William Mulholland

William Mulholland was a self-taught civil engineer who transformed the landscape of Southern California.

As a leader in the water systems of Los Angeles, he designed the infrastructure necessary for massive urban growth. His work allowed a small town to evolve into one of the largest cities in the United States. However, his legacy is also defined by intense social conflicts and engineering failures. His life illustrates how managing natural resources can reshape both environments and human societies.

Mulholland’s early life was marked by movement and hardship. Born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1855, he spent his youth working in the British Merchant Navy.

After traveling to North America and the Caribbean, he eventually moved to the United States. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1877, a time when the city's population was only about 9,000 people. He worked various jobs, including digging wells and working in lumber camps, before finding his path in water management. He eventually became a naturalized American citizen in 1886.

To understand his impact, one must understand the mechanism of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Los Angeles has a semiarid climate, meaning it receives very little reliable rainfall. Mulholland and Frederick Eaton realized the city needed a gravity-fed aqueduct to survive. This system uses the natural pull of gravity to move water from higher elevations to lower ones. They targeted the Owens Valley, where large amounts of runoff from the Sierra Nevada mountains were available. By directing this water through a massive network of channels and pipes, they could deliver it to the San Fernando Valley. This valley was an ideal location because its aquifer—an underground layer of water-bearing rock—could store the water without it evaporating.

The construction of the aqueduct was a monumental engineering feat. Work began in 1908 and continued until the system was inaugurated in November 1913. At the height of construction, the project employed 3,900 workers. The crew had to dig 164 tunnels to create a path for the water. The scale of this task was so great that people compared it to the building of the Panama Canal. When the water finally reached the San Fernando Valley on November 5, 1913, Mulholland famously remarked, "There it is. Take it."

This new water supply triggered rapid urbanization. In 1890, the population of Los Angeles was only 50,000. By 1900, it had doubled to 100,000. By 1910, the population had tripled to nearly 320,000. The water also changed local agriculture. Farmers shifted from growing wheat to irrigated crops like corn, beans, squash, and cotton. They also established large orchards of apricots, walnuts, and citrus fruits like oranges and lemons.

However, the acquisition of this water led to the California water wars. To secure water rights, Mulholland and Eaton used political maneuvering and misled the public. They understated how much water was actually available and told Owens Valley residents that only unused flows would be taken. In reality, they planned to use the full water rights. This caused the Owens Lake to dry up by 1924, turning a lush area into a desert.

Angry farmers and ranchers eventually rebelled, using dynamite to sabotage the aqueduct at Jawbone Canyon to return water to the river.

Mulholland's career ended following a major engineering disaster. In March 1928, the St. Francis Dam failed. This occurred just over 12 hours after Mulholland and his assistant had performed a safety inspection. His professional life was also shadowed by earlier criticisms. For example, during the construction of the Calaveras Dam, an engineer named Michael O'Shaughnessy criticized Mulholland's methods as reckless. Despite these controversies, Mulholland's influence remains visible. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which grew from the agencies he led, still manages the city's water today.