574 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



J. B. Lippincott, Assistant Chief Engineer (with book) ; Hon. Fred Eaton (center), father of 

 the Owens River project; WilHam Mulholland (side), Chief Engineer 



dammed into Owens Lake, and at a time 

 when Mother Nature was making over 

 the W estern Hemisphere. When the hy- 

 drauHc-filled dam is completed, the reser- 

 voir will have an area of 15 square miles, 

 and will serve for storage, regulation, 

 and clarification of the summer floods. 

 Once full, if its supply were to be cut 

 off entirely the storage capacity is sufli- 

 cient for the needs of Los Angeles for 

 more than three years. 



From the Haiwee reservoir the water 

 v^ill be carried southward in a closed 

 concrete conduit for a distance of 125 

 miles, following, as a rule, the contour 

 of the country through which it passes. 

 Sometimes the snaky thing of dirty white 

 will lie along the surface of the desert ; 

 at other times it will rest in niches cut 

 in rocky mountain walls ; canyons it will 

 descend on one side, then ascend the 

 other as a large cylindrical metal shell 

 nearly an inch in thickness ; mountains 

 which forbid ascent will be burrowed. 

 When at length the northern base of the 

 Coast Range has been reached the waters 



will be given rest in the Fairmont reser- 

 voir, but only temporarily. 



HOW THE WATER WII.I. BE REIvAYED 



From the bottom of the basin, which is 

 one for regulation, the water will pass 

 26,860 feet through a tunnel under the 

 Coast Range to come out on the edge of 

 San Francisquito canyon ; thence for 1 1 

 miles through conduit and tunnel to be 

 shot down 800 feet upon the restless 

 wheels of two large hydro-electric plants ; 

 thence for 7 miles and another sheer de- 

 scent of 700 feet to develop more electric 

 power ; then on again 16 miles to a third 

 power plant, finally to find freedom in 

 the San Fernando reservoirs. 



These two basins perched on the rim 

 of the San Fernando Valley will look 

 down 1,000 feet upon Los Angeles, 20 

 miles away, and a score of other towns 

 and cities of the Pacific coastal plain. 

 No pumping is anywhere necessary. The 

 only expense will be that of maintenance, 

 which should be small because of the 

 enduring character of the materials em- 



