WSP01065 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

THE NEED FOR WATER 13 due.to,l'I'Jk-of watel' and feed, The ranchos never recovered from thest Ao,S!?e\,! Sheep largely replaced the vanished cattle, but were soon equally hard hit by drought, 22,000 being recorded as lost in 1877 on the Centinella Rancho alone, It was in this last-named year (1877) that the Southern Pacific railway was connected through to Los Angeles from the EasL The incoming tide of settlement thus released found its opportunity in the breakup of the ranchos, and the intense competition which arose between the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe shortly after the coming of the latter in 1885 started a phenomenal growth in popnlation which has been maintained to the present time, A land boom of unparalleled proportions occurred in 1886 and 1887, Al- though many regrettable factors accompanied this boom, the stimulus given to immigration was greaL In 1880 the population of Los Angeles was 11,183; in 1890 it was 50,395,1 Intensive irrigation development Citrus culture in Southern California was first undertaken about 1854, In 1862 there were 25,000 orange trees in the state, all of which were seedlings derived from Mexico, but no large-scale de- velopment occurred until after the navel orange was introduced from Brazil in 1873,' Commercial development became important during the following decade, with lemon and grapefruit culture following the navel orange, The large money returns realized from the citrus groves and from the other specialized crops later introduced furnished the in- centive for an intensive development of the region's water re- sources, The first effect on water supply resulting from this rapid growth was overappropriation of snrfaee supplies, This condition was offset temporarily by well drilling, first with artesian wells, then, after water tables had begun to drop and after commercial electric motors and gas engines became available, by pumped wells, later supplemented or replaced by larger diameter wells with deep- well turbine pumps. The rate of growth in irrigated areas and in the use of wells is shown in Tables 3 and 4. The census of 1890 reported 1,577 wells used for irrigation in the coastal plain but added that in the large artesian area totalling 315 square miles, every farmer and fruit grower had his own well for domestic use. During a general groundwater survey by the I Reports of U. S. Census BUreau. 2 The Americana, Vol. 5. r r