Waterfalls’ Demise Stirs Up Maelstrom of Allegations, Demands

The roaring waterfalls of Rubio Canyon were one of Los Angeles’ top tourist attractions 100 years ago.

Carved into cliffs a mile above Altadena and fed by a crystal-clear, year-round stream, they were a must-see for sightseers traveling to nearby Mt. Lowe on an unusual mountain trolley that operated until 1936.

The falls remained a popular hiking destination until a year ago--when they suddenly disappeared.

Workers repairing earthquake damage to a small pipeline that helps supply drinking water to homes below the canyon accidentally set off an avalanche that buried the six waterfalls under thousands of tons of boulders and debris.

The accident has embarrassed federal authorities who not only own the Angeles National Forest land around the canyon but financed the ill-fated pipeline repair project.

And it has outraged environmentalists, who are demanding that the 100-foot-deep pile of boulders covering the waterfalls be removed.

But federal officials say the cleanup is not their responsibility. And the tiny water company that owns the pipeline says it doesn’t have the cash to pay for it.

As a result, the landslide is triggering an avalanche of lawsuits and legal claims. And mudslinging.

“This is a tragedy. This is one of the most historic canyons in the Angeles National Forest,” said Paul R. Ayers, a Glendale lawyer and avid hiker who says he took his wife on their first date to look at the waterfalls in 1987.

The Mt. Lowe Railway, he said, “was the Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm of its day.” Over its 41-year existence, it attracted more than 3 million riders, many of whom then climbed wooden stairways past the falls and water turbines that powered the incline railway.

An angry Ayers is preparing a lawsuit on behalf of several environmental groups to force the removal of the boulders. And Saturday he plans to lead a group of hikers, including state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), to the slide site. They will meet at 8:30 a.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 Euclid Ave., Pasadena.

Those viewing the huge pile of boulders will have a difficult time visualizing what the six waterfalls looked like back when promoter Thaddeus S.C. Lowe named each--Roaring Rift, Lodged Boulder, Grand Chasm, Moss Grotto, Ribbon Rock and Thalehaha.

The rockslide occurred when workers hired by the Rubio Canyon Land & Water Assn. tried to carve a 340-foot notch in an overhead cliff. A water pipe fixed soon after the 1994 earthquake was to be rerouted into that protective notch, out of the way of future falling rocks.

The pipeline, used since 1886, reportedly provides water for about 200 homes.

Because of the earthquake damage, the Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to finance most of the $367,000 project--which eventually ballooned to $485,000.

Workmen from Zaich Construction Inc. in Northridge were helicoptered to the site during the nine-month project and used a special hammering machine to create the notch.

But they used explosives to blast away some rocks that were too hard for the machine. Critics contend that the blasting caused the rockslide.

Officials of Zaich did not return phone calls Thursday. But the manager of seven-employee Rubio Land & Water denied that blasting was to blame.

“The rocks would have come down one way or another. Boulders were falling daily. We expected a certain amount of rocks to fall, but a lot more fell than anybody anticipated,” said Wally Weaver, Rubio superintendent.

Federal officials say they were not told in advance about the blasting.

“Their application didn’t call for any blasting. What appears to have happened in that canyon appears to be significantly different from what we approved,” Ernest Abbott, general counsel for FEMA, said Thursday from Washington.

Besides refusing to pay for the rockslide cleanup--which could cost millions--FEMA has declined to pay for all of the repairs. Abbott said his agency agreed to a project covering 200 feet of pipe, not 340 feet.

This week, Rubio Land & Water filed an appeal through the state’s Office of Emergency Services asking that FEMA pay for the complete repair job. Rubio also wants FEMA to finance an engineering study that would determine the feasibility of removing the rockslide.

Zaich Construction, meanwhile, has sued Rubio, demanding payment of fees that water officials withheld because of the rockslide, according to Masum Azizi, a management consultant who works for Rubio.

State Department of Fish and Game officials, inspired by the successful prosecution of a Pacific Palisades landowner who dumped dirt in a stream, are considering a criminal complaint on grounds that the repair project has illegally altered a stream and that the department was never notified of the violation.

But according to Steve Ulrich, a Fish and Game warden assigned to the Altadena area, the state has not decided who the defendant should be: the U.S. Forest Service, Rubio, FEMA or Zaich.

Forest service officials, who will have the final say over what happens next in the canyon, did not respond to requests for interviews Thursday.

If there is money to pay for uncovering the falls, experts say a conveyor system might be used to remove the rocks. Or maybe even a new narrow-gauge railroad.

That would make Thaddeus Lowe proud.