USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles County, California, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, residences, fine blocks and manufactories > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
CITY WATER.
Under Mexican rule, the Ayuntamiento claimed the right to all the water of the Los Angeles river, from its source until it left the city limits.
In 1854 an Act was passed by the Legislature, approved April 13th, explanatory of the city charter of 1850, and read- ing as follows :-
FECTION 1. The third section of the Act entitled " An Act to incor- porate the city of Los Angeles," approved April 4, 1850, shall be con- strued tu vest, and to have vested in the Mayor and Common Council of the said city the same power and control over the distribution of water for the purpose of irrigation or otherwise among the vineyards, planting grounds, and lands within the limits claimed by the ancient pueblo and Ayuntamiento de Los Angeles; and by the said Mayor and Common Council as the egidos or commons of said city, the posses- sion whercof is herchy declared to be in the said Mayor and Common Council.
In his annual message this year '1854), the Mayor recom- mended the appointment of an officer to have control of the city water, both for domestic and irrigating purposes. This officer was subsequently appointed and was known as a " Zun- jero." In this year, also, a company was formed to bore for artesian water at the foot of the bluffs, immediately in the rear of Fort street. The progress and failure of this under- taking have been before noticed in our general chapter in the water supply of the county.
We copy the following from the Los Angeles Stur of Feb- ruary 27, 1857 :-
LOS ANGELES WATER-WORKS.
The citizens of Los Angeles were pleased by the prompt action taken by the city authorities, upon the petition of llon. Wm. G. Dryden praying a certain water privilege from the corporation of the city of Los Angeles. The petitioner, being the owner of lands in the upper and northern part of the city, upon which are large springs of lasting water, the idea suggested itself of collecting this water and, if possible, by a force pump to raise the water thus col- lected tu a sufficient height to supply the city generally with pure drinking water. Thus originated the petition, which is annexed. together with ordinance founded thereon :-
WHEREAS, Wm. G. Dryden, having petitioned the Common Council of the city of Los Angeles for the right of way to carry all and any water that he may have on bis lands in the northern portion of the city over, under and through the streets, lands, alleys and roads within the cor- porate limits of this city: and, whereas, a special committee have examined said lands and water and recommend that said grant of the right of way to convey water as aforesaid should be made: aud the Council, after considering the same in session of 23d day of February, A. D. 1857, thereafter approved the same and resolved that an ordi- nance should be made in conformity therewith, as follows:
An ordinance, granting the right of way to W'm. G. Dryden to convey water over the lands of the corporation of the city of Los Angeles. The Mayor and Common Council of the city of Los Angeles do ordain ns follows:
SECTION 1. That the right of way is bereby granted to Wm. G. Dry- den, his heirs and assignees, to convey all and any water that may rise or can be collected upon his lands in the northern part of this city of Los Angeles, over. under and through the streets, lanes, alleys and roads of the city of Los Angeles; provided, however, that nothing in this grant shall in any manner interfere with the vested rights of any one.
SEC. 2 Tbat the further right and privilege is hereby granted to W'm. G. Dryden, his beirs and a>siguees, to erect aud place upon the main zanja of this city a water-wheel. to raise the water by machinery to supply this city with water; provided, however, that the free course in said zanja shall in uo manner be obstructed thereby.
MANUEL REQUENA, President Common Council.
Approved this 24tb day of February, A. D., 185 .. JOHN G. NICHOLS, Mayor.
I certify that the foregoing is n true copy of the original ordinance now ou file in the office under my charge as Clerk of the Common Council.
W. G. DRYDEN, Clerk.
July 31. 1855, we read in the Southern l'inegard :-
Petitions have been presented to the Common Comeil by citizens, soliciting permission to take water from the public zanja by wheels and hydranhe rams, for domestic purposes.
And again, December 24. 1858:
The Los Angeles Water-works company has been incorporated, with a capitul of ten thousand dollars, The abjeet of this company is to introduce water into that part of the city em the north-west, and aluwe the zanja. The water is to be taken from springs that rise on lands belonging to one of the corporators. The stock is divided into twenty shares of five hundred dollars cach. Fifteen shares ure already taken and the books are now upen at the Bella I'nion, the Montgomery, and, at the office of the company. Temple's building, ta receive sulerrip. tions for the remaining tive shares.
