Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-21
IRRIGATION.
Mai. E. w. Jones' Report to
the State Board of Trade.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY WATERS.
A Full and Interesting Account of
This Important Matter
Well Presented.

The following report on irrigation in
Los Angeles county, including Orange
county, was prepared by Major E. W.
Jones, President of the Los Angeles
Chamber of Commerce, and read by him
before the Committee Of the State Board
of Trade at a meeting in San Francisco
ON July IA, 1889:
The subject of irrigation in Los Ange-
les and Orange counties ia an extensive
and complicated one. The number OF
bitches runs up into the hundreds, and
that OF systems and sub-systems, COM
panies and associations, to several scores.
The length of the bitches, too, is many
hundreds of miles, irrigatng many
varieties of soil and crops. The area OF
actually irrigated lands in the counties it
is difficult to determine with close ac-
curacy. The report of the State En-
Rineer for 1SSS-Part 2-gives the acre
sge obtained by that officer, if l under
stand it, as about S5, 900 acres. But he
was unable to obtain the amount under
a number of systems and with many
small irrigators. Under some OF the
other systems, he has only the acreage
of 1885 or 1886, and he reports only three
lands which are irrigated throughout the
season. all this was owing to the failure
of the appropriation for the work. AL
lowing for these omissions as well as for
the extraordinary amount of new land
which, during the Fast season, has
been planted to fruit and other crops
recurring the use of water during the
dry season, we may estimate the actual
number of acres in los Angeles and
Orange counties, which will be more or
less irrigated in this season OF 1889, to be
in the vicinity of 100000.
The season just passed has been the
most remarkable in respect to tree
planting ever known in these counties.
Very early in the season all the local
nurseries we're depleted of their desira-
Bile trees, especially of the citrus class
and others that require more or less irri-
cation, The increase in Pomona and
vicinity alone has been somewhere in
the neighborhood of 5000 acres; in
Whittier and vicinity about 2 1000 acres,
and on the Santa Anita Rancho more
than 800 acres. There has been also
great quantity Of land which was sold
and resold, or cut up into lots during the
boom years, which has had its negle
orchards and vineyards restored and is
again cultivated ground. A large in
crease in other quarters is reported, and
there has been some falling of in few.
I have, in this matter, assumed that the
estimate desired is in regard to all land
city and country, to which water from
the irrigating streams is applied, either
for purposes of utility or beauty.
THE SOURCES
OF the irrigating water supply of these
counties are the rivers Los Angeles and
San Gabriel, in Los Angeles county, the
lower part of the Santa Ana, in Orange
county (the upper part being in San Ber-
nardino county,, many creeks and small
streams whose flow is of ehort duration,
springs and springy lands Called cien-
eeas), and many hundred artesian wells.
The rivers, except the Los Angeles, rise
in the high mountains, and are prac.
tically perennial. 1t is true their waters
disappear in the sands during most of
the dry season, soon after debouching
from the mountains, but they reappear
at intervals all the way to the sea, and
can be taken cut at almost any point
along their channels by simply running
bitches into them. The water supply in
the rivers alone is sufficient to iriigste
all the land of the counties to which
water could be advantageously applied,
if properly stored and distributed. The
volume of the streams in winter is enor.
nous, utterly beyond computation, and
but q small proportion OF it would need to
be saved for use in the dry season. The
average summer flow of the San
Gabriel river is about 10000 inches,
that of the Los Angeles river $3.50
inches, and that of the lower Santa Ana
river 1000 inches. This estimate is OF
surface flow only.
During the usual three months of the
irrigating season the water is all appro-
priated. 1t is not all utilized, however,
as much is wasted both by seepage and
evaporation in the open, porous earth
bitches in which it flows, and much is
allowed to run to waste. Two-tbirds is
lost. The streams whose waters rarely
show outside of the mouths OF their
gorges, except under the influence OF
considerable rainfall, are capable of
furnishing great quantity of water for
storage. In many instances they are
the only source Of supply for the higher
mesa and foothill lands, and are well
worth the expense of providing, for these
lands yield some of our fruits in the
greatest perfection, and they are un ques-
tionably our most healthful and delight
fdl dwelling-places.
A great deal of water is obtained from
the springs and springy lands of the
counties.
These lands are found all the way
from the mountains to the sea, but the
greater number of those used for irriga-
tion are situated in the higher plains or
at the base of the main range. The
most notable instances of these sources
of supply are the springs and marshy
lands of Pomona, on the east
ern border of Los Angeles county,
the springs of Santa Anita and San
Gabriel, the marsh lands OF the Rio
Honda and Paso de Bartolo near the
center, and those at the head Of the Los
Angeles river, on the San Fernando
plain, near the western line. They fur
nish many hundred inches of water and
are among the most reliable and valuable
OF our water rights.
The artesian wells of the two counties
afford a very large amount of water. Po-
mona orchards are largely supplied by
them 30 are those of Santa Anita and
the San Gabriel valley, while the lower
coast plain has hundreds Of such v ellis
irrigating fields of alfalfa, vegetables and
most articles of fruit. These wells have
an average bore of six inches, depth of
$50 feet, and flow of two inches. Not
more than one-third of them, however,
are flowing; that is about 1,500 in the
two counties