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LACEA Alive Feb05 7.Qxd 01-48_Alive_April_v6.qxd 3/29/11 4:06 PM Page 34 34 April 2011 City Employees Club of Los Angeles, Alive! lassic Comes C by Hynda Rudd, from June 2005 Tales From the City Archives City Archivist (Retired), Alive! and Club Member Was Fred Eaton the ‘Real’ Father of LA’s Aqueduct? I Who was more responsible for the L.A. Aqueduct, Fred Eaton or William Mulholland? designs can still be seen today. Photos are from the Security Pacific Collection, Fred Eaton persisted through Los Angeles Public Library Photo Archive, his entire life to be dedicated to courtesy Carolyn Cole, Director the City, as well as contributing to the development of this future hile writing last month’s issue on the megalopolis. In 1885, he was Wpast Mayors of Los Angeles, I kept appointed City Surveyor and finding more and more interesting informa- Engineer, where he was partially tion about Mayor Frederick S. Eaton. It responsible for mapping and estab- became obvious that this man impacted Los lishing City property. This was a Angeles in so many ways, that he deserved one-year term; eventually the term an article for himself. So here is Mr. Eaton’s City Surveyor was abolished. story. During the years 1889-90 he was Fred Eaton was born in Los Angeles in appointed City Engineer. During September 1855. He was the sixth American this active period, Eaton designed child born in the City. His father was Judge a sewer system, the precursor and Benjamin S. Eaton, who migrated with his core of today’s contemporary sys- wife, Helena Hayes Eaton, in 1849 from tem. He was also the chief engi- New England. Young Eaton was born in an neer for the Los Angeles Railway adobe building, on what is now the intersec- Company. He built the first elec- tion of First and Spring Streets. Later, this tric railway in the City, which was building became the first City jail. one of the first attempts for this Conflicting stories note that the Eatons, who new type of transportation in the The Old Plaza, formerly the town square near Olvera Street, in 1869, as partially designed by Fred Eaton. were considered high society at that time, nation. lived on what was then known as “up on the In time Fred Eaton became the hill,” on Fort Moore, that now houses the superintendent of a privately current Board of Education. owned Los Angeles Water beyond the currently used water of the Los after 1900, Fred Eaton continued his dedica- The future Mayor was educated in Los Company. This company often doubled as Angeles area public schools. Later, he Angeles river. In 1892, Eaton traveled north tion to bringing water from the north to Los the first volunteer fire department back in more than 200 miles to Inyo County, specif- Angeles. In 1902 he worked in association attended Santa Clara College. From the the 1870s. Fred Eaton time Eaton was young, ically the Owens Valley, where the limitless with William Mulholland, who was then the was one of the robust snow water would flow into the Owens River. chief engineer for the Los Angeles City he had been interested firefighter enthusiasts. in civil engineering, With the eye of an engineer, the future Water Works, a precursor to Public Works This company was an Mayor brought to the citizenry the idea, the Bureau of Aqueduct, a precursor to the where he focused on evolvement that grew the discipline toward vision of transporting water from the Owens DWP. Sadly, Eaton and Mulholland had a out of dire needs of con- River to Los Angeles. He won the ticket number of disagreements that continued for gaining his higher edu- stant and consistent cation degree. During because of these incredible concepts. years. But that is a story that deserves its water for the citizens of For years Eaton and Mulholland own article. that time period, Fred Los Angeles. A larger- Eaton also worked for disagreed about the L.A. River’s capability At the same time, Fred Eaton moved than-life relationship to provide water to the ever-growing from Los Angeles to Long Valley in Mono the City as a surveyor developed out of this and engineer. This time Los Angeles population. County, where he had a company that would Mulholland, who had ranch. In 1906 he period for the City was eventually change the a transitional era been a relative newcom- incorporated 12,000 far-reaching literal, er to the City, claimed acres in what would between Spanish and political and economic American traditions. that the river would eventually be called the landscape for the City of provide water for Eaton Land and Cattle At the ripe old age Los Angeles. The names of 14, in 1869, youthful another 50 years. Company. In time, the of the two “Giants” Eaton, a native, City acquired the Frederick entered a were Fred Eaton and Fred Eaton. explained what would Eaton ranch properties citywide competition to William Mulholland. assist in reconstructing happen with the event to use as extension for Water, or lack of it, of a drought. After a water development. the Old Plaza, formerly in Los Angeles was the town square, near Olvera Street. He won decade of water dep- All the while, he con- always the main topic of concern since incor- rivation, Mulholland tinued to work with the the $100 prize for his drawings of original poration of the City in 1850. Such was the designs. These drawings were later generally finally understood most important federal, case when Frederick S. Eaton ran for mayor Eaton’s point of view. state, county and City adapted in the Old Plaza area when the City in 1898. His platform revolved around bring- was reconstructed. Remnants of the past Mayor Eaton was in individuals relating to ing water to Los Angeles from sources office from 1898 to water reclamation. 1900. The new century Frederick S. Eaton in Los Angeles saw an passed away in 1934 at increase of the popula- William Mulholland. the age of 78 at the tion to 100,000. Water, home of one of his chil- once again, was the dren. He supposedly focus of the mindset of the local populace. died bankrupt from many issues relating to San Pedro, after much heated discussion and the Owens Valley project. That, too, is wor- debate, became a modern Los Angeles har- thy of another article. bor. The Los Angeles City Water Company Finally, it has been known for years that had been privately owned since 1868. With the Public Works regarded Fred Eaton as the the expiration of the lease in 1898, City offi- “Father of the Los Angeles Aqueduct,” while cials fought to return the water to a publicly William Mulholland was given that reveren- run system. The proprietors argued to pre- tial title by the DWP. Either way, we Los serve their position as owners of the City’s Angelenos owe a great debt of gratitude to water. But, after much negotiations and a these two giants. For as historians have heated and contested bond election, the noted over the years, “Los Angeles was the water rights were, once again, returned to most improbable city without water,” or, the City for $2 million in 1902. “Los Angeles is a city in spite of itself with- Upon retiring from formal civic duty out water…” The Owens River in 1912..
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