HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE UPPER MOJAVE DESERT

Vol. 21 No. 5 May 2006 ___________________________________________________________________________
THIS MONTH! ANNUAL DINNER MEETING!

Be sure to get your tickets soon for the Society's Annual Dinner meeting on Tuesday, May 16. This year's speakers will be Martin and Susan Powell, presenting a "Living History Dialogue" about some of the early pioneers at the town of Manzanar. The Annual Dinner will be at Victoria's at the Heritage starting at 6:00 PM. Tickets are available at the Maturango Museum at a cost of $20 per person and must be purchased in advance. DEADLINE for purchasing tickets is Sunday, May 15, by 5 p.m.

Susan Chaffey Powell is the great-granddaughter of George Chaffey who founded the Southern California cities of Ontario, Upland and Etiwanda (now part of Rancho Cucamonga.) He also developed the water resources and agriculture in two cities on the Murray River in Australia and later founded the town of Manzanar in the Owens Valley, as an agricultural community before WWII.

At the Annual Dinner, Martin Powell will portray George Chaffey, while Susan Powell will portray George's niece Harriet Chaffey Payne, who lived in Manzanar at its founding in 1905. The Powells will present a Living History Dialogue, portraying early pioneers and telling their stories through their diaries, oral histories, public records, and family photos. The presentation will also discuss water development and management in very dry places that contained excellent soil if irrigation could bring water to where people needed it.

Martin was born and raised in the Pasadena area and graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Redlands. He taught secondary school in the Santa Rosa, California, area for 35 years. He found that teaching history was a real passion and now researching and presenting the past fulfills what he has been doing previously. Sue was born and raised in the La Canada-Flintridge area of Southern CA. She attended schools there and in Pasadena. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Redlands and Masters degree from Sonoma State University. She has been a special education teacher and college instructor throughout her career.

The Powells went to Manzanar before it became a National Monument to explore the family history there. They became involved in the formation of what is there today, and have been volunteering for the National Park Service for the past four years doing what is needed from research to presentations. Last year they put on a presentation as George and Harriet Chaffey at Manzanar.

The meal will be served buffet style. It will feature chicken and shrimp jambalaya, bacon-wrapped top sirloin, sautéed asparagus, other vegetables, rice pilaf, etc. and beverages.

In addition to the Powell's presentation, the dinner meeting will include the President's annual report and the election of board members. Andrew Sound

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

The Nominating Committee consisting of Chairperson Kathy Armstrong, George Silberberg and Barbara Padgett, has submitted, and the HSUMD board has accepted, the following four members to fill the positions for the vacancies caused by expiring terms. They are Gwyn Jensen, Don Joe McKernan, John Di Pol (incumbent) and Andrew Sound (incumbent). Their biographical sketches follow:

GWYN JENSEN, Gwyn, with babe in arms, joined her husband here in 1945. She loves sharing all those early memories and how involved her family was in this community, particularly the USO/Old County Building's history. Her quote, "What a lot of wonderful memories; let's keep them!"

DON JOE MCKERNAN. I have been a resident of the Indian Wells Valley since 1944. I attended school locally from grade one through high school, graduating from Burroughs High School in 1955. I served on the Board of Directors for the Indian Wells Valley Water District for 33 years, In 1993, I retired from Pacific Gas and Electric as general foreman , with 33 years of employment. I am interested in acquiring and retaining the cultural history of the Indian Wells Valley and making it available to residents and visitors. I think that the USO Building on Ridgecrest Blvd. would be an excellent place to display and retain this information. I would like to serve on the Board of the Historical Society to help make this happen.

JOHN DI POL (Incumbent). I arrived to work at NOTS, China Lake, in 1950. I served in a variety of positions as an aerospace engineer for 31 years, retiring in 1981. I have been a member of the HSUMD since its inaugural year of 1985 and previously served on the Board of Directors in the late 1980's/early 1990's. I am an avid reader of California and local history. My particular area of interest has been the Los Angeles­Owens Valley Aqueduct. I am a frequent contributor of historical articles for the Society's newsletter and an active member of the USO Building project team.

ANDREW SOUND (Incumbent). I was born in Ridgecrest and have lived here ever since, give or take my college years. Currently I work on the base. Local history has interested me more and more as I see the changes in town in the time I've lived here -- I still think of the building that now houses the Crossroads Church as "the new drugstore" -- so I joined the Historical Society several years ago. I was first elected to the board four years ago, and since then I have served as Publicity Director and more recently as Vice-President and Secretary. I look forward to working with the Society on the restoration of the USO/County building.

OPEN HOUSE AT USO BUILDING

We recently received word that we did not successfully make the cut in this year's applications for a California historical grant, but there will be another opportunity next year. The board is in the process of making decisions on how to proceed. In the meantime, one area we feel we need to improve for our revised application in is in the amount and kind of community support. Therefore, we're planning to hold two open houses at the USO Building this month to show people what it is like, etc. (In preparation for this we've been doing a lot of cleaning!) The first open house is for businesses only and will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday evening, May 15. The second one is for members and the general public. It is scheduled for 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 20. So mark the date and time for whichever is appropriate for you and visit us at 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd.

MORE ARTIFACTS CONTRIBUTED.

The Society would like to thank the Linkletter/Renner families for the numerous pieces of furniture and dishes donated from their mother's estate. They will enhance our pioneer and USO period exhibits in our cultural history center.

