"Power and Control in the Imperial Valley" examines the evolution of irrigated farming in the Imperial-Mexicali Valley, an arid desert straddling the California Baja California border. Bisected by the international boundary line, the valley drew American investors determined to harness the nearby Colorado River to irrigate a million acres on both sides of the border. The conquest of the environment was a central theme in the history of the valley.
Colonization in the valley began with the construction of a sixty-mile aqueduct from the Colorado River in California through Mexico....