Coachella Valley fs Golden Years • OHEZdEZTHE^CXBpCGH? :iG SE3TCSDSH "CtSXZI BE AffliMnAMT w nnjDAorsz: ADDRESS H £ L L A ^.C A^lCCA^DTlrVATTny-il fl MgAHY; I ruR PRICE DE -'NDJAgpZ! JBXZ^TE • (Revised Editionl • The early history of the Coachella Valley County Wafer District and stories about the discovery and development of this sec­ tion of the Colorado Desert. m per copy Foreward. "... Almost ail the verdure which delights his eyes is the gift of water at the hand of man , • • " — Vol. X of John L. Stoddard Lectures on Southern California 1898. The image of the desert has long been a hostile one. Early explorers found the Colorado Desert no exception. Undaunted early settlers and homesteaders brought the first changes to this concept, and water provided reclamation's magic, now apparent in the Coachella Valley. The coming of the railroad was an important factor in opening the desert to settlement. The homesteaders were intrepid, curious and determined, and they brought perseverance to bend the will of the desert to their own plans. The discovery of the great underground water resources by the railroad provided the first stimulus and a trickle of farmers. Additional farmers dug more wells, punched them deeper with hydraulic rigs, put electrically-powered engines to work and carried the flow of water to the thirsting, fertile land. Then came the Colorado River through a canal 123V2 miles long, convert­ ing hopes and dreams to realities, opening nearly 40,000 acres in less than two decades. Water, machines, men and money turned the desert green, from dunes and brush to farmlands and golf ocurses, from a land of silence to one of in­ dustry and homes, schools, churches and recreation. This brief history of the Coachella Valley Country Water District's first years is not complete, much has been omitted, but it provides a backdrop for the distant horizons of this bountiful valley. And while we merely record the highlights, the following pages recite some of the incidents that led us to where we are today. Interviews with former district directors and a few of the pioneers, present at the time of the organization of the district, reveal in part some of the early struggles. Too often our culture is impoverished by the lack of understanding of where we are, how we arrived, and the price paid for our arrival. Your District trusts that these pages will bring about a greater awareness of the heritage that belongs to the living, bequeathed by the early settlers, pioneers and leaders of our great Valley. A Roman Ceasar is said to have declared that he had but to stomp upon the earth and legions would spring up to do his bidding. So men have stomped upon the Coachella Valley to harvest in a single generation a community which has leaped into astonished life with astounding vigor. It is still a land for those with skill and determination. HISTORY OF THE COACHELLA VALLEY COUNTY WATER DISTRICT (First edition published on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary May 1968) BOARD OF DIRECTORS RAYMOND R. RUMMONDS, President TELLIS CODEKAS, Vice President STEVE D. BUXTON C.J.FROST WILLIAM B. GARDNER OFFICERS LOWELL O. WEEKS, General Manager-Chief Engineer OLE J. NORDLAND, Secretary WALTER R. WRIGHT, Auditor REDWINE & SHERRILL, District Counsel For copies of this publication write: COACHELLA VALLEY COUNTY WATER DISTRICT P. O. Box 1058, Coachella, California 92236 Revised Edition Published June 1,1978 Compiled and Written by: First Edition: Library of Congress Card No. 68-57928 OLE J. NORDLAND (Permission granted to use excerpts providing credit given) (Desert Printing Co., Inc., Indio, Ca.) Beautiful Coachella Canal, flanked by citrus, with snow-capped sentinel peaks forming backdrop on westside of Valley. Table of Contents History of district 2 Joe Snyder's first years 48 Directors who have served 3 A day's trip to Mecca 49 Eight presidents: 7 History of dates 50 First petition signers 9 Lee Anderson's story 52 High points of history 10 Water brought Aliens 53 Railroad History 12 Early well drilling 54 Chester A. Sparey, first director 15 Short lived railroad 56 Ex-President Farrar's Views 17 District boundary map 56-57 Flood dangers blunted 18 Battle against salts 58 Domestic water program™ 22 James Pippin's recollections 60 Blackburn praised Jennings 25 Pioneer Medjool grower 62 History of valley banking 28 Thousand Palms report 62 Arabia - the ghost town 29 Fight over high school site 63 History of schools 31 Wood's evaporative cooler 64 Edith Ross - first lady 33 How valley got its name 67 First electrical power 34 Lab monitors water 68 Fig Tree John 34 Telephone history 69 Gridley recalled early years 35 