While this story is not in any way a history of this part of the Colorado Desert now known as the Imperial Valley, nor a biography of anyone connected with this splendid achievement, I must in honesty admit that this work which in the past ten years has transformed a vast, desolate waste into a beautiful land of homes, cities, and farms, has been my inspiration.
       With much gratitude for their many helpful kindnesses, I acknowledge my indebtedness to H. T. Cory, F. C. Hermann, C. R. Rockwood, C. N. Perry, E. H. Gaines, Roy Kinkaid and the late George Sexsmith, engineers and surveyors identified with this reclamation work; to W. K. Bowker, Sidney McHarg, C. E. Paris, and many other business 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."

Acknowledgment
Chapter I. Into the Infinite Long Ago.
Chapter II. Jefferson Worth's Offering.
Chapter III. Miss Barbara Worth.
Chapter IV. You'd Better Make it Ninety.
Chapter V. What the Indian Told the Seer.
Chapter VI. The Standard of the West.
Chapter VII. Don't You Like My Desert, Mr. Holmes?
Chapter VIII. Why Willard Holmes Stayed.
Chapter IX. The Master Passion--"Good Business."
Chapter X. Barbara's Love for the Seer.
Chapter XI. Abe Lee Resigns.
Chapter XII. Signs of Conflict.
Chapter XIII. Barbara's Call to Her Friends.
Chapter XIV. Much Confusion and Happy Excitement.
Chapter XV. Barbara Comes into Her Own.
Chapter XVI. Jefferson Worth's Operations.
Chapter XVII. James Greenfield Seeks an Advantage.
Chapter XVIII. The Game Progresses.
Chapter XIX. Gathered at Barbara's Court.
Chapter XX. What the Stakes Revealed.
Chapter XXI. Pablo Brings News to Barbara.
Chapter XXII. Gathering of Ominous Forces.
Chapter XXIII. Exacting Royal Tribute.
Chapter XXIV. Jefferson Worth Goes for Help.
Chapter XXV. Willard Holmes on Trial.
Chapter XXVI. Held in Suspense.
Chapter XXVII. Abe Lee's Ride to Save Jefferson Worth.
Chapter XXVIII. What the Company Man Told the Mexicans.
Chapter XXIX. Tell Barbara I'm All Right.
Chapter XXX. Manana! Manana! To-morrow! To-morrow!
Chapter XXXI. Barbara's Waitin' Breakfast for You.
Chapter XXXII. Barbara Ministers to the Wounded.
Chapter XXXIII. Willard Holmes Receives His Answer.
Chapter XXXIV. Battling with the River.
Chapter XXXV. Nature and Human Nature
Chapter XXXVI. Out of the Hollow of God's Hand.
Chapter XXXVII. Back to the Old San Felipe Trail.
Chapter XXXVIII. The Heritage of Barbara Worth.