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COUNCILMANIC PILGRIMAGE TO OWENS RIVER
CONVINCES ALL OF FEASIBILITY OF PROJECT
lARTI HAS ROUGH
BUT ENJOYABLE
JOUBNEY
Pass Through Country
Fof Magnificent
Scenery
Municipal Officials Greatly Impressed
With Opportunity of Los Angeles
to Obtain Abundant Supply
of Pure Water
Wilfred C. Lewis
Flddle-dlddle-rtoo,
Who are we?
Owens river water buyers,
Whoop-who-whee.
With the sonorous voice of Minute
Clerk "Wilde leading this cheerful re
frain and twelve lusty throats Joining
in, the coyotes and jack rabbits of the
Mojave deaert learned to their entire
satisfaction the explanation of the
weird looking caravan that crawled
through the hub deep sands of the
View of Red Rock Castle
waste places from Mojave to Big Pin?
to see what the city of Los Angeles was
going- to receive for its expenditure of
$23,000,000.
This Journey across the sands was
begun early Wednesday morning, No
vember 8, and was finished yesterday
morning when the party reached Los
Angeles. ' • . ■ •,.. ■
The trip was undertaken under con
ditions that would have made the
hearts of men of less stern stuff quail,
for every member of the party believe!
great hardships were to be encountered
before he would again set foot in Los
Angeles. •
Fred l«aton had told us that we might
expect severe snowstorms, high winds.
rain and bitter cold, for this had been
his experience when he took the board
of water commissioners over the same
route. Acting on his advice, we had
provided ourselves with heavy ulBters,
big red sweaters and other articles of
warm clothing.
• Weather Exceptionally Fine
But the proverbial luck of the Los
Angelea city council was with us on
the journey and the oldest inhabitants
declared that they, had never known
better weather on the Mojave desert.
In the early morning hours when we
started on the day's staging the over
coats felt very comfortable, but at
midday we were glad to remove as
many clothes as we might without of
fending the modesty of any female
coyote that might be peeping from be
hind some large rock.
During the first day's journey we
paused several points on the line of the
aqueduct that will brln* the Owens
river water into Los Angeles, that arp
among the most Important engineering
details. The firnt was Pine canyon,
about sixteen miles north of Mojave,
■where an inverted siphon of 325 feet
pressure will be built. The noxt was
Jawbone canyon, five milt>s north of
Pino canyon, where nnother Inverted
siphon of 4000 feet pressure will be
built. By these siphons the line of the
uqueduct can be shortened several
miles, and while the cost of the siphons
will be considerable, the shorter route
will more than make up this expense.
It seems as if the Tehachupi moun
tains, the range in which both these
canyons occur, were especially designed
by nature for the work of building the
big concrete conduit which will bring
the water to Los Angeles. The en
gineering work on these mountains
will be a "picnic," according to th«
statement inuilo by Civil Knglneer
Frank Olmstert, who accompanied the
party and who In all probability will
have charge ot the work of building
the conduit.
The six members of the council who
•were In the party held a. caucus at In
dependence and agreed to retain En
gineer Olmated during the entire work
of the conitructton of the conduit, and
will so report at the next meeting of
the council.
North of Jawbone canyon the work
will be difficult for a cliHtanee of about
twenty mlles«and especially through
Jted Rock canyon. The afternoon of
the flint day'* staging we punse-J
through this canyon, which Is one of
the wonders of nature. Nearly every
member of the party felt an awe and
iiliniruiKiu that they had never before
experienced, and moat of them had
traveled far and wide Nature hui cer>
talnly wrought wondrously with the
limeitone formation* of this canyon.
Canyon of Great Grandeur
We had Been some pretty effect* In
porphyry and had exclaimed at their
beauty. The driver of the wagon that
conveyed the members >>f the pre**,
chaperoned ■ |jy "Uucle . (it-urge" Kniith,
bad a, poetlg »uul beneath hla thread*
PART It
Jawbone Canyon, Where a 4000-Foot Siphon Is to Be Constructed
bare jacket, and as one of the members |
of our party dilated on the beauties
of the porphry he smiled quietly and
said:
"Walt till we turn that bend in the
road."
