MANZANAR Historic Resource Study/Special History Study

GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF OWENS VALLEY (continued)

History

Development: 1860-1890s. With the conquest of the Paiute, the lands of the eastern Sierra opened up to rapid settlement and development by white Americans. During the last thirty five years of the 19th century, Owens Valley underwent substantial development that would shape its future and determine to a large extent its present character. Two prominent mining booms took place in the area — the strikes at Cerro Gordo and Bodie — that would dominate the history of the region. Before reviewing these mining booms, however, it is important to understand their historic context and their relationship to ongoing settlement and agricultural development. [78]

While the mining rushes had profound effects on the development of the Owens Valley region, they were primarily short-lived affairs. Agriculturalists began settlements that had a more permanent character, although even farms were but temporary features upon the landscape in some parts of eastern California. Initially, agriculture relied upon the market that miners provided, as did other industries that supplied lumber, transportation, and water. Despite this dependence, however, farmers and ranchers lent an air of stability to the lands east of the Sierras. The hard economic times that set in after each boom reduced agricultural interests but could not eliminate them as they did mining. The slumps in the region after 1880 attest to the difficulties in the economic sector that supported miners, but the persistence of farmers and stockmen attests to the steady character of livelihoods tied to renewable wealth of the land. [79]

Although farm operations got off to a slow start in Owens Valley, they expanded rapidly during "the late 1860s. By 1867 farmers were cultivating approximately 2,000 acres. Barley was the principal crop. Two years later, 250 tons of grain were harvested from 5,000 acres of cultivated land in the valley, thus indicating a rapid expansion in farm operations. By 1886, a variety of fruits and vegetables were being raised in the valley, bringing good prices to growers. [80]

A promotional pamphlet published in 1886 optimistically advertised the agricultural possibilities in Inyo County and Owens Valley. The publication reported that more than 82,000 acres were still available for cultivation, and two-thirds of Round Valley, which contained much of the region's most fertile land, remained open for settlement. This estimate, however, was likely too optimistic. Cattlemen and sheep raisers dominated most of the choice "open" land in the region, and probably would have resisted extensive settlements by newcomers. Despite the promoters' claims, the best usable land was beginning to fill, leading to disputes and fights between potential settlers and those who had already established themselves on the land. [81]

Despite expanding settlement and farm and ranch operations, Owens Valley remained largely isolated from the outside world during the late 19th century. Although it generally grew faster than the settlements of Mono County to the north, it still developed slowly, particularly after the decline of Cerro Gordo in the mid-1870s. By the 1870s the valley had become a base camp for climbers heading into the High Sierra, and the route up Mount Whitney had its beginning, as it does today, at Lone Pine. Prominent visitors to the valley, who climbed Mount Whitney during the early and mid-1870s, included John Muir, the noted naturalist, explorer, and writer, and Clarence King, a prominent government surveyor in the West. [82] But visitors to the valley in the late 19th century were comparatively rare. Besides Muir and King, the most famous visitors to the valley in the late 19th century were members of the Wheeler Expedition, an Army Corps of Engineers scientific survey team assigned to explore the Great Basin. The expedition based some of its activities at Camp Independence from 1870 until the camp's abandonment in 1877. [83]

Selection of Owens Valley as the expedition's base camp symbolized the character of the valley in the late 19th century. Located on the fringes of the Great Basin, it epitomized the features of the region's semi-arid geography Yet it also lay on the eastern perimeter of California, adjacent to the rapidly developing settlements in the western and central parts of the state but separated from them by the wall of the Sierra Nevada. This location as a Sort of isolated backwater, lying between the turbulent mining-related prosperity of western California and western Nevada as well as the advancing modernization of California and the dry undeveloped stretches of the Great Basin, lent to Owens Valley a somewhat motley and unstable character. The population of Lone Pine in 1873, for instance, was a mixture of Mexicans, Americans, Indians, French, Swiss, and Chileans. Mining strikes, such as Cerro Gordo, created an opening for Asian workers as well. That ethnic groups could mix so easily suggests that no one element controlled the valley during these early years. Due in part to its geographical location and to its largely undeveloped character, society in Owens Valley would remain impermanent and unstable throughout the late 19th century. [84]

Yet some families found this backwater of civilization appealing, and some agriculturalists strove to establish permanent institutions east of the Sierra. Elements of these efforts were visible largely in the small towns that dotted the landscape of the valley. Bishop Creek, a town of approximately 600, brought the first "religious society" to the eastern Sierra region in 1869 with establishment of a Baptist Church. By 1886, the town featured two churches, three hotels, and a public school. The first Inyo County newspaper, the Inyo Independent, was established at Independence in 1870, and the first telegraph between that town and Camp Independence was installed in 1876. The first elements of an irrigation system crucial to agricultural development in the valley were begun during these years. [85]

