AQUEDUCT FROM STANDPOINT OF BOND BUYERS

PART 111

SHOWS VALUEOF CONDUIT TO

BOND BUYERSOwens River Treated

in MagazineLos Angeles Man Publlahea an Article

on the Great Aqueduct Project

from the Standpoint of

Financet

WILLIAMMULHOLLAND

purposes, sent through a thirty-inchpipe, and is lifted over a mountainrange 1417 feet by pumping stationsalong the line. The only other waterworks plant, in ancient or moderntimes, at all comparable with the LosAngeles system, in the magnitude ofthese engineering features, Is the onenow being; constructed by the city ofNew York, at a cost nearly as greatas that of the Panama canal, to bringwater from the CatsklH mountains,through aqueducts built under greatdifficulties. One of these difficultiesis carrying the water under the Hud-son river, from the west side to theeast, above West Point, through a tun-nel 700 feet under ground. The moststupendous feature of the New Yorksystem is the capacity of the reser-voirs, ranging from 31,500,000,000 to

150,000,000,000 gallons, the latter being,the largest ever built. Some otherfeatures of the three systems are em-bodied in the accompanying table:

TF1 rj . n=•§ sE 2of :<c? r~~

8 sLocation, so £2 J

:-^: -^:-^::-r, 8| I? '\u25a0•c \u25a0 ;•;•'{'•• •

Coolgardle ..328 \u25a0\u25a0 5,000,000 $13,000,000Los Angeles. 22ll 400,000,000 25,000,000New Y0rk...117 500,000,000 162,000.000

Nothing illustrates more clearly tholine of social development than themanner in which waterfalls are nowregarded. Even fifty years ago theywere admired for their scenic beauty,or were not regarded at all. But todaythere is no sentiment about it. Thisis an ago when mun makes the forcesof nature perform his labor. The firstthing he thinks of now, as he viewsa cataract is. how much work will itdo; how much money can be made outof it? Although the elevation of Owensriver valley Is net 3500 feet above LosAngeles the distance, 226 miles, givesan average fall of only about 15 feetto the mile." Practically it is not somuch as this, for there are three, ormore properly speaking, four locationson the way where the drop Is muchmore precipitous, and these afford ex-cellent opportunities for power to gen-erate electricity. The possible devel-opment of 49,000 horse power at theselocations is shown in the table givenherewith :

Possible Power Development

ns the City's supply is now drawn.The supply will be abundant for atleast a hundred years to come, If notindeed forever; for the growth ofvegetation under irrigation will tendIn time to increase the annual rainfall.

mITFh~—

Location from Los Drop, PossibleNo. Angeles infeet horse pr.

1 180 270 7,0002 4r. 1,060 28.0003 4.r, 415 11,0004 25 215 6,000

1.. *The water supply of Los Angeles in

past years was derived entirely and isyet found mainly in the San Fernandovalley, a district immediately north andwest of the city, about ten miles wideand twenty, miles long, lying betweenthe Sierra Madre and the Santa Monicamountains, and having a watershep of(500 square miles. The floor of the val-ley Is a rich sandy soil underlaid withdeep gravel beds. During the rainyseason every mountain canyon con-tains a raging torrent which rushesdown into the valley; but instead ofrunning off to the ocean it sinks intothe sands of the valley, is drunk eager-ly by the gravel beds, is held in sus-pension for months and even years, andBeeps slowly to the south until thewater above the bed of the Los Angelesriver is drained into the river, whichthus has its origin, and which, flowingpast the city, gives to the residents thesupply they have used. The water inthe sands of the valley lower than thebad of the river is reached by wellswhich are pumped for irrigation anddomestic use. The San Fernando val-ley is thus a vast natural reservoirwith an area of about 150 squaremiles and an unknown depth.

Until recent years this has yieldedsufficient water. But while the popu-lation of Los Angeles in 1890 was 60,-0, In the next ten years It doubled;ln the next five years it doubled again,lt now approaches 250,000 and isarrowing at a remarkable pace. With-in/- the past few years the river hasn<rt furnished enough water; in sum-mer,, hardly half enough; and the sup-1ply• has been augmented by pumpingfrom subterranean sources. But thelimit is now about reached. In 1901;the \u25a0\u25a0 city acquired from a corporation'.the ownership of the water works,and the average consumption then was

\u25a0 30,0 gallons a day per head of popu-lation

—largest in the United

IStates. By the introduction of metersthis has been reduced to 120 gallons,and everybody has had enough. Mr.(William Mullholland, the superinten-