We waited and suddenly rounding
the sharp bend the glories of Red Rock I
canyon burst full upon ub. Words could
not express what we saw. It seemed as I
if giants had wrought for ages with '
mallet and chisel to form palaces and '
castles and marvelous halls for tho
homes of a superior race of beings, |
The afternoon nun glinted on massive
columns and facades, in every color of
the rainbow, with a rose red predomin- I
atlng. Monster statues of winged Mer- '
curies and Apollo Belvederes guarded ,
the portals, while has reliefs stood In
niches on every side, and all the work
of the elements through countless age*.
The light was poor for the amateur
photographers to secure pictures of the
most beautiful of the castles but tlie 1
light on some of the less artistic was I
fairly good and a few good pictures
were secured.
Will Build Scenic Road
To every member of the party it
seemed a shame that this great work
of nature was so Inaccessible to the
traveling public, but Fred Eaton u-|
sured us that when the Owens river!
project was completed it would not be j
long before a scenic, railroad would be
built through this country. Only those
few who dare to brave the anger of all
the elements have ever seen this
canyon.
This canyon will probably be an im
portant factor In the construction of the
conduit, for It is proposed to divide the
power of the water and bring: about
K..0UU horse power Into this canyon to
be used in the construction of the con
duit. If this Is done only 15,000 horse
power will be used at l.ittlr lake, al
though it may be found of greater ad
vantage to keep the entire 30,000 horse
power at Little lake.
It is in this canyon and near the
castle shov-'i in thu accompanying Illus
tration ' . Molly Shannon, whose
name is yet cursed by every Mason,
fell from a shot fired by her lover. A
Urge stone on which || the simple
epitaph "Molly Shannon" marks the
•pot.
For the benefit of those who are not
Muwit a little of Molly Shannon's his
tory ia here detailed. Hhe was a. female
Jekyll und Hyde. She was ■ wealthy
woman and a leader of society In New
York, and when ■ desire for the wild
I life which she lovad would come on ber
LOS ANGELES HERALD* SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 19, 1905.
I she would tell her friends that she was
going to her ranch In the west, and
then go to Red Rock canyon and vicin
ity, where she would don male attire
and hold up stage coaches.
Sees Gold in Porphyry
Her venturesome spirit led her to don
male, attire and attempt to Join the
Masonic fraternity, but she was dts-
I covered before she had gone very far,
and she again fled to the fastnesses of
Red Rock canyon. A detail of Masons
was' sent after her to avenge the be
trayal, but before they found her Bhe
i had again tried to rob a stage coach
and was shot by her lover, who was a
passenger in the coach. ■
Outside of lied Rock canon there
was but little of Interest on the first
day's trip. Hemmed in by misty
mountains on both sides as far in
front and behind us as the eye could
see there was nothing but sand, sand,
sand, covered by greasewood and gray
sagebrush. Miles apart were a few
little poor oases, and at these places
we stopped to water the horses and
replenish our own canteens.
If every man along this route is not
already rolling in wealth it is not the
fault of Uncle George Smith, whose
keenly trained eyes saw many indica
tions of gold in the mountains.
"Did you ever prospect that white
porphyry?" he would ask a discour
aged looking inhabitant of the water
holes.
The answer was Invariably "no,"
and then Uncle George would say:
"Well, you take a pick and look into
that. That's the same stuff that they
are getting all the gold out of at Gold
field and Bullfrog."
A new light would glint in the eye»
of the worked-out men and they would
cast longing looks at the mountains.
Ride Most Tiring One
Councilman Smith made his money
through his knowledge of what might
be found in the mountains and how to
?;et It, and he expects that he will live
o be called blessed by those to whom
he threw out these hints.
