Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-02

Los Angeles riv~r and it's surroundings
have not only shown that Eaton ano
Schuyler overestimated rather than un-
derestimated the total flow of the river
which could be depended upon to supply
the city.
Finlkle testified that his evidence or
the question was given after less than
twenty days of investigation OF tne
conditions. Mr.. Eaton and Mr.. Mul-
holland swore that they had been IA
miliar with the river and it's surround
ings for twenty-five .-ears. Appended
Is a brief of the testimony offered py
Mr.. Eaton, Mr.. Schuyler, Mr. koepig'
Mr.. Iippincott and Mr.. t1nkle' tne
statement OF whom has been nalmed OH
by the opposition as that of the city
enpineers and agreed UPON by them
Gaton's Statement
Fred Eaton, appearing for the city
of Los Angeles, under oath salo: l
have been acquainted with the Los An
ee1es river and it's conditions since lSIl'
when I first entered the employ Oh the
water company.
1.-THE rainfall that 1 assumed snouiu
be the correct one to make an esIio do
mate on, gives total run-oH Oh 41oo
inches. which would represent the
surface and underfow, 365 days In the
year. I think that fully and little
more than covers it. In time or normal
flow. about 2500 inches of this amouIlo ~
is surface flow; the remaining z ztoo
inches is subterranean flow. lhls Zloo
inches will cover all the water Whlch
is flowing underground and discharg-
ing itself out of the neck and from
this watershed. att.
"I arrived at these figures IN tnls
way: OF the whole watershed ns-
ured that the 179 square miles Oh noun
tains had a rainfall of twenty-seE'ea,1, 'a1
inches; the foothills section OIL
square miles an annual average ram
fau of eighteen inches, and the valley
section of 1872 square miles, nIleeli
inchas annually. The last sectlon
Yields practically nothing; possibly lou
inches. The rainfall in this valley see
tion is almost always ABSORBED ny
vegetation and evaporation.
"Now we find from experiments mace
of run-offs in this state and actual
measurements of run-offs that tneIe
is anywhere from rs to 80 per cent Vi
this abnormal; that is storm water ina M
runs away. There's no reservoir sltgs
to catch it and it is simply wasteu'
is of no value to anyone, except tne
1ourer lands between here and san
pedro where it sinks and makes damp
places.
Normal Flow of Stream
The balance would represent the
norma, flow of the stream, and as inc
normal flow is the only thlng thaI ~
can depend upon for supplying te
Los Angeles river, there being no stoI
age facilities that we can aNal out
selves of, that represents the caP'.I ~
of that riyer-and you have to take thdt @
~ +ha Aou, of that river-normal HOW
and Yield from this shed. The norman
aow is that flow which you can aVall IL
Yourself of for use. 1 allow ABOUT 20
ner cent for that part OF thls loo9
water which sinks into the SraVel aiiN
is LEI out gradually into the river
.0There is not any material dlfterehce
f,.o,,, vaar to wear in the normal now
of the Los Angeles river, neither DUR
ing the year or from year 10 yea.
There is a slight variation, put ~ 20
not material. The indication Is thtts htss
the supply of the river is ylelulils o--
very uniform flow"
Two days after this testimony was was
given Mr.. Eaton was again called 10
the stand in the city's behalf ana reau-
mo from a table which he had pre-
nared at the suggestion of the court
said that he estimated the area Oh ~ ~tiie
Los Angeles river basin at 4SS square
miles, the annual rainfall at tWenly
inches. the total annual rainfall IN the
hasin at 36.OO5 miners inches, of Whlch
"a. 222 miners inches went for eVapo-
ration and the support of plant Ire /;
1868 miners inches were lost IN hoou
waters. which it was impossible TO I'M :
mound because there were no reservoir
sites and Alb inches, or the remain :,
der. made up the normal complneo
surface and subterranean now OIL the
river. - -,
A Fl. Koebig, called in behalf of the
citv. made sworn statement that the
normal underground and surface now
of the Los Angeles river from its wa
tershed of 480 square miles was, ac
cording to his estimate, 5253 miners
inches, of which 2753 inches was un-
derground flow.
]. B. Lippincott, being duly sworn
for the defendants, said: From all the
information in my possession, and ac-
cording to my computation on the wa :
tershed of the San Fernando BASIN
taking, the entire basin, both noun
tains and plain. I would consider the
rainfall as being at least twenty-toul
inches.
"The rainfall in California increases
as the elevation increases. on the side
next to the sea. The increase, Wnlcn
has been found to be uniform, is at the
rate of six-tenths of an inch for each
100 feet rise in elevation up to 5000 OF
1000 feet.
II considered the Los Angeles river
above the narrows as divided into
three classes-170 square miles ol
mountainous country, with thirty-foul
inches of average rainfall; 12o square
miles of foothills. with twenty-thret
inches average rainfall, apd 1S2 square
miles in the San Fernando plain, with
an average rainfall of fifteen inches
making an average annual rainfall fol
the entire basin of twenty-four inches
James d. Schuyler, called in behalf
of the city, testified that the Los An
geles watershed of approximately 4SC
square miles gave normal flow. in
cluding surface and subterranean, tc
the Los Angeles river of 1880 inches.
FinkIe's Testimony
F. C. Finkle, called in behalf of the
defendants, swore that he was an en-
gineer, resident of San Bernardino, ano
had been investigating the conditions
in the Los Angeles basin for about
three weeks.
! "The discharge from that watershed