The Owens River Valley “The
constant purpose of the government in connection with the Reclamation
Service has been to use the water resources of the public lands for the
ultimate greatest good of the greatest number.”
Eaton had first come to the valley twelve years earlier in
1892. He had ridden up on
horseback to evaluate an irrigation project for a client.
His engineer’s eye took in the swollen streams of the Sierra
snowmelt, bursting their banks in their plunging descent onto the dry
plain of the Owens Valley. He
also noticed that the Owens Lake had become a basin from which there was no
outlet. Once the water from
the Sierras reached the lake Eaton believed it was useless, contaminated
by the salt of the enclosed basin.
Eaton had begun to plan for this water rather than see it wasted,
and now, in 1904 he was on the verge of acting on his plans. Joseph Barlow Lippincott was also an engineer.
The two men shared similar backgrounds and specialties.
Eaton’s public works experience had led him to become involved
with irrigation projects while Lippincott’s work as a topographer and
hydrographer had led him to the Reclamation Service.
Eaton’s public service began with his election as City Engineer
in 1886, while Lippincott had joined the United States Geological Survey
in 1889. Both men were
civic minded. Eaton had
been mayor of Los Angeles in 1898 when the lease of the Los Angeles City
Water Company had expired. He
had promoted the purchase of the system by the City, and Lippincott had
been a volunteer in the bond drive that had financed the purchase. Lippincott’s work as supervising engineer for California
in the newly created U.S. Reclamation Service had brought him,
independently of Eaton, to the Owens Valley.
In the spring of 1903, his boss, Fredrick H. Newell, had
suggested the Owens Valley as a site for a potential reclamation
project. Lippincott had
sent a surveyor to conduct a full study of the area so that the
project’s feasibility could be evaluated. The members of the camping party who went to Bishop for supplies encountered many residents of the Owens Valley along the way. Traveling through the valley they discussed the area’s potential for a reclamation project, including places of interest such as the reservoir site at Long Valley. To all observers, it was a group of friends on an outing, but Eaton’s plans for the water would launch a long conflict. |
Fred
Eaton looked west to the sun setting behind the ragged escarpment of the
Eastern Sierra Nevada.
lower
end of the valley had been blocked by a recent lava flow, but that
previous to the eruptions the river had flowed in a channel straight
south to the mountains just north of Los Angeles.