Together, California's Imperial and Coachella Valleys form one of the wonders of the New World. Stretching from the Mexican border to the outskirts of Los Angeles, the area is a lush, natural hothouse, larger than the state of Delaware and yielding as many as three crops a year ("You plant the seeds," a local saying goes, "and jump out of the way"). Within 50 years the valleys have been changed from sun-cracked desert (summer temperatures range from 100° F. to 120° F.) into one of the biggest irrigated regions on earth, and one of the richest. In this improbable...
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