Camp Independence, although a temporary military post, provided an aura of stability to Owens Valley Through the 1860s it aided white settlement in the valley by serving as a base for fighting Indians, protecting travelers, and providing a market for local meat and farm produce. During the 1870s, the post helped to resolve some of the problems associated with accelerated settlement. The struggle between farmers and ranchers for land and water, and the violence and lawlessness associated with the nearby mining booms, required and received the soldiers' attention. In the mid-1870s, for instance, at the height of the Cerro Gordo boom, soldiers at Camp Independence settled feuds between cattlemen and sheepherders over rights to pasturage and water. By 1877, however, the Indian threat was gone and local government was well enough established to handle settlement problems. Thus, the camp was disbanded, and the buildings torn down or auctioned off. [86]

A devastating earthquake in the early morning of March 26, 1872, had a major impact on the growing settlements as well as the landscape of Owens Valley. One of the greatest tremors recorded in the history of California, it is estimated that the quake would have registered 8.3 on the Richter scale. Lone Pine, near the epicenter, suffered extensive damage. All of Lone Pine's adobe houses collapsed in the tremor, killing 29 and injuring more than 60 of the town's 300-400 residents. Of those killed in the quake, most of whom were Mexicans, 16 had no nearby relatives. They were buried in a common grave that remains extant on the northern outskirts of Lone Pine. The adobe structures at Camp Independence toppled, but no fatalities and only a few injuries were reported. Most of the buildings in Independence were built of wood, and thus there were no reported injuries to its population of 400 because the wood flexed with the quake and did not break. [87]

The earthquake also resulted in changes to the landscape of Owens Valley Scarps that reached 23 feet in height were formed along the eastern edge of the Alabama Hills, and in some places the ground moved horizontally by 20 feet. Some 28 miles north of Lone Pine, the bed of the Owens River sank, and as the river filled these new fissures the flow stopped to the south for several hours. About seven miles north of Lone Pine, the ground along the river banks sank, creating a new channel for the river. The faults and scarps of that dramatic event remain in the valley, and along with the grave of the earthquake victims, are reminders of the valley's geological history. [88]

Cerro Gordo and Bodie Mining Booms. Compared to the slow, steady development of agriculture and settlement in Inyo and Mono counties, the Cerro Gordo and Bodie mining booms shook and realigned the character of the region. In a sense, they put the lands of the eastern Sierra on the map by stimulating rapid demographic and economic growth and by linking the area, albeit tenuously, to the outside world. The mining booms typified the approach of most Americans to the region Unwilling to settle in the lowlands of the two counties, for the most part, many were willing to endure hardship and cultural deprivation at Bodie and Cerro Gordo for a few years to strike it rich. These miners planned to tap the mineral resources of the area, hoping to spend and consume its wealth elsewhere. Nonetheless, their frenzied existence in the region contributed substantially to the region's growth. [89]

The silver boom at Cerro Gordo, the richest strike in the history of Inyo County, exemplified these patterns of development. Discovered about 1865 and worked constantly for 12 years, the mines at Cerro Gordo generated travel and wealth in the valley, but as was common in many western mining strikes, the profits from the venture tended to flow away from the valley to large cities and distant capitalists. Nonetheless, the mine stimulated commercial growth, created new business opportunities in the valley, and connected the region with Los Angeles, the expanding metropolitan area to the south that would one day acquire much of the valley. [90]

By 1868 some 700 people had made their way to the peak high above Owens Lake, and Cerro Gordo became a full-fledged mining camp. Stage lines sprang up, connecting the mine with Owens Valley twice daily, Nevada twice weekly, San Francisco via Walker Pass three times weekly, and Los Angeles once weekly. By 1870 nearly 1,000 claims had been filed, and the town began to acquire the meager rudiments of civilization, featuring frame houses, hotels, dance halls, and unpaved roadways. [91]

Despite problems with crime and disorder, Cerro Gordo became one of California's richest mining strikes. Its total output was uncertain during its principal years of operation from 1865 to 1877, but estimates suggest that it produced about $17,000,000 in silver. At its peak in 1874, the three smelters that served the mine produced 5,300 tons of bullion valued at $2,000,000, or an average of 400 bars of silver per day. [92]

The success of Cerro Gordo was due largely to its business organization. Developed by big businessmen, their disciplined organization turned the venture into a profitable enterprise. Mortimer W. Belshaw, a mining engineer from San Francisco, was responsible for much of the success of Cerro Gordo. Arriving with the earliest prospectors, Belshaw, with his partners, quickly gained control of the refining processes and later the water and lumber resources as well as the roads to Cerro Gordo, thus monopolizing production there. A proven mastermind of mineral engineering, Belshaw invented a special type of smelting furnace, and by 1868 he had begun to produce bullion at the unheard-of rate of 120 bars per day, each bar weighing 85 pounds and costing $20-$35. [93]

