Quote:
Originally Posted by mdiederi
Was this one ever posted? I couldn't find it in a search of the thread.
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Yes, I did:
Quote:
Originally Posted by tovangar2
water and power
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But only the single view, the stereoscopic one is much nicer.
I'm wondering if Federico "Fred" Eaton (1855-1934) is one of the people in the photo. He designed the Plaza as a boy and implemented it when he was older (I'm not sure if it was this 1871 design or the 1888-1893 one. Maybe somebody who knows more can let me know). Eaton also redesigned Los Angeles Park (Pershing Square) ca. 1886 and renamed it Sixth Street Park. He had a hand in developing other parks as well, although I don't know which ones.
He was supervisor of the LA Water Company at aged 19. It was Eaton who designed the city's sewer system, important but thankless work. Eaton was City Surveyor and City Engineer. He was also consulting engineer for the first electric trolley system. Eaton was mayor from 1898 to 1900 (the first and only mayor born in LA, until the last 3 or 4) but only to ensure public ownership of the water supply. That done, he quit politics.
Eaton was deeply, and controversially, involved in the Owens Valley project (he's the one, BTW, who first hired Wm Mulholland, the same age as he, as a ditch digger for the water company), but in the end, sided with the angels and the Owens Valley property owners (Eaton was an Owens Valley landowner too. He was paid in property out there to compensate, if that's the word for it, him for his work on the project). He said LA could have easily paid the Owens Valley people a fair price for for their land and water rights instead of tricking them.
Eaton never acquired any great wealth and seems to have deflected power every chance he got, but he did hold title to the huge, natural reservoir at Long Valley. Mulholland, who by then hated Eaton b/c he wouldn't "play the game", said the geology at Long Valley was too unsafe for a dam. It wasn't unsafe, Mulholland just didn't want to benefit Eaton, so built the St Francis Dam instead lower down with disastrous results.
(Be warned, I get most of my info from Eaton's grandson, so this may be the overly rosy version.)
Eaton, was reportedly born in the old jail on Fort Moore Hill after it had been converted to a home. He had a hard childhood. His mother died and he father moved back east for years. An old auntie was supposed to be in charge of him, but he mostly grew up on the streets.
I think Hollis Mulwray was a least partly based on Eaton in "Chinatown" (1974) and, of course, Noah Cross = Mulholland.
1906: Joe Lippincott, who ensured public ownership of the aqueduct, Fred Eaton and Eaton's worst hire ever, Wm Mulholland:
water & power
Thx again
Godzilla :-) Those posts will keep my eyes busy for a
long time.