The West: Battle of the Colorado

What the Nile is to Egypt, the Colorado is to the Great American Desert. Without the waters of the mighty Colorado, fifth longest of U.S. rivers, prosperous cities and fertile farms would wither and be layered over with wind-blown sand. Long before white men invaded the desert, Indian tribes constructed elaborate canals to irrigate their fields with Colorado River water. Today, by way of a vast system of aqueducts, canals and tunnels, the Colorado quenches the megalopolitan thirst of Los Angeles and keeps a million acres of Southern California farm land green...