Page 19 - jdrogers2017bb

The San Francisquito Powerhouses paid back the

$23 million cost of the aqueduct

• The aqueduct passed through penstocks dropping 937 feet into San

Francisquito Powerhouse No. 1, which opened in 1917 (shown at left).

• Nine miles downstream, the water drops another 540 feet into

Powerhouse No.2, completed in 1920 (shown at right)

• After a lengthy battle with private power companies, Mulholland

persuaded City voters to approve referendums that allowed the City
to produce their own electricity, and Los Angeles DWP went on to

become the largest municipal-owned utility in the United States