The Colorado (Rivers of America)

The vast Colorado River collects water from the highest Rocky Mountain peaks and traverses the widest plateaus, the deepest canyons, and the lowest deserts before emptying into the delta of northern Mexico. This austere land and mighty river resist exploration, settlement, and description. But in the hands of one of the West’s great writers, Frank Waters, the history and lore of its past make irresistible reading and a resounding case for mankind’s respect for the environment.

This book contains the following text related to Nikola Tesla:

Years before, when the Colorado River was being diverted for the first time into Imperial Valley, a young emigrant from Yugoslavia had come to Colorado. My own grandfather had known him well and had constructed for him an experimental shop in which to study the violent electrical storms and lightning discharges for which the region was famous. Nikola Tesla happened to be one of the world's great geniuses. Father of the alternating-current power system, of multiphase current transmission of high voltage, he ushered in the modern electrical power era of today. Through his discoveries Boulder Dam was to be built and paid for, and the Colorado River finally controlled.