water systems are integral to a city's design without water human life is unsustainable no
matter how advanced the city society is but with how developed modern america has become
a sizable population center can go up without a nearby water source as american ingenuity
can manually construct the source such is the tale of the los angeles aqueduct
an engineering marvel of the early 20th century second only to the panama canal today it supplies
the city with an average of 29 of its water even over a century after its construction today we
discover the los angeles aqueduct i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
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to get to the story of the aqueduct we first need to discuss the history of los angeles
the region's first inhabitants were indigenous tribes hunter-gatherers dating back to 8000 bce
europeans did not arrive in the area until 1542 with the arrival of portuguese sailor
juan rodriguez cabrillo after his initial exploration over 200 years passed before the next
notable european arrived gaspar di potola portola established a spanish outpost in the area by 1781
as more arrivals came in from europe and nearby native tribes the settlement's governor gave it a
new name thus was the birth of los angeles by the time mexico declared independence from spain all
of california had fallen under control of mexico however 27 years later the united states annexed
california just around the time its settlement discovered gold in the sacramento valley as the
49ers rushed to the area to take advantage of the gold los angeles flourished into a much larger
city come 1881 the south pacific railroad extended to los angeles connecting it with the rest of the
country with that the city exploded in growth with people all across the country flocking to
the area to pick up land in the sunshine state not to mention that around this time the orange groves
began to take on a much larger shape though an influx of population and expanding fruit industry
have something in common they both need more water than the area supply allowed for the time
before the city's significant burst of expansion its water supply generally came from the massive
los angeles river watershed which covered nearly 50 miles and provided plenty of water for the city
and all of the smaller settlements along its banks los angeles had a brick reservoir constructed to
store water from the zanha madre or mother ditch a man-made river created entirely by
community laborers within a month in 1871 to go out to houses along populated streets but with its
explosive growth this water supply suddenly became insufficient especially considering
california's iconic orange industry with the rising need for water breaking out across the city
los angeles needed to form a solution especially with a drought in the early 20th century that only
exacerbated the problem at the turn of the century the city's water lay in the hands of the los
angeles city water company but by 1902 the city's municipal government bought out the company its
superintendent william mulholland remained in his position after the acquisition taking the reins
of the newly formed los angeles department of water and power with his conglomerate mulholland
received authorization from the board of water commissioners to find new water sources for the
city in 1904. he assembled a team of engineers and people who knew the area including former mayor
fred eaton as they would know what sources were plausible and readily available they eventually
discovered the owens valley region on the eastern side of the sierra nevada mountain range around
200 miles away from the city the owens river was large enough to provide los angeles with all the
water it needed but owens valley was a populated region they had their own designs for the river
seeking funding from the bureau of reclamation to make a public irrigation system with los angeles
much more extensive plans mulholland and eaton stopped the irrigation project taking the land
and water rights they needed to realize their goals but this was not without extensive bribery
deception and political contacts planning the route from the owens river directly to the san
fernando valley the duo and their backers bought up all the land needed to make the aqueduct they
all stood to gain untold profits from it and all were very eager to invest the 1906 construction
bond overwhelmingly passed which came in at 1.5 million dollars or around 48 million dollars today
the grand scale of the plan caught the eye of president theodore roosevelt who approved of its
ambitions as a prime example of his ideal advanced america with another bomb passed in 1907 this one
set at 23 million or a staggering 735 million dollars today construction began in october with
an initial team of 4 000 workers the proportion of the task became apparent the first and most
challenging part of the project was its great deal of tunneling with 142 tunnels totaling 43 miles
the longest being the elizabeth tunnel at 5 miles tunneling took up the majority of construction
starting with the south portal on october the 5th and the north portal following on november the 1st
the workers tunneled entirely by hand as they installed machinery to lighten the
labor considering the task ahead only the most advanced technologies of the time would do among
those technologies were four 500 foot per minute two-stage air compressors a track of 36 pound
rails for operating electric locomotives and the caterpillar tractor which cemented its name in
history by performing exceptionally well in the construction of the tunnels hauling timber in
and excavating material out with the aid of these tractors the elizabeth tunnel excavation reached
a record speed for hard rock tunnel driving at 604 feet in one month extracted materials went to five
different quarries acquired by the city which distributed the millions of tons of displaced
limestone among the five perhaps this excavation's most significant advancement was employing the
use of dynamite and drills both saw extensive use throughout the industrial revolution but
this project was one of the largest thanks to these tools the north and south portals raced
to their meeting point to join up and complete the elizabeth tunnel with speeds like this the
