A Resource Precious and Rare:
Development of Water Resources in the Crescenta Cañada Valley
Researched and Written by Robert Moses
Curated by Katelyn Hung
The modern city of La Canada is renowned for its lush foliage and excellent education system which attracts a plethora of prospective property owners. What was once a barren, dry range of hills has transformed extensively nearly two centuries since its first settlements. The “Canyon” city’s prominence can be chiefly attributed to the development of an interconnected water system that was first established by the Lanterman family.
California’s dry climate facilitated a wave of westward immigration throughout the 19th century, as it was rumored to cure lung issues. In pursuit of these supposed medical benefits, Jacob Lanterman and Adolphus Williams, who were neighbors in Michigan, purchased Rancho La Canada for less than $2.00/acre. By 1877, Jacob Lanterman established his family in what is now the Lanterman House with his wife (Ammoretta), daughter (Stella), and two sons (Frank and Roy). From the beginning, both men disputed over water, property boundary lines, and the partitioning and sale of their respective properties.
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When Lanterman and Williams purchased the Mexican Land Grant Rancho La Canada in 1875, they did not receive rights to the water flowing in the canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains. The canyons had been homesteaded by the earliest settlers in the Crescenta-Canada Valley (like Theodore Pickens and Thomas Hall) and were thus beyond the bounds of the old Mexican Land Grant. Being from Michigan, both men believed it would be easy to dig wells to reach groundwater on their properties. They failed to recognize how far down the water table lay in this granitic soil.
Water At Last
Amidst a lawsuit between the Lanterman and Williams estates, the Lantermans decided to take water matters into their own hands. In 1878, Ammoretta negotiated the purchase of water rights to the Pickens Canyon system from Theodore Pickens.
In exchange for water, Pickens received $1250 in gold coins, a promissory note, and a title to forty acres of land in Rancho La Canada. With Pickens Canyon, the system included two more tributary canyons: Sutton Canyon and Mullally Canyon. Each of these canyons had year round stream flows. The stream flow of the Pickens Canyon system was the only source of water for La Canada from 1892 until 1910. During those years, over fifty wells were drilled in virtually every part of the valley trying to find water, all to no avail.
LA Cañada Water Co
In August of 1891, Jacob Lanterman formed the La Canada Water Company. The company’s shares were sold to local property owners for access to the Pickens Canyon water supply. Five shares entitled a holder to one hour’s flow of the canyon system each month.
The Works
Initially, water was collected behind a small dam in the Pickens Canyon and from that point it ran in a redwood flume down the east side of Pickens Canyon until it could be delivered to a sandbox. From the sandbox it ran in iron pipes to the mouth of the canyon where it entered another sandbox. The purpose of the sandboxes was to allow sediment to settle out of the water before it moved down the hill to the property owners. From the east side of the mouth of Pickens Canyon the water ran in four inch concrete pipes, running in a southeasterly direction. Additional sandboxes were placed at the major lot lines allowing the water to be directed south along the lot lines to the individual properties.
The La Canada Water Company did not develop any reservoirs. Many property owners, including the Lanterman Family, built reservoirs on their own properties. Others relied on cisterns or water tanks to store water between the days when water was sent to their property.
The system worked pretty well for the small community, but when dry years came it was very difficult. In August of 1899, at the end of a prolonged drought and a very hot summer, the stream in Pickens Canyon had disappeared before it reached the top of the flume. It was so dry that some residents simply packed up and left their homes.
This prompted shareholders in the company to run pipes further up the canyons to collect the water nearer the springs which were the source. In 1902, Jacob and Ammoretta Lanterman sold 300 shares to finance improvements to preserve the water system. The funds were used to drive three tunnels into the walls of Pickens Canyon so that the water could be captured below ground to avoid losses to evaporation.
Valley Water Co
In 1910, Frank D. Lanterman, the eldest son of Jacob and Ammoretta Lanterman, brought in a gasoline-powered drill rig and drilled a 400 foot well into the rocky soil of his property at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Hampton Road. This deep well reached the water table of the Monks Hill Basin, a large aquifer that lies beneath Pasadena and La Canada. Lanterman and his partners then brought in larger electric pumps to access the basin’s water, ultimately forming the Valley Water Company.
Initially, the company pumped water to two reservoirs, the Lanterman Reservoir (located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Union Street) and another property owned by F.D. Lanterman (located at the top of Commonwealth Avenue). The company quickly grew, adding five more reservoirs throughout La Canada from 1917 to 1928.
In 1937, a lawsuit was filed over rights to withdraw water from the Monk’s Hill Basin wherein Pasadena claimed that it had sole right to pump water from the aquifer. Other parties to the suit, including Valley Water Company, each alleged that they were entitled to shares of the water. If one totaled all the claims, one would find that the disputants claimed more water than there was to be had from the aquifer. Ultimately, a Water Master was appointed, and allocations were made to each entity claiming rights to water from the aquifer. No one was happy with their allocation.
In 1949, the Foothill Water Group was formed to pursue acquisition of water from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD). However, a change in law was necessary to allow the group to obtain membership in the MWD. This prompted Frank Lanterman to run for State Assembly in 1950. In 1951, Lanterman was elected and introduced the legislation necessary to amend the law and allow unincorporated communities to form a Water District. The same year, the legislation was passed and signed into law but it took until 1955 for the necessary infrastructure to be built to purchase water from the Colorado River from MWD and deliver it to communities such as Altadena, La Canada, and La Crescenta. The first water received from this new arrangement was in July of 1955.
LC Irrigation District + La Crescenta’s water developments