February 25, 1859. we are informed -
The shaft and all the cast-iron work of the water-wheel fur the can- atruction of the city waler-works come down on the Santa Cruz to day. Mechanics will proceed immediately to the construction and works. The coxl of the casting in San Francisco was four hundred and sixty- nine dollars.
In March, 1859, the Common Council of Los Angeles con- templated raising on the credit of the city two hundred than- sand dollars, at twelve per cent, for twenty years, to be used in bringing water from the Los Angeles river onto the plains south-west of the town, so as to bring them under cultivation. There was considerable opposition, but we find that in June following the Legislature authorized the borrowing of a sum not exceeding twa lumdred thousand dollars, to be used for the purpose of bringing water to the city for domestic purposes aml irrigation, for lighting the city, etc. The committee selected to inquire as to the best mode of bringing the water appointed Geo. W. Gift as Srerotary and Civil Engineer, to aversee the work
In 1861 we tind that four thousand dollars was raised for the purpose of bringing water into the city, and perfecting a sys- tem of water-works, yet all this labor must have gone l'or naught, for so late as 1863 (and according to Dr. Griffin 1866) citizens were but poorly supplied with water hauled in carts from the river.
August 25, 1864, we read-
The work of laying pipes to conduct pure water into Los Angeles is progressing.
And on November 5th of that year-
People are beginning to have the water brought into their houses from the pipes laid in the streets.
July 8, 1867, a number of citizens assembled and organized a company (capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; shares twenty- five dollars each) for the purpose of collecting into res- ervoirs the waste and surplus water of the river during the | winter season, so that it might be used in the summer for irri-
118
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
gation of those lands in andl adjoining the city, which were now comparatively worthless from the want of water.
November 1, 1867, we read in the News :-
The organization and incorporation of a water company in Los Ange- les has now been necomplished, and the company will commence their labors in a short time. The preliminary surveys have already been made. The water will be taken Trum the Los Angeles river, at a point about six miles above the city, and by a cut or tuopel. turned into a canyon running to some extent parallel with the valley of the Los Angeles river, and which debouches upon the plain some two or three miles from the city. The canyon is very deep and narrow near its ter- mination upon the plain; across this narrow point a strong dam ofstone and cement will be built, and the river being turned into the canyon during the rainy season, when the water is not required for irrigation, will form a tank six miles long, varying in width from fifty to three or four hundred yards, and having an average depth of fifty feet, afford- ing an abundance of water for irrigation of thousands of aeres of fine land lying to the south and west of the city.
Again we read muler dlate November 20th :-
THE Los ANGELES CANAL AND RESERVOIR COMPANY .- This Coin- pany is now organized, and nt a meeting of the trustees, on Saturday, November 17th, it was ordered that the books for subscription to the capital stock be opened immediately. The officers of the company are: Geo. Ilanson, President; J. W. Green Smith, Treasurer; J. J. Warner. Secretary. The capital stork of the company is two hundred thousand dollars. in shares of one hundred dollars each. Five per cent of the stock is payable at the time of subscription, and the balance when ordered by the Trustees, not to exceed, however, five per cent or five dollars on a share bi-monthly.
MARCH 23, 18GS-An ordinance granting certain lands to Los Angeles Canal and Reservoir Company, was approved by C. Aguilar Mayor.
FEBRUARY 1, 1868-At a meeting of the Common Council an ordinance was passed granting the City Water-works to John S. Grillin, Prudent Beaudry, and Solomon Lazard, the associates and assigns of J. L. Sainsevaine, for considerations in the ordinance expressed, the outlines of which are as fol- lows: The grantees to pay the city ten thousand dollars in installments of two thousand dollars per annum for five years, and to surrender to the city six thousand dollars in city war- rants, bearing ten per cent per annum interest, and other in- deldadness of the city to the amount of eight thousand dollars -making a total payment of twenty-four thousand dollars ; with the further conditions that the grantees lay twelve miles of iron pipes in the city; build acklitional reservoirs of sullivient capacity for twenty days' supply of water for domes- tie purposes; to construet a ditch around the base of the hills for the purpose of supplying the reservoirs with water; to place the hydrants at the street corners, to supply water in case of lire, and to build an ornamental fountain upon the publie plaza, at a cost of one thousand dollars, and to give bonds in the sum of fifty thousand dollars for the compliance with the conditions of the ordinance.
