Los Angeles aqueduct, damaged section of channel, Inyo County, [1924-1931?]

Description

Text from nitrate negative sleeve: [Typewritten:] Los Angeles Aqueduct [Handwritten:] bombing, Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds., Man inspecting damaged section of Los Angeles aqueduct channel, on rocky slope with water running from open pipes at right, The Los Angeles aqueduct was bombed or otherwise vandalized in at least 10 incidents from 1924 to 1931. Cf. (1) Los Angeles Times article, 20 June 1927, “City Aqueduct Again Blasted, Dynamite Tears Out Sixteen-Foot Section, Fourth Recent Outrage Done During Night Hours, Explosion Occurs Two Miles South of Lone Pine.” The article states: “A heavy charge of dynamite exploded in the fourth attempt within the past month … shattered a sixteen-foot panel of waterway at the Puddle Creek Delta, two miles southwest of Lone Pine … Other outrages. Previous acts of violence against the Aqueduct are as follows: On the 5th inst., the side walls of a large open concrete conduit at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon were wrecked by a charge of dynamite … May 28, 1927: Approximately 300 feet of the Aqueduct system was blown out at Big Pine … May 27, 1927: … a charge of explosive in No Name Canyon destroying about 450 feet of iron pipe … May 14, 1926: A ten-foot hole was torn out of the concrete Aqueduct by dynamite … about one mile south of the spillway in the Alabama Hills. November 24, 1924: A mob of men … opened the Alabama control gates … between Independence and Lone Pine … May 21, 1924: A heavy charge of dynamite was set off against an open portion of the Aqueduct at a point two miles north of Lone Pine. … No actual damage …” Cf. (2) Los Angeles Times article, 17 July 1927, “Blasts Peril Owens Mills, New Aqueduct Dynamitings Bring Contingency, Lake Level May Tie Up Chemical Plants, Large Repair Crews Rush Reconstruction Work.” The article states: “… two dynamite blasts … early yesterday wrecked the Aqueduct … The latest explosions occurred at Thebaut gate, eight miles north of Independence, and at Tuttle Creek south of Lone Pine. …” Cf. (3) Los Angeles Times article, 3 Nov. 1931, “Officers Trail Aqueduct Dynamiting Suspects, One of Pair Sought Here as Blast Rips Grapevine Siphon; No Water Shortage.” The article states: “Two men were being sought last night for complicity in the explosion of a terrific charge of dynamite which … tore out a section of the grapevine siphon on the Los Angeles Aqueduct, about fifty miles north of Mojave. …”