Imperial (239 page)

359. Romer. H.

360. Rothacker. B.

361. Rousseau. Q.

362. Ruiz. K.

363. Rulfo. N.

364. Ryan. H.

365. Salazar. K.

366.
The Salton Sea Atlas
. G.

367. Salton Sea Authority. B.

368. Salton Sea map (1986). B.

369. Salton Sea map (1990). B.

370. Salvator. O.

371. San Diego City and County Directory (1901). G.

372. San Diego City Directory (1950). G.

373. San Diego County Water Authority. J.

374. Sanders. K.

375. Savilla. M.

376. Scheuring. G.

377. Schwartz. Q.

378. Senate Committee on the Colorado River Basin (1925). F.

379. Sherman. O.

380. Shields Date Gardens. B.

381. Sinclair. H.

382. Sitton and Deverell. O.

383. Sloane. Q.

384. Smith. O.

385. Smythe. J.

386. Southern Orange County City Directory (1951). O.

387. Southern Pacific Imperial Valley Claim (1909). F.

388. Spencer Museum of Art. I.

389. Spier. M.

390. Stamps. O.

391. Steinbeck, novels and essays. P.

392. Stewart. H.

393. Stoddard, Nostrand and West. G.

394. Street (both books). K.

395. Strugatski and Strugatski. Q.

396. Swisher. H.

397. Taibo. H.

398. Taylor, Alexander S. H.

399. Taylor, Paul S.,
Mexican Labor III
and
IV
. K.

400. Taylor and Wallace. M.

401. Thoreau, several essays. Q.

402.
Time
. C.

403.
Time Agricultural Outlooks
. C.

404. Tirsch. N.

405. “Today’s IID.” B.

406. Torre and Wiegers. P.

407. Tout,
The First Thirty Years
. H.

408. Tout,
Silt
. P.

409. Tufte, all volumes. Q.

410. Tumco pamphlet. B.

411. University of California, Davis, pamphlets and papers. A.

412. USDA, various yearbooks, reports and statistics. F.

413. Utley. M.

414. Uys. K.

415. Van Dyke. G.

416. Veblen. Q.

417. Vollmann, Thomas and Tanis, recollections (2003). B.

418. Vollmann, William T. Q.

419. Von Werlhof. M.

420. Wagner. H.

421. Wagner and Blackstock. H.

422. Walker. M.

423. Walsh to Platoni e-mail. B.

424. Warne. (ICHSPM) A.

425. Wasserman. N.

426. Waters. J.

427. Watkins. H.

428. Weide and Barker. M.

429. Wells, all novels. Q.

430. White. Q.

431. Whitehead et al. J.

432. Wickson. G.

433. Wilsie. (ICHSPM). A.

434. Windsor Publications. B.

435. Wing. L.

436. Wolfe. Q.

437. Womack. N.

438. Woods and Poole Economics, Inc. G.

439. WPA. G.

440. Wray. G.

441. Wright. P.

442. Zarur and Lovell. N.

443. Zollinger-Peterson genealogical reports. B.

444. Zorita. N.

CREDITS

Previous Publication Information

“The Gardens of Paradise” originally appeared in
Gear
magazine in 1999, in a drastically abridged form.

A truncated version of the “Delineations” chapter appeared in the
Pacific Review
in 2002. I don’t recollect getting paid.

“The Water of Life” first appeared in
Outside
magazine in 2002, once again in a much shortened form. This version was reprinted in Houghton Mifflin’s
The Best American Travel Writing 2003.
A longer version appeared in 2004 in Larry McCaffery and Michael Hemmingson’s
Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader
(New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press), in which, by the way, I am incorrectly listed as an editor. The complete version now appears for the first time.

The portion of the “Bookscapes” chapter entitled “Steinbeck, Most American of Us All” was printed (or at least, fourteen hundred words of it was) in
L.A. Weekly
in 2002.

“The Chinese Tunnels” was abridged in
Harper’s
magazine in 2004.

“The
Maquiladoras
” was abridged in
Playboy
magazine in 2004 (but the issue was dated January 2005).

“The Prohibited Ballads” was abridged in
Black Book
magazine in 2005.

Black Book, Gear, Harper’s, Outside
and
Playboy
all paid substantial amounts of money to research the above very-expensive-to-write chapters. I am sincerely grateful to these periodicals.

Illustrations

Pages i-x: Background map, east boundary of the Colorado River Land Company, 1924: courtesy of Archivo Histórico del Municipio de Mexicali

Pages vi-vii, x: Background map, 1904 map of land grants along the Colorado River: courtesy of Archivo Histórico del Municipio de Mexicali

Page xxiv:
The Entity Called Imperial:
courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page xxv:
Closeup of Imperial:
courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page xxvi:
Persons and Places in Imperial:
courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page xxvii:
Rivers and Canals in Imperial:
courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 1: Salvation Mountain: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 35: Flyer concerning the disappearance of Serafín Ramírez Hernández: courtesy of William T. Vollmann via its makers, 1999

Page 84:
My New River Cruises:
courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 85,
top:
Jose Lopez on the New River, 2001;
bottom:
Ray Garnett on the New River, 2001: courtesy of Wil-1-liam T. Vollmann

Page 183: The informative glories of Tumco trailhead: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 275: Wilbur [
sic
] Clark’s ad: clipped from facsimile of old
Imperial Valley Press and Farmer,
courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 276: W. Clark’s ad: clipped from facsimile of old
Imperial Valley Press and Farmer,
courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 280: “An Ideal Home Farm,” 1927: California Local History Collection, CAL 45:13, Special Collections, University of California Library, Davis