September 13th we read in the News :-
two thousand two hundred shares of one hundred dollars each. The Trustees are J. S. Griffin, J. G. Downey, P. Beaudry, S. Lazard, A. J. King. Eugene Myer and Charles Lafaon,
NOVEMBER 24th-The Los Angeles City Waterworks have com- menced cutting their canal from the Los Angeles river, six miles above the city.
The following very full description of this work is from the Los Angeles Daily News of January 12, 1869 :-
A few days ago we profited by an invitation to examine the recently constructed water-ditch and thunel of the Los Angeles City Water Company, and in company with one of the directors strolled three ut four miles up the ditch, which has a total length of six and a half miles, three of which are through solid sandstone. The tunnel is one hundred and eighty- two feet long, three and one-half feet wide and five feet high. The whole work is executed iu the most substantial manner and cost about fifteen thousand dollars. Along the ditch upon the bluff' is built a good foot path, which will be shaded in another year with trees planted on the edge of the ditch in such a manner as to strengthen the banks and afford ample shade for those who wish to air themselves on the splendid boulevarde de Beaudry, as it will be ealled after the very capable and energetic President of the company. who gave so much of his valuable time to the personal supervision of the work from the commencement to its completion.
The enterprise is the most important one yet carried out in this county, and one that our citizens may justly feel proud of, being, as it is, a public work, that at the end of thirty years will revert to the eity, with all the pipes, reservoirs, and paraphernalia of a great water- works, the revenue of which will be more than sufficient to support the city goverment. Less than one year ago, when the company proposed to pay the city a rental of one thousand five hundred dollars per annum, and make such improvements as would make the city a permanent and valuable water works, the proposition met with a strong opposition from many of our citizens. The promptness, however, with which a work of such magnitude was begun and completed, and the upward tendency given to real estate as confidence became established, completely disarmed all opposition, and the water-works is to-day a popular enterprise, the final completion of which will add in a few years millions to the wealth of the city. The works belong to the city corporation, and are rented to the present company, and instead of being fostered by the city government, the company were compelled to expend nearly ten thousand dollars for rights of way, sites for machinery and reservoirs, that the city would have supplied without any cost to the tax payers or the company, which it was the duty of the municipal government to do. By large expenditures of money, however, the company overcame all obstacles, and now have the work on the high road to successful completion. A large and permanent supply of pure spring water is now constantly filling their reservoirs. Twenty-five thousand feet of first class iron pipe have been shipped from Europe, and is expected to arrive here by the first of June, and before the end of the summer the municipal government of Los Angeles will be the owner of the best constructed water-works on the Pacific coast, which, instead of being an expense to the taxpayers, actually paid the interest upon one-third of the public debt during its con. struction, and which will at the expiration of the lease support the municipal government.
November 25th the same paper says :-
The Water Company of Los Angeles is exhibiting commendable energy in laying pipes to supply the wants of our citizens. Upwards of seven miles of pipe have beeu laid, and still the work goes on.
And again :--
DECEMBER 28TH-Since the purchase of the Spring Valley Water- works by the Los Angeles Water Company, and the consolidation of the two companies, there has been considerable demand for water stock, with a constant upward tendency. Shares beginning at fitty dollars per share are closing at sixty-five dollars.
Articles of incorporation of the Los Angeles City Water- works Com- By an Act approved April 2, 1870, the city was divided into pany have been filed in the Secretary of States' office, Sacramento. capital stock two buudred and twenty thousand dollars divided juto | three irrigating districts, and a Board of three Water Commis-
sioners were provided for, to be elected by actual irrigators of real estate within the city limits. Until the next ensuing municipal election, Manuel F. Coronel, José Wolfskill, and F. R. Toberman were appointed by the Act such commissioners. All the powers in regard to the control of water, formerly vested in the Mayor and Council, were transferred to this Board. In December, 1870, L. B. Martincz, J. J. Warner, and L. Bauchette were duly elected Water Commissioners. In 1872 (Act approved January 19th) the Act of 1870. creating the Board of Water Commissioners, was repealed, and the Mayor anıl Common Conneil were re-invested with all their former powers regarding the subject matter. These powers they have since retained, and still retain.
