New Mexican farmers rely on irrigation systems that have been in continuous use since the earliest Spanish settlers arrived. The way they run them goes back to Spain, with roots in the Spanish Moors’ beginnings in the ancient Near East.
The can-do spirit of 1950s technology produced many startling successes. But one of the era’s most heralded projects failed—for reasons that remain instructive.
Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.