At Eighteen Mile station, where the
party went into camp for a short
time, "Uncle George" believes that
millions can be found In the white
porphyry, just from the Indications he
aaw on the surface. .
The end of the 1 first day's staging
brought us to Coyote Holes, alleged
to be forty-live miles from Mojave.
Those miles were the longest that any
of the party had ever encountered and
It seemed that all the mile* on the
desert were as long. No one could un
derstand it until councilman Hiller an-
The Councilmanlc Party In Camp
nonnced that he had found the solu
tion.
"These mllea are square miles and
we go around nil four eornem," an
nounced "8ld" Hlller, anfl we all heart
ily concurred in hia idea. Although
wo had left Mojave early in the morn
ing 1 and driven continuously, we did
not reach Coyote Holes until 8 o'clock
in the evening.
Coyote Holes Is all that Its name
would Imply. The coyotes smelled wa
ter at thin place and dug- down until
they found a spring. This was many
years ago, and for forty years an old
man called "Pap" Raymond has lived
at the place and conducted a sort of
Inn for the accommodation of travel
ers across the desert, His little house
and barn, with a corral for horses, is
all there Is to the place and the only
sign of a humun being for miles
around.
Mrs. Raymond Surprised Traveler*
Eaton had told us not to expect brass
beds, moquette carpets and hot and
cold water In every room, so we were
not disappointed when we were told
that half the party would have to roll
up In blankets and sleep on the floor.
But the dinner which Mrs. Raymond
gave us that night more than compen
sated for the tribulations to come.
Fred Eaton had sent word In advance
that a large party would reach there
that night and ordered the best the
desert afforded.
Mrs, Raymond would be a famous
cook in any part of the world, and
to find one of her ability In the desert
was an unexpected treat. All the
homemade jams, jellies and pickles
were opened and most of the chickens
on the place had been slaughtered for
the frying pan.
With such a dinner to dream of It
was no great hardship to roll up In
blankets and sleep on the floor, and
several of us bad the sweetest night's
rest they ever knew in that very con
dition. ... ■ . . .
The sun was just beginning to color
the tops of the mountains when our
caravan of five wagons again began
to crawl ncroBs the sand on another
forty-flve square-mile trip to Halwee
Meadows.
On the way to Halwee Meadows
Fred Eaton stopped the caravan at
several points and pointed out Inter
esting features. One of these stops
was at Little Lake, where the conduit
will make a sheer drop of 500 faet, fur
nishing 30,000 horse power. This power
will be used In building- the conduit.
It may he that this power will be di
vided between Little L.ake and Red
Rock canon, depending on which meth
od is the most economical . and effec
tive.
Tells of Trolley Project '
It was here that Fred Eaton told us
an important fact that had not before
been made public. That Is that the
city will build an electric trolley line
from Mojave, 150 miles, into the des
ert, and by this method it Is estimated
the city will save $1,750,000 In the cost
of cement alone and its much more In
the cost of gravel.
It Is estimated that 1,500,000 barrels
of cement will be needed for the con
struction of the great conduit, and by
the trolley line this can be delivered
at every point at an average cost of
$2 per barrel, while the manufacturers
have demanded J4.B0 a barrel for ce
ment and delivery. The city has all
the gravel it can possibly use in the
lands which It has purchased, with its
water rights, and by hauling it over
Its own trolley line the city will save
nearly $2,000,000.
Aguln it was 9 o'clock . before we
came In sight of Halwee MeadowH,
where the stop was to be made for
the nleht. At this place condition!
were even more crowded than at Coy
ote Holes, and, after a haarty dinner,
most of us lay down to sleep with the
horses In the burn. Blankets were
stretched on the floor under the very
heads of the horses and the beasts did
nothing but champ hay all night. Now
and then a horse would pick up a big
ger bite of hay than he could hold in
his mouth and shake the surplus down
on our devoted heads.
