Stretching from northern California to southern Alaska, the North Pacific Coast has little in common with the region's physiology. The region is home to several plateau's including the Snake River Plateau, and river systems, which, like Arizona's, are major resources in the production of hydroelectric power. Begun two years after the start of construction of the Hoover Dam and also under the autorization of Roosevelt, the Coulee Dam was built for the production of hydroelectric power and irrigation, impounding water from the Columbia River with a flow volume larger than the Mississippi River. It has become the largest electric-power producing facility in the US (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Coulee_Dam). The regions high precipitation and rugged topography provide the North Pacific Coast with a hydroelectric potential power unlike anywhere else in America. Forty percent of the US's potential is contained in Oregon and Washington alone (Regional Landscapes of the US and Canada [textbook])
Like Arizona, the region was home to a relatively large Native American population prior to European settlement. The Native Americans of the region were provided with a plentiful supply of deer, berries, roots, shellfish, and salmon. Unlike the Native Americans of Arizona and the rest of the southwestern and eastern regions of the United States, Native American tribes of the North Pacific Coast were unable to form an organized opposition because of each tribe's isolation. This led to their quick and quite disappearance. (http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/May/20080618212828eaifas5.130512e-02.html)
No comments:
Post a Comment