One of the themes in my novel EQUILIBRIUM (see https://www.tomburnsbooks.com/) is how we, i.e. humans, have changed our environment by the power of technology and our ability to creatively apply it to solve a problem. I suppose we have always worked to build tools and systems to make our lives better or to improve our standard of living. I guess this goes all the way back to our cave-dwelling ancestors who shaped rocks so that they could be used for hunting or preparing food. Heck, I have been to a few restaurants where I am almost certain they still cook that way!Which brings me to this month’s topic. Who the heck is Charles Rockwood and why do we care?I just finished a book on the history of the Hoover Dam called Colossus written by Michael Hiltzik (2010). Being an engineer, I always knew a good deal about Hoover Dam and even toured it back in the mid-1990s at a time where you could walk through the actual dam itself (today these areas are closed off because of possible terrorism). The book was very good but the best part to me was the story of the early proponents of using the Colorado River -- a dream that would eventually result in the Hoover Dam.  Enter Charles Rockwood, who showed the determination that is needed to start putting big dreams in motion. Rockwood was an irrigation engineer who was chief engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad but he had other dreams as well. In the 1890’s, he had a vision to use water from the untamed Colorado River in order to irrigate a desert wilderness in California and this became his life’s passion. He believed that reliable water in Southern California could turn a desert into a booming paradise. He surveyed the land and found out that the Colorado could be re-routed through Mexico and then flow north into Southern California but of course this would require a massive canal and flood control project - which was actually opened in 1901. For a while, Rockwood’s company sold water rights to landowners and the area’s population began to swell. Still, financial problems and constant dredging of silt deposited from the Colorado into his canal put his company in precarious circumstances. A series of catastrophic floods in 1906 threatened every town along Rockwood’s canal hand caused serious damage all along its route - wiping many towns off the map. The Colorado River could not be tamed by his canal, nor by any canal – this technology was not the solution.Rockwood's dream ended in failure but almost three decades later, the Colorado River was tamed. Rockwood’s vision of Southern California (and other states) having the water and electricity for growth was realized through the technology of the massive Hoover Dam. A small footnote to end with - the California desert served by Rockwood’s canal is known as the Imperial Valley.  A desert turned into an agricultural power, this one region produces many things – totaling about $6 billion in economic impact annually.