Los Angeles

A Place to Store the Water

The aqueduct pretty much diverted the river to Los Angeles. Because it was only a diversion, the aqueduct followed the pattern of the river. If the river was not that large, the aqueduct was not that large. While Mulholland did not believe in aboveground water storage-he thought that too much water would evaporate-he was eventually forced to build a large reservoir to hold the water from the Owens River. Fred Eaton owned the only dam site in the Owens Valley. He was demanding one million dollars for the land. It would have made a wonderful site for a dam. It was off in a side canyon of the valley where it would not disturb the residents of the valley and would allow the city to share the water with the town. But a million dollars was too much for Mulholland. He attempted to bargain with Eaton, but got nowhere. The two longtime friends began to fall out.

Mulholland began looking for another site to store water. He eventually chose to enlarge a dam the city was constructing in San Francisquito Canyon, just outside the city. Despite the fact that his engineers thought it would be a really bad idea, Mulholland went ahead with his plan.

Just as the reservoir reached its full capacity in March of 1928, it began to leak. Most dams leak when they are full for the first time. They leak clear water. The fact that the water is clear shows that it is from the reservoir. But the dam was leaking brown water. That could only mean one thing-the water was breaking apart the canyon walls. Mulholland inspected the dam, but pronounced that everything was all right. He decided that the brown water was run-off from the wet mud near the construction site. How could his dam be structurally unsound anyway?

That night one of the worst disasters in peacetime United States history occurred. It is guessed that somewhere around 450 people died. The reservoir tore the dam apart. A 200-foot high wall of water began gushing down the canyon, destroying and then carrying away everything in its path. Blocks of concrete rode the waves of water. After killing virtually all the inhabitants of the area just below the dam, the waves turned to a semi-solid form. When they crashed into towns further down stream they would throw houses and concrete blocks from upstream into anything they found. There was no warning system-no one knew of the coming flood.

It was discovered that the two other dams in which Mulholland was involved also collapsed. Mulholland's career was completely destroyed. The savior of Los Angles was shattered. When he resigned in November of 1928 his reputation was ruined beyond repair.