Author: Robert William MatsonPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Los Angeles (Calif.)
Languages : en
Pages : 108
Book Description
William Mulholland, a Forgotten Forefather
Author: Robert William MatsonPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Los Angeles (Calif.)
Languages : en
Pages : 108
Book Description
William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles
Author: Catherine MulhollandPublisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520234666
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 476
Book Description
Mulholland presided over the creation of a water system that forever changed the course of Southern California's history. In the first full-length biography of the water and civil engineer, his granddaughter provides insights into the triumphant completion of the Owens Valley Aqueduct and the San Francisquito Dam tragedy that ended his career. Archival photos. 7 maps.
The Great Thirst
Author: Norris Hundley Jr.Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520925298
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 830
Book Description
The story of "the great thirst" is brought up to date in this revised edition of Norris Hundley's outstanding history, with additional photographs and incisive descriptions of the major water-policy issues facing California now: accelerating urbanization of farmland and open spaces, persisting despoliation of water supplies, and demands for equity in water allocation for an exploding population. People the world over confront these problems, and Hundley examines them with clarity and eloquence in the unruly laboratory of California. The obsession with water has shaped California to a remarkable extent, literally as well as politically and culturally. Hundley tells how aboriginal Americans and then early Spanish and Mexican immigrants contrived to use and share the available water and how American settlers, arriving in ever-increasing numbers after the Gold Rush, transformed California into the home of the nation's preeminent water seekers. The desire to use, profit from, manipulate, and control water drives the people and events in this fascinating narrative until, by the end of the twentieth century, a large, colorful cast of characters and communities has wheeled and dealed, built, diverted, and connived its way to an entirely different statewide waterscape. The story of "the great thirst" is brought up to date in this revised edition of Norris Hundley's outstanding history, with additional photographs and incisive descriptions of the major water-policy issues facing California now: accelerating urbanization
Heavy Ground
Author: Norris HundleyPublisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520287665
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450
Book Description
Minutes beforeÊmidnightÊon March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed, sending more than 12 billion gallons of water surging through CaliforniaÕs Santa Clara Valley and killing some 400 people, causing the greatest civil engineering disaster in twentieth-century American history. This extensively illustrated volume gives an account of how the St. Francis Dam came to be built, the reasons for its collapse, the terror and heartbreak brought by the flood, the efforts to restore the Santa Clara Valley, the political factors influencing investigations of the failure, and the effect of the disaster on dam safety regulation. Underlying all is a consideration of how the damÑand the disasterÑwere inextricably intertwined with the life and career of William Mulholland.Ê
Introduction to Engineering Mechanics
Author: Jenn Stroud RossmannPublisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482219530
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 519
Book Description
Integrated Mechanics Knowledge Essential for Any EngineerIntroduction to Engineering Mechanics: A Continuum Approach, Second Edition uses continuum mechanics to showcase the connections between engineering structure and design and between solids and fluids and helps readers learn how to predict the effects of forces, stresses, and strains. T
Using Visual Evidence
Author: Howells, RichardPublisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
ISBN: 033522864X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
This is a book about visual literacy. It both advocates and equips the scholarly use of visual images as visual evidence. The visual is not mere illustration, it is the text. Enabling a rediscovery of the visual skills of the past facilitates the investigation of history and the understanding of the present. Chapters by international authorities have been specially commissioned on the use of visual evidence from painting to political prints, photographs, documentary, feature films, television, news and advertising.
Chronicles of Old Los Angeles
Author: James RomanPublisher: Museyon
ISBN: 194084200X
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
There's more to Los Angeles than lights, camera, action; discover the city yourself with six guided walking/driving tours of LA's historic neighborhoods, illustrated with color photographs and period maps. From the city's early days marked by missionaries, robber barons, orange groves, and oil wells to the invention of the movie camera, Chronicles of Old Los Angeles explains how the Wild West became the Left Coast, and how Alta California became the 31st state. Learn how ethnic waves built Los Angeles—from Native Americans to Spaniards, Latinos, Chinese, Japanese, and all the characters that crowded into California during the Gold Rush—and learn about the gangsters, surfers, architects, and Hollywood pioneers who brought fame to the City of the Angels.
Water and Power
Author: William L. KahrlPublisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520907418
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 605
Book Description
It is not the purpose of this work to propose a specific format for the settlement of the city's current difficulties with the valley, to resolve the environmental questions associated with Los Angeles's proposed groundwater pumping program, or to promote any cause associated with the developing situation in the Owens Valley. But by performing the essential historical task of separating what happened from what did not, and by distinguishing in this way the choices which have been made from those which have yet to be decided, it is my hope that this effort will help to establish that common basis for understanding which is essential for the debate over specific issues to proceed most effectively. This book, then, is scarcely the last word on the Owens Valley conflict: the final chapter, after all, has yet to be written. The story that has emerged here is at once very different and more troubling than the conventional treatments of the conflict as a simplistic political morality play. Any attempt to deal with so controversial a subject, however, is almost certain to spark controversy itself. For that reason, with the exception of a small collection of private letters, this work is constructed entirely from the published documents and other materials available to the general public, anchoring the narrative in sources the reader can consult to trace the line of my argument on any point with which he or she may disagree. In addition, the work as a whole has been reviewed for technical accuracy by officials of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, although the department is in no way responsible for the content of this study or the conclusions drawn from it.