\u25a0\u25a0 dent, :who brought about the reduction,estimates the future maximum con-sumpltlon at 150 gallons per head perdAy, allowing everybody an abundance.Bat the rapidly growing city mustSNMC its future greater supply from'some other source; and that source isfound In the Owens river valley, morethan 200 miles, straight as the crowfilets, north of the city, high up in thomountains.Remarkable City with a Great Future', Close observers believe that LosAngeles Is destined to become a verygceat city— of the greatest in theworld; and that a water supply for atleAst a million people should be pro-vided. This Is not whollylocal pride;.Tbere are good grounds for the opin-ion. Four-sevenths of all the land on

\u0084thet,,thet globe is washed by the Pacificocean and four-sevenths of all the In-habitants of ii.. globe occupy thoselands, r| are In large part Just!•wakening to civilization and theirtrade is in its Inception. The west!coast of the United States is destinedto. absorb a large share of that trade,which means a large growth In popu-latton. But the west coast Is a narrow,»t?ip of land, averaging hardly morethan ICO miles in width. To the east<«• far as Denver, 1600 miles, there in-tervene \u25a0 deserts and mountain rangeswhich act as a protective tariff and. give in some degree the coast coun-try a monopoly of that trade.

And this congestion qc«urs in twowaV*—idtltudlnally us well as longi-tudinally. The Atlantic coast husmany \u25a0 excellent deep-water harbor*but. not >so the Pacific. The Pugetsound gives Washington several. Port-

San Fernando Natural Reservoir

BRONSON C. KEELERJNVKSTORS will shortly be invitedIto subscribe to a bond issue ofabout•* $25,000,000, made by the city of Los'Angeles, for the construction of a newwater system. While other water

works. In larger cities, have cost much

more money, this one will, in magni-

tude of some of its parts and innovelty,possess features not hnd by any othermunicipal water system in the world.

Itmay not be inappropriate, therefore,

to outline briefly what the propositioncontemplates.

The. location and growth of cities in

Southern California are determined in

a peculiar degree by water supply. Ifyou ask why Los Angeles is where itstands, rather than on the seashorefifteen miles away, tho answer is thatthe original pueblo, or village, wasplaced on the present site because theLkjs Angeles river gave the pioneersabundant water; Just as the first set-tlefra laid out Chicago where it is be-cause of the deep river which affordedthere a good harbor for heavy- draftlake vessels.In Southern California no rain falls

from May to October. The precipita-tion from November to April averagessixteen inches, which ia not sufficientfor agriculture unless supplementedwithirrigation. Consequently, as popu-lation increases, a struggle arises be-tween the cities and the country forcontrol of the water, und in recentyears the subterranean water plain hasfallen steadily, so that many wells haveto be sunk deeper to reach the fluid.

Bronson C. K«»ler, 7.17 Stewart street,has a well-written article In the cur-rent. Issue of Moody's Magazine on theOwens river water supply nnd Its effecton Los Angeles. Mr. Rronson liaswritten his story from the standpointof the bond Issue and the fart thatMood '9 Magaxlne, one of the foremosteastern financial publications, rias a.

-cepted and published It exactly as Itwas written In convincing proof ib.itth« project Is well considered by east-ern • financiers where the bonds findtheir ultimate destination.

•.'Mr. Moody thought the artl. ratherlaudatory ofLos Angeles anil advertisedthe city a little too much, but he printed«>v*ry -word of exactly as Iwrote It."Said Mr. Keeler. "And thnt itIs not toooptimistic of Lob Angeles" future every-one knows who lives in this section orlsIIs .at all familiar with Southern Cali-fornia. Iwrote tho article chiefly fromthe standpoint of the bond question.

'The story from Moody's Magazine

follows:

The proposition Is for the city to ac-quire by purchase the water rights Inthe valley—it has already acquiredmany of them—to dam the river thirty-seven miles north of the lake, at apoint called Charley's llutte, and bythus diverting the water to carry itby conduit to Los Angeles, 226 milesaway. iiwill be the longest conduitsupplying a city with water in theworld; and with one exception thelongest for any purpose. That excep-tion is the Ooolgardle system In WestAustralia, where . water is, for raining

Magnitude of the Plant

A I'nt of the water ts used for irri-gation in the valley and a portion ofthis finds its way by seepage, togetherwith all tha remainder not vIrrigation, Into the Owens river. Bantsidea of the magnitude of the supplymay be gained from the stateanenl thaitha am.nun of ihix seepage, alter ii-h-gatioa, la greater than the entire pres-ent water supply of I.oh Angeles.

