San Antonio Canyon Expeditions: Some History
"USGS Water Supply Paper 847 at page 26 shows San Antonio Creek as producing the highest runoff rate per square mile of all United States of America streams listed in said table."
You might not think by looking at it most times during a year, but as the stat quoted above makes clear, San Antonio Creek can move a heck of a lot of water during single high rainfall storms, as well as the succession of storms that sweep in from the north Pacific during the winter. The quote, and others below, were presented as evidence by the Supervisors of the County of San Bernardino to the federal government for assistance in controlling the unruly creek, and documented in the Civil Functions, Department of the Army, Appropriations of 1952, Parts 1-2. For all intents and purposes, it was a plea for help from a beleaguered citizenry. Continuing:
"Damaging floods have occurred on this stream in the years 1906, 1909, 1914, 1916, 1922, 1927, 1938, and 1943."
Of the flood of 1914 it was noted: "... San Antonio Creek was a raging torrent that swept everything before it. It's floodwaters reached to the Chino foothills... San Antonio Creek tore out the Fourth Street bridge and the Southern Pacific Railroad bridge south of A Street, 9 miles from the mouth of the canyon."
The 1916 flood, the report notes: "San Antonio Creek had become a river, washing out its bridges (January 17, 1916)... At Claremont dynamite was used to divert floodwaters into the old channel of San Antonio Wash to save Pomona College... (January 18, 1916)," and, "the cloudburst caused waters to sweep out of San Antonio Wash and cut across the country to the Claremont School for Boys, which was surrounded (January 19, 1916)."
Of 1921-22 the report noted: "San Antonio Canyon was wrecked... the Eleventh Street bridge was washed out and wash-outs of the Pacific Electric Railway and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway kept those railways out of operation (February 26, 1922)."
All those floods resulted in great loss to property, agriculture and public works. The worst of all, though, came in 1938 (from the story Inland Empire Was up to its Elbows in Stormwater in 1938, by Joe Blackstock, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 18 August 2014): "Arguably the most destructive flood of the 20th century happened the first few days of March 1938... About 32 inches of rain fell in three days at Kelly's Camp, at 8,300 feet between Ontario and Cucamonga Peaks... On the flatlands, things were scarcely better. Claremont officials dynamited [again!] the Foothill Boulevard bridge in a desperate attempt to force San Antonio Creek back into its channel and away from Scripps College, whose buildings were threatened... A day earlier the rains had its most deadly impact. The Claremont house of a family named Laskey next to the San Antonio Creek was torn from its foundation and slammed into their car as they tried to escape. A woman and her two children - one 3 weeks old - were swept to their deaths." Ultimately, these floods and the threat of more brought about the construction of the San Antonio Dam, authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1936 and 1938.
You may have noticed that, lately, I have become rather obsessed with San Antonio Canyon, that gash between mountains that leads from the Pomona Valley to Mount Baldy, and through which the creek gurgles and sometimes rages. Discovering remnant sections of old Mount Baldy Road and associated structures like bridges and abutments, concrete bollards with rusted cable guardrails, searching for mining operations and water works, and then following up the on-the-ground explorations with additional book and internet research, has occupied much of my free time. Quite frankly, it is the closest I have come to practicing archaeology since that summer of fieldwork back in 1986. Right now I see no end to it, neither the research nor the exploring (although I have reached a road block with latter, unable to find a clear way through, what I am calling, the Narrows, and leaving me just short of the middle powerhouse - and right in the area of the Red, White and Blue Mine, which I still have not found). Though I do get a kick out of peoples' reactions (the few people who go up canyon as far as I do) when they see someone on a bike, as I have noted before, it does add another layer of difficulty. I am not ready to give up on the bike and hike only thing yet, but I may need to in order to get past the "Narrows." Then again there is no end to the big alders growing along the stream - maybe just bring a good cable and lock. Next time, though, I think maybe I bring copies for some of the historic photos below - there are a couple, at least, that should be quite easy to pinpoint. Anyway, on with the photoshow:
finally i found a topo map old enough to show the old road
the Sierra Power House in happier times...
and in ruins
G. G. Hitchcock photo, 1894 - San Antonio Canyon Tunnel for the San Antonio Light & Power Company - Doheny Memorial Library, USC
do you see what I never noticed until this most recent trip? This is the most interesting photo of the day because it shows two roads - one old road, and one even older road a good twelve inches below the more recent
in the Narrows
in the Narrows - getting through might involve a lot of boulder hopping
i thought this was a quartz vein (you can kind of see it in the background) but it is rather crumbly, where quartz is hard, so... i don't know
Comments
Post a Comment