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Mary C. Vail (ND-ND) http://tinyurl.com/MCVail

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Water is King

From "Both Sides Told," or Southern California As It Is, 1888. Read Online

Reader: Jessica Teeter

Dreams of Eldorado never wane in California, one of the reasons that land sharks and speculators could turn quick profits in Golden State land booms. But what about hard working folks like the rest of us?

Mary C. Vail saw that many California emigrants harbored unrealistic expectations, especially those old-fashioned farmers who knew little about the water here.

"Construction of Owens Valley Aqueduct, c. 1910 [Courtesy of the City of Lancaster Museum/Art Gallery and its many donors]" Larger.

The mountains that lift their snowy shoulders above our plains supply us with water in part. Their granite sides are tunneled in a thousand places, and water from these is carried in ditches and pipes to the rich valleys. Without water our land would be worthless, and with it, it is fruitful beyond measure. . . .

It will thus be seen that water is king in Southern California. Some of the grandest monuments of masonic and engineering skill in the development of water are exhibited in lands that would otherwise be worth nothing. It has required an immense amount of capital to bring water down to the farmer, or the town and city. It at once enhances the value of land, and it is sold to the farmer or consumer by the inch. Capitalists secure a large tract of land, pipe water upon it, and sell farm land with water supplied. This land needs farmers of the philosophic and progressive type. There is no chance for the old-fashioned and successful farmer.

Mary Vail wrote "Both Sides Told," Or Southern California As It Is in 1888 in order to counter unrealistic expecations about her region.