('ouncilmon Hmlth, 1 1 III. and Hough
ton and Minute (Herk. Wilde, with the
rapraMOUtlvM of the press, were the
ones that enjoyed the. bliUBful 'sensa*
tlon of generous - chunks of alfalfa
trickling flown th'e hnrks of our n*rV«.
nut In «pito nf thete dlfflotiUI«fl lh«
Invigorating air qnlikly brought Hrrp
And whfn « home berame rtl'-ulitrly
obstreperous n shnn and a grntl* cusa
word, *hl<vl with :\<t good Aim a* waa
|.n**lhiP In the dark, brought relief.
Th<- Jilrrl day's staging tlirniiRh thr
howling WAfltea of pnnrl brought th«
rounrllmnnlo party to I nne Pine, the
lnr«;p*t settlement th:it linri br*r>n dls
covered since the pnrty hnd left M<i
Jnve. Every member of the party lookf-rl
as If ii bath mid .1 phitve wntiM work
a wonderful trufmfofmatlon in hln np
ponrume, but at this place we 111:1.
a compnct thut none of us would shave
until ivn were in Snn Francisco. This
compnct wnn broken At Independence
the next dny. As Wi put nround fh"
tables In the illnlmr room of the little
hotel nt Iione I'lne we ench breathe i
ii deep sigh of relief, for wi» knr>w We
were out of the defierl nnd about to
enter the Oweni river viiitny.
For fifteen miles before rpnehlnfc
Lone Pine the rond led along the slilo
of Oweni lnko. Thin In a largo body
of water that 1b good for nothing but
the deposits of soda In It.
A Hunter'* Paradise
Plreclly ncrnss from KpPler. the ter
mlnui of the Carson A. Colorado, a nar
row gauge rntlroad, the i»ko Is ntna
miles wide. None of the water In tho
Inkp will be used In the Ijos Angeled
water supply, ns It Is unfit for drinkinff
purposes. It Is full of soda and 1 1 i • ■
edges where the water had receded
wns white with the deposit.
Owens lake would be a perfect para
dl»e for hunters. Great flocks of ilncks
throng ItH shores, in such quantities
that at a distance they seem to be piled
on top of each other. Having been
shot nt but seldom they are very tame
and two members of the party were
able to creep close enough to one Im
mense flpok to fire Into It with revol
vers and both made every cartridge in
a Hlx-shooter account for a duck.
The aqueduct will Bklrt this lake
about a rhlle to the west, running on
the Sierra Nevada mountains. . This
part will be comparatively easy work
ing from an engineering point of view,
according to Engineer Olmsted. About
midway between Halwee Meadows and
T,(inp Pine la the Cottonwood ranch, a
fertile piece of ground, contalnlns
1000 acres, every foot of which is
owned by Los Angeles, which was pur
chased chiefly for Cottonwood creek, a
mountain-fed atream with an averase
flow of 1000 miners' Inches. Ash creek,
another mountain-fed stream, having
an average flow of about 200 Inches;
Is also on this place.
Learn of Election Results
It |8 at Cottonwood rnnch that the
first power will be developed for the
building of the conduit and this will
be In the hands of a power commit
tee to be appointed by President Suin
merland at , the first meeting . of tho
council.
The nut-of-the-worldness of the des
ert was illustrated by an Incident of
the Journey to Lone Pine, when the
party reached Olanche. In spite of the
tact that nearly every member of our
party was an active politician not one
of them had been able to leurn the re
sults of the elections held In San Fran
cIbco, New York and Philadelphia on
the Tuesday when we left Los Angelea.
It was at Olanche that the first news
of the outside world was received anil
the results of the elections learned
three daya after they had occurred.
The only way news Is received at them
desert stations is by the old-fashioned
. stage coach system. A stage runB
through the desert every two days,
bringing mail and express. Tne tele
phone and telegraph are unknown.
