Los Angeles Aqueduct

Waterway extending for 375 km/233 mi across east-central and southern California. Built in 1908–13, its opening was a key event in the history of Los Angeles, as it allowed the San Fernando Valley to be cultivated and settled. The aqueduct taps the Owens River near Aberdeen, 42 km/26 mi north-northwest of Lone Pine, and then flows south along the east of the Sierra Nevada, then south-southwest across the western Mojave Desert, to the San Fernando Reservoir, north of Los Angeles.

Financial scandal and environmental controversy attended the inauguration of the Los Angeles Aqueduct; in planning its route, a series of questionable land deals were struck, and its construction dried out and depopulated the Owens Valley. Subsequently, when it was connected to streams feeding into Mono Lake in 1940–41, this lowered the level of the lake, sparking a long political wrangle over water use and despoilation of the environment.