AQUEDUCT FROM STANDPOINT OF BOND BUYERS PART 111 S HOWS VALUE OF CONDUIT TO B OND BUYERS Owens River Treated in Magazine Los Angeles Man Publlahea an Article on the Great Aqueduct Project from the Standpoint of Financet WILLIAMMULHOLLAND purposes, sent through a thirty-inch pipe, and is lifted over a mountain range 1417 feet by pumping stations along the line. The only other water works plant, in ancient or modern times, at all comparable with the Los Angeles system, in the magnitude of these engineering features, Is the one now being; constructed by the city of New York, at a cost nearly as great as that of the Panama canal, to bring water from the CatsklH mountains, through aqueducts built under great difficulties. One of these difficulties is carrying the water under the Hud- son river, from the west side to the east, above West Point, through a tun- nel 700 feet under ground. The most stupendous feature of the New York system 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 other features of the three systems are em- bodied in the accompanying table: TF 1 rj . n =•§ sE 2 of :<c? r ~ ~ 8 s Location, so £2 J :-^: -^: -^ : :-r, 8| I? '\u25a0 •c \u25a0 ; •;•'{'•• • Coolgardle ..328 \u25a0\u25a0 5,000,000 $13,000,000 Los Angeles. 22ll 400,000,000 25,000,000 New Y0rk... 117 500,000,000 162,000.000 Nothing illustrates more clearly tho line of social development than the manner in which waterfalls are now regarded. Even fifty years ago they were admired for their scenic beauty, or were not regarded at all. But today there is no sentiment about it. This is an ago when mun makes the forces of nature perform his labor. The first thing he thinks of now, as he views a cataract is. how much work will it do; how much money can be made out of it? Although the elevation of Owens river valley Is net 3500 feet above Los Angeles the distance, 226 miles, gives an average fall of only about 15 feet to the mile." Practically it is not so much as this, for there are three, or more properly speaking, four locations on the way where the drop Is much more precipitous, and these afford ex- cellent opportunities for power to gen- erate electricity. The possible devel- opment of 49,000 horse power at these locations is shown in the table given herewith : Possible Power Development ns the City's supply is now drawn. The supply will be abundant for at least a hundred years to come, If not indeed forever; for the growth of vegetation under irrigation will tend In time to increase the annual rainfall. mITFh ~ — Location from Los Drop, Possible No. Angeles in feet horse pr. 1 180 270 7,000 2 4r. 1,060 28.000 3 4. r , 415 11,000 4 25 215 6,000 1 . . * The water supply of Los Angeles in past years was derived entirely and is yet found mainly in the San Fernando valley, a district immediately north and west of the city, about ten miles wide and twenty, miles long, lying between the Sierra Madre and the Santa Monica mountains, and having a watershep of ( 500 square miles. The floor of the val- ley Is a rich sandy soil underlaid with deep gravel beds. During the rainy season every mountain canyon con- tains a raging torrent which rushes down into the valley; but instead of running off to the ocean it sinks into the sands of the valley, is drunk eager- ly by the gravel beds, is held in sus- pension for months and even years, and Beeps slowly to the south until the water above the bed of the Los Angeles river is drained into the river, which thus has its origin, and which, flowing past the city, gives to the residents the supply they have used. The water in the sands of the valley lower than the bad of the river is reached by wells which are pumped for irrigation and domestic use. The San Fernando val- ley is thus a vast natural reservoir with an area of about 150 square miles and an unknown depth. Until recent years this has yielded sufficient 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 is arrowing at a remarkable pace. With- in/- the past few years the river has n<rt furnished enough water; in sum- mer,, hardly half enough; and the sup- 1 ply • has been augmented by pumping from subterranean sources. But the limit 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 I States. By the introduction of meters this 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 per dAy, allowing everybody an abundance. Bat the rapidly growing city must SNMC its future greater supply from 'some other source; and that source is found In the Owens river valley, more than 200 miles, straight as the crow filets, north of the city, high up in tho mountains. Remarkable City with a Great Future ', Close observers believe that Los Angeles Is destined to become a very gceat city— of the greatest in the world; and that a water supply for at leAst a million people should be pro- v ided. This Is not wholly local pride ;.Tbere are good grounds for the opin- ion. Four-sevenths of all the land on \u0084thet, ,thet globe is washed by the Pacific ocean and four-sevenths of all the In- habitants of ii.. globe occupy those lands, r| are In large part Just! •wakening to civilization and their trade is in its Inception. The west ! coast of the United States is destined to. 