Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-11-07

A measurement Of the waters of the
San Gabriel river at tho mouth of the
canon and at point about two miles up
the stream, reveals the astonishing fact
that half of the volume of water In the
river disappears between the upper and
lower measurements. being lost in the
vast mass of gravel and boulders which
lie in the bed of the stream. To save
this great waste of water the land own
ers Of the Azasa have started bold,
brave project Of lassoing the river in
its lair and carrying it bound in iron to
the rich land Of the valley instead Of
allowing II to waste among the rocks Of
the river bed.
About mile above the mouth Of the
canon tannsl is thrust into headland
on the east bank Of the river to be car
ried along till it shall come under ths
bed OF the stream at curve, where it is
supposed il will strike bed rock and the
great undernow of the river This tun-
mel is now about five hundred feet long,
and already has fifteen inches of water
flowing in il, and when it reaches the
gravel and boulders OF the channel 1t is
expected that at least two thousand
inches of water will flow into the tunnel.
The next great feature is the laying
Of mile Of a monster iron pipe, five
feet in diameter, from tho lower end Of
the tunnel to the mouth of the canon,
where it will discharge river Of water
into bitches or pipes. as may be desired.
This is the largest and grandest enter
prise yet commenced in Southern Cali.
fornia for utilizing the water supply and
puts to shame the niggardly method of
handling the water in this city for pur-
poses Of irrigation. II the few people of
the Azusa can afford to expend $3.50, 900
for saving and using their supply Of
water, aud the people cf Anaheim can
afford to expend 500, 600 for such pur-
pose, and the Chaffey Brothers can
spend 500, 900 on the water supply for
their colonies, what should the rich and
populous city Of Los Angeles expend to
secure and distribute tho water supply
for her citizenss
II is calculated that the saving Of this
volume Of water, which in summer is
sometimes entirely lost, will be worth
million dollars to the landowners OF the
San Gabriel vslley, while to Anaheim the
rlm OF a reservoir and pipe will add
about "a mach more to the value of
property in that vicinity. These are
groat projects for this part of the coun-
try, but this is day for great undertake
ings and achievements. The day for
two-penny plans OF public character
has passed.
To secure a great population water
supply must be the first thing to be OBJ
tanned, thea the people will c,me, and
come to stay; and MT by hnu,lreds bat
by thousands We trust that the good
people Of Anahein will 60 ioi ward in
their undertaking and that these two
great movement. will inspire the Mayor
and Council OF this city to 60 on with
the contemplated plan of increasing the
size of the reservoirs and of piping the
water throughout the city,
Artesian wells should also be sunk in
ths valleys in the west part OF the cor
poration and the water from them car
ried down to West Los Aogeles. There
is now more water wasted from q single
one Of our large zanjas than is used in
all Pasadena. The fume below reser-
voir No. 4 is constantly leaking at the
waste weir and no effort appears to be
made to stop it.
Now is the time for revolution in
these matters. Let new ideas take the
place Of old ones, and new methods
come into use. 1t is time to wake up,
and not let little settlements excel us in
these essential improvements. We can
now do all that is necessary to be done
to make our new system success Let
it be done speedily.