Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1878-01-24

An inspection Was made of the
new water system yesterday by
Mayor MacDougall and number
of Councilman, including Mr.. G.
G. Lips, Mr.. J. E. Hollenbeck, Mr..
B. Cehn and Mr.. J. w. Potts. Capt.
KelIeher, the City Surveyor, seve-
raj of the contractors and repre-
sentative of the press accompanied
the party. From gentleman who
was along we learn that the in
spection embraced the lower SER
vice zanja, the water for which is
taken at about two hundred feet
above the railway bridge. The
zania is conducted through the
tunnel which Capt. Moore las been
engaged in driving for some time
past. All the water will be forced
to the surface here by submerged
piles, driven closely together.
The carriages were next driven
to the proposed East Los Angeles
reservoir, which is located in a
caf1on in the hills behind the old
residence of Mr.. Hancock M. John
ston, now the property and home
Of Mr.. A. B. Chapman. The ditch
which will convey water to this
reservoir crosses the Arroyo Seco.
The plan adopted was to conduct
it across the bed of this stream by
a sort ofsubmerged fiume. 1t was
found that the work here had been
so imperfectiy done-the fiume not
being sunk to the proper level of
the stream-that it had. been dis
placed. 1t will be necessary to re-
build it. This zanja runs, for a
distance of fourteen miles, to the
point at which the water taken out
on the Providencia ranch is divided
between the West and East side
bitches.
The starting point of the whole
water system is the Providsncia
ranch, about five miles above the
Feliz ranch. About a mile and
half below the Providencia ranch
the accumulated waters will
branch, portion going into the
fourteen mile ditch, which will ter
inmate in the reservoir at East Los
Angeles, as Indicated, and the rest
taking u course substantially that
of the old canal and reservoir
zanjs. This ditch will be about ten
miles long, making, altogether,
about twenty-four miles of zanj's
in our new system of city water
distribution. 1t is six feet wide at
the bottom, twelve feet wide at the
top, and the calculation is that the
stream which will be discharged
into the old reservoir of the Canal
and Reservoir Company will be
three feet deep. This, it is ex-
pected, will secure to the western,
u portion of the southern and the
northern portion of the city an
abundant supply of water. The
calculation is that, on the east side,
the water will be taken from the
reservoir in iron pipes. The dam
VI luO iC60l WI VI thC oio Oohoi
and Reservoir Company is being
raised some thirty feet, and it is
expected that some sixty acres will
be covered with the stored water.
All the bitches in their progress s
follow the natural configurati0n of
the country. They have as yet
stood no other test than the rains;
and, with this reservation, they
look serviceable. The system Is
certainly on a comprehensive and
mammoth scale. Should it work
as we'll in practice as in theory, it
will be worth far more than the
money which has been expended
on 1t.
1t is quite likely that the rela-
ton of the city to the Providencia
and Feliz ranches may become an
interesting one. The purchase of
those ranches, or, at least, of the
riparian rights of their proprietors,
may be one of the contingencies
of the future tor which our munic-
ipal financiers should prepare.