Getting the bullion from Cerro Gordo to the California coast was one of the developers' biggest problems. Until 1873 the production of bullion outraced the abilities of mule teams to haul the silver to market. A steamboat transported the bars from the base of the range across Owens Lake, where mule teams picked them up and transported them to Los Angeles, a journey that took between three and four weeks. In another three days, the bars were shipped to San Francisco, where they were refined further and passed on to the United States mint. After attempting several operations, Belshaw helped to establish the Cerro Gordo Freighting Company, headed by Remi Nadeau, in 1873, thus stabilizing the patterns of shipment for the remainder of the Cerro Gordo boom. [94]

Thus, the silver at Cerro Gordo gave Owens Valley its first consistent link with the outside world, and at the same time it fueled the growth of Los Angeles, which would later dominate the valley. The rise of Cerro Gordo coincided with one of the first land booms in the Los Angeles area, as farmers flocked to southern California. Cerro Gordo provided a market for their crops, and Los Angeles provided an entrepot for the bullion of Cerro Gordo. The 500 or so mules that hauled cargo between Cerro Gordo and San Pedro harbor near Los Angeles consumed all of the city's surplus feed crop, and the population at Cerro Gordo consumed other supplies from the city's farmers and merchants. Thus, the two regions became closely linked in a pattern of commercial growth. This connection almost resulted in construction of an early railroad between the two regions, but when the backing of an independent railroad promoter fell through, the Southern Pacific took over the idea. The company extended the rail line to Mojave, thus requiring Owens Valley to wait another 35 years for a direct connection to the city to the south. [95]

The Southern Pacific's reluctance to incorporate Cerro Gordo into its rail system reflected the decline of mining on that rim of the Owens Valley. During the mid-1870s mining activities were declining, and by 1877 all known silver deposits in the area had been extracted. Lack of reliable water sources and destructive fires contributed to the declining mining operations, and by 1879 Cerro Gordo had gone into decline.

The demise of Cerro Gordo came at an inopportune time for the Owens Valley. The financial Panic of 1873, which had afflicted the economy of the nation and California, began to impact Inyo County in 1875. As Cerro Gordo and smaller mining operations in the region slumped, miners, teamsters, and merchants experienced declining prosperity. During early 1877 soldiers at Camp Independence were discharged in a continuous stream, and on July 10 of that year the post closed, thus ending not only a social center and a source of authority but also a market for the produce of farmers and the goods of merchants. Disbandment of the fort and closure of Cerro Gordo signified the end of the first period of economic prosperity in Owens Valley. [96]

To the north of Owens Valley, the rising mining camp of Bodie was able to absorb some of those dispossessed by the economic decline in Inyo, and in so doing bolstered the sluggish development of Mono County. Rich veins of gold were discovered at Bodie during the mid-1870s, and by 1880 some 6,000 people had arrived to participate in the boom. Mining activity in Bodie reached its peak during the years 1877-81, as the town experienced a peak population of nearly 16,000. Although mining operations would continue into the 20th century, production at the Bodie mines declined drastically after 1883. The mines at Bodie far outstripped those at Cerro Gordo, the total value of the generally high grade silver and gold ore amounting to some $21,000,000. During the peak years from 1877 to 1881, approximately $11,700,000 of that total was produced in gold, the Standard Mine yielding two-thirds of the entire gross output. [97]

Carson and Colorado Railroad. The Carson and Colorado Railroad was one of the byproducts of the Cerro Gordo and Bodie mining booms, and it outlived both. The line was originally proposed in the late 1870s, although mining east of the Sierra had already begun to decline. The railway builders desired to connect Carson City, Nevada, with the Colorado River in southern California. But in the early 1880s, when this narrow gauge railroad was commenced, mining activity in Mono and Inyo counties had diminished to such an extent that the tracks from Carson City were extended only to Keeler on the eastern shore of Owens Lake at the southern end of the Owens Valley The builders originally intended to profit from the trade of the mining strikes in the area that the railroad served, but when the railroad was completed in 1883 Cerro Gordo had been abandoned and mining operations at Bodie were declining. Nevertheless, the railroad replaced the teams of mules and burros that had been such a frequent sight through Owens Valley Because of the stagnant mining activity in western Nevada and eastern California, D. O. Mills, the owner of the railroad, was forced to sell out to the Southern Pacific in 1900 for $2,750,000. Shortly thereafter, strikes at Tonopah, Goldfield, and elsewhere in western Nevada made the line profitable, staving off its inevitable decline for several decades. [98]

