Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles
Page 29
The event was, of course, widely covered in Los Angeles newspapers, including the Times, November 6, 1913. Mulholland’s statement regarding his conviction that all would be forgiven once the waters arrived is from the Times, November 16, 1913.
Nadeau reports Mulholland’s comment on Mathews keeping him out of jail, page 44.
Shaw’s comments were carried by the Times in advance of the celebration, September 4, 1912.
A final summary of the aqueduct’s features is found in Osborne, “Completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct,” page 271, and in the “Complete Report,” page 263.
Dollar figures are from the Times, June 22, 1912, and the “Complete Report,” page 262.
The interview with Mulholland is by Alan Hughes, the Times, November 9, 1913.
20. IN THE SHADE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT
LADWP’s Fred Barker is the source of the actual date that Owens River water finally reached customer taps.
The collapse of the line in the Antelope Valley was reported by the Los Angeles Times on March 12, 1914, and in the “Complete Report,” page 21.
Mulholland’s departure for Berkeley was covered by the Times on May 12, 1914.
Mulholland’s testimony was recounted by the Times on January 30, 1915.
The three-dimensional map was reported on by the Times on July 4, 1915. The map and other details of his post-aqueduct activity may be found in Catherine Mulholland, WM&RLA, pages 256–259.
Discussion of post-aqueduct development is found in Tzeng, “Eastern Promises,” pages 49–50, and Ostrom, Water & Politics, pages 161–167.
A summary of annexation activities is found in Ostrom, page 161.
Discussion of the Colorado River Project is in Ostrom, pages 168–174.
Mulholland’s dealings with Eaton in regard to the Long Valley Reservoir are characterized in Nadeau, The Water Seekers, page 64, and Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, page 383.
The city’s machinations regarding the dam site in the Long Valley are described by Ostrom, page 120.
Eaton’s interview was published in the Riverside Daily Press on March 14, 1906.
Fred Eaton’s view of Mulholland’s motives was affirmed by Harold “Hal” Eaton in a 2014 interview.
The dig at the city’s expense is reported by Nadeau, page 71.
Nadeau’s is a stirring account of the contretemps at Big Pine, pages 73–74.
The San Francisco Call articles were widely reprinted and are summarized in Catherine Mulholland, WM&RLA, pages 286–287.
21. LET THE BOMBINGS BEGIN
News of the bombing was reported in Los Angeles papers, including the Times, on May 22, 1924.
The interview with Mulholland is from the Times, June 25, 1924.
The PSC report is detailed in the Times, August 2, 1924.
Hall’s adventures and Mulholland’s response were reported by the Times and later woven into Nadeau’s colorful account of the so-called Owens Valley Water Wars of the 1920s. Times, August 30 and 31, 1924; Nadeau, The Water Seekers, pages 77–82.
Details of the deteriorating situation in the Owens Valley are found in Ostrom, Water Politics, page 123, as well as a report in the Times on September 4, 1924.
A report of the meeting in the Valley is from the Times, September 6, 1924.
The counterproposals were reported on by the Times on November 17, 1924.
News accounts of the seizure of the Alabama Gates are from the Times, November 19 and 20, 1924.
The estimate of the amount of water turned out of the aqueduct by the protestors comes from LADWP’s Fred Barker, who bases the figures on seasonal averages and an examination of news photographs of the time.
McClure’s part is described by Ostrom, page 122.
A report on the pending resolution of the situation in the Owens Valley is from the Times, December 4, 1924.
The city’s land ownership figures are from Ostrom, page 123.
Coverage of the May bombing and Mulholland’s response was of particular interest to the Los Angeles papers, including the Times, May 13 and 15, 1926; and the Express, the Examiner, and the Evening News, all May 13, 1926.
Del Valle’s statements are taken from a story in the Times, April 24, 1927.
Mulholland’s comment was to a reporter for the Times, May 28, 1927.
Nadeau’s gripping account of the collapse of the Watterson banks is found on pages 110–114 of The Water Seekers.
22. FAILURE
Mulholland’s remarks on the Watterson banks were reported by the Los Angeles Times on August 7, 1927.
