William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles
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A01=Catherine Mulholland
academic
aqueduct
Author_Catherine Mulholland
biography
california
career history
Category=DNBH
Category=GT
Category=NHK
Category=TQSW
chinatown
coming of age
department of power
department of water
drought
engineer
engineering
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_tech-engineering
family history
growing up
immigrant
life story
los angeles
mulholland
natural history
natural resources
natural world
nature
newspaper
owens valley
primary source
research
scholarly
southern california
true story
untold story
water history
water system
west coast
western united states
Product details
- ISBN 9780520234666
- Weight: 635g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 06 May 2002
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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William Mulholland presided over the creation of a water system that forever changed the course of southern California's history. Mulholland, a self-taught engineer, was the chief architect of the Owens Valley Aqueduct - a project ranking in magnitude and daring with the Panama Canal - that brought water to semi-arid Los Angeles from the lush Owens Valley. The story of Los Angeles' quest for water is both famous and notorious: it has been the subject of the classic yet historically distorted movie Chinatown, as well as many other accounts. This first full-length biography of Mulholland challenges many of the prevailing versions of his life story and sheds new light on the history of Los Angeles and its relationship with its most prized resource: water. Catherine Mulholland, the engineer's granddaughter, provides insights into this story that family familiarity affords, and adds to our historical understanding with extensive primary research in sources such as Mulholland's recently uncovered office files, newspapers, and Department of Water and Power archives.
She scrutinizes Mulholland's life - from his childhood in Ireland to his triumphant completion of the Owens Valley Aqueduct to the tragedy that ended his career. This vivid portrait of a rich chapter in the history of Los Angeles is enhanced with a generous selection of previously unpublished photographs. This is "Los Angeles Times" Best Nonfiction Book of 2000.
Catherine Mulholland is author of Calabasas Girls: An Intimate History (1976) and The Owensmouth Baby: The Making of a San Fernando Town (1987).
