Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Historical Notes

The Owens Valley (Los Angeles) aqueduct was designed and built by the city's water department, at the time named the The Bureau of Los Angeles Aqueduct, under the supervision of the department's Chief Engineer William Mulholland.

Built between 1908 and 1913 at a cost of $23 million, the LA Aqueduct tapped into the waters of the Owens River and delivered water 233-miles south to Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

Moses Sherman served on the water board while he also participated in plans to develop the San Fernando Valley, which became the outlet point for the aqueduct. Sherman's double role has been the source of conspiracy theories with regard to the aqueduct.*

The Board of Public Works had charge of the expenditure of all bond moneys derived from the sale of Aqueduct and Power bonds.

William Mulholland was appointed the Chief Engineer.

J.B. Lippincott was appointed Assistant Chief Engineer.

H. A. Van Norman was in charge of the construction work done with dredges and the building of the unlined canal on the Owens Valley division.

O.W. Peterson was in charge of the construction of the open lined canal from the north end of the Alabama Hills to the Haiwee reservoir.

Phil Wintz had charge of the building of the South Haiwee Dam.

C. H. Richards was in charge of the construction of the covered conduits and tunnels in the Rose Valley and Little Lake divisions.

F. J. Mills was Division Engineer of the Grapevine division, consisting of tunnels and pressure pipes.

Louis Mesmer built the Freeman Division.

A. C. Hansen completely constructed the Jawbone division and a large portion of the Mojave division.

John Gray had charge of the greater portion of the construction of the Elizabeth Tunnel and the power tunnels in the San Francisquito Canyon.

W. C. Aston was in charge of the south portal of the Elizabeth tunnels and steel pipe.

E. F.Scattergood was Electrical Engineer in charge of construction of the power plants.

Roderick MacKay had general supervision of the operation of the cement mill and of the selection and advisory of the heavy mechanical equipment.

E. W. Bannister was Office Engineer in general charge of the drafting room and of the office of records.

Historical Notes

The most difficult part of the construction of the LA Aqueduct was tunneling. There were 142 tunnels, totaling forty-three miles in length, that had to be dug during the five years of the aqueduct's construction. The Elizabeth Tunnel was the longest with a length of over five miles.*

Historical Notes

“It crawls like a caterpillar.” And caterpillar is its name to the present day. The descriptive remark is attributed to William Mulholland while watching the first formal demonstration of the new type of tractor just purchased for hauling materials across the desert during the building of the aqueduct. It was hoped that this would be  a mechanical substitute for the mule – a departure from traditional construction methods that could lower costs and speed the progress of the great water way to Los Angeles. However, things didn’t turn out that way as the mule showed more durability.*^

Historical Notes

In the first 11 months of work, 22 miles of tunnel were driven. The Elizabeth Tunnel set the world record for hard rock tunnel driving: 604 feet in one month. The Board of Engineers had estimated it would take five years to finish the five-mile tunnel. The men beat their deadline by 20 months.*

Historical Notes

Mule teams were initially deemed too expensive to use for short-distance hauling, so the aqueduct builders invested in a recent technological development, the caterpillar tractor. After an initial trial period with one tractor, the city government bought 28 more. Eventually maintenance and repair proved too costly, so the city crews reverted back to using mules.^*

Historical Notes

Early postcard depicting “Whistling Dick”, a 76 year old muleskinner who worked on the aqueduct; postcard was loaned for copy purposed by Department of Water and Power retiree Ed Fleming of Mojave (June 1971). Fleming stated that the picture shows Dick Wright mounted on the left wheel mule holding the jerk line, and his two swampers are atop the load of pipe

“Whistling Dick” had the makings of both myth and legend, a type of rugged individual who creates an aura of romance in stories of the Old West.

Back in 1912, 74-year-old Whistling Dick drove a team of 52 balky mules as he labored with hard working crews building one of the toughest sections of the Los Angeles Owens River Aqueduct in the Mojave Desert – the spectacular jawbone Siphon, a giant roller coaster of a pipeline.

What is considered to be Whistling Dick’s grave is in a small windswept cemetery about one mile southwest of Jawbone Canyon Road, located between the routes of the original and the Second Los Angeles Owens River Aqueducts.

His 52-mule team wagons transported mammoth 30-ton sections of steel pipe along sun baked desert trails to the job sites. Although 20-mule teams were common, the extremely heavy aqueduct sections required the pulling power of the 52-mule teams.*^

Method of hauling pipe sections up the steep canyons.**

Historical Notes

The spectacular Jawbone Siphon in the Mojave Desert, a giant roller coaster of a pipeline, was one of the toughest sections to build.

View showing one of the "sag pipes" of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in Jawbone Canyon. The aqueduct is based on gravity flow that does not require pumping or siphoning. Instead, water is conveyed via pressure developed in the down slope to force the water through the up slope. Jawbone Canyon is located just west of Highway 14, south of Randsburg Red Rock Road in Kern County.

This section of the aqueduct, built in 1913, was designed by William Mulholland.