to the promised land. As land changed from farmland development

FLOOD PLAIN
BEFORE FLOOD CONTROL OF THE
LOS ANGELES RIVER

AREAS SUBJECT TO INUNDATION
BEFORE FLOOD CONTROL

CHANGING COURSES
OF THE LOS ANGELES RIVER

THE LOS ANGELES RIVER TODAY

Map Source: Burke Grumpp, "The Los Angeles River, as It Lived, Death, and Possible Resurrection"

THE HEADWATERS

The headwaters of the Los Angeles River begin in present day Canoga Park. Before flood control they mingled with the Tujunga and Verdugo Washes and natural springs to cover the San Fernando Valley and the lower delta with rich green wetlands, ponds and lakes. Parts of the river actually flowed underground some of the year and filled a subterranean reservoir under the San Fernando Valley. This reservoir was a natural storage basin covering 175 square miles. From the mid 1800's to the early 1900's this subterranean reservoir provided the settlement of Los Angeles with most of its fresh water. The high water table in the Sepulveda Basin, Glendale Narrows and Compton Creek made it impossible for the river bottom in these areas to be sealed in concrete, thus preserving at least a small portion of the river's natural bed. The delta of the river moved through time, from Ballona Creek in the Santa Monica Bay, to San Pedro, and then to the present day location in Long Beach. The engineering of the Los Angeles River not only changed the course of the Los Angeles River, but also altered the courses of the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River. To protect the Long Beach harbor from silting up, several dry dams were constructed which allowed silt to be captured before it reached the harbor, and the river's outflow was diverted from San Pedro to Long Beach. Debris control ensured the flow of downstream channels.

Irrigation ditches, circa 1895. Courtesy Los Angeles Public Library, Security Pacific Collection.

Irrigation ditch, circa 1895. Courtesy Los Angeles Public Library, Security Pacific Collection.

Irrigation ditch near present day Griffith Park, circa 1895. Courtesy Los Angeles Public Library, Security Pacific Collection.

The river has had a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" personality, flowing gently for many years of low rainfall, raging wildly during occasional years of flooding. Because of the unpredictable nature of the Los Angeles River, as seen in rainfall data, there has been no average year. Settlements could be safe for many years, and then be washed away overnight. During the recorded history of Los Angeles the pueblo and Los Angeles the city, the river changed course nine times, most notably during the floods of 1815,1825,1889, and 1914.

Flooding occurred infrequently enough that it took years for the City of Los Angeles to take strong flood prevention action. In the 1860's, winter rains washed away dams, footbridges, and acres of farmland. As Los Angeles grew, and new cities sprang up along the river, urban development increased the flood problems. Building within the floodplain and removing the vegetation that had slowed the floodwaters contributed to the increased problem. With droughts belying the danger of the river, ill-advised developments continued on even as they were inundated when heavy rainfall years occurred. Levees were built and rebuilt, and each new effort proved no better than the previous effort at preventing flooding. After the floods of 1914, a regional flood control effort was demanded. Retention basins were built and the channeling of the river within certain areas was begun, but the flood protection efforts couldn't keep up with urbanization. As development encroached upon the river plain, increased runoff from these new developments went straight into the river. It was only a matter of time before the river would again demonstrate its power.

All were not in agreement with the engineering solutions to flood control. Others attempted to maintain the character of the river and restore it to some of its former beauty. The Los Angeles Park Department, in 1910 and 1911, proposed greenways, parks and drives along the river. The City Beautiful movement also proposed modest river preservation. The only part of the Park Department greenway proposal that was implemented was the Arroyo Seco Parkway but without any watercourse protection. Each proposal became a missed opportunity. The major hurdle was that the river flowed through several cities, and creating a unified effort was complicated since each city wanted to retain its powers over the waterway. In 1930, Harland Bartholomew and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. developed another plan for river preservation and beautification. Their proposal was very expansive, taking streambeds and river courses and making them into public parks. This would have allowed flood prevention measures to be greener and would have kept development at a safe distance from the flood prone plain. But like prior proposals, it required a regional board of recreation, was considered radical, usurped the power of the river cities, and limited potential development profits. The timing of the report was also poor, as it was released only months after the stock market crash of 1929.

TO ARTESIA

by Lewis MacAdams

from "The River: Books One & Two" © 1998

I think of the river
the way it reads in the
Sam Shepard story,
Cruising Paradise –
a "huge concrete serpent,"
a "dumping ground for murder victims."
I think of the river beside a freeway off-ramp as
roller-bladers, bent into it,
spandexed buttocks rotating,
roll downstream I think
of William Mulholland's
"gentle, limpid stream"
coursing from a Pharoah's forehead
or from the brow of a Rhine-maiden,
green-eyed and coffee-colored,
a bracelet of drowned children
wrapped around her wrist, descending
from mountains east of Irwindale
into the jardin des rocas. The river
is a rigorous mistress,
but when you tickle her
with your deeds, you can hear laughter
from beneath her concrete corset.

First Street Bridge. Courtesy Los Angeles Public Library, Security Pacific Bank.