St. Francis Dam Case Study

In the 1898 mayoral election, Frederick Eaton was elected as mayor of Los Angeles; and appointed his associate, William Mulholland- the superintendent of the newly created Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Eaton and Mulholland envisioned a region of Los Angeles that would make Los Angeles become the turn of the century. The limiting factor of that regions growth was water supply. Eaton and Mulholland realized that the Owens Valley had a large amount of runoff from the Sierra Nevada, and a gravity-fed aqueduct that could deliver the Owens water to Los Angeles. During the early 1900’s the United States Bureau of Reclamation made plans to build an irrigation system to help the farmers of the Owens Valley. By 1905, through purchases, and alleged intimidation and bribery, Los Angeles purchased enough water rights to enable construction of the aqueduct.

Mulholland's aqueduct could deliver up to 258 million gallons a day, but its weak link was crossing the San Andreas Fault. As a hedge against a disabling earthquake — and against sabotage — he sought to build a dam massive enough to hold one year's supply of water. The construction of the St. Francis Dam began sometime in 1924 silently so as not to attract the attention of the farmers dependent on the water of San Francisquito Creek. The water brought from the high Sierra aquifer through strings of artificial reservoirs connected by giant pipes and canals roaming over 200 miles across the allocated region of San Francisquito Canyon of the Sierra Pelona Mountains would turn the small city of San Francisquito Canyon to grow into a promising