William Mulholland
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William Mulholland was a man that was loved by some people and hated by others. Mulholland sacrificed and accomplished for a city that he loved. A city of 250,000 thirsty souls then harbored to millions after bringing life in the form of water from the mountains of the Eastern Sierra Nevadas Owens Valley.
William Mulholland was born in Bellfast, Ireland. His father beat Mulholland whenever he got bad grades from school. He then ran away from home to work on ships traveling the sea. After many years of sailing the Atlantic sea, Mulholland and his older brother Hugh Mulholland migrated to New York City in 1874. In 1877 he landed in Los Angeles.
By the time he arrived in Los Angeles, he wanted to start working on a ship again. He then started to travel to San Pedro to find a ship when he accepted a job digging a well. After a short time in Arizona, where he searched for gold in the Colorado River, he took a job as the Deputy Zanjero for the newly formed Los Angeles Water Company.
In 1880, Mulholland supervised the laying of the first ever iron water pipeline in Los Angeles. In 1886, he was promoted to Superintendent of the Los Angeles Water Company. The Los Angeles city government did not want to renew its contract with the Los Angeles Water Company, but four years later Mulholland was named as its head.
Fredrick Eaton was the Mayor of Los Angeles from 1889-1900. Eaton was fascinated with the Water Company especially with the idea of bringing water down to Los Angeles from up North. Eaton and Mulholland over the years became closer and closer friends.
On September 4, 1904, William Mulholland and Fred Eaton went out to find water in the Owens Valley of the Inyo County for the thirsty city of Los Angeles. They set out with a wagon full of a miners diet food, which include; bacon, beans and hard liquor. Mulholland was a self-taught engineer and is always thinking on how to accomplish a task or to even make it better.
After spending time together in the Owens Valley, Eaton wanted to be in charge of the aqueduct all to himself. The friendship between Eaton and Mulholland was fading with the true personality coming out between the two of them. Mulholland realizing he need to act fast to win over the authorities in order for him to get to build the aqueduct, started going to meeting and rallies to win over not only the authorities, but the people of Los Angeles. After eighteen months, Mulhollands dream came true when he was finally able to start working on building the aqueduct.
It took Mulholland and his crew of two thousand workers and 164 tunnels eight years to build the two hundred and thirty three miles of the aqueduct. The building of the aqueduct had its fair share or problems. The North end of the tunnel, and the South end of the tunnel would have races on who can reach the center first. Mulholland made it a competition between the two because he thought