Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature.

• Author: Rothenberg, Robert S.

Without William Mulholland, Los Angeles still might be a desert. An Irish immigrant who never finished grade school, he started out as a ditch digger for the Los Angeles Water System in 1878 and, teaching himself hydraulic engineering en route, worked his way up to superintendent by 1886. When the growing city had exhausted its only appreciable source of water, the Los Angeles River, Mulholland cast about for alternatives. The answer was found in the Owens Valley, 230 miles north of the city.

Mulholland's agents managed to buy up about 95% of the water rights along the Owens River, promising the local farmers and ranchers that they would be allowed continuous access to the vital liquid. Mulholland then had an acqueduct constructed across the Mojave Desert to deliver the water to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the city's Establishment had bought up arid land in the San Fernando Valley along the acqueduct's path. With four times the water Los Angeles actually needed being pumped out of Owens Valley, the excess was drained to irrigate the San Fernando Valley and turn it into arguably the most fertile agricultural land in the nation, enriching the insider investors.

By 1927, the Owens River nearly had dried up, triggering armed revolt by the ranchers that included dynamiting the pipeline. Mulholland had to bring in militia to protect the water for his sprawling city, which, by annexing 52 surrounding communities, now covered 400 square miles, more than any other metropolis in America. Mulholland's triumph was shortlived, however. When the San Francisquito Dam along the acqueduct burst in 1928, a wall of water and debris 60 feet high hurtling at up to 30 miles an hour wiped out entire communities in California's greatest disaster since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. After 50 years of controlling Los Angeles' water, Mulholland was forced to resign in disgrace.

The city's need for water was...