San Diego is rich with natural history. Below are images of
the flooding which occurred in 1916. This was prior to
the Mission Bay Development plan to redirect the San Diego River.
Above: The 1916 flood wiped out the Old Town bridge that crossed
the San Diego River at the western end of Mission Valley.
Image is the property of:
SanDiegoHistory.org
The plan was drawn up and work began in May of 1948 on the
project to redirect the San Diego River through Mission Bay.
Below, 50 years later in 1999, Mission Bay reflects the success
of the redirect project.
Below: Images of the damage to Sweetwater Dam (left), and
Otay Dam (right), San Diego, CA. 1916.
| 1813 |
Hoping to improve agriculture
yields, the Franciscan missionaries organize construction of
the first water engineering project on the west coast of the
United States. The
first dam to cross the San Diego River is located in
present day
Mission Trails Regional Park.
|
1853
|
San Diego River is diverted from San Diego Harbor into
False Bay (Mission Bay) under the harbor improvement plan of
Lt. George Derby. The "Derby Dike" failed after two years
and the river returned to depositing sediment into San Diego
Bay until another levee was constructed in 1876.
|
1860s
|
Mission Dam falls into disrepair.
San Diego's population is clustered around wells at the
mouth of Mission Valley.
|
1861
|
Storms dump 30 inches of rain on San Diego. Statewide
the storms destroy 25% of California's taxable property.
|
1864
|
Successive years of light rains
bring severe drought to San Diego.
|
1871
|
The first wells are sunk in downtown (new town) San
Diego.
|
1873
|
H.M. Covert and Jacob Gruendike
initiate the first major waterworks since mission days
forming the city's first water company (San Diego Water
Company) on January 20th. Wells drilled in Pound Canyon near
site of the present Cabrillo Bridge provide the first
reliable water supply for the city. Two reservoirs are
constructed on mesas bordering the canyon with a total
capacity of 170,000 gallons.
|
1875
|
Increasing demands for water lead San Diego Water
Company to tap water from Mission Valley. The first pumps
raise water to a
reservoir in University Heights. Construction soon
begins on a more energy efficient route across a lower
portion of San Diego Mesa. The new pipeline runs from wells
near the mouth of Mission Valley through tunnels driven in
the hills below the present site of the UCSD Medical Center.
Pumps lift water to the crest of the mesa near the core of
present-day Hillcrest. From there an aqueduct carries the
water downhill to a reservoir at Fifth and Hawthorn.
|
1877
|
Severe drought. A dike across the
San Diego River is completed allowing some of the run-off of
the river to be diverted into the city's water system.
|
1887
|
San Diego Reservoir is constructed in what is now
Presidio Park. Water pumped from Mission Valley supplies the
reservoir which has a four million gallon capacity. It
remains in use until 1912, and in 1927 it's filled forming
the "Picnic Bowl" bounded by Cosoy Way.
|
|
Sweetwater Reservoir is completed.
|
1889
|
The 35.6-mile San Diego Flume is completed at a cost of
about one million dollars. The flume, a series of five
tunnels and 315 redwood trestles, carries water from
Cuyamaca Mountain to the University Heights reservoir.
City covers over the abandoned Pound Canyon well citing
danger of the deep well..
|
1895
|
La Mesa Dam is completed. In 1918
it is superceded by a larger dam which forms Lake Murray.
|
|
Back to Top
Lake Murray 2007
|
1900
|
George Chaffey begins irrigation of the Colorado
Desert.
|
1901
|
The first water runs into Imperial
Valley canals. San Diego purchases all water systems within
the city limits.
|
1905
|
Floods on the Colorado River bring disaster to Imperial
Valley farmers creating the Salton Sea.
|
1906
|
Pumping plant in Mission Valley
closes, and the city enters into a contract with Southern
California Mountain Water Company to buy water (4 cents per
1000 gallons) from mountain reservoirs.
|
|
1912 |
After 17 years of construction Morena Reservoir on
cottonwood creek, a tributary of the Tijuana River, is
completed.
|
1913
|
Southern California Mountain Water Company is purchased by
city.
|
1915
|
After four dry years in a row, former sewing machine
salesman and fabled
rainmaker
Charles M. Hatfield offers to aid the city. San Diego
City Council accepts his offer, and
Hatfield erects a tower containing a secret chemical
concoction near Morena Reservoir.
|
|
1966 |
The worst floods in county history. |
|
Jan.14 |
Heavy rains start falling in the county -- we know now
this was a strong El Nino year. A total of 7.56 inches falls
before the end of the month. (A normal January rainfall is
2.2 inches.))
|
|
Jan.17 |
Flooding washes away the bridges
along San Diego River.
|
|
Jan.26 |
Fearing a break due to rising waters behind the old
Switzer Canyon reservoir (in southeast Balboa Park) the city
dynamites the dam creating a flood down 16th Street to the
bay. |
|
Jan.27 |
The dam at Sweetwater Reservoir
fails releasing 13 billion gallons of water.. |
|
Feb.04 |
Charles Hatfield bills city $10,000 for filling Morena
Reservoir.
|
Dec.16
|
The city offers to settle tab if
Hatfield accepts responsibility for $3,500,000 of damages
caused by the flooding. Hatfield forgoes payment from San
Diego, but continues to ply his rainmaking abilities in
California and Central America for many years..
|
|
1918 |
Hodges Reservoir is completed across the San
Dieguito River. The first dams were completed on
Alvarado Creek to form the Lake Murray. |
|
1924 |
Wohlford Dam is
constructed on top of the 1895 dike on Escondido
Creek. Combined capacity of the all counties
reservoirs nears half a million acre-feet. |
|
1935 |
El Capitan Reservoir is completed across the
headwaters of the San Diego River. Hoover Dam is
completed bringing control to the Colorado River. |
|
1938 |
Parker Dam is completed
across the Colorado River forming Lake Havasu. Three
years later, the Colorado River Aqueduct is
completed. The aqueduct conveys Colorado river water
from Lake Havasu to Lake Matthews in Riverside
County. |
|
1943 |
In anticipation of receiving Colorado River
water, San Vicente Reservoir is built to
significantly increasing storage capacity in San
Diego County |
|
1960 |
First pipeline of the San
Diego Aqueduct is completed. The aqueduct taps into
the Colorado River Aqueduct and delivers water from
the Colorado to San Diego for the first time. In
seven years another pipeline is added parallel to
the original aqueduct. The combined capacity of the
San Diego Aqueduct is 196 cubic feet per second
(about 140,000 acre feet a year)) |
The flooding resulted in complete failure of both structures.
