of the Nineteenth Century convinced city leaders that new sources of water had to be developed outside of the basin (McClure 1-2, 10-11; Ostrom 10-12).
At the end of the Nineteenth Century, Los Angeles Mayor Fred Eaton believed that water could be diverted from the Owens River to Los Angeles; economic and political realities, however, prevented the development of such a scheme at that time. In 1904, William Mulholland, superintendent of the Los Angeles City Water Department, accompanied Eaton to the Owens Valley to complete an analysis of the plan. Mulholland then convinced city officials to allocate $25 million for an aqueduct which would divert water from the river to the San Fernando Valley. Eaton began acquiring land and appurtenant water rights in the Owens Valley, posing as a developer for large cattle holdings in the Valley. He turned over this property to the city, along with options on water rights in land which was riparian to the river. Citizens of Los Angeles overwhelmingly approved bond issues for the purchases when the plan was made public in July of 1905. The aqueduct was completed by the end of 1913 and water began to flow from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles (Karhl 2-21; Ostrom 12-14; Sauder 99).
Eaton and Mulholland had kept the plans secret for a year while the land was bought. Mulholland feared that news of the plan would drive prices up to such an extent that the city would not be able to afford to buy all the property necessary to secure the water rights. Eaton, meanwhile, dreamed of acquiring wealth by buying land whose value was going to rise quickly once the plan was made public. Consequently, he sold the water rights to the land he bought while keeping title to the land itself (Karhl 5-7).
Little resistance was encountered during these early years, since the city was happy to acquire the riparian land which was downstream of most of the agricultural interests in the valley. The ire of the...