CHAPTER XXVII 223 



There is positively no ground for the belief that any of our under- 

 ground waters come from anywhere beyond the rim of our own jnoun- 

 tains. Many think there are underground rivers from the Sierra Ne- 

 vada or the Rocky mountains, while others are sure that the Mojave 

 finds its course back from the desert under the mountains of San Ber- 

 nardino. Resort to all such theories is very unscientific if there are 

 conditions nearer home that will explain the facts as well. There is 

 positively no need of going beyond our own watersheds to account for 

 all the water underground and far more than has yet been brought to 

 light. 



Consider first how wide these ancient valleys are. The best part 

 of Orange county and some two-thirds of the coast line of Los Angeles 

 county was once a flood plain over which the Los Angeles, the San 

 Gabriel and the Santa Ana rivers gamboled for long ages, changing 

 places with each other probably as we have seen them do to some ex- 

 tent in our own time, but certainly shifting their beds with every 

 fresh burst of heavy flood water. Each one has made hundreds and 

 even thousands of channels and bed of gravel, miles away from one 

 another and no well has yet passed below the bottom layer, though 

 many have gone over a thusand feet. The same thing has happened 

 on smaller scales with other streams. The effect is to make countless 

 reservoirs that will hold many times the amount of water we have 

 seen developed. The outlet to the ocean from these cannot be very 

 free or they would not have remained so full during all these dry sea- 

 sons. 



Is there water enough from the rain to fill them? In very wet sea- 

 sons some of the rainfall from the low country probably finds its way 

 into them while the mountains turn in some even in ordinary dry sea- 

 sons. In wet seasons the quantity turned off from the mountains is 

 so great that a very few winters would fill all the underground chan- 

 nels. Once filled, with plenty of friction to fight on the way to the 

 ocean, the water wouid remain in these with a far smaller supply than 

 was necessary to fill them in the first place. 



As resources in dire necessity these old channels are a mighty 

 blessing. They have actually saved this year one of the very finest 

 of our settlements and insured nearly a million dollars worth of 

 oranges where from the failure of a great reservoir would have 

 been almost nothing. They have helped out many another settlement 

 that would have been mourning over a short crop while individuals 



