![]() ![]() By the end of 1905, however, Eaton and Mulholland were able–using Eaton’s extensive political contacts, as well as dubious tactics such as bribery and deception–to acquire enough land and water rights in Owens Valley to block the irrigation project. The farmers, ranchers and other residents living in Owens Valley had plans of their own for the river’s precious contents, and were seeking federal funding from the Bureau of Reclamation for a public irrigation project in the region. The engineers estimated that the Owens River, which ran through this region, could provide more than enough water to meet the needs of a growing Los Angeles. With the help of his former boss Fred Eaton (who had also served as mayor of Los Angeles), Mulholland identified a potential solution in the Owens Valley region, located on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada some 200 miles away. In 1904, the Board of Water Commissioners authorized Mulholland and several other engineers to find possible new water sources that would meet the city’s needs. This ambitious idea would come to pass in 1939-four years after Mulholland's death-with the completion of Hoover Dam. Mulholland, a self-trained engineer born in Ireland, had begun his career as a ditch-cleaner for the water company and risen to become its superintendent at the age of 31.ĭid you know? By the 1920s, William Mulholland was already searching for more water for the still-growing Los Angeles region, and was pushing for the building of an aqueduct and a dam on the mighty Colorado River. In 1902, the municipal government bought the franchise, retaining the City Water Company’s superintendent, William Mulholland, as head of the new Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Through the end of the 19th century, a private corporation called the Los Angeles City Water Company had maintained control over and responsibility for the city’s water supply system. Drought hit the Los Angeles region in the first years of the 20th century, highlighting an urgent need to find a better, more consistent water supply if city leaders were to transform the city into a major West Coast metropolis. ![]()
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