Less than a mile from Lone Pine is
an Inclosure that reminds every resi
dent of the little community of the
terrible earthquake of 1871. At that time
Lone Pine was chiefly built of adobe
huts and the great temblor . ruined
every one of these and killed twenty
people. It is these victims who are
burled in the little inclosure. From
this graveyard the long crack I in the
earth that was made at the base of
the mountains by the earthquake can
be plainly Been. . ,
Begin Work of Conciliation
By Saturday noon we reached In
dependence, county seat of Inyo coun
ty, where we had been told the people
were bitter against Los Angeles for
taking the water supply out of the val
ley. We spent Saturady afternoon and
night at that place and then the real
fun began.
Those who appeared discontented
were taken in hand by the best "mix
ers" of the crowd and large quantities
of soda water and ginger pop were
consumed, as the councilmen explained
that It wa.s not tha policy of the city
to make a desert of Independence or
at any other place on the line. Some
members of the party, tired to the
point of exhaustion, tried . to get u
little sheep that night, but not so. Oth
ers, more wakeful, pulled them out of
bed and refused to hear of sleep until
the wee srna' hours of the morning.
We left Independence late Sunday
morning with only an eighteen mile
drive to Big Pine, the next stopping
place, and lunched at what Is known
as Fred Eaton's ranch, which eontaiu*
15,000 acres.
. This ranch Is the property of the city,
but la leaped by Mr. Eaton for grazing
purposes and he has 6000 head of cat
tle on the plate. Harold Eaton, son
of Mr. Katon, and his wife, conducts
the place and they had a tempting
lunch ready for the hungry pilgrims
when we reached there.
Withdraws All Opposition
Sunday afternoon we passed Black
Rock springs, owned by the city and
good at any time for 1000 Inches of the
clearest, coldest spring water possible,
and Fish springs, of equal capacity
and equally pure. We only crossed the
Owens river at one point and we then
had to go a little out of our way. This
was just before reaching Independ
ence.
At this point the river was nil that
we hajl expected of it, not very wide,
but deep and pure and running an easy
15,000 Inches. When all these resources
were seen. Councilman Houghton, who
has opposed the project, admitted that
he was In the wrong and that he would
be among tha warmest supporters of
the project In the future.
Just beyond Black Hock and Fish
eprlugH, which are within a few miles
of each other, the party puased Char
ley's butte, where the first Intuke will
be located.
At Bis Pine— which was reached
Sunday evening— wo found a large
crowd of residents gathered to learn
what Los Angeles wus going to do.
There were some bitter enumles of
the project among the crowd, but the
readiness of every member of the party
to meet them half way and the thor
oughly satisfactory explanations mad<j.
convinced them that Los Angeles w is
going to do nothing that was not entire
y fair to everyone and the party left
Monday morning to take the train for
Mlna with everyone we had met our
personal friends and friends of the
Owens river water project.
Native* Are Bitter at Los Angeles
Engineer Olmited left tha party at
Big Pine to continue his Investigations
und started for Bishop before we left.
Home of the party were anxious to go
with him, - but we were all too tired,
und It wslb agreed to make a apeoUl
trip to Bishop some time In tha near
future. It Is at this place that the feel
ing ugaliiKt Los Angcle* Is most bitter,
for- they Iibvh been told lit tha com
munity that this city Inteudu to buy
what Uuid It uotually needs and by tak-
\ [ I 1 I || I | II I
~ Dependable Furniture at a Cath Price .
FTIRNTTTTRF '
_ For tho Parlor and Library .• 1
Every piece of furniture in our stock ia representative of __
~ the best in the furniture line. It is all thoroughly honest
in its construction and made of the most carefully selected __
' woods and finest materials. There are individuality and
style about every piece that at once brand them as the L
very best— just the kind of furniture that you desire for ,
your home. _
We now have a very good showing of new pieces—
_ davenports, chairs, rockers, etc. — which we would like _
you to see. £M*ny of the pieces are upholstered with
denim, aud left so that you can select coverings to match
_ the surroundings. We have the finest line of furniture
coverings in the city. ™
£jm \\\ j^^^^^^L^^sw^^^sß^jr^fJß^^^lSS^^^a^SSMßsSJsC^^^^J^
"Mil Good* Marked in Plain Figure*"
Niles Pease
Furniture Co.