Days of Vintage, Years of Vision
Author: Midge SherwoodPublisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1465325859
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
Days of Vintage, Years of Vision is the living, breathing story of one of the most important periods in American history. This three-volume series records the development of the State of California from its admission into the Union in 1850 to the turn of the 20th Century. It is a family narrative that chronicles both the personal and political lives of those who settled the southern section to bring in railroads, build harbors, and establish a world commercial centre that would one day send favorite sons to the White House. The author skillfully presents this family within the context of the times of not only the State, but the country and the world. The story evolves with the lives of Benjamin D. Wilson and his sons-in-law, George Smith Patton, Sr. father of the famous Generaland James De Barth Shorb, whose San Marino Ranchonce the queen property of Southern Californiais today the site of the Huntington Library, Art Galleries and Botanical Gardens. Volume I narrates the Los Angeles arrival of Wilson in 1841, a former Indian trader who became the new communitys first elected mayor and was twice-elected State Senator. Quiet, unassuming, committed to honor and duty, Wilson established a harbor, railroad facilities, a university and other advancements to secure his citys place on the world map as a cultural and commercial center. Mt. Wilson was named for him in appreciation and recognition of all that he did for the State. James De Barth Shorb arrived in San Francisco in 1864 with the first oil excitement and joined Wilson to manage his 14,000-acre San Pasqual ranch that extended from the foothills of Mt. Wilson to what is today the City of Alhambra. He became a member of Wilsons family by marrying his first daughter, Sue. He began a relentless political career, plunging into every major aspect of the States development after the death of Wilson in 1878. Volume II continues the Shorb narrative in 1879. He could have become Governor of the State, had he only accepted the nomination, but he, himself, admitted that his hands were full. Not only was he the father of nine children, but he was busy with his many business and civic endeavors. He built the largest winery in the world, helped develop water and irrigation projects, and was very influential in the establishment of laws governing such in the agricultural State of California. Shorb also pioneered an interurban railroad, the forerunner of Huntingtons network throughout Southern California. The Patton family is also introduced in Volume II. They arrived in 1865 as Civil War refugees. George Patton grew up in Los Angeles, became the citys district attorney, and developed a reputation as an explosive, fiery orator, who could hold a political convention of The Democracy spellbound for two hours. He married Wilsons daughter, Ruth, in 1884, and their son, George Smith Patton Jr., born November 11, 1885, was destined to become the famous World War II General. Volume III continues the narrative of this unusually vigorous and visionary family in 1889. Times were hard in the fin de sicle of the 19th Century, and they faced an awesome political battle to keep Los Angeles Harbor at San Pedro. The opposition? Collis P. Huntington, determined to establish the harbor at Santa Monica. This battle, recorded in national headlines, would call forth all of Pattons political energy. However, Volume III begins with more than hard times. While retaining the reverent spirit, the celebration of Thanksgiving Day in 1889 included a remarkable event. Heralded as the great Valley Hunt,a wildcat and fox huntit consisted of a hunting party of nearly 50 prominent members, and featured Shorbs famous hounds, the Australian blues. As a result of this successful activity, December 12, the president of the Valley Hunt Club wrote an article in the Los Angeles Times suggesting: A tournament
Floodpath
Author: Jon WilkmanPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620409178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337
Book Description
"Floodpath attempts to rescue the disaster from obscurity . . . The author captures many heartbreaking stories of survivors . . . The effect is powerful." --The Wall Street Journal Just before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam, a twenty-story-high concrete structure just fifty miles north of Los Angeles, suddenly collapsed, releasing a devastating flood that roared fifty-four miles to the Pacific Ocean, destroying everything in its path. It was a horrific catastrophe, yet one which today is virtually forgotten. With research gathered over more than two decades, award-winning writer and filmmaker Jon Wilkman revisits the deluge that claimed nearly five hundred lives. A key figure is William Mulholland, the self-taught engineer who created an unprecedented water system, allowing Los Angeles to become America's second largest city, and who was also responsible for the design and construction of the St. Francis Dam. Driven by eyewitness accounts and combining urban history with a life-and-death drama and a technological detective story, Floodpath grippingly reanimates the reality behind L.A. noir fictions like the classic film Chinatown. In an era of climate change, increasing demand on water resources, and a neglected American infrastructure, the tragedy of the St. Francis Dam has never been more relevant.
