IMAGES OF AQUEDUCT WORKERS c. 1930

Thousands of skilled and unskilled workers made their livings on the Colorado River Aqueduct. The infusion of workers' money into the California economy had a major impact throughout the State.

Jackhammer worker - Water for 13 Cities - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)
Jackhammer workers made "good money" in this Depression Era aqueduct project, but experienced lifelong health problems.

Mucking Machine Operator - Water for 13 Cities - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)


Steelworker c 1930 - Water for 13 Cities - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)
As far back as the early 1930s, construction managers understood the importance of steel reinforcement in cement structures.

COLORADO RIVER AQUEDUCT 1932

Water For 13 Cities booklet - 1935 - gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)
The Eastern entrance of the Coxcomb Tunnels - one of 29 tunnels in the Colorado Aqueduct.

Water For 13 Cities booklet - 1935 - gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge) Surveyors working the desert at the base of Mount San Jacino.

The eastern cities of the San Fernando Valley receive water from the great Colorado River Aqueduct begun in 1932. Water from the Metropolitan Water District, whose founding President was the San Fernando Valley's W.P. Whitsett, supplies Glendale, Burbank and Eagle Rock.
These images are from a splendid little booklet produced by the Metropolitan Water District for the California Pacific International Exposition in San Diego in 1935. At the time it was published the Colorado River Project was not yet complete. Entitled "Water for Thirteen Cities in the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California." In 1935 the Colorado River Aqueduct was the largest construction project in the United States.

Water For 13 Cities booklet - 1935 - gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)