friends and neighboring ranchers among our pioneers; and to William
Mulholland, Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

I am particularly indebted to C. K. Clarke, Assistant Manager and
Chief Engineer of the California Development Company, and to Allen
Kelly, whose knowledge, insight and observations as a journalist and
as a student of Reclamation in the Far West have been invaluable to
me.

To my friend, Mr. W. F. Holt, in appreciation of his life and of his
work in the Imperial Valley, this story is inscribed. H. B. W.

Tecolote Rancho, April 25, 1911.




"Give fools their gold, and knaves their power;
Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall,
Who sows a field, or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree, is more than all."




CONTENTS

I. INTO THE INFINITE LONG AGO

II. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OFFERING