Los Angeles herald., 1891-06-29
WATER is MONEY.
Oceans Of Liquid Wealth in
Southern California.
Pactolian Streams Flowing
From Every Canon.
Wonderful Development in the Mat
ter of Irrigation.
Lake EIsinore Reservoir and the Mag
nificent Stretch of Back Country
to BE Irrigated by Its
Waters.

YOU have an apothegm of even greater
expressiveness that is. as regards agri-
cultural development. Especially is this
so in the sunny semi-tropics where
moisture is the chief element in wealth
producing. Time cuts but small figure
in the Southern California husband
mans calculations. He need not keep
before him the adage, SO common where
summers are short and days fit for field
work few and far between, make hay
while the sun Shines" and be on the
constant alert lest he lose the fruit Of
his labors by failing to prosecute them
when the time is most propitious.
Where the seasons are short and fair
weather the exception, time is an i'm
portant factor in determining the farm
er's prosperity. But in this favored
cline where the sun shines more than
800 days in year, it is not the economy
of time that enriches the tiller of the
soil. 1t is the water question that must
determine the degree of his prosperity,
and once this is solved, and water intel
ligently distributed on bis land, he can
live in comparative ease and luxury.
Ergo, water is money.
Each pearly drop of rain that falls
upon the thirsty field or plain, or on the
mountain top to percolate through
massy strata of earth and rock and ap-
pear on the surface again at lower
level, has it's intrinsic value. Every
hot tb la n q mn tai
is so much liquid wealth, when intelli-
gently conveyed to land in the valleys
below. And the very best veriication
of the saw that water is money, is in the
rush that is being made by corporations
composed of the shrewdest business men
to avail themselves of reservoir sites for
the storage of the waters of the numer-
GUS streams that debouch from the
mountains in Southern California.
1t is not necessary in this article to
recapitulate the numerous irrigation
schemes that have lately been projected,
especially since the Wright law has gone
into effect; suffice it to say that there is
scarcely a caiion, lake or stream, the
waters of which have not been appro-
priated. Mention of few of these
projects will be sufficient to show what
e wonderful development is going on
within a radius of fifty to one hundred
miles of Los Angeles.
Everybody knows what the Bear val
lev people have been doing. The turn
ing of their water on the Alessandro
tract few weeks ago was great
achievement. That model colony is
growing like magic in consequence
thereof. And now the pipes have been
IL III, 10 Dorric UhQrQ q lar y
boom is in progress. Every place that
the Bear valley water has reached, or is
soon to be turned upon, is enjoying the
greatest prosperity. Lands that year
ago were not saleable at any price, are
acre. And so it is all through San Ber-
nardino county. The fact is patent that
another decade will see the far-famed
Riverside colony oft repeated.
Unquestionably the greatest and most
important of the irrigation schemes re-
Gently inaugurated, is that of the Lake
Elsinore Reservoir company, Of which
much has been said by the press in the
past few weeks. 10 get better con-
ception of the magnitude and merits Of
this enterprise, HERALD reporter
recently made a trip to the laguna,
which is the natural reservoir from
which the company will draw water to
irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres
in San Diego, San Bernardino, Orange
and Los Angeles counties, that have
hitherto been of little value.
Here is a body of fresh water, five
miles long, three miles wide, with an av-
erage depth of thirty feet, lying 1880 feet
above sea level-higher than nearly all
the arabic land in the counties named.
To be more exact, this lake is fifteen
square miles or $500 acres in area; it is
fifty feet deep at its natural stage, for
two-thirds of its extent, and the remain
der from fifteen to twenty feet deep,
and contains sufficient water to irrigate
1000 acres. AS if this were not suffi-
cient, nature has provided such con
tour to the outlet of the lake, that an
earthen dam a few hundred feet long
and thirty feet high, would increase the
capacity of the immense reservoir al
least so, 900. 100000 gallons.
Notwithstanding these vast possibill
ties this magnificent body OF water has
been permitted to lie here untouched
from generation to generation, while
men have been falling over each Other
in the mad rush for sites for artificia
reservoirs, which can only be built a.
great cost.
Lake Elsinore is included IN Spanish
grant which fell into the hands of the
London and San Francisco bank some
years ago, and sold by the bank to f
II. Heald and two partners, Mr.. Healc
subsequently acquiring sole title to tht
water. 1t was Mr.. Heald's dream to es
tablish an ideal pleasure and health
resort, and for this purpose the place il
well adapted. The climate, scenery
shooting, boating, ETC., are unexcelled
and the hot sulphur baths are justly
famous. But for the premature burst
ing of the boom Mr.. Heald would have
succeeded in his ambi ious scheme, bu
like other enterprises OF that day Elsl
more received a serious setback. Th'
many improvements made during those
few years, however, were substantial
and permanent; all the natural attrac
tions are still there, and it is merely {
question of time when Mr.. Heald'i
dreams will be realized. In fact, the
time is not distant, as the present own
ers of the lake mean business and have
the capital to back them.
Mr.. Heald stated to the writer tha
irrigation was one of the uses which ht
ultimately hoped to make of the lake
but it remained for Mr.. S. V. Landt, al
enterprising young barrister and irriga
ton promoter of this city, to set the
ball rolling. Mr.. Heald last winter
IooJod nfr T opd+ a half interest in the