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 more than ICO miles in width. To the east <«• far as Denver, 1600 miles, there in- tervene \u25a0 deserts and mountain ranges which 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 two waV*—idtltudlnally us well as longi- tudinally. The Atlantic coast hus many \u25a0 excellent deep-water harbor* but . not >so the Pacific. The Puget sound gives Washington several. Port- San Fernando Natural Reservoir BRONSON C. KEELER JNVKSTORS will shortly be invited I to subscribe to a bond issue of about •* $25,000,000, made by the city of Los 'Angeles, for the construction of a new water 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 in novelty, possess features not hnd by any other municipal water system in the world. It may not be inappropriate, therefore, to outline briefly what the proposition contemplates. The. location and growth of cities in Southern California are determined in a peculiar degree by water supply. If you ask why Los Angeles is where it stands, rather than on the seashore fifteen miles away, tho answer is that the original pueblo, or village, was placed on the present site because the Lkjs Angeles river gave the pioneers abundant water; Just as the first set- tlefra laid out Chicago where it is be- cause of the deep river which afforded there a good harbor for heavy- draft lake vessels. In Southern California no rain falls from May to October. The precipita- tion from November to April averages sixteen inches, which ia not sufficient for agriculture unless supplemented withirrigation. Consequently, as popu- lation increases, a struggle arises be- tween the cities and the country for control of the water, und in recent years the subterranean water plain has fallen steadily, so that many wells have to 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 the Owens river water supply nnd Its effect on Los Angeles. Mr. Rronson lias written his story from the standpoint of the bond Issue and the fart that Mood '9 Magaxlne, one of the foremost eastern financial publications, rias a. - cepted and published It exactly as It was written In convincing proof ib.it th« project Is well considered by east- ern • financiers where the bonds find their ultimate destination. •.'Mr. Moody thought the artl. rather laudatory of Los Angeles anil advertised the city a little too much, but he printed «>v*ry -word of exactly as I wrote It." Said Mr. Keeler. "And thnt it Is not too optimistic of Lob Angeles" future every- one knows who lives in this section or lsI Is .at all familiar with Southern Cali- fornia. I wrote tho article chiefly from the standpoint of the bond question. ' The story from Moody's Magazine f ollows: The proposition Is for the city to ac- quire by purchase the water rights In the valley— it has already acquired many of them— to dam the river thirty- seven miles north of the lake, at a point called Charley's llutte, and by thus diverting the water to carry it by conduit to Los Angeles, 226 miles away. ii will be the longest conduit supplying a city with water in the world; and with one exception the longest for any purpose. That excep- tion is the Ooolgardle system In West Australia, 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 of this finds its way by seepage, together with all tha remainder not v Irrigation, Into the Owens river. Bants idea of the magnitude of the supply may be gained from the stateanenl thai tha 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 the south on the Mojavc desert. On the easi ii is bounded by mountains, east of which lies the famous Death valley. (in the north and west the valley Is bounded by the Sierra Nevada moun- tain, which here ussume their grand- est form, rising abruptly from the .alley to the highest point in the United Slates. There are more than forty peaks along the range which are over 12,000 feel hitfh, many of them are "\'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 la only equaled by Hi,. Alps and cannot be surpassed in the wide world for its rugged beauty. I'rom every cun- yon thei r, \u0084, ,, \u0084f ,lear water which finds us way into lovely moun- tain lakes and through forty i reeka into the valley an, t is supplemented )y springs gushing from the rocky Hanks of the mountains, On the eastern edge of central Cali- fornia, bordering on the state of Ne- vada, is Inyo county, 10,225 square miles in area, equal in size to Mary- land, and 25 per cent larger than Mas- sachusetts. As rain rarely falls, thr population Is less than 5000, and the assessed valuation of its property ia about $2,500,000. Stock ruising and alfalfa growing are the principal oc- cupations, and these are almost wholly in the Owens river valley, a district in the western part of the county, about ten miles wide and 110 miles long, comprising in area about one- tenth of the county, but containing nearly all of the county's wealth and population. The valley is about 4000 feet above sea level, or 3500 feet net above Los Angeles, and it has a water- shed of 2500 square miles. From north to south through It runs the Owens river, carrying an average of 30,000 miner's inches of water. A miner's inch is one-fiftieth of a cubic foot per second, so that the average daily flow is about 400,000,000 gallons. It empties into Owens lake. The location can be readily identified on so ordinary a map as that contained in a railroad folder. Yon will see a railroad leaving Reno and running south through Nevada and California, and terminating at a sta- tion called Keeler. This station is on the eastern shore of Owens lake. The; lake has no outlet, it is more alkaline than the Great Salt lake, and despite the addition of so large a body of water daliy as the river, it is Blowly disappearing under the desert sun. Owens River Valley Supply land. 200 miles to the south, has one Then down the long ocean frontage of Oregon and California, it is 800 miles to San FYanclsCO, the next one; and thence 600 miles to San Diego, the last one. Only four gateways into the country