Despite its relative lack of success, the Carson and Colorado Railroad influenced the development of Owens Valley The line was the valley's first modern transportation link to the outside world, connecting it with Reno and San Francisco. The function of a narrow gauge railroad in the American West was generally limited to local or regional businesses, such as livestock, lumbering, and mining. Because these industries were generally migratory and temporary, use of these railroads was generally limited, and only two narrow gauges — the Denver and Rio Grande and the Carson and Colorado — survived into the mid-20th century as did the White Pass and Yukon Route in Alaska. The purpose of the narrow tracks was to facilitate travel over and through mountain passes. The Carson and Colorado squeezed over the White Mountains near Benton, connecting western Nevada with eastern California. [99]

While the railroad stimulated the economy of the eastern Sierra by creating new markets for its agricultural produce in western Nevada, the principal interest of its builders was mining. As a result, the tracks travelled down the eastern side of the valley, bypassing each of the major settlements that had emerged on the west side of the Owens River, where the elements of irrigation were available for agriculture. Thus, each permanent settlement in the valley had to build a station on the east side of the river in order to be served by the narrow gauge. Bishop utilized the town of Laws, Big Pine the town of Alvord, Independence the station at Kearsarge (originally known as Citrus), and Lone Pine developed Mount Whitney Station. The railroad's tracks skirted the northeastern shore of Owens Lake, where in later years they would provide transportation for the non metallic minerals extracted from the lake bottom. [100]

Despite the comparatively long life of the Carson and Colorado (in later years renamed briefly the Nevada and California and for most of the 20th century known simply as the Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge), it was doomed to extinction from its earliest years. Mining activity in eastern California never improved sufficiently to warrant full-time service, and the strikes in western Nevada were transitory in nature. Towns such as Tonopah and Goldfield provided a market for farmers, but most of the business and the ore moved from Mono and Inyo counties toward Reno and San Francisco. Competition also impacted operations on the narrow gauge line. The Southern Pacific extended its standard gauge tracks from Mojave to Owenyo in 1910 to provide transport for the construction of the aqueduct that would carry water from Owens Valley to Los Angeles, and rail traffic began to enter the region from southern California over the Southern Pacific lines. Along with other American railroads, the Carson and Colorado faced increasing competition from increased use of automobiles and trucks on passable highways that connected Owens Valley with Los Angeles during the 1920s and 1930s. When Los Angeles completed its aqueduct in the 1920s, the railroad lost the business of the valley's farmers. Though it still made regular trips through the 1940s and 1950s, the railroad continued to decline, and made its last run in 1960, and within a year had been dismantled. [101]

Owens Valley at the Turn of the 20th Century. In 1900 the economy of Inyo County rested on an agricultural base. With a population of 4,377, the county had 424 farms and 141,059 acres of farmland. The annual value of its crops (ten-year average) was $394,846, while the annual value of its livestock was $574,229. [102] The Carson and Colorado Railroad provided a means of export for farm produce and a mode of import for other goods. The growing season supported more crop production than Mono County, its neighbor to the north, but, like Mono, the Owens Valley largely depended on livestock. Owens Valley residents produced some fruits and vegetables, but they concentrated on feed crops such as alfalfa. [103]

Earlier in 1893 the federal government had become a fixture in Inyo County when the Sierra Forest Reserve was established, protecting more than 4,000,000 acres of forest lands in five California counties. In 1907, when "timber reserves" were redesignated "national forests," parts of Inyo and Mono counties became the Inyo and Toiyabe national forests. As a result of this new land designation, sheep grazing was somewhat curtailed as restrictions on land usage in the national forests limited the number of animals that moved through the area. [104]

At the turn of the 20th century, the population of Owens Valley was linked together in a chain of towns that ran the length of the valley, each sharing the river and the railroad as common communication channels. Foremost among the towns in the area was Bishop, located at the north end of the valley. After building a bank, public high school, and utility company in 1902, the town was incorporated in 1903. By 1909 its population numbered about 1,200, and it had acquired electric power, a town water supply system, a post office, telephones, and a telegraph The town boasted six churches and four schools. [105]

Lone Pine exemplified another aspect of the growth of Owens Valley at the turn of the 20th century. Although whites had dominated the valley's non-aboriginal population, a strong Mexican community sprang up in Lone Pine. The Mexicans had arrived in the settlement during the mining rushes in the region, and a deeply rooted community remained there. Mary Austin, a noted author whose own tragic life in the valley was part of the story of Independence during this period, depicted the foreign community sensitively in her The Land of Little Rain in 1903. [106]

