A Conversation
“They talked about the Owens Valley last night.”
“About the Alabama Gates shootout?”
“Missed that part.”
“Sort of a Bundy Seize around 1924.”
“A bunch of ranchers took over Alabama?”
“A bunch of Bishop ranchers kept Los Angeles from drinking Owens Valley water for nearly a week.”
“The old aqueduct?”
“It was new then. L.A. bought up the orchards and dried them out to send water south. The ranchers wanted the water back.”
“The place is a desert. I’m guessing the protest didn’t work out so well.”
“The ranchers lasted four days. Newspapers all over the world talked about it. But it didn’t stop Los Angeles. It opened up the gates.”
“It all runs downhill.”
“Yeah, flush twice; L.A. needs the water.”
[aesop_image imgwidth=”75%” img=”https://wordsmithholler.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/alabama-gates.jpg” credit=”Courtesy: Loyola Marymount University Digital Collections” alt=”Alabama Gates” align=”right” lightbox=”on” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off”]© 2016 – 2017, Michael Shawn Sommermeyer. All rights reserved.