The following account of the water system on the hill lands west of the city is from the "Historical Sketch of Los Angeles County " before referred to ;-
In the year 1872 improvements were commenced in the hills west of Los Angeles City. These hills, although offering delightful sites for residences, from laek of water and difficulty of access, had not shared in the prosperity of the city, but had remained compara- tively valneless and neglected. To the energy and perseverance, more especially of two men, Mr. P. Beaudry and Mr. J. W. Potts, is dne the change that has taken place. Mr. Potts bas, since 1872. expended in grading, principally upon the lines of Temple and Second streets, upwards of thirty thousand dollars. Mr. Benudry has in like manner expended upwards of fifty thousand dollars. The work with which Mr. Beaudry's name has been more especially linked i- the furnishing of an abundant supply of water to these hill lands. Mr. Beandry has had excavated a large basin amid the springs lying along upper Alameda street, from which, with a sixty horse- power engine running a Hooker pump of the capacity of forty thousand gallons per hour, water is forced to an elevation of two hundred and forty feet, where it is received by two reservoirs with a storage capacity al' three million five hundred thousand gallons, and thence distributed through eleven miles of iron pipes over the tops of the bighest hills. These works have cost ninety-five thousand dollars.
The following editorials from the Los Angeles Express, bring the history of city water down to the present time.
January 27, 1878 :-
OUR WATER-WORKS.
At the Head of the Works-An Inspection of the Source of Supply-A Glance at the Improvement on the West Side-The New Supply Ditch and its Capacity-The Amount of Water Available in the Kiver -1 Cienega Thrown in-Inspecting the Line of the Wl'ork- How the New Dam at the Reservoir is Progressing-A Fine Lake in Prospect.
Mayor MacDougall and Councilmen Cobn, Potts, Hollenbeck, Lips, Jones and Mullally, yesterday morning proceeded in carriages to the head of the water improvements in the river for the purpose of mak. ing an juspection of the work doue on the west side. The head of the main supply ditch is located on the boundary line of the Feliz and Providencia Ranches, about ten miles from the City Hall. A pile dan has been thrown diagonally across the river. It is three hundred aud thirty feet in length, and the piles are driveu into the bed from sixteen to eighteeu feet. They are braced together by a borizontal clamp, which is fastened to the piles just below the sur- face of the bed. They are laid at about n distance of eight feet apart, and rise above the surface of the river some three feet. The dam can be made to turn the water into the ditch with very little lubor, and cannot be injured by a sudden flood, as the excess of water would escape between the piles in that event.
SOUTHERN
FEED & LIVERY
DW. FIELDS & COL
S. P. R. R.
NEWHALL
PORTION OF THE TOWN OF NEWHALL, LOS ANGELES CO., CAL, ON THE SAN FRANCISQUITO RANCHO, CONTAINING 48000 ACRES. LAID OUT IN OCTOBER, 1878. AND BUILT BY H. M. NEWHALL, OF SAN FRANCISCO.
119
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
THE WATER SUPPLY.
Engineer Kelleher, who was of the party, informed us that the maximum supply of water from the river, uvailahle at this point, is forty five cubic feet per second. The minimum supply available in summer from the same source will be thirty cubic feet per second. The supply ditch runs for two thousand feet through the lower end of a cienega, or a sort of submerged reservoir, which is fed from spring> in the hills. It is estimated that the percolations into the supply diteb from this cienega will be equal to a flow of twelve cubic feet per second. We presume, however, that this is very conjectural, although we have no doubt that quite an accession of water will be had from this source. The specifications for this ditch call for a canal six feet in width at the bottom, threr feet in depth from the surface ground on the lower side, and twelve feet in width measured across at the top. It runs through sand until it reaches a point on the side of the mountains aligning the river, where it enters several very rocky cuts. The engineer pointed out several places in the ditch where it fell short of the requirements of the specifications, Lat generally the work seemed to have been well done. There is one large sand-unuie erected at a point half-way between the dam and the division point of the east and west side ditches. This is intended to alford au cseape for the float sand which will be carried down the supply ditch. One will not, however, be sufficient, and others will probably be added.
THE DIVISION POINT.