construction team made progress at unprecedented rates while the board of engineers estimated that
the job would take five years to complete the workers achieved their deadline 20 months earlier
than expected installation of the tunnel lining began in 1911 starting at the center and working
outwards in both directions steel i-beams replaced the structural timbers which received
concrete surroundings strengthening the already strong steel now this aqueduct works entirely by
gravity delivering water from the owens river to the city through its tunnel and open canals
its length is an astonishing 215 miles 24 of which are opened online canals which did not have any
material between the water and the soil 37 miles are open canal that do have a lining and then you
have another 97 miles of covered conduit of course there are the 43 miles of tunnel and 12 miles of
steel siphons at one point there were also 120 miles of railroad track two hydraulic plants
three cement plants 170 miles of power lines 240 miles of telephone lines and 500 miles of road
after five years of excavation and construction a dedication ceremony conveyed on november the 5th
1913 to celebrate the completion of the world's longest aqueduct william mulholland stepped up to
address the crowd and sealed off the ceremony by declaring there it is take it and it certainly was
a desirable acquisition for the city it was not only the longest aqueduct in the world at the time
but it was also the world's largest single water project it supplied enough water to
sustain millions despite the city's population not even being a third of a million in 1913
because of that water supply los angeles could afford to grow exponentially in the coming years
though all was not well in the area around los angeles now that the vast majority of the owens
river flowed into the los angeles aqueduct the owens lake which was the original endpoint of
the river began to seriously feel the effect by 1924 the lake was drying up to dangerous extremes
farmers in the area took the issue to mall holland and after many complaints bombarded his office
the organization permitted increased flow to the owens river however with more los angeles land
acquisition from these farmers the owens river water mostly fell back into the city's hands and
now that the city technically owned the water they diverted the water back into the aqueduct
abusing the loophole of who owns the water source the region's farmers did not agree with the city's
legal shenanigans protesters appeared all around the affected areas trying to resurrect the now
dried out owens lake some actually took to bombing parts of the aqueduct when the city did not answer
their frustrations with these assaults on the aqueduct escalating to a conflict the disputes
gained the moniker the water wars but believe it or not the protesters were not responsible for the
greatest tragedy the aqueduct faced in 1928 the saint francis dam in northern los angeles county
had finally succumbed to a lack of support the dam burst flooding towns in the area with
billions of gallons of water killing an estimated 431 residents in its 100 foot high wall of water
an investigation returned with no discovered foul play aside from the misplacement of the dam itself
though courts cleared mulholland of charges the flood destroyed his reputation forcing
his resignation now that ninety percent of the water of the owens river entered the los
angeles aqueduct and the area only continued growing another problem for the city arose
the water supply needed to continue expansion beginning in 1930 with a vote among los angeles
citizens the extension to the los angeles aqueduct underwent construction throughout the 1930s to
extend the water supply to the northern mono basin and with the relatively uneventful construction
completed in 1940 the aqueducts extension had a 400 cubic feet per second capacity however it
could only ever handle 123 cubic feet per second due to the oldest part of the system but with
other sections getting extensions in 1970 the city could finally utilize its total capacity
which unfortunately brought water wars up to the mono basin the fish habitat there took a severe
blow as well as the water level of mono lake and the region's air quality the residents of
mono basin bombarded the city's water organization now the los angeles department of water and power
with a flurry of lawsuits these suits resulted in fishery protections with new streamflow minimums
and a new minimum for mono lakes water level however this was not sufficient either by 1956
the water the city legally had access to had become too little for the new scale that now
was and the water rights board made it perfectly clear that they would not tolerate any other
exploitation of loopholes with no other options they took to designing yet another aqueduct
the second los angeles aqueducts construction began in 1965 and in total cost 89 million or
794 million dollars today completed in 1970 and adding another 137 miles to the water system
of which 64 were concrete conduit 69 were steel pipes and four miles had the status of other the
second aqueduct added enough water for the total export to arrive at 450 000 acre feet per year and
for yet a third time the water drawn out of the system brought the fury of los angeles neighbors
environmental consequences just like the previous ones afflicted the mono basin in the owens valley
by 1974 leading to yet another flood of lawsuits the so-called water wars continue to this day
the failure of saint francis dam has not been forgotten and these matters often
overshadow the benefits and accomplishment of one of the world's most amazing water systems
the fact of the matter is that los angeles once got 70 percent of its water from the aqueducts and
even today the city imports over 50 of its water from the newer colorado river aqueduct the city
could not do without its original system but with water leaks and evaporation taking their toll the
problems ahead are much larger in scale today than they were in the past and it's up to the
people of los angeles to arrive at a solution so thanks for watching this episode everyone
check out my california history playlist hit that subscribe button this is ryan socash signing off