#12: Lecture California Agribusiness
Key Terms:
Water Resources Development (II)
William Hammond Hall
Caroline Marie Seymore Severance
Salton Sink
CA Development Co.
Alamo River
Charles Rockwood
Southern Pacific RR
Salton Sea
William Mulholland
Owens Valley
LA Department of Water and Power (DWP)
St. Francis Dam
Santa Clara River
Santa Paula
Metropolitan Water District (MWD)
Colorado River Aqueduct
CA Aqueduct
San Pedro Harbor
Phineas Banning
Wilmington
US Army Corps of Engineers
San Pedro
Collis Huntington
Santa Monica
Harrison Gray Otis
LA Times
LA Free Harbor League
Catalina Island
LA/Long Beach Harbor
Water Resources Development PART 2:
Salton Sea Aqueduct:
-used to be called the salton sink
-was a dried lake bed
-dried river bed of the Alamo river used to run into it
-below sea level
-CA development Company led by Charles Rockwood wanted to bring water
from Colorado river to the salton sink
-all by gravity as it was below sea level
-10,000 people came to the Imperial Valley to farm
-in late 1904 the amount of water coming in started to decline drastically
-decided to cut in the CO river again
-at a bend in the river
-water started to flow again
-when the snow started to melt the river had a lot of water coming down it
-the bed of the CO river shifted and the whole flow started to go
down the Alamo River
-flooded the whole area
-Federal govt. didn't do anything since part of the canal went through Mexico
-Southern Pacific RR bought out the CA development co.
-laid track up to the broken bend in the CO river
-brought stones up there to stop the flow and mend the bend
-took 2 yrs to stop it
*Los Angeles Aqueduct:
-City was growing and didn't have enough water
-1905 city passed a bond to get water brought down in an aqueduct from Owens Valley
-William Mulholland devised the LA Aqueduct
-head of the LA department of water and power
-Now Owns Lake is a very small lake as it drained into the LA aqueduct
-1915 the Aqueduct was finished
-second pipeline was built in the 1960s
-1928: Collapse of the St. Francis Dam
-May 12: it burst and sent a year supply of water down on the surrounding towns
-flowed into the Santa Clara River
-LA Aqueduct provided important growth of the LA area
*Colorado River Aqueduct:
-built by Metropolitan Water District
-built in 1930s
*CA Aqueduct:
-State Water Project
-1950s-1960s
-brings water to southern CA
*San Pedro Harbor:
-LA needed a harbor for further growth
-Phineas Banning was in charge of it
-wanted it to be built in Wilmington
-wanted it to be put at the mouth of the LA river
-but would have needed a break water to stop the waves and create a calm
harbor
-1892 US Army Corps of Engineers came in and agreed with Phineas that it
should be built at the mouth of the LA River (near San Pedro)
-Collis Huntington of the South Pacific RR wanted it built in Santa Monica
-went to Congress and told them to build the LA harbor in Santa Monica
*Harrison Gray Otis:
-From LA Times
-Wanted the harbor moved back to LA River
-Lobbied through the LA Free Harbor league
-as the harbor in Santa Monica basically would be owned by South Pacific RR
-Congress sent out the corp of engineers who once again said the mouth of LA river was
the best spot
*LA/Long Beach Harbor:
-extended the original break water to make the harbor larger
*The Grapes of Wrath Myths and Realities
*CA Agribusiness
*Dry Cotton Farming
*Irrigation districts
*CA Fruit Grower's Exchange
*Sunkist
*Tenant farmers
*Sharecroppers
*Mechanized agriculture
*Franklin Roosevelt
*New Deal
*Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
*Oakies/Arkies
*John Steinbeck
*Dust Bowl
*Expanding agribusiness in CA:
-Post Gold Rush people started to look toward agriculture
-After the Gold Rush and Railroads were over, farming became the largest business
-Irrigation Districts:
-Farmers Organizations
-Cooperatives
-CA Fruit Grower's Exchange
-also known as Sunkist
-1893 founded
-Long growing season, mild climate and lack of long freezes
-Became a big supplier of canned fruits
-80% of nations wine
-refrigerator cars on rail roads, allowed farmers to ship things to other areas
*Grapes of Wrath:
-1930 agribusiness was the biggest business in CA
*Dry farming
-for cotton
-farming without irrigation
-cotton makes the land less profitable
*Tenant farmers:
-sharecroppers
-share the crop with the owners of the land
*CA Agribusiness:
-Has to do with disillusion and CA agribusiness
-Agribusiness
-Dry cotton farming
-Irrigation districts
-CA fruit growers? Exchange
*System on the rise:
-CA agribusiness
-Since CA gold rush, people experienced food shortage b/c too much people and not a lot
of people growing
-Very few productive fields
-People didn't care cause they wanted to find gold and they busted and decided to grow
due to nice weather
-1930s CA Agribusiness was the biggest business
-farmers try to bring in water to battle the railroads
-trucks to transport lots of employments
-requires lots of money
-Great Depression of 1929, business was bad, farmers of CA did their best to keep
cost down by lowering labor, making things profitable to them
-Agricultural business in decline
-Cotton harvest
-Dry farming system were caught
-No irrigation
-Drop seed in furrow plow over it and wish for the best depending on the luck of nature,
dates back to years before Civil War
-Cotton first famed in the American SouthEast along the coast
-And they found a way to farm short staple cotton and the invention of cotton gin and it
expanded and moved West
-Plow plant and hope for the best
-Cotton cultivation is hard on the land after 25 years, that's cotton why belt keep moving
West
-Tenant grew the cotton, rented the land
-Sharecroppers share crops with the owner of the land
-They get seeds, etc. from owners
-Joads are sharecroppers
-Texas and Oklahoma were top two cotton farming state
-Most vulnerable during Great Depression
-1920s internal combustion engine and tractors came about
-Made tenant farmers obsolete b/c tractor could do work of 100 ppl
-hurt by mechanized agriculture (take place of many manual labors)
-CA business always mechanized, weighing against small family farmers
William Mulholland=
Owens Valley=
-They decided to build another aqueduct from here.