Northeast of Lone Pine, another community, known as Owenyo, was established by Quakers in the early 1900s. Located on the Carson and Colorado narrow gauge, Owenyo became the center for a 13,000-acre settlement project by the William Penn Colonial Association of California. Incorporated on June 9, 1900, the association, whose officers were headquartered in Whittier and Los Angeles, was capitalized at $200,000. The association attempted to sell land for $25 per acre, and it planned to construct electric power, light, and heating plants and erect a sugar beet processing factory. Liquor, gambling, and "houses of ill repute" were banned from the colony. The Quakers dug some 42 miles of irrigation canals ranging in width from 18 to 50 feet, but it soon became apparent that the settlers, most of whom were from the East, were unprepared to work the arid lands of Owens Valley. Thus, the Quakers were among the first to sell their lands to Los Angeles in 1905 when the city began to purchase land for its aqueduct. [107]

The Basques were another European group present in Owens Valley at the turn of the 20th century. Since they came and left as transient sheepherders, little was ever recorded about them. Many of those labeled as Basque were in actuality French, Spanish, Mexican, and Portuguese. These European herders had come to North America as early as the 1850s, working primarily in western California, but some Basques had apparently reached Owens Valley and Mono Basin by the mid-1860s. However, they did not arrive in large numbers until the setting for Basque herding began to shift from central and western California to the Great Basin during the closing decade of the 19th century. In 1896-97 all but two of the 34 licenses in Inyo County went to Basque or French herders. Establishment of a hotel catering to Basque and French herders in Bishop provides evidence that these people kept to themselves in order to maintain their cultural ties and perhaps to protect themselves against discrimination by the dominant white society. [108]

For permanent settlers in Owens Valley survival depended on the building of irrigation systems. The Paiutes had constructed an extensive network of ditches which allowed them to irrigate "nearly all the arable land in that section of the country." [109] When Euro-American settlers moved into the area, whites had to construct watercourses to channel water to their mining and agricultural endeavors. Early white settlers in the Owens Valley moved on to the lands formerly cultivated by the Paiutes along the rivers and streams, taking over the ditches the Indians had dug and using them to irrigate farmlands just as the Paiute had. As the number of settlers increased in the valley, conflicts erupted over the limited water supply, as farmers and ranchers both attempted to employ it for their own interests. [110]

As the prime lands along the streams of the valley were settled, new arrivals began to choose lands that lay farther away. To avoid the conflicts that had permeated valley life since white settlement began, and to prosper as farmers and ranchers, residents began digging their own canals. The first sizable white irrigation projects were undertaken in 1878, when the McNally Ditch near Laws, Bishop Creek Ditch, Big Pine Canal, and Lone Pine Ditch were planned. Work began on the Owens River Canal and the Inyo Canal in 1887. Most of these canals tended to run parallel to the river, and many were located north of Bishop. By 1906 nineteen canals were in operation in Owens Valley, and by 1910 artesian wells near Independence had been dug successfully and used to provide water for irrigation. The combination of plentiful water and increasingly prosperous agricultural activities helped Owens Valley to overcome its economic doldrums in the wake of the decline of the Cerro Gordo mining boom and seemed to portend a bright future for the Owens Valley. [111]

The continual increase of agricultural production in the valley during the early 1900s supported the promising expectations for the valley's economy. In 1910 an agricultural census of the valley showed that there were 43,000 sheep, 5,000 horses, 20,000 cows and cattle, 5,800 colonies of bees, 20,000 apple trees, and 40,000 grapevines. Farm production included 58,000 bushels of corn, 51,000 bushels of wheat, 53,000 bushels of potatoes, 174,000 pounds of butter, 37,000 tons of alfalfa, 100 tons of honey, and 150 tons of grapes.

One horticultural specialist, however, was less than enthusiastic about the agricultural prospects of Owens Valley during this period. J. S. Cotton, in his Agricultural Conditions in Inyo County, observed that of the 500,000 acres of land in the Owens Valley, about 200,000 acres were held under patent, and one-fifth of that was under cultivation. He noted that the "great majority of farmers in the Valley are very lax in their methods." Irrigation of unleveled land by flooding led to over-irrigation and increased alkalinity of the soil in many areas. Furthermore, valley farmers were "badly handicapped" by inadequate facilities to market their produce. The Carson and Colorado Railroad connecting Keeler with points in Nevada ran along the east side of the valley, far from the agricultural districts on the West. The railroad was poorly managed and freight charges were high. Much of the feasibility of any new project in the valley depended "on the future value of the land, which in turn may depend on the transportation facilities." [112]

Despite this negative assessment of Owens Valley agriculture, however, the combined ranching and farming industries in the valley were beginning to reach their peak by the early 1910s. Nevertheless, a water controversy with the City of Los Angeles loomed on the horizon that would shatter the valley's agricultural-based economy and have drastic impacts on the region's development.

