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Rangeland. Owens Valley, California

 
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Title
Rangeland. Owens Valley, California
Creator
Black, J. D. (John David), 1893-1960
Date
1930
Description
Valley rangeland presumably unused for ranching or farming after coming under the ownership of the City of Los Angeles. Barbed wire fence marks off land. Telephone pole in right background. Mountains in background unidentified. They are either the Inyo Mountains or the Sierra Nevada. Title supplied by cataloger.
Names
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Format Extent
1 photograph : b&w ; 6 x 11 cm
Subject
Water rights--California--Owens Valley; Water rights--California--Los Angeles; Ranches--California--Owens Valley; Land use, Rural--California--History; Rangelands--California--Owens Valley; Ranches--California--Owens Valley; Barbed wire; Fences
Note
To meet the need for water of its growing population, the City of Los Angeles began buying land and corresponding water rights in the Owens Valley in 1905. In 1913, the great Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed to bring Owens Valley water to the city. Los Angeles began acquiring additional properties in the 1920s, of which this section of rangeland was most likely one. The photograph suggests how the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the agency responsible for the city's management of its Owens Valley properties, failed to maintain lands after acquiring them. The fate of such agricultural properties as this was one of the primary reasons for the anger of Owens Valley residents towards Los Angeles, as they saw the agricultural prosperity of their valley decline because of Los Angeles' ownership of land. A resident of Big Pine and leader of resistance against Los Angeles, J. D. Black (1893-1960) used photographs such as these to document the deterioration of the valley's agriculture under Los Angeles rule.
Collection
J. D. Black Papers, CSLA-15, Series 3: Photographs, Box 17, Sleeve 29
Type
Language
eng
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