Education, safety stressed 70 Mecca with Dale Kilcr 36 Many had part in drama 71 Otho Moore's recollections 37 I.cland Yost story 104 Salton Sea story 40 Mclvin Bisbce story 107 Automated water system 42 First water deliveries 108 Water brings expansion 46 Capsule history of the valley Ill Jennings, Yager praised 46 Acknowledgements 120 A.L. Pearson story 47 District Brings Canal Water Magic Irrigated Lands Today Producing $1870 An Acre Through Vision and Toil of Early Day Pioneers Conceived in adversity, created to meet a desperate need, The District's story began as early as 19.15 for even then the nourished on the faith and determination of pioneers, the need for a supplemental source of water was recognized if the Coachella Valley County Water District's story is a saga of Valley were to continue to grow and flourish. Land develop­ reclamation's magic. ment had slowed, worse, water levels in wells were going down. It took 30 years for the drama to arrive at the climax, the By 1917 with about 7000 acres of brush cleared from Indian result of heroic efforts by many persons. Colorado River water Wells to the Salton Sea, the urgency became more pronoun­ reached the Coachella Valley in 1948 to quench thirsting soils ced. and offers today's miracle of lands producing $1870 an acre or To add to the dark horizon a proposal for a project to con­ more in crops. duct water from Baldwin Lake and Whitewater River to the The names of the water district's heroes are legion. The roll Imperial Valley fell like a bombshell on the Valley in March of includes such indomitable men as Dr. S. S. 1917. Newspaper headlines injunc revealed M. Jennings, Thomas C. Yager, R. W. w..v,AA,w,.v.,. a P'an ProPosccl at an El Centro meeting. A Blackburn, Chester Sparcy, Dr. Harry W. company headed by Col. W. H. Holabird Forbes, Truman Gridley, Lee Anderson, ILL IRRIGATE of El Centro and F. H. Merrill, O. E. Robbins Russel, Ted C. Buck, E. Keith THE COACHELLA Freeman and W. B. Baker of San Diego and Farrar, Leon Kennedy, to name just a few of ! Los Angeles was reported to be contem­ those who helped fight the battles from the * plating filing on 100,000 acre feet of flow. halls of Congress to the corridors of Project for Impounding of Water t'lidci'takcn ''J' Los The scheme envisioned an impounding Sacramento and back to sandy soils of this Angeles People. reservoir in Morongo Valley and a canal via desert land. Palm Springs to Imperial Valley to irrigate The history of the District in the ILOCAI, COHlUSTONuENCE.l 40,000 acres there and about 20,000 acres in following pages is not in chapters, but is BEAUMONT, Nov. 8.—Sur­ Coachella Valley. Power plants were veyors employed by Pasadena proposed. Imperial Valley was asked to raise chronological. The chapters, if there were and Los Angeles capitalists such, would be of the first period relating to are at work between the- l $100,000. (See inset story from Los Angeles the frustrating efforts to get legislation Whitewater River and Mo­ Times. November 9, 1917) enabling the building of Boulder Canyon rongo Valley on a project for Nothing came of the project. The last Dam and the All American Canal, and to impounding and using a large mention was heard late in 1917 when Mcrill the unrelenting effort made here in the amount of water in that sec­ and Baker were reported to have filed ap­ valley to conserve the available water and tion. Their plans provide for plications to generate 30,000 horsepower. protect the lands from flood damage. taking water from Baldwin The project's cost of $4,900,000 may have Lake, Arrastre Creek, Pipes l A second chapter would be that of the Creek, Snow Creek and other dampened the early ardor for the 150,000 years between the passage of the Swing- streams and running it into acre-foot Morongo Dam, 65-mile long canal, Johnson Bills to the ratification of a contract a large reservoir. Water now as well as a reservoir at Marshall's Dry Lake to build the Coachella Branch of the All unappropriated from White­ (La Quinta Cove) with a five-foot pipeline American Canal. It is a story of reaction as water River will also be taken, to Imperial Valley. But the scheme did well as interminable delays. and the promoters believe t serve to get the Valley aroused to seek pro­ a sufficient amount will be se­ tection of its water sources. The third chapter might well be that of cured to mote than Justify getting the canal construction underway, the considerable outlay of Valley citizens held mass meetings in the heart-breaking budget cuts, the inter­ money involved. Thermal and Coachella and R. H. Postlcth- vention of the war years, the impatience It is proposed to dispose of waite, G.