in iniiii miles. Another is being built and will be completed in about two years at San Pedro, which is the port of Los Angeles, fifteen miles south of that city and is des- tined to become shortly a part of the municipality, 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 a population of a million by no means incredible. This is the reason that the city turns to the Owens river valley for a greater water supply. That part of the water needed for lmmediate use in the city will be sent directly to the intake for Los Angeles; that not needed for immediate use will bc sold for irrigation, or divert) into the gravel beds of the Ban Fernando valley, be held there in suspension and bcb be drawn from j the Loa Angela \u25a0 river, Of the 220 miles of conduit 23 miles will be an open unlined ditch through clay, mainly in the Owens river val- ley; 20 miles will be covered ditch, lined with cement or rubble; 189 miles will be a covered conduit of cement; 18 miles will lie tunnel through rock; 1 0 nallae tunnel through earth; '\u25a0> miles of steel siphons crossing canyons and 2 miles of steel flumes - crossing de- pressions. Eventually the conduit will bc covered throughout its entire length, but at first that is not necessary or desirable. The aqueduct proper willbe of mon- olithic concrete construction, reinforced with steel, sunken in a plain \u25a0lite h, averaging' 14.7 feet wide and 10 feet high, with a concrete cover, and will have a capacity to carry 400,000,000 gal- lons a day, as stated elsewhere. In- verted steel siphons will be used at a few places to provide against danger from cloudbursts. The minimum thickness of the. aqueduct walls v ill be 6Ms inches. More than 300,000 tons of cement will be used; and 5000 men will be employed. Tho city will erect a cement mill and make its own Cement at an estimated cost of $1 a barrel. A railroad will be constructed parallel with the proposed line of the conduit, together with a telegraph and a telephone line; and over the road men and materials will be carried to the points desired. The road will be about 100 miles long and will connect ut each end with the Southern Pa- cific. It is not Impossible that, after completing the aqueduct, the city will continue tO Operate the rOAd as a com- mercial enterprise to transport pa sewn gers and freight to settlements along tha line. Engineering Features Although on its way from Owens river to Los Angeles the water must penetrate a great mountain range it could be carried down by gravity alone without pumping or tunneling. But the route would be circuitous and more expensive; and it is thought bet- ter to construct twenty-eight miles of tunnels. Five miles at this work will be through solid rock, under the moun- tains, fourteen feet wide and eleven feet high, and will require five years for completion. It is this that deter- mines the time of the entire plant, as the other work can be carried on simul- taneously. As the watershed of the Owens river valley is inaccessible and as the city will control the valley the water will always be unpolluted and Los Angees will have as pure mountain water as is possible to obtain. The power possibilities are most at- tractive to an engineer, but Itis when one begins to think out the social changes to occur under the proposed irrigation that he feels a self-restraint lnduced by a fear that he may seem visionary. The soil of Southern Cali- fornia Is rich beyond comparison If only itcan get water. Within a radius of thirty miles of the city there are great areas which would be subdivided lnto one. five and ten acre farms and bcb be cultivated Intensively, forming a very Garden of Eden. Oranges, lemons walnuts, berries and vegetables would bc produced for distant as well as for local markets. In Southern California strawberry shortcake in midwinter Is an almost dally article of diet, j There la I man in Pasadena who has made $1200 in a year from one acre of straw- berries Bold in the homo market. The cultivators of these small farms would make \u25a0 good living without severe toll. Large farms would be impossible, as the land would be too valuable. Cul- tivators would touch elbows. The aw- ful isolation of farm life in many parts of the east would be unknown. Electric roads would penetrate the region In every direction— as, in fact, they are doing now.- Farmers would bc close to schools, markets, iiuha and amusements. it would be a nightly occurrence for a man and his wife to attend the •\u25a0 theater or opera In Los Angeles and go thirty miles to their homo after the performance. Nowhere l'lseI I'lse on earth would such a green para- dine be visible as would be from the height* or \u25a0 Lou Angeles, 11 is there Social md Economic Possibilities By the construction of some com- paratively inexpensive dams, with which power can be accumulated Sun- days, nights and during hours of the day when electricity is not in full use It will be possible to increase the gen- eration of electric current at the hours when it is most needed, until a total of 93,000 horso power is reached. And all this without any waste of water or interruption of the uniform flow to Los Angeles. The current can be used for lighting streets, parks and public buildings; for operating electric rail- ways, and running factories. It is conservatively estimated that after de- ducting current lost and used for pub- lic purposes there should be at least 50,000 horso power which can be sold to private users at $15 per horse power per year. This would go far toward the payment of the Interest and leavo the revenues from irrigation and water rates for the