The boys made collages depicting their journeys through the desert: the snakes, the coyotes, the dirty river, the truck, and the train commonly referred to as "La Bestia" (The Beast) because of its many dangers.

CNN: Don't turn your back on these children

Yet unless the remitters became embroiled in a serious crime, often involving drug money, Western lawmakers largely ignored them, focusing instead on trying to dam the river of dirty money that flowed through traditional banking channels--chiefly through the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act, and later its amendments, which required banks to file reports of suspicious activity and high-dollar transactions, and to maintain information about account holders' identities.

FORBES: On The Cover/Top Stories

Those glorious inundations moved massive quantities of sediment through the Grand Canyon, wiping the slate dirty, and making a muddy mess of silt and muck that would make modern river rafters cringe.

ECONOMIST: Flooding the Grand Canyon