Chapter 13: The Empty Interior

This large area of sparse population stretches from the Rocky Mountains' eastern slopes west to the Sierra Nevada of California, the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, and the coast of British Columbia. . The population density is so low across this space; hence the name "The Empty Interior".  Most of the region is filled with plateaus rather than mountains. The Colorado Plateau is a beautiful example. Lake Havasu City, AZ definitely doesn't have anything this amazing.However, this plateau does run along the middle Colorado River in Utah and Arizona. I have been on the Colorado river and the only thing I remember about it is it was freezing, narrow, and choppy water! This plateau isn't event the biggest in the Empty Interior.

Nearly all of the area in the United States that can be classified as desert is found in the Empty Interior or in the Southwest borderlands.

Irrigated crops dominate agricultural production in the Empty Interior. Without irrigation, a stable agricultural economy would be impossible in this dry region. Today, Arizona depends on subsurface waters to supply several times as much water as the Gila-Salt River system. The pressures on a deficient water supply are growing more acute throughout the drier southern half of the Empty Interior.