California Water Wars - Building the Dream | 2

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

By 1907, the city of Los Angeles had found a solution to its water problem. Two hundred miles north in the Owens River Valley was a never-ending source of water. Los Angeles Water Department superintendent William Mulholland set about constructing one of the largest public works projects the state of California has ever seen. But first, he would have to convince the voters of Los Angeles to approve the project. And then, he would have to build it himself.

For five years construction crews filed into the desert, building a massive aqueduct system that would ferry the water all the way to the thirsty city. Along the way, Mulholland would encounter problems with bureaucrats, bad food, and dynamite. With the project hurtling towards completion, serious doubts would be raised about graft and self-interest. Was the Los Angeles aqueduct really just about water? Or was it set to make a handful of rich men even richer?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.0	Imagine a slate summer 1906.
0:21.3	You've arrived in Los Angeles for a meeting with Harrison Gray Otis, publisher of the Los
0:25.8	Angeles Times.
0:29.6	The receptionist outside his office stands as you step off the elevator.
0:32.8	Mr. Harris, can I bring you some water?
0:34.6	No, thank you.
0:35.6	I'd like to see Mr. Otis as soon as possible.
0:39.2	Harrison Otis is not the only man in this building who owns a newspaper.
0:43.0	You happen to own several, including the Los Angeles Examiner, the Times Direct Competition.
0:48.6	You rode the train down from San Francisco to visit Otis, a rival, though a much less
0:52.8	successful one by your reckoning.
0:56.2	The office of Harrison Gray Otis is dimly lit.
0:59.0	The heavy curtain has been pulled.
1:01.2	Strike shoes a bit dramatic until you realize the curtains are keeping the heat out of the
1:04.8	room.
1:06.4	The air wears gently under a ceiling fan.
1:09.5	Otis cuts right to the chase, speaking from underneath a large, walrus-like mustache.
1:14.1	I'd like to know if the examiner is going to continue proselytizing against our city's
1:18.5	aqueduct.
1:19.5	We have the bond issue vote coming up, and I would like the city to be of one mind.
	...

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