Los Angeles herald., 1892-10-15
iDON JUAN sEPULyEDA TALKS,
He Remembers Floods of Nearly
Seventy Years Ago.
Proceedings Yesterday Of the State
Supreme Court.
. the Suit of Mrs. Baker
Southern California
ea,,road Con psny Court
Notes-New y.

The Oldest inhabitants are beinf
brought out in the trial of Mrs. Arcadia
De Bakers big damage suit against the
Southern California Railroad company
before Judge Van Dyke.
In their attempt to prove that the
Santa Fe levee on the east bank OF the
Los Angeles river is responsible for the
break OF the river through the Laguna
rancho in the winter of 1889, the plaintiff
is going into minute history OF the
river and, its floods away back to 1925.
The line of testimony yesterday was
nearly all upon this subject. The wit
nesses were mostly old residents, and
belonged to the old Spanish families
which ruled the country IN those days
In fact. the greater portion OF the VIII
nesses and spectators in attendance are
Spanish or Mexican people. and the
evidence of many OF them is being
taken through an interpreter. Among
the witnesses who testified yesterday
were: Willard Bassett, Jose M. Abila,
Juan Sepulveda, James G. Bell, John F.
Williams and James M. Butler.
The plaintiff endeavored to prove by
these and other witnesses that there has
been no break in the river bank as far
back as 1925, through which water ever
overflowed the Laguna rancho, and that
the channel always, before the building
of the levee through the city down to
the point just above the break OF 1889,
had peen on the west side.
Also, that the levee was built IN the
channel from Ninth street south. and
that houses were builtw OF the levee,
between it and the natural bank, since
the levee was built, and not before. 1t
was also testified that the levee was
built OF sand back of the planking be.
tween the railroad bridge and the end OF
the levee, which all washed out, the
water digging under the lower planhs,
tearing them away in places, and loosen
ing the piles; and that they scraped out
the river sand from 20 to 30 feet into tha
,sto fill behind the levee.
1t was testified that there was line
of willow trees on the bank where the
break occurred, which were planted be-
yond the memory Of the Oldest witness,
who was born in 1920, and zanja was
in existence behind the willow trees on
the east bank, and there were no indi-
cations that the river had ever flowed
east of these willows.
1t brought back the past very vividly
to the old men present, when the vener-
able Juan Sepulveda took the stand and
began to search in his mental storehouse
for recollections of the floods which
have occurred on the river. On direct
examination he could recollect quite ac-
curately. but on cross-examination he
displayed tendancy to mix dates, and
became entangled somewhatin in consec-
utive statement of the high waters and
their effects. The first food he remem-
bered was in 1926, which he said was the
highest. It was quite sea, he said.
The site OF Compton was all under water
and the current was very swift The
water came up into the present city as
far as the west side of Alameda street,
which had bank then four or five feet
high.
The floods of 1882, 1888, and 1852 were
not so high, but he remembered vast
quantities of trees and debris of all sorts
strewed along the ground for miles, in
1882, and down at Wilmington the trees
and debris had come clear up against
the steamer wharf There we're many
dead animals also which he saw along
the route of the food. The old man had
not seen the break, caused by the fiood
OF 1889, until few weeks ago. The ma
terial point in his testimony was, that
there had been no overflow upon the La.
euna rancho within his remembrance.
The plaintiff still has enough witnesses
to occupy two days before her side
closes. At the adjournment for the day
the case was continued until Monday
afternoon.