Detailed accounts of the completion and opening of the Mulholland Highway are found in the Times, October 19, 1924, and December 28, 1924. Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, created two versions of the Hollywood Bowl’s band shell, but neither survived. The current shell, described as combining the superior acoustics of the Wright designs with visual elements of the 1929 structure, was completed in 2004.
Muholland’s presentation on the Colorado was reported by the Times on March 1, 1928.
Storage capacity of the St. Francis Dam, along with other details, comes from Rogers, “A Man, a Dam and a Disaster,” pages 20–21.
Concerns with the dam’s height-to-base ratio as well as other design issues are detailed in Rogers, pages 27–32.
Details of the inspection trip are drawn from Mulholland’s testimony at the coroner’s hearing.
Mulholland’s quote is taken from Catherine Mulholland, “William Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam,” page 126.
Description of the route to the disaster is from the Times, March 14, 1928. Identification of Mulholland’s driver is from Catherine Mulholland, “William Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam,” pages 136–137.
Accounts of the disaster were widespread. Details here are taken in large part from the New York Times, March 14, 1928.
The Curtis and Rivera accounts are from McCarthy, “Water,” page 37.
The Orton letter is reproduced in Catherine Mulholland, “William Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam,” pages 128–129.
Statistics on family casualties, reparations paid, and the like are from the report of the Citizens Restoration Committee, July 15, 1929.
The pilot’s report is from the Times, March 14, 1928.
Relief efforts are described in Matson, William Mulholland, pages 56–57.
Reparations figures are from the Times, March 20, 1928, and from the report of the Citizens Committee.
The arrangement with the contractors’ association is reported by Matson, page 58.
Details of the investigations were reported by the Times, March 16, 1928.
Mulholland’s request for leave and its denial appear in the Times, March 20, 1928.
The quote from Lillian Darrow is in Catherine Mulholland, “William Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam,” page 130.
The “Kill Mulholland” sign is reported by Outland, Man-Made Disaster, page 58.
Mulholland’s initial appearance at the coroner’s inquiry was reported in the Times on March 22, 1928.
Mulholland’s “fasten the blame on me” statement was reported by the Times on March 28, 1928.
23. FORGET IT, JAKE. IT’S CHINATOWN
William Bodine Mulholland’s statement is from Catherine Mulholland’s WM&RLA, page 327.
George Bejar’s comments are from an interview conducted by Don Ray and William Thomas on April 20, 1980, and are included in Ray’s forthcoming collection of first-hand accounts of the dam collapse aftermath, Without Warning: Diary of a Disaster.
On exculpation of Mulholland, see Rogers, “A Man, a Dam, and a Disaster,” page 22 and passim.
The rejoinder to Rogers is from Jackson and Hundley, “Privilege and Responsibility: Wm. Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam Disaster.” See especially pages 44–47 and passim.
The honor from the AAE was noted in the Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1921.
Testing on Mulholland Dam was reported by the Times on June 5, 1928.
The
motel anecdote is found on pages 328–329 of Catherine Mulholland’s WM&RLA. Details of Mulholland’s passing are from Catherine Mulholland, WM&RLA, page 330, and Matson, William Mulholland, page 65.
The LADWP’s Fred Barker points out that there was also a Liberty Ship named after Mulholland, as well as a Mulholland Tank and Mulholland Pumping Station.
The author’s interview with Robert Towne took place on July 15, 2013.
The Times interview with Berry was published on October 30, 2013, presumably as part of the run-up to a celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Aqueduct’s Arrival in November 2013.
The anecdote regarding the LADWP official’s response to Chinatown is related in Hoffman, Vision or Villainy, page xiii.
Mulholland’s statement regarding the degree of his unfamiliarity with Otis is from his 1911 speech to the City Men’s Club cited earlier.
Speculation concerning the role of Moses Sherman in the exercise of the land syndicate options in the San Fernando Valley in 1905 is that of the author.
24. CITY OF ANGELS
The quotations on the power of historical allusion in Chinatown are from Scott, “Either You Bring the Water to L.A. or You Bring L.A. to the Water.”
Mulholland’s distaste for vacationing is oft cited. This instance is from Nadeau, The Water Seekers, page 123.