TWO FIELD TRIPS THIS MONTH!

May 6 Manzanar trip with the Powells. Meet at Museum at 9:00 a.m. or at Manzanar at 10:30, where we will meet the Powells and see a short film on the camp, and see the exhibits. At 12 we will begin the guided tour, starting at the Shepherd house. There will be some walking but nothing too strenuous. Bring lunch, water, hat, walking shoes, sun glasses/sunscreen and camera.

June 3 Borax Mine open pit trip. We'll travel in our own cars and meet at the Visitors' Center at Boron at 8:00 a.m. We will board an air-conditioned bus for a four hour tour of the extensive open pit and some of the surrounding historical area. This tour is limited to 20 people so early sign-up is recommended. For further details call Jim Kenney 371-2458. Jim Kenney

HISTORICAL ARTICLE

(Following is an article prepared by our great local historian member, John Di Pol, drawn from his personal library of history books. Ed).

The Black Pipes

Those of us who live, or who have lived in our Indian Wells Valley have an unobstructed view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains 10 miles to the west. And we see a number of canyons emanating from the mountains, carved by streams draining into Lake China over the eons of time. We also see a black line crossing some of these canyons which, when we take a closer view from Hwy. 14 or 395, becomes a pipeline and long ago we have said "Oh, that's the aqueduct..." and left it at that.

But there is an interesting story about these Black Pipes. Yes, it is the Los Angeles ­ Owens Valley aqueduct, the original aqueduct built in 1908 ­ 1913. The "1st Barrel" which diverts the water out of the Owens River at a point 6 miles north of the town of Independence and transports it to Los Angeles 230 miles to the south, all by gravity flow. No pumps at any point along the line. The elevation at the diversion point on the river is 4,000 ft. above sea level, compared to the several hundred feet at the terminal reservoirs in the San Fernando Valley - ample difference for an all-gravity flow, provided that the elevation differential is not squandered or mismanaged.

So what did the engineers do when the proposed line of the aqueduct encountered these deep canyons of the Sierras south of Little Lake and again in the mountains north of San Fernando? They turned to the technique of the inverted siphon, which consists of a closed pipe to bring the water down the side and across a canyon, then up the opposite side and discharge it at an elevation just a few feet lower in elevation than the input (or intake) side. Because of the very high water pressures created in the line, especially at the bottom of the canyon, steel pipe was used. Fifteen steel siphons were constructed along the aqueduct. We shall focus our comments on five in our local area. They are, starting south of Little Lake: Nine Mile, No Name, Sand, Grapevine and Jawbone Canyons.

Each siphon was individually sized and designed for its specific location. Pipe diameters varied from 8 ft. to 12 ft., steel thickness 1/4 in. to 1-1/8 in. The pipe was manufactured by three plants in the east. Segments 6 ft. in width were rolled and riveted into sections 12 to 24 ft. long and shipped by rail. They were off loaded on to "wagons" which were pulled by mules to the construction site. (At the height of construction, the City had over 4,000 mules along the line). Each section was designed and coded for its specific position in the siphon with rivet holes at each end prepunched at the plant. The largest section of prebuilt pipe was for the Jawbone siphon: 37 ft. long, 52,000 lbs., hauled into place by a string of 52 mules. Various types of derricks were used to move sections into place. For the inclined portions up the sides of the canyon, aerial tramways were used, but the most favored method was the inclined railways with flat cars pulled up by drum hoists, the section then rolled into position and field riveted in place. Remember, this took place over 90 years ago. Automotive trucks and tractors were more of a hindrance than help. Steam engines were king. The lever and roller indispensable.

The Jawbone siphon is truly a piece of work. Over 8,000 ft. in length, 850 ft. of hydraulic head ( the "head" is the difference in elevation between the intake at the top and at the lowest part of the siphon). In the case of the Jawbone, 850 ft. head translates into a water pressure of 365 psi (pounds per square inch).

The Sand Canyon siphon has a 455 ft. head (200 psi). Compare these with the 30-35 psi in the tires which supports your 7-9,000 lb auto or SUV. Or the 45-55 psi in your home water system.

Drive in to Jawbone or Sand Canyons and stand next to the Black Pipes. They should give you a sense of awe. It does to your writer.

Oh....on your way in to Sand, at the mouth of the canyon, you will pass by a White Pipe, somewhat smaller than the Black Pipe, but still big. It is the 2nd Barrel of the aqueduct, completed in 1970, and generally follows the line of the 1st Barrel. But no down and up siphons at Sand, Nine Mile, No Name and Grapevine. What gives? Modern motive power for hauling, rolling mills for big pipe and field welding technology resulted in a single inverted siphon 18 miles long from Little Lake to Indian Wells Canyon. Similarly, a single 22 mile long 2nd Barrel inverted siphon parallels the massive 1st Barrel at Jawbone and the adjacent Pine Tree siphons.

The 2nd Barrel is ho-hum modern construction, done every day. The original aqueduct (setting aside the environmental, political and chicanery) is creative, one-of-a-kind, miraculous. Or, a work of art. Take your pick.

Ref. CONSTRUCTION Of The LOS ANGELES AQUEDUCT, Final Report. Board of Public Service Commissioners, City of Los Angeles, 1916