WSP02201

• File Number: 8200.766
• Description: Gunnison River General Publications-Correspondence-Reports
• State: CO
• Basin: Gunnison
• Water Division: 4
• Date: 1/1/1984
• Author: Various
• Title: CRWCD Publications - Waterlogue-1984 - Compensatory Storage-1985 - Waterways-1985 Annual Report
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

The Dewatering And Colonization Of
Owens Valley, California

"The Owens Hiver. once a rohust stream. deep ....ith
the snow waters of the Sierras. was but a trickle in a
dry strt'am bt.>d. the cottonwoods dead along' it-s bank.
"\\'aLer. mu~od the priest. was one of God's greatest
gifts. With it, the piont't:'rs had turnt...od this strip of land
between two gigantic ranb'l:'S into a garden. Deprin.od of
water. the valle.... and its people ....ith it W('re perishing. "I
..The....IThe Los Angt'les Times Chandll'rsl did not so
much foster the growth of Southern California as. more
simpl..... invent it. There is water btocause they went and
stole water. The cit... is horizontal instead of n.rtical
be<.'8Use they wpre ri~h in land. and horizontal span was
good for lht'm. good for real estal42". There is a port
because the.... dreamed of a port. They had .settled in a
garden of nature. and where nature failf'<i they and their
friends provided. If God had not lx-en sufficienll\'
generous in giving this paradise adequaw wawr. tht'n
Harry Chandler and a few of his cohorts .....ould simply
go and rape the Eden of the Owens Valle\' some 230
miles awa\' of its watf.>r. and the wawr wou.ld turn arid
\'alleys inlo a prosperous urban garden. Who is LO say
that the hiswrv of the \\'est and the history of California
would be hett.€r if Barn' Chandler had been sonwone
who thought thl:' law applied to him. and the Owens
Valley, rather than l.os Angel(>s. had pro.spet("(f?
"The rape of the Owens Valley, for what happent'd wa'l
nothing less than that. is the story of a \.ery shrewd.
very rich power eliw in a major city determine,d. in its
desperate m't.od for more water. to It,t nothing stand in
its way. particularly th(. water rights of a separate. dis.
tant. smaJl('r communitv. For that was thl:' kev (() l.os
Angeles's gro.....th - waler. The climuw was wonderful.
land was plentiful. the only limit impo~ by nature wa....
wawr: it wa.. thus a powerful political issue. 'If you don't
get the wawr.' William .\lulhoUand. thl:' city's water
supt'rintendent. used to say of additional sources of
supply. 'you won't nl:'t-d it..
"Little of the acreage in that valley wac; irrigatoo. most
of it was wasteland. hut the land that did hun' water
.....as like the :....ile Vallev. rich and lush. At the turn of
the century therE' was a'mo\'€' made to dewlop the entire
vaUev and make fertile the barren land. In W02 tht> U.S.
gow'rnment under Trody Hoosewlt. increasingly inter-
estoo in land dewlopment. created the Bureau of Land
Reclamation ....ith the spec:ific idea of reclaiming other.
....ise uSot'k>ss land. partiruJarl.\" in the SOuth.....esl. By good
fortune for Harry ChandlN and his colleah'Ut:'~. a man
nanwd J. B. Lippincott. who was to f)t'('ome one of the
great double agents of all time. had dont.' considerable
.....ork as a wat~r consultant for thl:' Los ,-\nhreles city
gO\.emml:'nt. and he .....as .....eU acquaintt:>d ....ith the city's
po.....er brokers_ In June 1903 he and an enginf't'r named
J. C. Clausen began sun:eying lhe O.....pns \'alley ....ith
tht, ostensible idea of capturing the spiU from the O.....{>n~
Hin'T and using that water to irrigatt:' th(' surrounding
land. creating a nl:'..... rich and fertile dewlopmpnt reJ;..rion
for small farmNs and homesteaders. Lippincott and
Clausen began approaching kx.'al farmPrs about relin-
quishing their .....ater rights; they wl:'re ~-'t'n as friend..
10

and benefactors; most of thl:' local farmers and ranchers,
hearing that a huge go\"ernment project .....as in the air.
cooperau..od. Clausen .....as dearly committed to the
redevelopment of the O.....ens Valley, hp thought the pro-
ject a natural. but Lippincott had other ideas. Quietly
he had begun talking with his powC;'rful fril:'nds in Los
Angeles about the idpa of hrin&ring the Owens water tel
the city by means of a t.....o-hundrffi-miJe-long aquoouct.
"~teanwhile. even a<; the Owens farmers .slept on, a
svndicate - which includro General Otis and Ilarr\'
(-:-handler and a fe..... of tht.,it friends - began to mak"e
some crucial land purchi.L<;t>S. First. in October. 1003 they
took an option on a 16.(){)().acn' ranch in the San Fer-
nando Valley. Tht' option was relatively inexpt.'nsi\"e and
a fe..... months later. cutting the original O\I.71er of the
ranch in on the d{'al. they bought the sprE'ad. pa:ring only
05500,000 for it. The land .....ent cheap because it lacked
watt:'r. There would soon lx, other (.'omparable deals. one
for a ranch of 46.000 aert's. It was aU very hush-hush.
Barry Chandler told a ft,..... friends that something was
up. he couldn't u>U them all about it yet. hut they ought
to get in on it. Which they, of l"OurSt', kno....ing him.
knowing ho..... good his word .....as. did.
"I t .....as all of a pit'Ce. wonderfully synchronized. On
.July 28, 190[). Lippineou, against the anl-.'TY opposition
of his engint't'r. Claust'n, recommended dropping the
Owens redevelopment plan and suggestffi that th..
ft-deral government instead \.it>ld the wuter in the area
to the city of Los Angelf's. the California reclamation
chit'f roJl>d for Iippincott and Los Anbrelt's. The next day
the Los t'nbrel('s Times broke the secrecy emhargo on
the entire story and banm'red the possibility of ne.....
.....ater for the city. Thp next step was a bond issue to
pay for the land and .....aler rights. Supported by all
important factions in the city. it pasSf'd by a margin of
1~ to I.
"The two pit'('es of land in the San Fernando \'alley.
purchast->d hy the Chandler syndkaw for about $3
million. wert> estimatro to be worth up to :5120 million
when it was over. Th(> largest shareholdN was lIarry
Chandler. He held onto the choicest pie<.'es of rE'al estaU>.
and this landholding- !){'Carne the basis for the \.ast
Chandler fortune. lie gradually bt'('anw the largt>st land
haron in Southern California. a partner and shaper in
ever)' dl:'al large and profitable, and pm'my of all thoS(>
who might Oppose or try to rl!gulate his enterprises. At
thl! time of his death, his ('state was worth an estirnatt.>d
half a billion. ",
Author Peg Stt'J"PIler giws credit for masterminding
the schE'mt. to Fred Seaton. former hl;'ad of L.A. Water
and Power and mayor of th(. city when the scheme lxog".m.
Sh'!,.'lH'r claims Seaton himSt.'1f acquired watt'r rights
whilt' posing as a N,'('lamation agent. Working with him
was his suecessor at Watt'r and Power, William
.\lulhoUand. thou!zh it M't:'ms clear Seaton's motivation
was money; ~Iulh()l.land.s.....a<< .....att'r for the city. Su>gTwr
also giws substantial cn>dit to ,J. H. Lippincott and
claims that he .....as on the payroll of Los :\n!,.'\'les and
thl:' U.~, H('('lamation ~t\.icl' at th(. same time.1