Los Angeles, the Aqueduct, and Water Controversy. By the turn of the 20th century, Los Angeles had experienced what seemed like a perpetual boom since the heyday of Cerro Gordo, and the continual influx of people demanded more and more resources. As the city became accustomed to growth and the profits to be made from expansion, its leaders, who were committed to the "ethic of growth," began to plan for expansion. Long before the city needed actual resources, men were planning how to bring them to the rapidly expanding metropolis to insure continued prosperity and growth in the future. This was especially true in the case of water. [113]

The Los Angeles Basin comprises approximately 6 percent of California's habitable land, but enjoys only 0.6 percent of the natural stream flow of the state. This small portion seemed adequate until the turn of the 20th century. At that time the city had a population of about 100,000, but its phenomenal growth rate suggested that it would soon double in size. A dry weather cycle that stretched from the early 1890s until 1904 convinced city leaders that future growth of their city depended upon obtaining a large water supply from elsewhere. [114]

In 1902, three years before Los Angeles civic leaders became overtly involved in the aqueduct project, the U.S. Reclamation Service began studying Owens Valley in preparation for extending irrigation throughout the basin. Largely because of the efforts of Joseph Barlow Lippincott, who was employed by both the chief engineer of the Reclamation Service and the City of Los Angeles, the federal project was dropped when the city began to show interest in the valley's water. Los Angeles began moving into the area, purchasing lands adjacent to the Owens River as well as other streams and canals, thus acquiring most of the riparian rights to the water in the southern half of the valley. Although their methods were not illegal, the buyers for the city, under the leadership of the superintendent of the Los Angeles City Water Department, William Mulholland, and former Los Angeles mayor Fred Eaton, owner of a 440-acre poultry ranch near Big Pine that was reportedly the largest such operation in the state [115], sometimes employed unscrupulous methods. Posing as ranchers and agents of the Reclamation Service, buyers purchased valley lands for Los Angeles throughout the middle years of the first decade of the 20th century. By falsely representing themselves, the city's agents were attempting to avoid sudden speculation by local landholders, but many valley residents later came to resent these tactics, feeling that they had been misled into selling their land. [116]

The City of Los Angeles received assistance from the federal government in its quest to obtain land in the Owens Valley. The first two decades of the 20th century witnessed the rise of the progressive movement in American politics during which time many leaders became strong supporters of urbanization, urban reform, regional incorporation, bureaucratic management, and municipal ownership of city services. In addition, the progressives promised a solution to local underdevelopment through scientific conservation, reclamation, organizational efficiency and economic centralization. [117] Theodore Roosevelt, a progressive who served as President of the United States from 1901 to 1909, was sympathetic to the proposed water project , and as a result his administration aided the efforts of the city by protecting much of the unsettled portions of Owens Valley from further settlement. This objective was accomplished in 1908 when Gifford Pinchot, Chief Forester of the fledgling U.S. Forest Service, extended the borders of the Sierra National Forest to include 275,000 acres of valley land, despite the fact that the protected acreage was virtually treeless. This action, along with the Reclamation Service's earlier decision to drop its irrigation plans in favor of the Los Angeles plans to construct an aqueduct, would later lead many to conclude that the federal government was an accomplice in "the rape of Owens Valley" and encouraged distrust of the federal government in the valley. [118]

By 1908 the voters of Los Angeles had approved bond issues that funded the project, and construction of the aqueduct was begun. As construction got underway, a promotional pamphlet issued by the Owens Valley Chamber of Commerce optimistically stated:

It has been reported that Los Angeles owns the greater part of the irrigating waters of Owens Valley; not only is this not the fact, but it is true that the city of Los Angeles owns only a small minority of such waters, depending principally for its supply on the surplus flow of Owens river. . .

The water rights of Owens Valley are secure; the continued appropriation and use for many years has given vested rights, which are as near perfect as water rights can be. The exceptionally few law suits over water rights are a part of the history of Inyo county. [119]

At its completion in 1913, the 230-mile aqueduct, largely the brainchild of William Mulholland, stood as one of the engineering triumphs of the early 20th century. To complete the project the Southern Pacific, at the behest of the city, built a rail line from Mojave that connected with the narrow gauge at Owenyo. Initially, it supplied the construction, already underway, of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, and later provided an outlet, albeit roundabout and costly, for Owens Valley farmers. To provide the builders with electricity, the city constructed power plants which were later converted for use by valley residents. The aqueduct intake was built at Aberdeen, where the Owens River entered a channel that pulled the water by gravity through a string of reservoirs, pipes, tunnels, and canals to Los Angeles. During the years immediately after completion of the aqueduct, the city did not need much of the water for domestic or industrial use, thus diverting much of the flow to irrigate farmlands in the expanding San Fernando Valley just north of Los Angeles.

