Darkness Over the Land

Michael Collins | Nov 20, 2009 | Comments 5

Darkness’s half-empty glass can lead to a world full of adventure. Not on the first leg of this journey, however, when my companion is a bit more sporting.

Dawn Wilde, a patriotic rock and roller who hails from the Mojave town of Trona and lives in an American flag-painted trailer, is a natural for any stretch of desert as long as it’s headed for a good time (see “Dawn in Desert Wonderland” and “Hell’s Belles.”)

We make a customary stop on Dawn Road off of California State Route 14 outside of Rosamond, 58 miles north of Los Angeles.

“You know why they named this road after me and put it way out here in the middle of nowhere,” Dawn said swinging around the Dawn Road sign poll. “Because it’d be too dangerous to have it in town, with all the fellahs watching me and such, that’s what.” She had that right. We had our customary tailgate party and were on our way.

‘I Envy the Dead’

While the fastest route to Death Valley would take us through Trona, we opted to continue on U.S. Highway 395 and save that special treat for the way back. Our destination was Lone Pine, where we were chasing part of a long investigation that is about, in great part, water. And what better place to talk to locals about water in Southern California than Lone Pine.

Lone Pine is a small picturesque town in the heart of the Owens Valley, at the foot of the majestic Sierra Mountains and adjacent to the strange and otherworldly Alabama Hills. The town’s economy is largely based on tourism since it’s near several major attractions including Mount Whitney, Death Valley National Park, Sequoia National Park, Mammoth Mountain, and Yosemite National Park.

Lone Pine is also Los Angeles Department of Water and Power territory. The largest utility in the country owns 25% of the Owens Valley floor. DWP’s presence in Owens Valley was crucial to the development of Los Angeles but not so good for Lone Pine and the valley.

LA grew on eastern Sierra water with the acquisition of water rights and taking control of Owens and Mono lakes. William Mulholland, who built the aqueduct to bring the water to the city in the early part of last century, began a series of water department schemes and blunders which has left scars in relations between Los Angeles and Lone Pine to this day.

Mulholland bribed and bought enough water rights in Owens Valley that by 1905 he could begin building the aqueduct to Los Angeles. When it opened eight years later, DWP ordered homesteaders to only use what little water they had left for drinking and not for irrigation. By 1928, 100 square miles of Owens Lake was drained dry precipitating the California Water Wars which had farmers dynamiting the aqueduct.

This so incensed Mulholland that he supposedly said that he “half-regretted the demise of so many of the valley’s orchard trees, because now there were no longer enough trees to hang all the troublemakers who live there.”

Mulholland ended up dying a broken man as I wrote about in “I Envy the Dead.” A dam built by Mulholland collapsed near Santa Clarita soon after the architect had assured that the dam was safe in a storm pounding the Southland. It wasn’t. When the St. Francis Dam gave way, a wall of water 78 feet high came roaring down the canyon killing hundreds as 12 billion gallons flooded through Ventura County to the ocean.

Only the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 was deadlier in the state’s history. The scandalous story behind DWP’s early days is the basis for the classic 1974 film “Chinatown” starring Jack Nicholson.

But what about the DWP nowadays? With a $4.19 billion budget, and the department’s oft-times dubious history, there would seem to be no end of stories about the DWP.

DWP is spending hundreds of millions refilling Owens Lake to cut down on the dust that has plagued the region for decades making its air the worst in the nation. LA Weekly’s Jeffrey Anderson, in late 2005, interviewed whistleblower DWP workers in the area and revealed that the $103 million Owens Lake Dust Mitigation Project had ballooned to $400 million. Now that figure is $500 million. The paper also revealed “contingency clauses that allow DWP contractors to revise projects by up to 25 percent of the price.”

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