Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-10
TO PUT VIADUCT
IN RIVERS BED
BELLS SCHEME INCLUDES BIG
UNION DEPOT
AUTO SPEEDWAY AND PUBLIC
BATH HOUSES is PLAN
Promoter Thinks Steel Plant viii Be
Established on Coast If Couna
Gil Grants His Petit
lions

Pending before the Los Angeles city
council today is a proposition to lease
the Los Angeles river bed, which IL
granted will result in the installation
of a steel highway or elevated V1aduct
six miles long through the city, dredg-
ing of the sand bottoms, erection OF
concrete retaining walls, terminal and
depot facilities for all roads, public
bath houses and automobile and driv-
ing speedways.
All this is promised by Promoter Jo-
seph Bell for a tWenty-year river bed
franchise, for which he will pay the
city $125,000, and eventually turn over
the steel property to the city at valu-
alton to be fixed by q commission.
A public hearing on the subject is set
for May 10, and in the meantime the
friends and enemies of the proposition
arc furthering public sentiment.
First Extend River Bed
Joseph Bell Canadian by birth, of
English and Scotch descent, resident
of California of nearly thirty years,
and of Los Angeles of nearly twenty
years, filed three petitions with the
city council on April 27, 1908.
The first petition asks that the official
bed of the Los Angeles river be eX-
tended from it's present northern end,
a point Just north of the Buena Vista
y
of the city, a distance of probably one
half mile, through some private land
of small value for any other purpose
which would have to be condemned by
the city for the purpose.
The second petition asked for the
dredging of the official bed of the river
to a proper depth and the erection of
concrete retaining walls on both sides
of the river from the northern boundary
of the city to the southern boundary,
to protect the present railroads and the
property owners from floods for all
time to come.
This work should be done now, Mr.
Bell says, whether the viaduct as pro-
posed is built or not, and should be
done before the viaduct is built, be-
cause it would be impracticable to do
it afterward ON account of danger to
the foundations and for economic rea-
sons, as it would cost much more
The cost of the big project is to be
paid for by the beneficiaries, the .three
overland railroads, the street and sub
urban railroads crossing the river, and
the property owners owning land on
each side of the river for a distance of
mile or more from the river bed.
Proposes Bonds
River bed improvement bonds could
be issued running for twenty years,
lllc cOSl ONeF Il
series of years, which would be COM
pensatea by the increased value of the
property.
The concrete retaining walls can be
erected at the minimum of COST as the
sand and gravel and most of the rock
are at hand in the river bed, as well
as the water, the cement and labor only
being required.
Mr.. Bells third petition asks for a
lease to be granted to him for twenty
years of the official bed of the Los An
geles river for railroad and other pur-
poses.
Down this river bed flows a stream
during the summer varying in width
from six to twelve feet and in depth
from twelve to eighteen inches.
In the rainy season it swells in size
IN proportion to the amount of rain
falling in its watershed in a given
time.
When heavy and prolonged rains fall,
as IN the years 1884. 1886 and 1888, the
three years of greatest rainfall in the
past quarter of a century, the water