from the early 1900s. Unbelievable how they drained Owens Lake, depriving local and indigenous residents of their livelihoods (agriculture...that area is serious desert--not all that far from Death Valley). Then, all these wealthy b*tards, including politicians (this was before the creation of CA laws prohibiting this kind of self-dealing; these fckers would be in jail for this now) bought up real estate around where the aqueduct delivering this water to LA would be placed, enriching themselves.
And then there was the collapse of the San Francisquito dam. Horrific.
There are YT videos from Los Angeles' PBS station about both. I find this history fascinating.
BTW, the animated movie Rango also touched on this.