At a point near the head of a foor-hundred-acre corn field on the Feliz Ranch the supply ditch dehouches iuto two ditches, one running to the east side of the river, and the other being the old canal aud reservoir ditch, which is first met at this point, The old Canal and Reservoir Company's ditch has been deepened and widened its entire length. Mr. Smith, the contractor of the enst side diteh, met us at this poim, and notified the members of the Conucil that he wanted the water run into his ditch so as to test its efficiency. The Councilmen told him they would do so as soon as possible. They have been unable to do this up to the present time on account of the failure of the contractors of the main supply ditch to turn on the water. Mr. Smith reported that his ditch, notwithstanding the mins. was iu exeel- lent condition, and that he had no fear of its efficiency. After discussing a sumptuous lunch, provided by the City Fathers, the comu- pany entered the carriages and drove as nearly
ALONG THE LINE OF THE DITCH
As possible toward the city. The work was inspected at several points to which attention was drawn by Zanjero Kennedy, who is familiar with every foot of it. As a general thing the ditch was found to be up to the requirements of the contract, and the work well done. After a very pleasant drive through the undulating hills which form the baek- ground to our city, and which were as benutiful as a picture, the grass spreuding over them in every direction like a vernal carpet, we arrived at the
MAIN RESERVOIR,
To the right of the extension of Temple street, about two miles from town. Here we found a large number of men at work raising the dam. Across the lower end of the reservoir a frame-work has been erected to a height of twenty feet above the present level of the dam. On this a track has been laid, and the men are engaged in entting dirt from the bill on the west side, and carrying it in cars to the dump forming the new dam. This dam will be raised fifteen feet above the level of the old dam. Just behind the face fronting the basin a wall of puddled clay is being carried up from the hard pan clear across the whole structure. This puddled clay will form a perfectly tight wall in the center of the dam, and secure the reservoir from leakage. The capacity of the reservoir will be seventy-nine million enbie feet, and it will cover a space equal to sixty acres. It will form a very sightly lake when fin- ished, and secure the western part of the eity in a certain supply of water for irrigation.
MARCH 7, 1879 :-
THE BROKEN RESERVOIR.
The breaking away of reservoir No. 4, of the city's irrigating sys- tem, which occurred yesterday, is Que of the greatest public misfor-
-
tunes which has ever happened to Los Angeles. In its possible ulti- mate results it may scarcely stop short of a calamity for a considerable portion of our citizens. But, although the mishap is great, it might have been far worse. Although the evil results to be apprehended are serious, they may possibly be averted. If, instead of breaking through a comparatively small hole and taking all day to run out, the immense volume of water stored in the reservoir. had forced the em- bankment to a general collapse, there would have been such a torrent through the foot-bills and into the valley as to -weep everything before it. Hundreds of lives might have been lost and thousands upon thou- sands of dollars worth of property destroyed. In this respect, then, we say the accident might have been worse by far. As it is, the immedi- nte damage may be summed up in a few thousand dollars. The repairs on the reservoir will not involve u serious outlay. Through the foot- hills there is slight damage except to Mr. Fott's nursery, which con- tained some tiftren or sixteen thousand young trees, and inany of these may be saved by cureful attention. In the valley below the injury by water was of such a diversified kind and so slight in most of the indiv- idnal cases that its aggregate will be difficult to arrive at accurately. Many cellars were Houiled and articles stored therein were damaged or destroyed. We heard of one gentleman who bad a quantity of barley stored in his eellar, which he regarded as a total loss. A number of the Chinese vegetable gardens in the western suburbs were entirely washed away. Fome young orchards suffered by the unimpeded How of water through them, trees here and there being washed out and others covered with drift. Altogether, so far as we can learn, the present damage is of a transient character, which a few months will serve to make good.
But we have more Tears of a possible dearth of water during the irri- gating season as a result of this great waste. Summer will soon be here, and with it the hot, dry weather. A large section of territory in the south-west part of the city bas heen dependent upon the Wooleu Mill reservoir and ditch for its irrigating facilities, Suddenly cut off from this supply and left withont recourse until another winter, the result would be the utter ruination of all the young orchards, the lost of crops, and the drying up of the whole section until it would scarcely be habitable. This we regard as the calamity which may come unless active steps are taken tuavert it. The Council should at once order such repairs to the broken dam as will fit it for containing a small anp- ply of water -- suy as mneb as the old Woolen Mill reservoir usually carried. To thoroughly overhaul the damu and put it in condition to sustain such a weight of water us has just gone through it is ont of the question for this season. With temporary repairs made as we suggest, the next thing should be to get as much water stored as will answer the summer's requirements for irrigation. To this end, every energy should be bent, and it may be accomplished by proper management.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.