Although concerned about the actions of Los Angeles, Owens Valley residents remained generally optimistic about the future of their homes and livelihoods until the 1920s. The aqueduct extended only to Aberdeen, leaving untouched most of the irrigated lands and riparian rights in the more cultivated northern half of the valley During the early years of that decade, one promotional tract, for instance, contended that there was plenty of irrigation water left for new settlers and that "the filings of the city in no way jeopardize existing water rights in the valley." [120]

Another promotional pamphlet circulated during the early 1920s optimistically stated that agriculture in Owens Valley was "still in its infancy." There were some 75,000 acres under cultivation, of which "at least 98 per cent" was irrigated under gravity flow of water." "In the last few years," however, a "new awakening" in agricultural development had occurred in the valley that would "lead us to a development four times as large as our present cultivated area, with 30 and 40-acre holdings, and a class of people more contented than in any other section in California." [121]

Despite this optimism, however, two sets of circumstances combined during the 1920s to shatter the confident illusions of Owens Valley residents. First, a number of factors prevented the construction of a dam and reservoir at the lower end of Long Valley that would have helped to regulate the inconsistent flow of the Owens River and store for later use excess water from wet years. When it became clear that this dam would not be constructed, the stage was set, according to several historians, for misunderstandings and violence. [122]

A second set of circumstances provided the more immediate cause for the battles that erupted in Owens Valley during the mid-1920s. A severe drought that afflicted southern California in the early 1920s, combined with the explosive growth that continued in the Los Angeles area, demonstrated the need for the city to expand its holdings in Owens Valley Initially the farms and ranches of the northern half of the valley had been ]eft with enough water to operate easily. During the dry years of the early 1920s, however, these residents consumed most or all of the river water before it reached the aqueduct intake. While Los Angeles had earlier planned to take only the "surplus" water from the Owens River, the drought and continued growth of the city forced it to change its goals. Thus, the City launched a new land acquisition program in the Bishop and Big Pine areas, hoping to close off the ditches and canals so that all of the Owens River water would flow into the city's aqueduct. The city's new campaign led to vigorous arguments over the monetary value of the valley lands and reparation demands by valley residents for the damage the aqueduct had done and was expected to do to business and prosperity in the valley. When the two sides were unable to reach a compromise, valley residents became increasingly angry over the "rape" of their valley by the powerful and wealthy metropolis to the south and turned to bombings and violence as a last resort. Their most notable act of sabotage occurred in November 1924, when a group forcibly opened the Alabama Gates four miles north of Lone Pine, diverting water from the aqueduct and sending it down a spillway to the abandoned river bed over a five-day period.

An additional development that added to the frustrations of Owens Valley residents was the inability of the area's farmers, ranchers, and townspeople to reach a consensus on how to deal with their more numerous, powerful, and wealthy rivals in Los Angeles. Those who were willing to accept the city's terms sold out and then either moved away or stayed in the valley as tenants of Los Angeles. They were viewed as traitors by some valley residents, who sought either to hold out for high prices or to resist the Los Angeles land acquisition program entirely. Those who did not want to sell at any price often resented other opponents of Los Angeles who were merely trying to get more money for their properties. As a result of these differing opinions, many suspicions, feuds, and community disruptions occurred in the valley during the 1920s, thus shattering the former camaraderie that had characterized its small communities. This legacy of suspicion and distrust would linger for decades. [123]

The heightened conflict between the City of Los Angeles and the residents of Owens Valley ended abruptly in 1927. Opponents of Los Angeles had organized behind the leadership of Wilfred W. and Mark Q. Watterson to resist the aqueduct until they received their price. The Watterson brothers operated the only banks in the valley, and represented the only source of loans to valley farmers and ranchers. In August 1927 the Watterson banks were suddenly audited and closed, and the brothers were convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to San Quentin prison. The collapse of the banks destroyed all effective opposition, as the valley lost not only its strongest leaders but also the money necessary for resisting Los Angeles. Ironically, many valley residents who had sold out to the city had deposited their windfalls in the Watterson banks, causing them to suffer also from the collapse. [124]

During the next few years the city and the valley worked to reconcile their differences. The ability to compromise on prices and issues, which had eluded both parties for so long, suddenly made itself apparent. Both parties consented to some arbitration and price adjustments, and Los Angeles proceeded to acquire all the essential land and water rights in Owens Valley. By 1933 the city owned 95 percent of all farmland. In lieu of paying damages to townspeople who lost business as a result of the aqueduct, the city also purchased some 85 percent of all town property in the valley. [125]