The Owens river valley opens to thesouth on the Mojavc desert. On theeasi ii is bounded by mountains, eastof which lies the famous Death valley.(in the north and west the valley Isbounded by the Sierra Nevada moun-tain, which here ussume their grand-est form, rising abruptly from the.alley to the highest point in theUnited Slates. There are more thanforty peaks along the range which areover 12,000 feel hitfh, many of themare "\'r 11,000 and one, Mount "Whit-ney, the highest, is 15,000 feet high.This rugged saw-tooth range is cov-ered with snow which, in many places,never melts, its scenic grandeur laonly equaled by Hi,. Alps and cannotbe surpassed in the wide world forits rugged beauty. I'rom every cun-yon thei r, \u0084,

,, \u0084f ,lear waterwhich finds us way into lovely moun-tain lakes and through forty ireekainto the valley an, t is supplemented)y springs gushing from the rockyHanks of the mountains,

On the eastern edge of central Cali-fornia, bordering on the state of Ne-vada, is Inyo county, 10,225 squaremiles in area, equal in size to Mary-land, and 25 per cent larger than Mas-sachusetts. As rain rarely falls, thrpopulation Is less than 5000, and theassessed valuation of its property iaabout $2,500,000. Stock ruising andalfalfa growing are the principal oc-cupations, and these are almost whollyin the Owens river valley, a districtin the western part of the county,about ten miles wide and 110 mileslong, comprising in area about one-tenth of the county, but containingnearly all of the county's wealth andpopulation. The valley is about 4000feet above sea level, or 3500 feet netabove Los Angeles, and it has a water-shed of 2500 square miles. From northto south through It runs the Owensriver, carrying an average of 30,000miner's inches of water. A miner'sinch is one-fiftieth of a cubic foot persecond, so that the average daily flowis about 400,000,000 gallons. It emptiesinto Owens lake. The location can bereadily identified on so ordinary a mapas that contained in a railroad folder.Yon will see a railroad leaving Renoand running south through Nevada andCalifornia, and terminating at a sta-tion called Keeler. This station is onthe eastern shore of Owens lake. The;lake has no outlet, it is more alkalinethan the Great Salt lake, and despitethe addition of so large a body ofwater daliy as the river, it is Blowlydisappearing under the desert sun.

Owens River Valley Supply

land. 200 miles to the south, has oneThen down the long ocean frontage ofOregon and California, it is 800 milesto San FYanclsCO, the next one; andthence 600 miles to San Diego, thelast one. Only four gateways intothe country in iniiiimiles. Another isbeing built and will be completed inabout two years at San Pedro, whichis the port of Los Angeles, fifteenmiles south of that city and is des-tined to become shortly a part of themunicipality, This will make Los An-geles the port of entry of a vast com-merce and with other natural re-sources make the anticipation of apopulation of a million by no meansincredible. This is the reason that thecity turns to the Owens river valleyfor a greater water supply.

That part of the water needed forlmmediate use in the city will be sentdirectly to the intake for Los Angeles;that not needed for immediate use willbc sold for irrigation, or divert) intothe gravel beds of the Ban Fernandovalley, be held there in suspension and

bcbbe drawn from jthe Loa Angela \u25a0 river,

Of the 220 miles of conduit 23 mileswillbe an open unlined ditch throughclay, mainly in the Owens river val-ley; 20 miles will be covered ditch,lined with cement or rubble; 189 mileswill be a covered conduit of cement;

18 miles will lie tunnel through rock;10 nallae tunnel through earth; '\u25a0> milesof steel siphons crossing canyons and2 miles of steel flumes -crossing de-pressions. Eventually the conduit willbc covered throughout its entire length,but at first that is not necessary ordesirable.

The aqueduct proper willbe of mon-olithic concrete construction, reinforcedwith steel, sunken in a plain \u25a0lite h,averaging' 14.7 feet wide and 10 feethigh, with a concrete cover, and willhave a capacity to carry 400,000,000 gal-lons a day, as stated elsewhere. In-verted steel siphons will be used at afew places to provide against dangerfrom cloudbursts. The minimumthickness of the. aqueduct walls v illbe 6Ms inches. More than 300,000 tonsof cement will be used; and 5000 menwill be employed. Tho city will erecta cement mill and make its ownCement at an estimated cost of $1 abarrel. A railroad willbe constructedparallel with the proposed line of theconduit, together with a telegraph anda telephone line; and over the roadmen and materials willbe carried tothe points desired. The road will beabout 100 miles long and will connectut each end with the Southern Pa-cific. It is not Impossible that, aftercompleting the aqueduct, the city willcontinue tO Operate the rOAd as a com-mercial enterprise to transport pasewngers and freight to settlements alongtha line.

