Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
1978.732.3Description
Mounted photo of LADWP electric dipper dredge and crew. The dredge, powered by electricity produced from Division Creek Power Plant, excavated the open, unlined section of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. In this picture the dredge is at the point of excavation ready to continue chewing a path through the soft valley alluvium ahead of it. The man on the top left is identified as Russell B. Spainhower, a Lone Pine rancher, who is legendary for his support of the movie industry in Lone Pine. The photo ID number in the lower left corner is 2330.
"Aqueduct construction was stalled 1910 by a shortage of funds, but on the northerly Owens Valley Division, where some fifty men were dredging an open canal, Superintendent Harvey A. Van Norman found encouragement from his crewmen. Calling them together when word reached him of the financial crisis, the husky young engineer announced he would have to shut down operations and dismiss them all for a lack of funds. The men looked at one another, exchanged a few remarks, then asked the chief: 'You can keep the cookhouse going, can't you?' Van Norman assured them that he could guarantee grub for a month or more. To his immense satisfaction the entire crew decided it could say on without pay until Mulholland got money matters in order once again. Throughout the aqueduct curtailment, dirt continued to fly in the Owens Valley Division." --from Water Seekers, by Nadeau, pg. 42.Collection
Bruce Morgan Collection