The final meeting between Fred Eaton and Mulholland is described by Nadeau, page 131.
The author’s interview with Harold “Hal” Eaton took place on April 5, 2014.
Mulholland’s statements to his daughter Rose regarding Eaton, along with other details regarding Eaton’s aspirations, are from Nadeau, pages 129–131.
The “little piety” quote is from McCarthy, “Water,” March 26, 1938, page 31, as is the “big Los Angeles” quote found later in this chapter.
Mulholland’s passing and the terms of his will were reported by the Times on July 26 and 30, 1935.
Figures concerning the city’s acquisitions in the Owens Valley are from Ostrom, Water & Politics, page 127.
The note on chili pepper farming in the Owens Valley was reported in the Times on May 16, 2009.
The statistics regarding contemporary farming in the Owens Valley are from Vorster, “The Development and Decline of Agriculture in the Owens Valley,” page 282.
The Lone Pine Highway 395 matter was reported on by the Times on May 19, 2009.
Catherine Mulholland’s recollections of her family’s furtive incursions into the Owens Valley are noted in WM&RLA, page 329.
The L.A. Weekly series by John Shannon was republished as “Fresh Meat for Bill Mulholland,” in Heritage.
The quotation from Libecap is to be found on page 7 of a concise version of his argument, “Chinatown.”
The mule team parade was featured, including a photo the likes of which Mulholland surely would have approved, by the Times on November 11, 2013.
The characterization of Mulholland Drive is in David Thomson, Beneath Mulholland, quoted by David L. Ulin, “There it Is. Take It,” page 3.
DWP figures are from an interview with DWP spokesman and engineer Fred Barker on March 19, 2014.
President Obama’s statements were reported by the Times on February 14, 2014.
Fred Eaton’s remarks are reported in the Riverside Daily Press, July 7, 1892.
Mulholland’s “Damn the non-reader” quote is from Prosser, “The Maker of Los Angeles,” page 44.
The letter to the brick maker is described in a letter from H. W. Keller to the editor of Pacific Saturday Night, November 27, 1937, page 5.
Spriggs details the interview and her encounter with Mulholland and the oak on pages 69–70 of her thesis, “The History of the Domestic Water Supply of Los Angeles.”
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
City of Los Angeles Aqueduct Investigation Board. “Report of the Aqueduct Investigation Board to the City Council of Los Angeles.” August 31, 1912.
Department of Public Works. “First Annual Report of the Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Aqueduct to the Board of Public Works.” March 15, 1907.
Los Angeles Board of Public Service Commissioners. “Complete Report on Construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.” Los Angeles: Department of Public Service, 1916.
. Annual Reports, 1917–1925.
Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners. Annual Reports, 1926, 1929.
Los Angeles, Citizens’ Restoration Committee. “Report on Death and Disability Claims, St. Francis Dam Disaster in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.” July 15, 1929.
Los Angeles County Coroner. “Transcript of Testimony and Verdict of the Coroner’s Jury in the Inquest over Victims of St. Francis Dam Disaster.” Book 26902. Los Angeles Country Archives. March 21, 1928.
Los Angeles Department of Public Works. Los Angeles Aqueduct. Annual Reports, 1907-1912.
BOOKS
Chalfant, W. A. The Story of Inyo. Rev. ed. Bishop, CA: 1933.
Darrow, Clarence. The Story of My Life. New York: Scribner’s, 1932.
Hoffman, Abraham. Vision or Villainy: Origins of the Owens Valley–Los Angeles Water Controversy. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1981.
Kahrl, William L. Water and Power: The Conflict Over Los Angeles’ Water Supply in the Owens Valley. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983.
LeConte, Joseph. Elements of Geology: A Text-Book for Colleges and for the General Reader. New York: D. Appleton, 1883.
Libecap, Gary. Owens Valley Revisited: A Reassessment of the West’s First Great Water Transfer. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007.
Matson, Robert William. William Mulholland: A Forgotten Forefather. Stockton, CA: Pacific Center for Western Studies, 1976.
Mayo, Morrow. Los Angeles. New York: Knopf, 1933.
McGroarty, John Steven. History of Los Angeles County. 3 vols. Chicago & New York: American Historical Society, 1923.