extinguishment of the debt. Some engineers estimate that 75,000 horse power can be available for commercial purposes. The revenuo from that amount would more than pay the interest on tho debt. AUTHOR OF ARTICLE IS OLD NEWSPAPER MAN HARVARD MEN WILL HEAR MR. PEABODY PREACH The March number of tho S. V. C. Student, the college magazine edited and published by students of St. Vin- cent's college, has an array of good articles, including an editorial on "The Religious Trust" which upholds the Catholic church against tho attacks made against itin the claim of the oth- ers as the mother church. Marshall F. Winne Is the editor in chhf; 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 MAGAZINE REPLIES 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 tha water plant it paid the owners $L',(H)0,000 for the tangible assets. The city has reduced Hat water rates 10 per cent and meter rates 50 per cent. It has paid nil expenses of operation, has set aside yearly a pro rata of the sink- ing fund to pay the debt in forty years and has earned a profit, over nnd nbovo 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 Angeles has demonstrated that It has a level business head. The assessed valuation of 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 tho cost of the water wofks plant is vastly greater tnan that of Los Angeles; and $23,000,000 for the glgantio scheme pro- posed is a bagntelle. It would be cheap at double tho price, and is an imperative necessity at any price. It Is not a question, Can it be done? It has got to be done. Its comparatively low cost is due to the fact that thero are no engineering difficulties; and when the system is completed Los An- geles will have probably as cheap water per 1000 gallons as any city in tho world. And certainly no city has ever met, in its Water supply, such a fortunate combination of circumstances. The in- accessibility of the watershed and the control and aridity of the valley at the intake guarantee forever the purity of the supply. The relative cheapness of the conduit; tho four heavy drops, affording an electric power which will make Los Angeles one. of the great manufacturing centers of the country; tho abundance of the supply for irri- gation, to make a vast desert bloom like a garden, and tho natural reser- voir for storage In the gravel beds of the Ban Fernando valley form a com- bination not found anywhere else, and give to the investor a security rarely equaled. Basis Sound To make It h footing Secure the city appointed last year a commission of three eminent engineers. Frederic I. Steams, then president of tho Ameri- can society <>( Civil Bnglneers, and a member of the Isthmian canal com- mission; John n. freeman and James a. Scnuyler—all men of national repu- tation—to investigate the project and (Hye their opinion of Its practicability. They went over the entire ground in all its phases and made their report last December. It confirms the feas- ibility of the scheme In every partic- ular. now. It only needl water to make It unfold, And the water la coming. PEDDLER INJURED BY FALL FROM WAGON Harvard men will hold their annual meeting in the large banquet hall of the Angelus hotel ut 6:30 o'clock next Saturday night, dinner being served at 7 o'clock. Members Of the Harvard club are per- mitted to invite any Harvard man as a guest, and are requested Ul glvu prompt notice of such Invitations. Today Harvard men will listen to a sermon by Prancla Greenwood Pea- body, the Parkman profeaaor of theol- ogy at Harvard university. Mr. Pea- Ihklv will preach ut the Congregational church, of which Dr. Win. Horace Day is pastor. Hugh McDeayett. a peddler, suffered a "light concussion of the brain and several severe lacerations about the head and body by falling from a w agon Tatn Tat aii«» and Alameda street* yesterday morning. . i, wat taken to the receiving hos- pital, where his Injuries were dressed and from there he was removed to the county hospital. McPeavett was un- conscious for several hours. INCORPORATIONS v 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, it Bourland, E. H. Heed: capital block, J50.0u0,J 50.0u0, \u25a0it which 130,000 bag been sub- scribed.' \u25a0 '••'• • *;,\u25a0;; * LOS ANGELES HERALD: SUNDAY MORNING. MARCH 17, 1907. 2 TI. C. Kepler, whom article In the March Issue of Moody's mr^a«lne embraces inch n wide view of UN Owens river project, Is an eastern man, for whom California tins he- m" an adopted home. He was born inIndiana iii 1849, find about twenty years ago removed to it, Louis. Mr.Keeler Is an old news- paper man, having edited the Financial and real estate depart- ment of some of the largest papers in the middle west. Beginning his newspaper work on the Chicago Times under \V. P. Storey, he later went to tho st. Louis Post-Dis- patch and the Republic, " in 184!) Mr. Keeler wrote, an ex- tensive article on "Municipal Gas Ownership." It was published In the Forum, at a time when the gas companies of st. Louis and Chi- cago were seeking I renewal of their franchises. Mr.Keeler dem- onstrated that gas could bo sold for 00 cents, at a profit, and to pertinent were his remarks that the companies promised no-cent Kiis If only they could secure an extension of their franchises. Mi-. Keeler came to this city last fall, and at once became Interested in the Owens river project. His observations confirmed his opinion that the project was a substantial one, and his article In Moody's places before eastern Investors rea- sons why this great project will be to their advantage to take up. Mr. Keelor Is now making his home at 7 37 Stewart street. In this city.