Los Angeles herald., 1891-11-23
AT PHELAN'S CAMP.
SAN ANTONIO CANYON BEING PRAC-
TICALLY SPOILED.
It's Pretty Stream to Furnish Electric
Light and Power for the San Gabriel
valley-A Big Enterprise Well Under
Wau
special correspondence to the Herald. /

Special correspondence to the Herald.I
PHELAN's CANT. San Antonio canon,
November 19.-The new electric light
and power company which was recently
organized in Pomona, and about whose
enterprises so much has appeared in the
press of Southern California, is busy at
this spot spelling one of the prettiest
mountain waterfalls it has ever been the
good fortune of man to look upon.
Thousands OF people for decades past
have made the pilgrimage up the rocky
cafion to see the San Antonio falls, which
have been the chief attraction of this
rare region, and which will soon be as
commonplace as a limestone quarry. 1t
is the intention of the company to take
the water from the stream half mile
above the falls, carry it through the
"Hog's back" 1900 feet, by means of a
tunnel, and then, after obtaining an
additional altitude above the bed of the
stream by means of fumes, to drop the
water upon powerful water wheels
and generate thousands of horse
power in the shape Of electric
ity, which will be conducted over
the entire valley from San Bernar-
dino and Riverside to Monrovia, Alham-
bra and San Gabriel III the promoters
of this scheme have figured it out right
the limit is abolished as regards what
they can do with their electrical force,
and they calculate to run railroads and
sell power for all purposes imaginable.
There seems to be no reason why the
plan should not turn out successfully,
and the only obstacle 80 far encountered
has been financial one which is fast
melting away before convincing argu-
ment. When you come to think OF vt,
what an amount of water power is 60
ing to waste in our mountain caflons
The fall is generally very great, and why
should anything prevent the erection OF
not only one, but a series OF mill
races" such az this will be, all the way
from the head of the stream to the foot
hills?
This San Antonio Canon company was
the first in this section to see the feasi-
bility of saving this vast amount Of
wasted power, and is now actively at
work on the tunnel through the "Hog's-
back" which will carry the water from
the other side OF the divide around the
falls. This tunnel will be by 8 feet
and 1900 feet long-not by any means q
small undertaking. The "Hog,s-
back" is an immense pile OF
boulders which has at some
far back prehistoric time slid off Of San
NAntonio mountain, alias "Old Baldy,"
and almost entirely blocked up the
cafion. It is composed wholly OF loose
rock and is the most unfinished piece OF
the earth mans eyes ever rested upon.
1t looks as though Mother Nature had
piled up her raw material here while
building this section of the country and
had forgotten to remove the debris. The
rocks are all Titanic pebbles, will aver
age several tons in weight and lie 80
loosely that the hill is scanned with
cracks and spaces. To build tunnel
through such ground y therefore no
easy task. A Loe Angeles contractor
E. F. Phelan-who has had considerable
experience in this sort of thing, under
took the contract and now has some
twenty men at work day and night. The
work has to be handled with extreme
care, and the tunnel as it advances is
braced and secured with the strongest
timbers. This is rendered necessary by
the character of the ground through
which the work is being done, for if one
of those huge boulders above should
give way ever so little the result would
be disastrous to the miners below.
| Phelan's camp, where this is written.
is one of the most picturesque spots one
could find in long search. Several
years ago the cafion below here, as far
as Spring Hill, and a side issue, known
as Stoddard's caiion, used to be fire.
quented great deal in the summer
time by campers and picnics, In the
| floods of last winter, however, the tor
rent which came down the cafion was so
all-powerful that it carried everything
before it, and the road went out of
sight. Huge rocks were carried down
| in the stream and out into the valley,
| immense trees became jammed cross
wise and formed the nucleus OF dams,
| which, bursting, aided in the general
destruction, and when the waters finally
| subsidized the oldest inhabitant didn't
know the place.
Since then access to the falls and the
"Hog's- back" has been impossible ex-
cept by burro.
When work on the tunnel was COM
menced the first thing Contractor
Phelan did was to build good wagon
road from the mouth OF the canon to
"White House" camp, about five miles,
This road is the best that was ever
built in the cafion and will be of ines
timable service not only to the company
but to campers and pleasure-seekers fol
seasons to come. twas peculiar under
taking to build it, as anyone who knows
the character Of this region can testify
As soon as the road was in place tents
provisions, blankets and tools were
brought up and the miners began theil
work.
1t is estimated that the 1st OF Apri
next will see the completion of the tun
mel, which is the first step in the enter
prise. By that time the water-wheei'
and electrical machinery vii
be on the ground, and som'
balmy night next summer. ,th'
whole valley will burst out in a blaz'
of white light. 1t is the intention o
! the company to furnish light and power
at San Bernardino, Riverside and ada
cent towns, and at Ontario and Po mona
Although there will be much waste il
carrying current that far, they be-
lieve that they will have sufficien
/ power to make it profitable. to 40 SO
The fall of the water at the wheels VIII