The drive-it-yourself moving truck stalled on the Grapevine, the mountain pass stopping the San Joaquin from spilling into Los Angeles. Sweat rolled down the backs of the three passengers resigned to suffer the heat. The truck lacked air conditioning, so there was no need to complain. The truck belched through the stall as the driver pushed into the lowest gear and rolled at a burro’s pace as a parade of cars followed. A single horn, then others, squaked displeasure at the lack of speed. The driver aimed the truck for a turnout, wiped his face, and waved the parade around.
Tag: Los Angeles
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L.A. Needs the Water
Read more: L.A. Needs the Water
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”]
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