahoma and texas to the mississippi basin and the gulf of mexico on the western side the slow rise of the plateau has forced the colorado river to dig its bed a mile deep in the grand canyon as it flows toward the gulf of lower california the great dry plateau is dotted with picturesque stretches of desert lofty mountains come down from the north there are volcanic cinder cones which seem to have ceased activity only recently the plateau is a country of mountain plain and canyon the grand canyon of the colorado attracts thousands of tourists annually as well as geologists who come to read the history of the earth in its exposed rock strata other plateau lands contain a wealth of lure for tourists a wealth of speculation on cultures of a bygone age for ages indians have found this plateau a good place to live the spanish fortune hunters in their earliest 16th century explorations came upon ancient cultures here a result of intermarriage spanish blood mixed with that of native indian continues to this day in many people of the southwest both spanish and english are official languages in new mexico prehistoric irrigation systems are reflected in giant modern projects in the rio grande and gila river basins crops include most of the country's long staple cotton more important on the plateau however are the cattle ranches introduced by the spaniards these influence life even today in this region in the vast dry table land our huge cattle ranges stocked with thousands of highly bred beef cattle and of late years thousands of dairy cattle there are sheep ranges with millions of sheep many herds owned or cared for by mexicans or by indians such as the navajos new mexico has ranked among leading sheep grazing regions since the time of spanish occupation sheep production of the eastern portion of the plateau including portions of texas and oklahoma exceeds even that of arizona and new mexico the southwest texas sub-region leads the nation in production of mohair the wool of angora goats texas oklahoma and other plain states are developing vast turkey ranches the spaniards overlooked arizona's copper today hermines produced nearly one half of the nation's copper in addition arizona has some gold and silver zinc and lead billions of tons of coal of this sub-region underlie indian reservations hence cannot be developed at present new mexico is coming to the fore as a producer of petroleum and also produces some copper silver gold and coal the vast state of texas and her sister state oklahoma to the north are the more fertile portion of the southwest where rainfall is heavier this region likewise was crossed and re-crossed by early spanish explorers later americans who had gradually settled in eastern texas struck for liberty at the alamo and at san jacinto and texas became a republic which joined the union in 1845 to the north lay oklahoma land of the red men once hunting ground of wandering plains tribes the kiowas pawnees apaches who followed the great buffalo herds on the great plain later refuge for creeks cherokees chickasaws choctaws and seminoles who were driven from their homes to the east oklahoma became the principal indian territory today it includes remnants of 88 tribes in its 120 000 of indian ancestry today nearly 9 million of the southwest's 11 million people live in the fertile region of the eastern plains and gulf coast although there are still many large sheep and cattle ranches in texas and oklahoma this area is closely related in agriculture to the southeastern united states texas and oklahoma raising about one-third of the nation's cotton of this texas rich central and northern farm belt produces three million bales of cotton in an average year it is in cotton that texas one million negro population find much of their work along with louisiana and arkansas southeast texas irrigated lands produce millions of bushels of rice yearly while in another irrigated district the lower rio grande valley is one of the nation's richest year-round truck gardening areas as well as vast level grapefruit orchards the northwestern part of the region is in the winter wheat belt oklahoma stands high among the states in production of winter wheat corn farmers reap fine harvests in large valley areas nearby and oklahoma's cotton belt produces nearly half a million bales per year in eastern oklahoma coal fields bituminous coal miners aid in mineral production to help establish it as fourth among the states in total annual value of all minerals huge piles of chat mark the location of zinc production of northeastern oklahoma production which gives it high rank among states in this metal and sixth in production of lead usually found with or near zinc deposits but above all the diversity and value of other minerals and farm crops the southwestern region stands supreme in petroleum production the huge oil fields of the southwest are part of a vast basin extending into louisiana on the east into kansas on the north and new mexico on the west in a recent year texas alone produced almost one-fourth of the total world supply of petroleum for years oil much of it on indian lands has been the backbone of oklahoma's wealth today modern oil derrick forests have encroached upon the very capital in oklahoma city much of the mid-continent petroleum is piped to the texas gulf coast in and near port arthur which boasts the largest petroleum refining center in the world from such texas gulf ports as beaumont port arthur houston texas city galveston and corpus christi go a variety of products to the eastern seaboard to europe to south america thus the southwest supplies raw materials petroleum cotton grain fruits vegetables cattle and sheep it receives manufactured goods clothing tools a host of small products from the northeast autos and farm machinery from the middle states farm products from the northwest tobacco and textiles from the southeast lumber seafoods fruits and motion pictures from the far west there are ten cities in the southwest of over one hundred thousand population they and their smaller sister cities are mostly trade and jobbing centers in a region that has had the greatest population increase ratio in recent years cities of the southwest are typically new and clean fueled largely by natural gas cities largely without smoke and so a vigorous modern culture replaces that of a bygone age in the southwest the wastes of straggling native growth become vast irrigated citrus farms across the sunlit plateau to the west echoing back from canyon walls that long have shielded a dead past comes the surge of modern life the far-flung activities of modern agriculture the exploitation of resources by modern industry the rising crescendo of the quest of a continent [Music] you