L.A. River History

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The History of the Los Angeles River

Not even an Indian could always outguess such prima donnas as those tempermental rivers which the Spanish were finally to name the Santa Ana de los Temblores, the San Gabriel, and the Porciuncula (Los Angeles) . . .

Bernice Eastman Johnson1

Early Descriptions of the River
reeds and grasses

The Los Angeles River does not fit our image of a typical river in a more temperate climate. Rivers in arid climates tend to be seasonal, with little or no flow through much of the year, and heavy flows and flooding through the rainy season. Likewise, the Los Angeles River has two faces. Through the dry season from June to October the river has little or no natural flow. The rainy season in this area's Mediterranean climate is from November to May, and in these months floods along the river have caused more property damage and deaths than earthquakes. Possibly we can get a glimpse of what the river might have been like by looking at the Santa Clara River, which is one of the only remaining large, relatively natural rivers in the region.

The first written description of the Los Angeles River is offered by Juan Crespi on the Portola expedition in 1769.

" Wednesday, August 2.--We set out from the valley in the morning and followed the same plain in the westerly direction. After traveling about a league and a half through a pass between low hills, we entered a very spacious valley, well grown with cottonwoods and alders, among which ran a beautiful river (the Los Angeles) from the north-northwest, and then doubling the point of a steep hill, it went on aftwards to the south. Toward the north-northeast there is another river bed (the Arroyo Seco) which forms a spacious water-course, but we found it dry. This bed unites with that of the river, giving a clear indication of great floods in the rainy season, for we saw that it had many trunks of trees on the banks. We halted not very far from the river, which we named Porciuncula. Here we felt three consecutive earthquakes in the afternoon and night. We must have traveled about three leagues today. This plain where the river runs is very extensive. It has good land for planting all kinds of grain and seeds, and is the most suitable site of all that we have seen for a mission, for it has all the requisites for a large settlement."

The location of this camp was probably just a mile or two north of what later became the Pueblo of Los Angeles. The river is the reason the pueblo was started in that location, which is near the present-day Macy St. and First St. bridges. Crespi goes on to say that eight indians visited them from a local village that day. 2 Reeds on the L.A. River

"...they live in this delightful place amoung the trees on the river. They presented us with some baskets of pinole made from seeds of sage and other grasses. Their chief brought some strings of beads made of shells, and they threw us three handfuls of them. Some of the old men where smoking pipes well made of baked clay and they puffed at us three mouthfuls of smoke. We gave them a little tobacco and glass beads, and they went away well pleased."

After fording the river the next day, the Portola expedition . . ."entered a large vineyard of wild grapes and an infinity of rosebushes in full bloom. All the soil is black and loamy, and is capable of producing every kind of grain and fruit which may be planted. We went west, continually over good land well covered with grass." 3

The River Changes Course Several Times.

Bernice Johnson writes, "With few exceptions old residents recalled that, until the floods of 1824-25 sent it careening off through the lowlands to the south, the Los Angeles River ran below a high bluff between the present Main and Los Angeles Streets, turning westward on its meandering way to the "cienegas", the great marshlands that lay between the Baldwin and the Beverly Hills. This course can be traced roughly today by observing the trend of the low ground in the region of Venice, Adams, and Washington, between La Brea and La Cienega Boulevards, in the present city of Los Angeles.

From some unknown prior date, or perhaps always until the winter of 1824-25, this was the course the Los Angeles River followed to its mouth in the Santa Monica Bay. Thereafter, during every major storm . . . this was the way it threatened to take and deep sands exist to prove its right to such a course. "The river needed to rise only a few inches to send it down the old channel," reported on old resident. In 1867 this actually happened and for a while the water stood like a great lake all the way to the 'cienegas'. From that point to the sea the course had been that of the stream the Spanish were to call 'La Ballona,' although the low ground southward to the Dominguez country sometime coaxed the overflow in that direction." 4