The impact of the water controversy upon the people and lands of Owens Valley was tremendous. The local economy slumped as people streamed out of the valley — an event that was aided in part by the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. The population of Inyo County declined from 7,031 in 1920 to 6,555 in 1930, and Bishop, its largest town, suffered a drop in population from 1,304 to 850 during the same period. [126] Land use also changed drastically as Los Angeles acquired virtually all privately owned farm lands and the federal government withdrew from homestead entry much of the public land to protect Los Angeles water rights. The city leased a small fraction of its 278,055 acres to farmers and ranchers, allowing a semblance of agriculture to persist in the valley. Nevertheless, over 500 modest farmers in 1920 were replaced by 80 cattle ranchers in 1930 who managed, on average, 5,000-acre ranches of city-owned land valued at over $1,000,000 each. [127] Despite the on-going agricultural activities, however, the city was given priority for water from the Owens River, so no farmer or rancher could be assured of a steady and certain supply to irrigate his lands. Farming declined as a result of this uncertainty. Because the livestock industry required less water, it remained in the valley, and some feed crops were also grown. But for the most part, agriculture would never again be the dominant way of life in the valley as it had been before the coming of the Los Angeles aqueduct. [128]

Owens Valley During the 1930s. During the late 1930s, a paved highway was completed from Los Angeles to Owens Valley, and with improvements in automobiles, Owens Valley and eastern California became increasingly popular tourist destinations for the expanding population of southern California. To some extent the promotional activities of some leading local residents were instrumental in developing tourism. While at the nadir of economic life in Inyo and Mono counties during the Great Depression, concerned residents joined to restore the economy of the area. Under the leadership of Ralph Merritt and Father John J. Crowley, pastor of the Santa Rosa Parish headquartered in Lone Pine, [129] the aforementioned Inyo-Mono Associates was organized in 1937 to publicize the scenic beauty and recreational and investment opportunities of the two counties. By 1940 the organization had a membership of 30, including representatives from Olancha, Death Valley, Panamint, Darwin, Keeler, Bishop, Lone Pine, Big Pine, and Independence.

Among the group's most prominent members were George Savage, owner of the Chalfant Press which published the three major Owens Valley newspapers; W. A. Chalfant, editor of the Inyo Register at Bishop for more than 50 years; Roy Boothe, supervisor of Inyo National Forest; S. W. Lowden, division engineer of the State Division of Highways; and Theodore R. Goodwin, superintendent of Death Valley National Monument. The organization sought to restore the Owens Valley economy through a program of cooperation with the City of Los Angeles, and Merritt was appointed chairman of the committee on relations with the city. To attain its goal, the Inyo-Mono Associates posited that Owens Valley "was but a part of the whole area — called by them 'America's Range of Recreation' — and that by bringing prosperity to the area they would inevitably bring prosperity to the valley itself, not alone through the revival of agriculture but through the scenic beauties and more tourists." [130] Serving largely as a regional chamber of commerce, the organization helped to pump life and confidence into the area's decimated economy, although its initial enterprise was clouded by Merritt's reputation for "sharp practice" and rumors that Merritt and Crowley had been closely associated in Fresno during the 1920s when Merritt's Sun Maid raisin growers' association had gone bankrupt. Nevertheless, by encouraging local businessmen to subscribe funds to the advertising and public relations activities of the Inyo-Mono Associates, Merritt and Crowley were able to raise an annual budget of $20,000 by 1942. Crowley and Merritt recruited Robert Brown, a former English teacher at Big Pine High School with a journalism background, to head the Inyo-Mono Associates as its chief of publicity. Brown was successful in his attempts to get the major Los Angeles newspapers, particularly the Los Angeles Times, to carry articles in their sports sections about the abundance of fish and game in Inyo and Mono counties. [131]

The most important achievement of the association and its supporters occurred when they convinced the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to co-operate in efforts to make the region a tourist haven. Such an idea had been proposed before, even by planners in Los Angeles who felt that recreational use would enhance the city's efforts to protect the watershed that drained into the aqueduct, but the city had resisted any further development of the valley. During the late 1930s the Department of Water and Power began to change its mind and commenced working with the Inyo-Mono Associates to promote tourism and recreation in eastern California. Its main contribution to this cause during the pre-World War II years was the release of some city lands in Owens Valley. Some property was leased or sold back to town businessmen, and some city land was allocated for recreational purposes. With the valley's largest landowner participating, efforts to promote tourism and recreation showed marked success. In 1940 it was estimated that approximately 1,000,000 tourists visited Owens Valley. [132] ) These efforts seemed assured of continued success on the eve of World War II and would later contribute to the postwar economic development of the valley economy. [133]