From Junky

"The Valley is like an honest dice table where the players do not have the vitality to influence the dice and they win or lose by pure chance. You never hear anyone say, "It had to happen that way," or when they do say it they are talking about death. an event that "had to happen that way" may be good or bad, but there it is, and you cannot regret it or rehash it. Since everything that happens in the Valley - except death - happens by chance, the inhabitants are always tampering with the past like the two-dollar bettor on the return train from the track: "I should have hung on to that hundred acres on the lower lift; I should have took up them oil leases; I should have planted cotton instead of tomatoes." A nasal whine goes up from the Valley, a vast muttering of banal regret and despair."

-From William S. Burroughs' Junky

Written a few paragraphs after Burroughs first describes the Valley as "America concentrated".

Interesting Tidbit: Burroughs original title for the novel was "Junk" - his publishers changed the title, against Burroughs' wishes, to "Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict".