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Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles
Rivers in the Desert follows the remarkable career of William Mulholland, the visionary who engineered the rise of Los Angeles as the greatest American city west of the Mississippi. He sought to transform the sparse and barren desert into an inhabitable environment by designing the longest aqueduct in the Western Hemisphere, bringing water from the mountains to support a large city. This fascinating history chronicles Mulholland's dramatic ascension to wealth and fame--followed by his tragic downfall after the sudden collapse of the dam he had constructed to safeguard the water supply (Newsweek). The disaster, which killed at least five hundred people, caused his repudiation by allies, friends, and a previously adoring community. Epic in scope, Rivers in the Desert chronicles the history of Los Angeles and examines the tragic fate of the man who rescued it.
320 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1994
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About the author
Margaret Leslie Davis
14 books13 followersMargaret Leslie Davis is a graduate of Georgetown University and earned her master's in professional writing at the University of Southern California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 6, 2020
Growing up in Los Angeles and skiing in Mammoth, I knew Mulholland as the name of a road, and the Owens Valley as desolate stretch of wilderness along the 395. But that's at the remove of 80 years. Mulholland was once a power, the unquestioned king of water in Los Angeles, and the Ownes Valley home to hardscrabble but successful ranchers and farmers.
To grow, Los Angeles needed water. Mulholland and former Los Angeles major Fred Eaton hatched a plan to buy up water rights in the Owen's Valley, and transport water to Los Angeles with an ambitious 235 mile gravity fed aqueduct. Mulholland was the chief engineer, Eaton the financier, but the partnership broke down as Eaton demanded an extortionate $1 million for a valley well-suited to be a reservoir. Mulholland's crew braved desert temperature extremes, cave-ins, and guerrilla war from the locals to build and maintain the aqueduct. Meanwhile, a cabal of Los Angeles based speculators used their insider knowledge to profit immensely from new development in the San Fernando valley. Mulholland himself didn't profit from speculation, but those around him did.
Mulholland's reputation was destroyed by the 1928 failure of the Saint Francis dam. The reservoir broke suddenly in the middle of the night, killing hundreds, an the ambitious prosecutor Asa Keyes aimed to show that Mulholland's incompetence was the root fault. And certainly, as chief engineer, he bore ultimate responsibility, but Davis argues the dam collapse was due to an ancient landslide unexplained by contemporary geological theories. Mulholland would have need to be prescient, more than prudent, to prevent the collapse.
Rivers in the Desert is a fast moving history, and illuminates some of the character of the age. But I'm a fan of engineering biographies, and this book falls short of the sublime of McCullough's The Path Between the Seas, and is oddly silent on the California Water Wars. I'd probably read Cadillac Desert on that subject. But within these limits, Davis does a great job.
To grow, Los Angeles needed water. Mulholland and former Los Angeles major Fred Eaton hatched a plan to buy up water rights in the Owen's Valley, and transport water to Los Angeles with an ambitious 235 mile gravity fed aqueduct. Mulholland was the chief engineer, Eaton the financier, but the partnership broke down as Eaton demanded an extortionate $1 million for a valley well-suited to be a reservoir. Mulholland's crew braved desert temperature extremes, cave-ins, and guerrilla war from the locals to build and maintain the aqueduct. Meanwhile, a cabal of Los Angeles based speculators used their insider knowledge to profit immensely from new development in the San Fernando valley. Mulholland himself didn't profit from speculation, but those around him did.
Mulholland's reputation was destroyed by the 1928 failure of the Saint Francis dam. The reservoir broke suddenly in the middle of the night, killing hundreds, an the ambitious prosecutor Asa Keyes aimed to show that Mulholland's incompetence was the root fault. And certainly, as chief engineer, he bore ultimate responsibility, but Davis argues the dam collapse was due to an ancient landslide unexplained by contemporary geological theories. Mulholland would have need to be prescient, more than prudent, to prevent the collapse.
Rivers in the Desert is a fast moving history, and illuminates some of the character of the age. But I'm a fan of engineering biographies, and this book falls short of the sublime of McCullough's The Path Between the Seas, and is oddly silent on the California Water Wars. I'd probably read Cadillac Desert on that subject. But within these limits, Davis does a great job.
June 13, 2017
This book should be required reading for every Californian. It was outstanding. The only thing I didn't care for, was that the author tried to make Mulholland sound like this great man who had a huge, warm heart. Nothing is further from the truth. He was a vile excuse for a human being, a ruthless business man, and wickedly evil in his visions. He literally wanted to demolish and dam up Yosemite National Park, which is glossed over in this book as though he weren't deadly serious.
The book does show, that Los Angeles has always been run by crooked, evil, wealthy men with evil intentions, and that the water crises of CA has ALWAYS been in existence, yet every time it's a cyclical issue, everyone acts as though it's the first time or that there is some new cause (the stupidity of the global warming movement comes to mind).
The book does show, that Los Angeles has always been run by crooked, evil, wealthy men with evil intentions, and that the water crises of CA has ALWAYS been in existence, yet every time it's a cyclical issue, everyone acts as though it's the first time or that there is some new cause (the stupidity of the global warming movement comes to mind).
April 3, 2019
Completely fascinated by water issues.
September 12, 2020
Interesting topic, but fairly repetitive and in some sections overly detailed. Actual rating 2.5 but rounded up because I did enjoy larger sections than I was annoyed by.
July 27, 2015
Very interesting history about William Mulholland, the quest for water for Los Angeles, the aqueduct, the water wars, and the tragic St Francis Dam. I do not live in California but still found the story captivating and fascinating.
March 30, 2023
Years after the release of the classic 1974 movie "Chinatown" staring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, I finally managed to watch it, and became more interested in learning more about the 200+ mile aqueduct supplying water to Los Angeles, and the man credited with making it happen, William Mulholland.
Margaret Leslie Davis' book "Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles" is one, and does a fine job. Another, which provides a detailed look into Wm. Mulholland's background and the origins of the LA aquaduct system, is Les Standiford's "Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles". I found each interesting in their own way. Both books cover Mulholland's rise to head Los Angeles' water system, how the aquaduct from the Sierra Nevada mountains to Los Angeles was envisioned and created, and explain why Owens River Valley residents became upset when the project proposal became public knowledge. Clearly, Owens Valley residents became angered with "their water" being drained and diverted for the benefit of a city far away. I felt Rivers in the Desert made the project a little more justifiable than did Standiford's Water to the Angels, while Standiford's book gave me a slightly better understanding of the projects extent and engineering obstacles.
Another book on the subject is Jon Wilkman's "Floodpath: The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th-Century America and the Making of Modern Los Angeles. As that title implies, it focuses more on the infamous failure of the St. Francis Dam which collapsed in 1928 costing hundreds of lives. Each of these books were interesting in their own way.
Margaret Leslie Davis' book "Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles" is one, and does a fine job. Another, which provides a detailed look into Wm. Mulholland's background and the origins of the LA aquaduct system, is Les Standiford's "Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles". I found each interesting in their own way. Both books cover Mulholland's rise to head Los Angeles' water system, how the aquaduct from the Sierra Nevada mountains to Los Angeles was envisioned and created, and explain why Owens River Valley residents became upset when the project proposal became public knowledge. Clearly, Owens Valley residents became angered with "their water" being drained and diverted for the benefit of a city far away. I felt Rivers in the Desert made the project a little more justifiable than did Standiford's Water to the Angels, while Standiford's book gave me a slightly better understanding of the projects extent and engineering obstacles.
Another book on the subject is Jon Wilkman's "Floodpath: The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th-Century America and the Making of Modern Los Angeles. As that title implies, it focuses more on the infamous failure of the St. Francis Dam which collapsed in 1928 costing hundreds of lives. Each of these books were interesting in their own way.
January 16, 2025
I only vaguely knew the name Mulholland, but this provided pretty much his whole professional and life history. He was head of the water department for Los Angeles in the later 19th century and early 20th century; and he recognized the need for water if Los Angeles had any hope of ever growing. He found a river high in the Sierra Nevada mountains and oversaw the project to bring that water all the way to Los Angeles and the surrounding farm country.
Along the way, he angered the farmers whose water he diverted; and over the next number of years, those farmers repeatedly blasted holes in his gravity fed water aqueduct. Eventually, he decided that a number of dams were needed to store water for California's dry years. The St. Francis dam was the largest, by far, and it failed catastrophically - killing some 500 people. Mulholland was eventually held responsible for the dam's failure and lived the rest of his life in the shadow of that failure (after decades of success and accolades as one of America's greatest engineers).
Only years after his death, engineers were able to determine that the dam failed due to an internal rockslide on one side of the dam in a rock formation not fully understood at the time of the dam's failure. Mulholland was thus not technically responsible, given the knowledge of geology and engineering known at the time.
Along the way, he angered the farmers whose water he diverted; and over the next number of years, those farmers repeatedly blasted holes in his gravity fed water aqueduct. Eventually, he decided that a number of dams were needed to store water for California's dry years. The St. Francis dam was the largest, by far, and it failed catastrophically - killing some 500 people. Mulholland was eventually held responsible for the dam's failure and lived the rest of his life in the shadow of that failure (after decades of success and accolades as one of America's greatest engineers).
Only years after his death, engineers were able to determine that the dam failed due to an internal rockslide on one side of the dam in a rock formation not fully understood at the time of the dam's failure. Mulholland was thus not technically responsible, given the knowledge of geology and engineering known at the time.
June 6, 2022
This book covers the two most well known episodes in LA water history: the Owens River and the San Francisquito Canyon disaster.
On the plus side, it covers them both very well, far better than anything else I've read, without an axe to grind, and written in a very compelling fashion. For anyone whose primary knowledge of this time consists of Chinatown, it should be a welcome corrective.
On the negative side, it covered so much less than I was hoping for. The title promised a fairly comprehensive story including also the Alamo Canal (which, when it failed, gave us the Salton Sea), the Colorado River Aqueduct, and the Central Valley Project. And unfortunately none of these are touched (though the Colorado is a very minor player in the background of the Francisquito Canyon aftermath). This is a shame because these other projects also deserve to have good books written about them. Yes there have been books written, like Cadillac Desert – I said they deserve GOOD books!
But it's unfair to complain that a book is not what you wanted. If you have any interest in the history of LA, you could do a lot worse.
On the plus side, it covers them both very well, far better than anything else I've read, without an axe to grind, and written in a very compelling fashion. For anyone whose primary knowledge of this time consists of Chinatown, it should be a welcome corrective.
On the negative side, it covered so much less than I was hoping for. The title promised a fairly comprehensive story including also the Alamo Canal (which, when it failed, gave us the Salton Sea), the Colorado River Aqueduct, and the Central Valley Project. And unfortunately none of these are touched (though the Colorado is a very minor player in the background of the Francisquito Canyon aftermath). This is a shame because these other projects also deserve to have good books written about them. Yes there have been books written, like Cadillac Desert – I said they deserve GOOD books!
But it's unfair to complain that a book is not what you wanted. If you have any interest in the history of LA, you could do a lot worse.
November 19, 2017
This book was a really interesting look at the development of Los Angeles, through the lens of William Mulholland's struggle to provide water to the city. I spent 269 pages wondering why they settled in Los Angeles in the first place if there's no water, but okay. The end is reminiscent of Hamilton - every other founding father's story gets told, but rarely Mulholland's due to what was ultimately an accident of fate. Interesting read, especially for anyone familiar with the Los Angeles area, because most of the locations mentioned are still in existence, though wildly different from that described in the book's 1910s.
December 28, 2022
Not what I was expecting. I assumed this would be the story of the engineering of the water system, and it was not. My metric for narratives like this is "Nothing Like It in the World," by Stephen Ambrose. "Rivers" is nothing like that book. Very vague descriptions of the construction, few dates and little data, and almost no explanation of the actual engineering. Even the biographical information was presented in an odd, stilted manner, with very little flow. I was quite disappointed, as I enjoy the descriptions of engineering feats, like "Path Between the Seas."
"Rivers" is not a book I can recommend at all.
"Rivers" is not a book I can recommend at all.
March 31, 2021
Good overview of William Mulholland and his efforts in aiding the growth of Los Angeles by increasing the municipal water supply. The story of the construction of the Los Angeles aqueduct and the Elizabeth tunnel is probably worth a book in itself. The fall of William Mulholland and the collapse of the St. Francis dam could also have been a book by itself. Worth your time for those stories and the moral cunnumdrum of whether or not it was right to take the water out of the Owens Valley for the people of Los Angeles.
June 26, 2025
Vision, Triumph, and Tragedy in the Making of Los Angeles
Rivers in the Desert is a riveting account of one man’s monumental ambition—and the price of his dream. William Mulholland’s audacious quest to bring water to a barren land gave rise to modern Los Angeles, but his legacy was forever marred by the catastrophic collapse of the St. Francis Dam. This compelling biography reads like an epic drama, full of political intrigue, innovation, and heartbreak. A must-read for history lovers, city-builders, and anyone drawn to the human cost of progress.
Rivers in the Desert is a riveting account of one man’s monumental ambition—and the price of his dream. William Mulholland’s audacious quest to bring water to a barren land gave rise to modern Los Angeles, but his legacy was forever marred by the catastrophic collapse of the St. Francis Dam. This compelling biography reads like an epic drama, full of political intrigue, innovation, and heartbreak. A must-read for history lovers, city-builders, and anyone drawn to the human cost of progress.
June 1, 2017
As a native of Los Angeles, I enjoyed reading Davis's story about the city's history with water, William Mulholland, and how LA has grown as a result. While not the most captivating of books, I still enjoyed learning more about the aqueduct and Mulholland's impact on the city. It also provided some relevant perspective, given the city's (and state's) current drought and considerations for our city's future.
February 5, 2021
A good overview of some of the life and major works of William Mulholland. Growing up as an Angeleno, I heard the name "Mullholland" everywhere, but didn't know to whom it referred.
This book is a good place to start learning about a man whose successes (and failures) were truly larger than life.
This book is a good place to start learning about a man whose successes (and failures) were truly larger than life.
February 27, 2019
Very, very interesting book about bringing water to Los Angeles. Fleshed out the people and events in a way that I could vividly imagine the personalities and the politicking it took to get that water. And Fred Eaton...grrrr, I shake my fist at Mr. Eaton.
September 27, 2020
Dated but good read
The rise and fall off accomplished water engineer Mullholland who created the Los Angeles aqueduct that formed the city, and the San Francisquito Dam that subsequently collapsed in tragedy.
The rise and fall off accomplished water engineer Mullholland who created the Los Angeles aqueduct that formed the city, and the San Francisquito Dam that subsequently collapsed in tragedy.
November 27, 2020
William Mulholland is perhaps the most important person in the developmental Los Angeles and still relatively unknown beyond a name. I found the writing a bit erratic in style and quality though it did shine occasionally, but I am rounding this up to a four on the strength of the research and story as well as not going too long.
June 12, 2020
The book covers well the life of Mulholland and all that he accomplished. It also gave a clear account of his critics and what they had to say. I think it was an impartial review of what transpired.
August 24, 2020
I enjoyed reading this book about the bringing of water to Los Angeles about a century ago, and now know more about the people involved than I knew before. Thanks for the book.
September 2, 2020
Interesting read about iconic water engineer, covering building of LA Aqueduct and St. Francis dam collapse. Good, but not great.
February 20, 2021
Well written, interesting book of an amazing, if not controversial, feat. Very thought-provoking on many levels.
April 29, 2022
Great book about the early history of Los Angeles. Amazing but true. Should be made into a movie, better story than the fictional Chinatown.
June 2, 2021
Too many editing mistakes. Spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors.
July 13, 2013
Growing up in Los Angeles, the name Mulholland always had mythic connotations. Besides the obvious Mulholland Drive, the name is synonymous with the breaking of the St Francis Dam and the washing away of an entire town. In my mind, I always pictured Mulholland as a thin and dainty scientist adorned with glasses, fussing with an abacus.
Margaret Leslie Davis paints a very different picture.
William Mulholland was in truth a rough and weathered man, an ex-sailor and Irish Immigrant who, instead of monitoring the construction of his aqueduct and dams from an office, preferred to toil along with his crew and a shovel. A workaholic and a self-taught engineer, Mulholland's driven nature eventually left him in charge of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Supply. He dominated his family and was either worshiped or hated by his co-workers.
Davis' story follows the life of Mulholland from the beginnings of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, through his rise as an eminent man of Los Angeles to his fall after the St Francis Damn collapse and his eventual death as a broken and haunted man. Between the drama of the California Water Wars she charts the growth of Los Angeles and the Valley. Land syndicates are formed and fortunes are made as other towns die of thirst as their water is poured into the needy mouths of Los Angeles.
A brilliant man with a complicated legacy, Davis does a good job of painting the portrait of Mulholland while still giving us the history, time, and place of the California and the thirsty and growing parasite that is Los Angeles.
As an engineer, the descriptions of the public works projects and the decisions that went into them were fascinating. I scoff at today's modern 'paper-pushing' engineers and the flow charts we all have to look at for project management, but the failure of the dam is a reminder as to why we have committees that slow down the decision process.
There is no uplifting ending to this book. Mulholland dies a broken man, his reputation forever tarnished. Los Angeles has became an huge urban sprawl, growth allowed by the influx of water from lands far away and out of state. And although Los Angeles is a mecca of art and entertainment now made up of a huge and wonderfully diverse population, we still need more water, and as Davis points out: "there are no more rivers in the desert."
