Marlene Hitt
William E. Smythe, one of the founders of the Little Landers Colony in
1913 was considered a famous irrigation crusader. He wrote that water
would become the elixir of social justice. Thanks to the irrigation
ditch, he said, family farms would replace agricultural estates.
According to Smythe, democratic opportunity had been stolen after the
Gold Rush by overbearing land and railroad monopolies.
One of his statements: "The reshaping of the state's hydrography has
conjured cities out of the desert and put California fruit on the tables
of the world." In an effort to supply water for irrigation and domestic
purposes, the people of Tujunga formed the Haines Canyon Water Company in
1910. At that time the water supply came principally from two wells
augmented by a gravity supply, with two concrete reservoirs (without
roofs), and one large dirt reservoir, uncovered and unlined, just a hole
in the ground.
Charles Miller mentioned in one of his articles that with the
construction of water boxes that trapped the Haines Canyon flow and
settled the sand, the delivery system for the upper Tujunga was assured,
and that Marshall Hartranft, developer of the Little Landers Colony in
1913, could be assured of water for his land.
The water company could not provide enough supply for the
ever-increasing population. More wells were dug and the first town
reservoir was built. The location of one well was on Apperson Street with
booster pumps to fill the reservoir. The pumped water from this well
easily supplied the 5-, 10- and 20-acre parcels of land just east of Mt.
Gleason Avenue and west to olive and orange groves in Sunland.
A second reservoir was built on Tujunga Canyon and Summitrose and, in
1929, a third on Pinyon with the capacity of 750,000 gallons.
According to The Valley Sun News, it was 1928 when the Southern
California Water Co. took over operation. The first thing the company did
was to clean thoroughly the two concrete reservoirs and construct
permanent roofs over them. Then they constructed the modern
750,000-gallon reinforced concrete reservoir mentioned above on the high
elevation just east of Haines Canyon Avenue. By 1949, the Southern
California Water Co. was serving nearly 4,000 customers.
A few years ago, Slater Realty printed a booklet called "The Green
Verdugo Hills," which includes an article written about water by Mabel
Hatch, early Little Lands settler. She wrote, "J. H. Livingston was one
of the men in charge of the water system in those early days, and he