Engineering Features

Although on its way from Owensriver to Los Angeles the water mustpenetrate a great mountain range itcould be carried down by gravity alonewithout pumping or tunneling. Butthe route would be circuitous andmore expensive; and it is thought bet-ter to construct twenty-eight miles oftunnels. Five miles at this work willbe through solid rock, under the moun-tains, fourteen feet wide and elevenfeet high, and will require five yearsfor completion. It is this that deter-mines the time of the entire plant, asthe other work can be carried on simul-taneously.

As the watershed of the Owens rivervalley is inaccessible and as the citywill control the valley the water willalways be unpolluted and Los Angeeswill have as pure mountain water asis possible to obtain.

The power possibilities are most at-tractive to an engineer, but Itis whenone begins to think out the socialchanges to occur under the proposedirrigation that he feels a self-restraintlnduced by a fear that he may seemvisionary. The soil of Southern Cali-fornia Is rich beyond comparison Ifonly itcan get water. Within a radiusof thirty miles of the city there aregreat areas which would be subdividedlnto one. five and ten acre farms and

bcbbe cultivated Intensively, forming avery Garden of Eden. Oranges, lemonswalnuts, berries and vegetables wouldbc produced for distant as well as forlocal markets. In Southern Californiastrawberry shortcake in midwinter Isan almost dally article of diet, j Therela Iman in Pasadena who has made$1200 in a year from one acre of straw-berries Bold in the homo market. Thecultivators of these small farms wouldmake \u25a0 good living without severe toll.Large farms would be impossible, asthe land would be too valuable. Cul-tivators would touch elbows. The aw-ful isolation of farm life in manyparts of the east would be unknown.Electric roads would penetrate theregion In every direction—as, in fact,they are doing now.- Farmers wouldbc close to schools, markets, iiuha andamusements. it would be a nightlyoccurrence for a man and his wife toattend the •\u25a0 theater or opera In LosAngeles and go thirty miles to theirhomo after the performance. Nowhere

l'lseII'lse on earth would such a green para-dine be visible as would be from theheight* or \u25a0 Lou Angeles, 11 is there

Social md Economic Possibilities

By the construction of some com-paratively inexpensive dams, withwhich power can be accumulated Sun-days, nights and during hours of theday when electricity is not in full useIt will be possible to increase the gen-eration of electric current at the hourswhen it is most needed, until a totalof 93,000 horso power is reached. Andall this without any waste of wateror interruption of the uniform flow toLos Angeles. The current can be usedfor lighting streets, parks and publicbuildings; for operating electric rail-ways, and running factories. It isconservatively estimated that after de-ducting current lost and used for pub-lic purposes there should be at least50,000 horso power which can be soldto private users at $15 per horse powerper year. This would go far towardthe payment of the Interest and leavothe revenues from irrigation and waterrates for the extinguishment of thedebt. Some engineers estimate that75,000 horse power can be available forcommercial purposes. The revenuofrom that amount would more thanpay the interest on tho debt.

AUTHOR OF ARTICLE ISOLD NEWSPAPER MAN

HARVARD MEN WILL HEARMR. PEABODY PREACH

The March number of tho S. V. C.Student, the college magazine editedand published by students of St. Vin-cent's college, has an array of goodarticles, including an editorial on "TheReligious Trust" which upholds theCatholic church against tho attacksmade against itin the claim of the oth-ers as the mother church.

Marshall F. Winne Is the editor inchhf; Joseph J. Cox, business man-ager, with the following associate ed-itors: Leo M. Rosecrans, literary; Ken-

neth M. Ham, college chronicle; Thom-

as Reynolds, athletics; Edward L.Cal-lahan, exchanges; Murray M. Brannen,locals; George Barnard, artist.

CATHOLIC MAGAZINEREPLIES TO ATTACKS

From the flnancinl side tho proposi-tion looks attractive. Past perform*anco promises well for the future.When the city In 1901 took over thawater plant it paid the owners $L',(H)0,000for the tangible assets. The city hasreduced Hat water rates 10 per centand meter rates 50 per cent. It haspaid nil expenses of operation, hasset aside yearly a pro rata of the sink-ing fund to pay the debt in forty yearsand has earned a profit, over nndnbovo these, of more than $1,000,000,which has been put back into the sys-tem in extensions and betterments;and the. city would not take today$20,000,000 for the plant. Los Angeleshas demonstrated that It has a levelbusiness head. The assessed valuationof property in the city subject to tax-ation is $203,000,000; the tax rate Is$1.16 per $100; nnd the bonded Indebt-edness $7,000,000. In many cities thocost of the water wofks plant is vastlygreater tnan that of Los Angeles; and$23,000,000 for the glgantio scheme pro-posed is a bagntelle. It would becheap at double tho price, and is animperative necessity at any price. ItIs not a question, Can it be done? Ithas got to be done. Its comparativelylow cost is due to the fact that theroare no engineering difficulties; andwhen the system is completed Los An-geles willhave probably as cheap waterper 1000 gallons as any city in thoworld.

