Digging Up the Dry Truth

In a letter dated August 22, 1924, J. D. Black, a storeowner in Big Pine, California, regretfully tells his supplier that he will not order any merchandise for the fall season as he usually does because the “conditions are not normal in Big Pine today.” In the 1920s, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power gradually bought up properties, ranches, and land in Big Pine and the greater Owens Valley in order to secure water rights and supplies for Los Angeles. J. D. Black’s letter explains the injustices that have occurred in Big Pine and frames the story of what was happening to his fellow residents. As ranchers and farmers moved away, Black’s trade business struggled while Big Pine and nearby towns continued to decline.  

To hear the words of J. D. Black read by a Rhetorical Arts student, hover over the letter and unmute the audio. 

J. D. (John David) Black (1893-1960) resided and operated stores in both Big Pine and Bishop, California. In the 1920s, J. D. Black was a leader in fighting Los Angeles for reparations during the Owens Valley water controversy. He took photographs, gathered documents, and kept meticulous records. J. D. Black’s personal archives tell stories from the perspectives of Owens Valley residents. 

Photo: J. D. Black and Yetta Foorman (Bishop residents), 1909 

To get an overview of the water controversy in Owens Valley, click on the student-produced timeline, and scroll left and right to view different points in time.

Nearly 100 years ago in Owens Valley, California, tired ranchers left their homes and properties, defeated by the city of Los Angeles that indirectly stole their livelihoods. This photo depicts the McMurry Ranch, which was purchased by Los Angeles in 1924, abandoned by its previous owner soon after, and eventually stood vacant and unkept. In the aftermath of the water controversy, abandoned ranches became a familiar sight in Owens Valley.  

After selling their properties, local ranchers lost their stock grazing permits on certain areas under government control. The compounded effect of loss of property and livelihood drove many ranchers to sell out their stocks. Through records like this, which list the names of ranchers who left the dwindling stock raising business, J. D. Black's documentation preserved the stories of the struggles local people experienced. The haunting remains of Owens Valley depict a push-and-pull between the city of Los Angeles and Owens Valley residents, one attempting to quench the thirst of a growing city, and the other fighting to hold on to their way of life as they knew it. 

To protest against the city of Los Angeles for ignoring their needs and grievances, Owens Valley residents – who had been economically and socially harmed by the Los Angeles Aqueduct project – seized the aqueduct at the Alabama Gates on November 16, 1924. “The Army of Occupation,” as noted on the photograph, reached a number of several hundred Owens Valley residents. During the five-day occupation, the protestors diverted water from the aqueduct to the dry Owens River bed, which drew attention from national and international press. 

This 1925 document invites a disturbing question: where did the children of Big Pine disappear to? As the city of Los Angeles was taking water from the agriculture-driven community, families realized that they needed to leave Big Pine to pursue their own prosperity. This is reflected in the rapid decrease of student attendance in Big Pine Elementary School from 1923 to 1924. Signed by the school principal, this effort to track and record drastic changes in the student population evidences concerns of the local school district and concern for the children and families of the area. 

Of the “disappearing children”, the document mentions that the data does not include “transfers from the Government Indian School”. Owens Valley was home to the Northern Paiute for centuries before their first contact with Europeans in 1820. The Paiute faced racial segregation in public education until 1924 when Alice Piper, a 15-year-old Paiute student, successfully sued the Big Pine School District to allow Indigenous students to attend public schools in integrated classrooms. 

This real photo postcard shows members of the Northern Paiute, who live in Northern Nevada and Eastern California in such places as Owens Valley. The original photograph was taken around 1930 by Harry W. Mendenall, the owner of the Camera Art Shop in Big Pine. 

Over a decade after the completion of the L. A. Aqueduct, Owens Valley residents were still in the fight. The Big Pine Reparations Association (BPRA) was formed from a group of Big Pine property owners on July 29, 1925 to establish reparations claims against the city of Los Angeles, which at the time held 75% ownership of the stock in the Big Pines Water Association. This extensive statement, published in 1926, expresses frustration, insisting on justice for the Owens Valley communities. Prepared by J. O. McIntosh, the document provides the full list of BPRA directors, including A. G. Barmore, chair and president; W. A. Sanger, vice president; J. D. Black, secretary; J. H. Kispert, treasurer; and J. O. McIntosh.  

This handwritten claim for damage by beekeeper Geo. M. Huntington was submitted to the Big Pine Reparations Association along with the 1926 membership contract agreement. In this claim for damage, the beekeeper makes it clear that he deserves compensation for his losses. With depleted local water sources, businesses like beekeepers saw a rapid decrease in productivity, property value, and profit margins. People and the environment suffered from the drastic transformation of the Owens Valley into a deprived desert due to the forced drought in the area. The beekeeper voices a demand for justice echoed by many individuals and families who joined the Big Pine Reparations Association to seek legal actions against Los Angeles.  

The Owens Valley water controversy caught the media’s attention in stories like this one, “Owens Valley: Where the Trail of the Wrecker Runs.” Frederick Faulkner’s 1927 article reprinted from the Sacramento Union expresses a sense of urgency with a dramatic heading: "We, the farming communities of Owens Valley, being about to die, salute you!". Faulkner laments the great loss of the California pioneers and farming communities who had built their livelihoods in the region. His report highlights that the Los Angeles Aqueduct not only drained away the Owens River but also devastated the communities through a “mental, moral and spiritual loss of human folks of Owens Valley.” 

This 1929 letter from a Los Angeles land agent to Mrs. Staudinger, a resident of Big Pine, revealed the process by which the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) acquired properties in Big Pine. LADWP bought up individual farms and homesteads one by one to acquire land and water rights in Owens Valley, taking control of the area’s natural resources from those who lived and worked there. What we are missing here is Mrs. Staudinger’s perspective and the experiences of Big Pine residents who were given few options but to sell and leave their homes as farmland and economic stability became less viable without access to water. 

Drag the arrow icon left and right to view the student map and the photo taken by J. D. Black 

By reviewing secondary map sources, student researcher M. Muranaka reproduced a map of the west Bishop district in the 1930s. This hand-drawn map shows estimates of abandoned versus cultivated farmland, silos, and waterways in the area. 

Photo: An abandoned farm, a water tower, and a possible ruined foundation of a house in nearby Big Pine, 1939 

The brochure commemorates the first 50 years of LADWP with a series of photos and a brief written history of utilities in Los Angeles. The brochure reframes diverting Owens Valley’s water as a story of technological progress, calling the aqueduct the “greatest engineering achievement of its time” and emphasizing how it enabled the rapid growth of the city. While it is true that L.A.’s growth required a steady water supply, the document obfuscates the problem of taking water from one region to benefit another.  

The loss of land and water, as well as the disappearance of resources and livelihoods for the people of Owens Valley are remembered through J. D. Black’s photographs.  

Photo: The remaining trees of a dead orchard in Big Pine, under the ownership of the city of Los Angeles, circa 1930 

Inspired by J. D. Black’s photographs, student researcher C. Bernstein created this artwork of an abandoned house. The student artist shares that “I wanted to include a background of the Inyo Mountains to the West of Owens Valley to juxtapose the serene, natural beauty of the region with the negative consequences of the Water Wars in terms of abandonment and disregard of the community. Materials used in this drawing include drawing pencils and a blending stump.” 

Drag the arrow icon left and right to see the student drawing and the photograph.

Photo: Former farmhouse owned by the city of Los Angeles, Owens Valley, circa 1930