-In the Imperial Valley
-Constructed from 1906-1913
-Aqueduct that brought water to LA
-Reason the water tastes good in LA (from a glacier in the mountains)
-Another aqueduct was constructed in the 1960s.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP)=
St. Francis Dam=
1928: Mulholland had completed constructing another aqueduct
May 12, 1928: Collapse of the St. Francis Dam (burst )
180 foot wall of water destroyed half the city of Santa Paula and Fillmore.
420 people died
Whyd it happen?
a) Mulholland felt that someone had dynamited it to his dying day.
b) Others say it was built on shale (a bad dam cite)
Santa Clara River=
Metropolitan Water District (MWD)=
First project was to bring water from the CO River.
-Built the CO River aqueduct in the 1930s.
California Aqueduct=
-State Water Project
Constructed in the 1950s and 1960.
-Brings water from the Sacramento River and brings water down to the San Fernando
Valley and onward
-A big one: (Uses not only gravity but major pumping devices and stations)
-Brings water to Southern CA
How did LA become such a huge city?
Water resources (one thing that they had lacked that San Francisco had over
them initially was their access to water, like a natural harbor)
Lacked good shipping
LA desired to have a good harbor
San Pedro Harbor=
Construction: ten years from 1899 to 1909
Phineas Banning= Came to LA in the 1850s.
-Thought LA harbor should be built at the base of the LA River.
Needed break water to keep the water calm (big ships the size of the Titanic
need them to drop anchor and do their business)
Wilmington= Town lamed after Bannings hometown in Delaware.
US Army Corps of Engineers= Brought out to LA to look at the right harbor cite.
-Agreed with Bannings idea of where it should be (next to the town of San Pedro).
-4 million dollar fund.
San Pedro
Collis Huntington= Owned the town of Santa Monica and dominated transportation at
that time.
-Lobbied in Washington DC and said that they didnt want the harbor built there but
rather in Santa Monica.
So powerful that they got Congress to revoke it and move it to Santa Monica.
Would not have been good to build it there.
Think about the topography of homePV makes it a better
harbor
Santa Monica
Harrison Gray Otis= used the LA times to lobby against the Southern Pacific and for the
LA free harbor.
Corps came out and said again that LA River mouth was the best cite.
LA Free Harbor League
Catalina Island
LA/Long Beach Harbor=
Currently the busiest harbor in the nation.
THE GRAPES OF WRATH MYTHS AND REALITIES
-Written in the 1930s. Published in 1939.
-CA agribusiness
-System of agribusiness in decline (like cotton farming in the deep South and Southwest)
California agribusiness=
-Since the CA Gold Rush, people realized that the climate is great for agriculture.
Post Gold Rush era in CA: Do something beyond grazing (hides, tallow and sheep)
-New big business after railroads: FARMING
-Californians organized to do this right.
-Big business and always has been.
-Farmers had big investments that required lots of money.
Then came the Great Depression:
Farmers of CA did their best to keep their cost down.
How?
Drove down the price of labor.
Reason why they hired so many foreigners who were willing to
take those low incomes.
-Irrigation district
Create favorable conditions for farmers.
*Formed with the idea of pooling money and creating a government organization that
would benefit farmers.
-Bring water in from these districts to farm.
-CA Fruit Growers Exchange
Sunkist= Also known as ___.
-How it works: _____
-San Juaquin Valley= One of the first areas farmed.
Farm wheat, corn, rice, etc.
Then went into more specialty crops
Citrus fruits introduced in CA in the 1870s.
This here in SB area is lemon country.
By 1900: CA was growing 23% of the nations canned fruit.
*Big deal because they could be shipped a long way.
CA was producing 80% of the nations wine.
-New technologies allowed farmers to ship things to areas that had very short growing
seasons.
Tenant farmers= People who rented the land and farmed.
-Most of the cotton in the nation farmed most of the nations cotton.
-The most vulnerable people when the Great Depression hit.
Sharecroppers= Least wealthy tenant farmers.
-People who shared the crops with the owners of the land.
-Owner provided them with the seeds and supplies and a shack, etc.
*Who the Jodes are in the Grapes of Wrath.
Mechanical agriculture=
1920s: Tractors and internal combustions built
Made family farmer completely obsolete because a tractor could do the work of
a hundred guys in a day.
Dry-farming=
-No irrigation.
-Method: Plow. Plant. Hope for the best.
-Totally dependent on the weather (getting the right amount of rainfall.)
-Old sysem that dates back to years before the Civil War.
-Cotton was first farmed in the American Southeast and then the invention of the cotton
gin caused slavery and cotton to move West.
-Cotton belt kept moving west into the early 1900s.