And certainly no city has ever met,in its Water supply, such a fortunatecombination of circumstances. The in-accessibility of the watershed and thecontrol and aridity of the valley atthe intake guarantee forever the purityof the supply. The relative cheapnessof the conduit; tho four heavy drops,affording an electric power which willmake Los Angeles one. of the greatmanufacturing centers of the country;tho abundance of the supply for irri-gation, to make a vast desert bloomlike a garden, and tho natural reser-voir for storage In the gravel beds ofthe Ban Fernando valley form a com-bination not found anywhere else, andgive to the investor a security rarelyequaled.

Basis SoundTo make Ith footing Secure the city

appointed last year a commission ofthree eminent engineers. Frederic I.Steams, then president of tho Ameri-can society <>( Civil Bnglneers, and amember of the Isthmian canal com-mission; John n. freeman and Jamesa. Scnuyler—all men of national repu-tation—to investigate the project and(Hye their opinion of Its practicability.They went over the entire ground inall its phases and made their reportlast December. It confirms the feas-ibility of the scheme In every partic-ular.

now. It only needl water to make Itunfold, And the water la coming.

PEDDLER INJURED BYFALLFROM WAGON

Harvard men willhold their annualmeeting in the large banquet hall ofthe Angelus hotel ut 6:30 o'clock nextSaturday night, dinner being served at

7 o'clock.Members Of the Harvard club are per-

mitted to invite any Harvard man as aguest, and are requested Ul glvu prompt

notice of such Invitations.Today Harvard men willlisten to a

sermon by Prancla Greenwood Pea-body, the Parkman profeaaor of theol-ogy at Harvard university. Mr. Pea-Ihklv will preach ut the Congregationalchurch, of which Dr. Win. Horace Day

is pastor.

Hugh McDeayett. a peddler, suffereda "light concussion of the brain andseveral severe lacerations about thehead and body by falling from a

wagon TatnTat aii«» and Alameda street*yesterday morning. .i, wat taken to the receiving hos-

pital, where his Injuries were dressedand from there he was removed to thecounty hospital. McPeavett was un-conscious for several hours.

INCORPORATIONSv E Newbery & Co.—Directors, V,a Newbery. Gertrude H.Newbery, H.O Bower* O. B. Arbogast, Mac K.Bowers; capital stock. 126.000, of which$50 lutubwen subscribed.

Uojiovan-Bourland ,company—

Direct-ors .H. M. Heed, J. a Donovan, itBourland, E. H. Heed: capital block,

J50.0u0,J50.0u0, \u25a0it which 130,000 bag been sub-scribed.' \u25a0 '••'•

•*;,\u25a0;; *

LOS ANGELES HERALD: SUNDAY MORNING. MARCH 17, 1907.2

TI. C. Kepler, whom article IntheMarch Issue of Moody's mr^a«lneembraces inch n wide view of UNOwens river project, Is an easternman, for whom California tins he-

m" an adopted home. He wasborn inIndiana iii1849, find abouttwenty years ago removed to it,Louis. Mr.Keeler Is an old news-paper man, having edited theFinancial and real estate depart-ment of some of the largest papersin the middle west. Beginning hisnewspaper work on the ChicagoTimes under \V. P. Storey, he laterwent to tho st. Louis Post-Dis-patch and the Republic, "

in 184!) Mr.Keeler wrote, an ex-tensive article on "Municipal GasOwnership." It was published Inthe Forum, at a time when the gascompanies of st. Louis and Chi-cago were seeking Irenewal oftheir franchises. Mr.Keeler dem-onstrated that gas could bo soldfor 00 cents, at a profit, and topertinent were his remarks thatthe companies promised no-centKiis If only they could secure anextension of their franchises.

Mi-. Keeler came to this city lastfall,and at once became Interestedin the Owens river project. Hisobservations confirmed his opinionthat the project was a substantialone, and his article In Moody'splaces before eastern Investors rea-sons why this great project will beto their advantage to take up. Mr.Keelor Is now making his home at737 Stewart street. In this city.