Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct at Newhall spillway, November 5, 1913. Crowds of people are gathered at the basin of the newly constructed aqueduct, watching in awe as the water runs down the aqueduct. Vending booths are set up in the basin to offer the spectators a chance to purchase food or drinks. People are also lined up along the sides of the aqueduct from the source (midway up the mountain) to the basin. Legible signs include: "ice cold, Puritas sodas, five cents", "lunch stand". "In the words of Don J. Kinsey in his 1926 pamphlet The Romance of Water and Power, 'It was, in fact, the discovery of the Los Angeles River that brought about the establishment of Los Angeles in 1781.' This Spanish pueblo (which officially became Los Angeles in 1850) did indeed rely on the Los Angeles River for its water supply. The water was channeled through a distribution system of crude dams, water wheels and ditches (or zanjas). It wasn't until 1860, however, that the city's Water Company completed its first modern water system. On Feb. 3, 1902, the city of Los Angeles formally took ownership of the system that would later become the Department of Water and Power. William Mulholland--the Irish-born, self-taught engineer who ultimately became the primary figure in the dramatic saga of bringing water and power to Los Angeles--was the department's first superintendent. Mulholland was responsible for building the aqueduct system that reached into the eastern Sierra that now provides half of the city's water supply. On Nov. 5, 1913, the Los Angeles Owens River Aqueduct (now the Los Angeles Aqueduct) first brought water to the city. Mulholland announced its arrival as it spilled into the San Fernando Valley with five words: 'There it is. Take it.' As the Los Angeles Aqueduct was being built, the department brought online the city's first power plant to supply hydroelectric power for the aqueduct's construction. This would lead to the establishment of the Bureau of Los Angeles Aqueduct Power in 1909 and the naming of E.F. Scattergood as chief electrical engineer." -- unknown author.
Type
image
Format
5 photographs : photoprint, photonegatives, b&w 21 x 26 cm., 10 x 13 cm. negatives (photographic) photographic prints photographs
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