Margaret Leslie Davis paints a very different picture.
William Mulholland was in truth a rough and weathered man, an ex-sailor and Irish Immigrant who, instead of monitoring the construction of his aqueduct and dams from an office, preferred to toil along with his crew and a shovel. A workaholic and a self-taught engineer, Mulholland's driven nature eventually left him in charge of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Supply. He dominated his family and was either worshiped or hated by his co-workers.
Davis' story follows the life of Mulholland from the beginnings of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, through his rise as an eminent man of Los Angeles to his fall after the St Francis Damn collapse and his eventual death as a broken and haunted man. Between the drama of the California Water Wars she charts the growth of Los Angeles and the Valley. Land syndicates are formed and fortunes are made as other towns die of thirst as their water is poured into the needy mouths of Los Angeles.
A brilliant man with a complicated legacy, Davis does a good job of painting the portrait of Mulholland while still giving us the history, time, and place of the California and the thirsty and growing parasite that is Los Angeles.
As an engineer, the descriptions of the public works projects and the decisions that went into them were fascinating. I scoff at today's modern 'paper-pushing' engineers and the flow charts we all have to look at for project management, but the failure of the dam is a reminder as to why we have committees that slow down the decision process.
There is no uplifting ending to this book. Mulholland dies a broken man, his reputation forever tarnished. Los Angeles has became an huge urban sprawl, growth allowed by the influx of water from lands far away and out of state. And although Los Angeles is a mecca of art and entertainment now made up of a huge and wonderfully diverse population, we still need more water, and as Davis points out: "there are no more rivers in the desert."
May 14, 2021
For me this was a deeply personal read as it brought me back to a place I am very fond of, Tehachapi California and the Mojave desert.
During my shifts looking out on the desert the Monolith Cement plant was one of the features below me. Only when I read this book I realised that this was where the Cement where a great deal of the cement for the aqueduct to LA came from. I weekly passed over or saw different parts of the System but as is so often the case just took it for granted. I was impressed but not enough to read about it.
Now years later, I find myself wishing I had read more about the fascinating project. The book really brings alive a whole era where people thought big and where public officials took great risks for the future of their communities. Hard to imagine a project this size happening at all now in such a short time period.
During my shifts looking out on the desert the Monolith Cement plant was one of the features below me. Only when I read this book I realised that this was where the Cement where a great deal of the cement for the aqueduct to LA came from. I weekly passed over or saw different parts of the System but as is so often the case just took it for granted. I was impressed but not enough to read about it.
Now years later, I find myself wishing I had read more about the fascinating project. The book really brings alive a whole era where people thought big and where public officials took great risks for the future of their communities. Hard to imagine a project this size happening at all now in such a short time period.
June 9, 2015
Interesting history of Los Angeles "water wars" in the early 20th century, casting William Mulholland as the flawed but heroic inventor of modern LA. His long tenure as the head engineer for the LA water department included the successful design and construction of a 290-mile aqueduct system from Owen Valley to LA, which unfortunately culminated in the collapse of one of the dams in the system, which killed 500 people and led to Mulholland's official blame.
Fast-moving and timely history, given the ongoing problem of water in the population-exploding West.
Fast-moving and timely history, given the ongoing problem of water in the population-exploding West.
February 3, 2014
Fascinating read, especially for anyone who lives or has lived in California. You'll recognize the names of the players, and find out the tactics used to acquire huge tracts of land both in the San Fernando and Owens Valleys, and construct the controversial (still) California Aquaduct along the Eastern Sierras to bring water to Los Angeles. Let's just say they weren't always up front in their dealings.
July 24, 2011
A well-written and interesting history of William Mulholland's quest to bring water to Los Angeles, involving an equal mix of engineering, politics, and pioneering spirit. More technical information about the Saint Francis dam collapse would have been appreciated, but then again, I am an engineer. All in all, a captivating story.
November 6, 2014
Good documentation on the building of the Los Angeles Aquaduct, told by following the life of William Mulholland. Because there is a certain plot, it reads like a thriller. The immenseness of the project to bring water to Los Angeles and the immenseness of the changes Los Angeles undergoes hereby becomes very clear in the book.
April 19, 2008
The real life Chinatown. Fascinated less by Jake Gittes' misadventures than the complicated history of LA's water supply? Read this. Good, but in the final assessment, comes off as a little soft on the guy whose dam collapsed and killed 600 people.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews