Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-09
Irrigation Man Gives
Reasons
Streams Closer Than Owens River Are
Either Entirely Inadequate or
Needed for Other Southern
California Cities
BY JOHN j. JONES

III DOulueIU SdlllOIllld lEOIH WHlCI
water is or can be developed for irri-
cation purposes
The great question before the citi-
zens of Los Angeles today is: Where
can we get a permanent supply of pure
water, enough for the needs Of a city
of from one to one and half millions
of people? Unless we can solve that
question we must stop growing. With
our present population of 275,000 we
need about 100000 gallons of water
per day in the month of September (hot
days.. The ordinary citizen has no
idea what such an amount of water Is.
! Should they see a stream of 40,000,0OO
gallons in an open ditch, no doubt more
than half of the Los Angeles citizens
would say that the amount Of water
would be enough to supply the city
| from one week to a month.
To better illustrate; If all the waste
water which passed the Los Angeles
river at First street during the past
winter had been put in a reservoir, the
amount left for use, after loss by
evaporation, would not much more
than supply the city for one summer
month. That being the case, storage
reservoirs within the Los Angeles river
watershed are useless, as practically
no water goes TO waste now. CThe past
season was an unusually wet one).
Big Rock Creek
A short time ago suggestion was
made of a supply of water for the city
from Big Rock creek in the northeast
ern part of Los Angeles county (Ante-
lope valley). Having been familiar
with Big Rock creek for some thirty
two years, 1 know that said creek can
not be depended upon for even q small
supply of water. There are plenty OF
people living in Southern California
who from past experience can TESTIFY
to that, to their own sorrow. num-
ber of attempts have been made in the
last to settle the Big Rock creek coun-
try. Some seventeen years ago
colony of Quakers settled there and
made bitches for irrigation, but there
was no water to put in the bitches.
They soon had to abandon their farms
for lack of water. A few years later
a colony was organized in Chicago by
Wilson and Howard, and known as the
Farm, Field and Fireside colony"
This was in the winter of 1894 and 1885,
a wet season. Thousands of acres of
land were planted to fruit trees. The
next season, 1895-96, was a dry season,
and many of the orchards died for want
of moisture. A tunnel was dug under
the bed of Big Rock creek, but failed
to produce water sufficient to be of use
for irrigation purposes. 1t was also
proposed to reservoir Big Rock creek
at the narrows, an old scheme, which
had formerly been projected by one
Ahlberger, and generally known as the
Ahlberger reservoir site. This same
site is again proposed to store water
for Los Angeles city use. There nave
been times in the past that practically
not a drop of water reached the said
site for three years in succession. 1t
is needless to state that none Of the
old colonists are left on Big Rock
creek. What applies to Big Rock creek
in a general way also applies to Lit
tie Rock creek The latter, by reason
of a greater watershed, has larger win
ter supply of water, but less than Big
Rock creek in the summer, for the
reason that the latter has drainage
from higher mountains.
In the year 1892, as president or the
Palmdale Irrigation company, which Of
flee held for seven years, 1 made the
report to the stockholders of the COM
pany. The Palmdale Irrigation COM
pany takes it's water from Little ROCK
creek. There are but 200 inches OF
water in Little Rock creek for seven
months in the year. The balance of
the wear, five months in summer, the
creek is dry. In the year 1S93-94 only
one day were there 700 inches of water
in Little Rock creek.
File on 125,ooo Inches
However. that did not prevent fake
orchard planting concern from making
a filing of 125,0OO inches of water in
Little Rock creek the next winter. The
object was to catch suckers. There
are possibly 100000 inches of water
filings made in the past on Big and
Little Rock creeks, and no doubt some
of the parties holding water filings IN
those creeks or any other creek coulo
be found willing to sell the same to the
city.
The uncertainty of water supply
from our own mountain watersheds is
known. In the years 1898 and 1899 the
Bear valley reservoir furnished but a
limited amount of water for irrigation
for Redlands and vicinity. The Bear
Valley reservoir gets its supply of water
from the highest mountain in Southern
California, and, therefore, ought 10 nave
the safest supply of water
For ten years but very little water
ran into the Sweetwater reservoir In
San Diego county. There is only one
supply of water left partly unused in
Southern Californit. 1t is the MojaYe
river. However, the supply is entirely
insufficient for our use and far too ex-
penSiVe TO DrlnB IL mere II WOuiu po
only a matter of few years when we
would have to get more water again.
Every drop of water that can be devel-
oped in Southern California is wanted
for horticultural purposes. The Mojave
river water is needed in San Bernardino
county. We want to make the whole
of Southern California beautiful and
productive, which means prosperity.
There is only one water supply for
Los Angeles that fills the bill perfectly
in every respect. 1t is Owens river.
Here we have quantity and quality, and
in addition it furnishes us with power
for all purposes. We are told that the
water of owens river is alkali. That
is true. if we go down to the lower part
of the river near Owens lake, but taking
the water from the river near the
mountains, the highest in the United
States, it does not seem reasonable
that the water could be otherwise than
pure. The writer has found it so Be-
cause the water of Owens lake is bad
it does not follow that the source is also
bad The lower Owens river valley is
partly covered with alkali, through