Page 288: Tract 281 in 2005 (Signal Mountain in background): courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 311: Amenities of the Salton Sea: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 341: Irrigation ditch, Mexicali Valley, 2004: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 345: Painting on Mexican side of border wall, Colonia Chorizo: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 367: Bar facade, Mexicali: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 400: Rockwood’s telegram: The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Page 451: Chinese tunnel letters: collected by William T. Vollmann, Terrie Petree, and Yolanda Sánchez Dgás in 2003; now returned to their point of origin

Page 494: Bas-relief of Los Angeles’s progress: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 525: Everything a gal could need in El Centro: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 532: Cantaloupe graph: prepared for William T. Vollmann by Mr. Paul Foster, 2007

Page 541: Shuttered floor show one block south of the border: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Pages 552-53: “Imperial Irrigation District Water Transportation,” map, 1958: courtesy of the Imperial Irrigation District

Page 557: Los Angeles enthusiastically obeys legal mandate to environmentally mitigate Owens Lake, 2005: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 564: A limited-use visa for a Mexican national to visit the Northside, 2004: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 580: Circular regarding the sale of Colorado River Land Company plots: Archivo Histórico del Muncipio de Mexicali, Chata Angulo Collection

Page 598: Union flyer: The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Page 613: One of the Blythe intaglios: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 629: View of Imperial from commuter plane,
ca.
2003: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 654:
Riverside City Directory,
1951: Classified Buyer’s Guide section

Page 663: Pay stub of Javier Lupercio: purchased by William T. Vollmann in 2003

Page 701: “Do You Want a Home in Southern California”: ad run repeatedly in
Imperial Valley Press and Farmer,
1901-
ca.
1905

Page 705: The New River just north of the border; Jose Lopez and William T. Vollmann embarked on their little cruise at this spot: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 724: Page from a list of landholders and renters in Colonia Zacatecas, 1947: courtesy of Archivo Histórico del Municipio de Mexicali, Chata Angulo Collection, box 9, marked “34 Expedientes”; folder, “Aparición y Arrendamientos, Rentas a 31/47”

Pages 784-85: Tourist map of the Imperial Valley:
Imperial Valley Press

Page 811: Courtesy of U.S. Pipe and Foundry Company

Page 825: Mulholland’s aqueduct, San Fernando Valley,
ca.
2005: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 837: Francisco Cedeño sings “The City of Hawaii”: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 874: Metales y Derivados: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 891: Portion of Matsushita settlement document: obtained for William T. Vollmann by Adam Raskin from Jaime Cota, 2008

Page 909: Lourdes’s medical chart: furnished directly to William T. Vollmann by Lourdes, 2004

Page 912: Covert photo taken with disposable camera inside Kimstar
maquiladora,
Tijuana: furnished directly to William T. Vollmann by Kimstar worker, 2004

Page 913: Restroom in unnamed
maquiladora
in Mexicali: furnished directly to William T. Vollmann by worker

Page 934: Pacific Ocean, Imperial Beach, 2002: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 957: Message from the San Diego County Water Authority: clipped from
Imperial Valley Press,
courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 961: Stella Mendoza at the fateful IID meeting: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 968: “The Devil’s in the Details”:
Imperial Valley Press

Page 989: Abandoned clothing, probably of
pollos,
seen on U.S. side of All-American Canal: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 1005: Border stele, Mexicali: west side of Río Nuevo: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 1010: Unknown illegal immigrant’s grave at Holtville: courtesy of William T. Vollmann

Page 1021: Police report on missing wife: received by William T. Vollmann in 2005

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T
he ex-farmboy Mr. Paul Foster (to whom I dedicated my very first book) has crunched crop numbers especially for you. You can find his graphs in the notes. Please trust in his honesty and thoroughness. Paul, thank you so much for your friendship, kindness and patience.

Teresa McFarland applied her affectionate care to this manuscript, with particular attention to Spanish and Native American words. She read the entire draft on the computer. She also transcribed Dean Hutchinson’s none too legible handwritten notes from 1934. She shared many of my hopes and anxieties during the editing process. Her work was always accurate, her advice intelligent and kind. Teresa, thank you for being in my life. You are my perfect girl.

Terrie Petree was a brave, loyal and practical companion in Imperial for years. Thank you especially for marching boldly up to big tall thugs and asking them if I could take their photographs, for not complaining when a burglar wrecked your front passenger door in Mexicali—and complaining only a trifle when the dirt roads in the steep-hilled
colonias
of Tijuana took their toll on the underside of your car—for remaining unoffended when I requested that you confirm the discreet rectangularity of a digital vido receiver in my underpants, for wiring yourself up with that same DVR and becoming another of this book’s PIs, for trusting me with your safety so many times, for listening to my romantic problems and sharing yours, for admiring the grapefruits at Rancho Roa with me, for saving my wallet from policemen on the take, prowling the border wall at night and driving across the border even while suffering Montezuma’s Revenge. I love you, Terrie.

The following institutions were especially helpful: the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, the Blandford Reading Room at UC Davis, the California Department of Transportation in Sacramento (Deborah Dalton, the history librarian, was as sweet as a bushel of Coachella dates), the California State Archives in Sacramento, the California State Board of Equalization in Sacramento, the California History Room of the California State Library in Sacramento, the Cloud Museum in the Bard Subdistrict of Imperial Couunty (I got to deal with Mr. Cloud himself), the Imperial County Historical Society Pioneers Museum (whose archivist and director of operations, Lynn Housouer, was kind enough to trust me to handle as many of her photographs as I liked), various gracious employees of the Los Angeles Public Library (the unhelpful, overworked photo archivist excepted), the Motor Transport Museum in Campo, California (whose Carl Calvert helped me envision Wilber Clark’s very hypothetical automobile journey to Imperial in 1901), the California Department of Transportation.