METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT VERSUS THE CAROBFrom Palaver Invitations 51 - 75Appendix F, referencing Palaver #62 by Jack Harris |
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METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT VERSUS THE CAROBFrom Palaver Invitations 51 - 75Appendix F, referencing Palaver #62 by Jack Harris |
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After it was determined a second source of outside water was essential for
the continuous growth of the Los Angeles area, (the first was the Owens River), the
Colorado River presented a solution. Numerous obstacles stood in the way, however,
- a shortage of dams to impound the river, 242 miles distance with deserts and
mountain ranges to cross. But one after another the obstacles were overcome.
One problem presented itself, however. In order to insure a continuous flow of water into the Los Angeles basin, a storage reservoir was deemed necessary somewhere nearby. Every wrinkle and fold in the earth’s crust between the Colorado River and Los Angeles was studied. The best of all possible choices seemed to be the Cajalco (pronounced Ca-hal’-co) basin near the Cajalco tin mines a few miles south of Riverside, California. Unfortunately, this basin was already spoken for by a Mr. Lawrence Holmes, a one-time actor, inventor, food-faddist and real estate promoter. The proceeds from Mr. Holmes' folding bed invention financed the planting of this basin to Carob trees with the idea of selling off small Carob-covered parcels of land so that future owners could earn a living from the sale of Carob beans. Economists were quick to point out a considerable supply of the product was already available from Spain and any more Carob beans would glut an already over-supplied market. Nevertheless, the Carob trees were planted and flourished while the sale of lots languished somewhat. Then the MWD decided the Cajalco basin was the one and only area in which to store Colorado River water and proceeded to convince the courts that this was the most valuable potential use of the land. Mr. Holmes, sensing a loosing court fight and realizing a sale was inevitable, based his valuation of the land on its potential profitable Carob production. His lawyers, remembering the tin mines in the area, presented testimony that the underlying tin ore was valuable. MWD countered by relinquishing claim to any mineral rights 300 feet or more below the surface. How Mr. Holmes was expected to mine tin 300 feet below the bottom of a reservoir was never explained. But in 1936 the courts awarded Mr. Holmes $500,000 based on the mineral rights not Carob Production. MWD took possession with the first water arriving on the Carob plantation in 1944. Today a drive along the north dyke of the Cajalco basin, now Lake Mathews, will reveal many, still producing, Carob trees just north of the impounded water. |
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