Mulholland, Catherine. William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.
Nadeau, Remi A. The Water Seekers. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1950.
Nordhoff, Charles. California: For Health, Pleasure, and Residence. A Book for Travelers and Settlers. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873.
Nunis, Doyce B., Jr., ed. The St. Francis Dam Disaster Revisited. Los Angeles: Historical Society of Los Angeles, 1995.
The 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century: Life Special Issue. New York: Time Inc. Magazine Company, 1990.
Ostrom, Vincent. Water & Politics: A Study of Water Policies and Administration in the Development of Los Angeles. Los Angeles: The Haynes Foundation, 1953.
Outland, Charles F. Man-Made Disaster: The Story of St. Francis Dam, Its Place in Southern California’s Water System, Its Failure and the Tragedy of March 12 and 13, 1928, in the Santa Clara River Valley. Rev. ed. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark, 1977.
Reisner, Marc. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. New York: Penguin, 1993.
Spilman, W. T. The Conspiracy: An Exposure of the Owens River Water and San Fernando Land Frauds. Los Angeles: The Alembic Club, 1912.
Standiford, Les. Last Train to Paradise. New York: Crown, 2002.
. Meet You in Hell. New York: Crown, 2005.
Steffens, Lincoln. The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens. New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1958.
Taylor, Raymond G. Men, Medicine & Water: The Building of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, 1908-1913. Edited by Doyce B. Nunis. Los Angeles: Friends of the LACMA Library and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 1982.
Thomson, David. Beneath Mulholland. New York: Knopf, 1997.
ARTICLES
“California’s Little Civil War.” The Literary Digest, December 6, 1924.
Cross, Frederick C. “My Days on the Jawbone.” Westways, May 1968, 3–8.
Hampton, Edgar Lloyd. “An Irishman Moves West.” Success, August 1923, 28–31.
. “The Failure of the Sand Canyon Pressure-Tunnel Siphon of the Los Angeles Aqueduct,” Engineering News-Record 69, no. 23 (July 15, 1913): 1198–1200.
“History of Drinking Water Treatment.” In Twenty-Five Years of the Safe Drinking Water Act: History and Trends. United States Environmental Protection Agency, February 2000.
Hoffman, Abraham. “Charles F. Outland, Local Historian.” In The St. Francis Dam Disaster Revisited, edited by Doyce B. Nunis Jr. Los Angeles: Historical Society of Southern California, 1995.
. “Joseph Barlow Lippincott and the Owens Valley Controversy: Time for Revision,” Southern California Quarterly 54, no. 3 (Fall 1972): 239–254.
. “The Los Angeles Aqueduct Investigation Board of 1912: A Reappraisal.” Southern California Quarterly 62, no. 4 (Winter 1980): 329–360.
Hurlbut, W. W. “The Man and the Engineer.” Western Construction News, April 25, 1926, 44.
Jackson, Donald C., and Norris Hundley, Jr. “Privilege and Responsibility: Wm. Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam Disaster.” California History 82, no. 3 (2004): 8–47.
Keller, H. W. “Letters.” Pacific Saturday Night, December 27, 1937, 5.
Libecap, Gary D. “Chinatown: Owens Valley and Western Water Reallocation; Getting the Record Straight and What It Means for Water Markets.” Texas Law Review 83, no. 7 (June 2005): 2055–2089.
Lippincott, J. B. “William Mulholland—Engineer, Pioneer, Raconteur: Part I, His Start in Life and His Service in the Los Angeles City Water Company.” Civil Engineering 2, no. 2 (February 1941): 105–107.
. “William Mulholland—Engineer, Pioneer, Raconteur: Part II, The Owens Valley Acqueduct and Later Work.” Civil Engineering 2, no. 3 (March 1941): 161–164.
“Management of Water Flowing through Pipes—Water Meters.” Scientific American 23 (1870): 279.
McCarthy, John Russell. “Water: The Story of Bill Mulholland.” Pacific Saturday Night, Chs. 1–15, October 30, 1937–March 26, 1938.
Moody, Charles Amadon. “Los Angeles and the Owens River.” Out West 23 (October, 1905): 421–442.