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00253': the Nation's leader in the production of copper, and additional ore bodies are known to exist but are not yet developed. The area produces many other important minerals, including precious metals, metallic and nonmetallic commodities, and fossil fuels. The availability of materials for the production of cement has been an important influence in the development of this area. In recent years, iron and coal deposits have been developed, and steel production is an ever-increasing contribu- tion to the economy of the area. Extensive timber reserves exist in Arizona which are used for the production of lumber and for fibre for paper pulp. Millions of acres of potentially highly productive arable lands exist throughout the Pacific Southwest which have never been devel- oped because of the lack of an adequate water supply. Water, in fact, is the only major natural reSOurce deficiency of the area. The area's native fish and wildlife, probably as varied as any place in the Nation, are an important renewable natural reSOurce and range from peculiar desert animals to deer and beaver at the higher elevations, and provide hunting and fishing opportunities for the growing population. The moderate winter climate also is a valuable resourc€o Population Growth The population growth of the Pacific Southwest was long inhibited by the lack of water that would have insured human survival. Throug~out innumerable desert canyons of the Southwest region are found the ruins of earlier Indian cultures which date back to long before the Christian era. Other Indian tribes lived along the Colorado River and used flood overflow waters, as they occurred, to irrigate their crops. Along tpe coast of southern California, where water and forageable food could be obtained, the Spanish explorers found numerous tribes of Indians who apparently had existed in that area for many centuries. Coronado, Kino, Garces, Carson, Fremont, Kearny, and Powell are among those who found the way into the Southwest. The earlier ppanish explorers came northward out of Mexico on missions heavy with the influence of the churcho Later adventurers were in quest of furs or on military missions; but, whatever their purpose, they were all chal- lenged by the Indians and harsh natural environment of the area. These impediments largely held the line against population growth until gold was discovered in California in 1848. In 1849 and 1850, gold seekers rushed to California in numbers that the West had not seen before, During these 2 years some 250 vessels left the Eastern United States bound for San Francisco around the Horn, and overland caravans left from gathering points at Independence and' St. Joseph, Missouri, for the long trek through the western wilderness to the gold fields. It was this rush of people that opened the Pacific Southwest to immigration on more than an individual basis. 1-3