439-441443 So. Spring St., Los Angeles, Cal.
Ready for Delivery This Week . ;
$2650 Model "X" $2650
WINTON
The Most Luxurious, Easiest Riding Automobile Made
While the allotment of Model "X" Wlnton Cart to this section wu Urge,
indication* are that It will not be adequate to meet the demand. Order
early to Insure Immediate delivery.
Success Automobile Co.
Excluslv Southern California Agency for
"The House of Wlnton"—.
tt So?! 430 <8* 422 South Hill Street
Ingr all the water to practically confis
cate the rest of the property.
Bishop depends very largely on the
Owens river for Us very life. W«
learned at Big- Pine that only a small
per cent of the people at BlBhop had
Buch an erroneous Impression and that
those who understood that Los Ange
les was only Boing to utilize the water
now going to waste favored the pro
ject.
But the members of our party ranic
to the conclusion that the feeling 1 wan
more Intense than we had been led
to believe when J. B. Grant, train
master on the Caraon & Colorado, the
little Jerk-water road that we hud to
use to get to Mlna, gave order« for our
passenger train to run behind a cattle
train.
Several memberB of the party olalm.^d
that he was a resident of Blthop and
had given these orders to humiliate
the city officials.
Healy Saves the Train
Clrant rode on the cuttle train; ah«a<1
of the passenger, and It Is certain that
at no time waa uny tiffurt made to get|
•peed out of tlie engine, ahead of uh.
From Big Plna to Mlna la ninety-five
miles uud it took our train seventeen
hours to make tha trip. The entire
line Is over the mountain* and we ran
up some pretty steep grades. At one
place It seemed that the engine would
not in able to hold us ana the truin
began slipping and rolled back, but
Councilman Healy, an old railroad
man, sprang to the rear wheel and Bet
the brake, probably Just In time to
prevent' a serious accident.
From Mtnu to Ban Francisco we had
good accommodations on a Pullman cur
and Councilman Kern laid himself
down with orders to bt called wh.mi
Gabriel blew his hum fur Ihu general
awakening and threatened dire thing*
to anyone who woke him up before that
time.
Until Engineer Olmsted left us at
Big: Pino there were thirteen In the
party, but wo all agreed that It whb
the luckiest number that could have
been secured. A trip of that klni
made Btranger bedfellowH thun poli
ticH, for Smith and Houghtoti slept in
the same' bed more than once. Heniv
and Kern were lnnepuruble. Ford ami
Hlller frequently had their arms arouiul
(in ii other's neclu and we all broke the
outer crust that heretofore had encoiu ■
paused each other.
TO OPEN VENETIAN GARDEN
Col. Frank Lenton's Attraction at
Venice Will Be Ready for
Visitor* Tonight
Venice of America will open Its win
ter season of galty this evening, when
Its latest attraction, the Venetian
Garden, will entertain the publlo of
Los Angeles, Ocean Park and Santa
Monica. , -
Under the management of Col. Frank
Lawton, Ellery's Royal Italian band
has been engaged for the season 'and
the first concert will be given tonight; t
It Is planned by Abbot Klnney and hU
manugers to put Venice In the front
ranks of the winter resorts, and the
ship restaurant and other features will
be conducted under the auspices of the
Venice Winter Carnival association. '
Knloker — 80 James got mixed In his
excuses? liockt.r_Ycs7 Ha told hi"
w "» «hat he had been up alt night with
the baby, and til* employer tlwt ha was
ivr tt p«r c',e ', B«»r oßfii -° "" bu " u « H -:
