New Life Flows Into Area After Aqueduct’s Opening

The most important structure in San Fernando Valley history lies almost wholly outside the Valley. More than 230 miles long, it stretches along desert land, goes through mountains and is suspended above rivers.

It’s the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which can carry 260 million gallons of water a day from the Sierra Nevada to the city. Opening on Nov. 5, 1913, the aqueduct allowed Los Angeles to grow far larger than would have been possible if forced to rely on local water sources.

It also enabled the Valley itself to be converted from semidesert to farmland and, ultimately, subdivisions.

The story of how the aqueduct, described at the time as the largest water project since Roman times, was constructed is one of heroics, strife and a surprisingly small amount of human tragedy, given the monumental scale of the task and the conditions under which it was built.

Construction began in 1907, following a plan devised by the city’s top water official, self-taught engineer William Mulholland. The support systems for the project, as described in Margaret Leslie Davis’ book about the aqueduct, “Rivers in the Desert,” were massive: 500 miles of paved road and rail line, two hydroelectric plants, one of the largest cement factories in the world, 240 miles of telephone wire and more than 2,300 buildings, including warehouses, barns, hospitals and movable tent houses for workers.

At the same time preparatory work was being done, Mulholland sent crews to tackle the project’s most difficult task, the boring of the five-mile Elizabeth Tunnel through the San Gabriel Mountains near Lake Hughes. Drilling holes into the granite for dynamite charges was done with hand tools until an electric plant could be completed to provide power. Even then, the work was so laborious that commonly only five feet of progress was made in a 12-hour shift.

Mulholland Gained Crews’ Respect

Mulholland, respected by the crews because he was often on site and shared their miserable living conditions, was frustrated at the slow pace. He announced the new goal was eight feet a day, and bonuses would be paid for any crew that exceeded it. Competition between the crews working from the north and south portals became intense, with workers continuing to haul muck from the tunnel even when it was almost filled with water gushing in from underwater sources.

Work above ground, where temperatures sometimes exceeded 120 degrees in the Mojave Desert, was hardly easier. To get the aqueduct down the 800-foot drop in Jawbone Canyon, located in the western Mojave, workers had to haul into place pipe sections that weighed more than 25 tons apiece.

Even so, the project was completed on time and within its $23-million budget.

Although the water was deposited at the foot of the Valley, it all technically belonged to the city of Los Angeles. The city declared that residents of other areas could make use of it as long as they agreed to have their land annexed to L.A.

In 1915, major portions of the Valley did just that, helping to more than double the size of Los Angeles that year.