CONTROL OF FLOOD WATER IxV SOUTHERN CALIFORNLX 427 



The big storms of January, 1916, gave these dams a most severe test 

 and the results show clearly the value of such work. Thus in 191 4 

 this Sunland drainage basin had a maximum discharge of over 700 

 second- feet per square mile, while in 191 5. during the peak of the 

 storm, the water failed to reach the Tejunga wash, into which it emp- 

 ties. At the mouth of the canyon there was a discharge which 

 amounted to but eight second-feet and this water was clear and free 

 from debris, while during the flood of 1914 the stream was exceedingly 

 muddy, turbid, and was impassable. 



During the 1914 flood period no schqol could be held at Littlelands, 

 as the children were unable to get to the school-house on account of 

 the high water. In 19 16 children crossed the stream and assembled at 

 the school-house during the storm, though, fearing a repetition of the 

 flood of 19 1 4, the trustees closed the school. At no time since the 

 dams were installed has this stream been impassable, nor has there 

 been any damage caused by the high water, a statement which cannot 

 be made of any other drainage area in this region. 



As mentioned before, but one small side canyon in the main drain- 

 age had the dams in place during the second 191 5 storm. The first 

 storm, which did not have near the intensity of the second, caused a 

 large debris cone to be built up at the mouth of this canyon of twenty- 

 two acres. After the dams had been built, during the second storm, 

 no surface water reached the main stream, and where water was found 

 in this canyon it was clear and free from debris which found lodgment 

 in the basins behind the dams. All the other streams in this drainage 

 were muddy and swollen and eroded their channels badly. 



Adjoining Haines Canyon is another area heading up on the same 

 peak with an area of but half that of Haines and with a fairly heavy 

 stand of chaparral throughout. During the flood of 1916 this stream 

 did considerable damage to its channel and to adjacent lands, while 

 with a storm in October, 1916, amounting to 3.40 inches at Littlelands, 

 it discharged enough water to carry gravel to the county highways 

 half a mile distant from its mouth, while during this same storm, 

 in the adjoining canyon, there was no appreciable rise in the stream 

 nor was the water dirty or muddy. 



In February, 19 17, a recording stream gauge was installed in time 

 to catch the discharge from the heaviest storm of the season. The 

 daily discharge in second-feet per unit area from this canyon is shown 

 on figure i (in dark) for the period from February to Alay, 19 17. 

 while there is also shown (in light) the discharge reduced to the same 

 unit area on the same scale of the Little Santa Anita Canvon. which 