History of Floods in Los Angeles 5

Gabrielino Era--The central village of the Gabrielino indians, Yangna, is established near the river and a large sycamore tree, or "council tree". Approximately 200 people live in Yangna, which was near present-day downtown Los Angeles. Recent excavations near Olvera Street have revealed Gabrielino artifacts over 3,000 years old.24
1769--Portola Expedition and Juan Crespi document the Los Angeles River.
1777--Govenor DeNeve selects the sight for Los Angeles on the site of the current City Hall, a few blocks from the river.
1781--The Zanja Madre dam was built to supply water and irrigation for the young city.
1811-- Flooding
1815--The original Plaza is washed away as the river overflows and changes course at Alameda and Fourth Street to cut west across the low land and empty in Ballona Creek. The great "council tree", of the Gabrielino village of Yangna survives the flood.
1825--Govenor Pico recorded in his diary that the L.A. River changed its course back from the Ballona wetlands to San Pedro. Woodland between the pueblo and the ocean destoryed (woodland along the 110 FWY?). Marshland drained by the new channel.
1832--Heavy flooding
1845--Rancho Encino established at the head of the L.A. River.
1857--Los Angeles Water Works created under the direction of William Dryden. A water wheel was built at the Zanja Madre dam. The Great Fort Tejon earthquake also occurred, Southern California's last BIG earthquake.
1861-62--Heavy flooding. Fifty inches of rain falls during December and January. Much of San Fernando Valley is under water. City's embankment and Dryden's system are destroyed.
1867--Floods again spill over the old channel and create a large, temporary lake out to Ballona Creek.
1876--The Novician Deluge
1884--Heavy flooding causes the river to change course again, turning east to Vernon and then southward to San Pedro. The Downtown section of the river is channelized.
1888 to1891--Annual floods.
1896--Col. Griffith J. Griffith donates over five miles of riverfront property to the city with the expectation that Griffith Parkwould become a grand riverfront park.
1899--San Pedro is selected over Santa Monica and Redondo Beach as the official site for the L.A. deep water harbor.
1904--William Mulholland announces that L.A. will need new water sources.
1914--Heavy flooding. Great damage to the harbor. Public called for creation of the L.A. County Flood Control District and discussion of channelizing the river begins.
1921,27--Moderate flood.
1934--Moderate flood starting January 1. Fourty dead in La Canada.
1938--Great County-wide flood with 4 days of rain. Most rain on day 4. Red Cross said this was the 5th largest flood in history at that time with 113 lives lost, $40 million in damage ($360 million in 1994 dollars). Recorded as a 50 year storm. Public demands action. Army Corps of Engineers begins channelizing the river with 10,000 workers applying 3,000,000 barrels of concrete by hand.
1940--Sepulveda Flood Basin and dam is completed to catch excess water before it jumps the channel down stream.
1941 to 44--L.A. River floods five times.
1952--Moderate flooding
1969--One heavy flood after 9 day storm. One moderate flood.
1978--Two moderate floods
1980-Flood tops banks of river in Long Beach. Sepulveda Basin spillway almost opened.
1983--Flooding kills six people.
1991--Army Corps proposes to raise levees from Rio Hondo to Long Beach to protect against a 100 year flood.
1992--15 year flood. Motorists trapped in Sepulveda basin. Six people dead.
1994--Heavy flooding. Estimates range from a 15 to over a 100 year flood.

The City of Los Angeles, Department of Public Works, has published a history of the city's flood control system.

DAMS and FLOOD control

Six large dams have been built around Los Angeles, as well as 14 smaller mountain dams, to collect water and to prevent flooding along the rivers in the lowlands. The Sepulveda Flood Control Basin and dam was completed in 1940. Hansen Dam was built in 1941. Whittier Narrows was completed in 1957. During most storms, 80% of the runoff goes into the ground and recharges aquifers and 20% goes down river. During large storms the ground becomes saturated and 80% of the runoff goes down river. Fifteen percent of the water for the City of Los Angeles is supplied by rain in the form of groundwater.

Continue the tour here. So batten down your hard drives and cover your keyboards. The adventures of the urban river awaits you. Good Luck and remember, don't drink the water!

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