This Day in History: 1913-11-05

Los Angeles aqueduct is opened on this day in 1913, bringing water from the Sierra Nevada mountains 360 kilometers to the east. Headed by William Mulholland, the larger-than-life czar of L.A.’s water supply, the project beings with mule trains and bulldozers in 1908 (photo). The aqueduct fuels the enormous growth of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley during the next century and is remembered today as an example of engineering arrogance for its negative impact on the Owens River and the catastrophic failure of the St. Francis Dam in 1928.