Author Bill Dolence
Author of A brief History of the life of George Chaffey
George Chaffey in California 1882.
The San Gabriel Mountains are situated in the southern part of California. The highest peak is Mt. San Antonio – known also as Mt. Baldy, and its snow-capped peaks are visible on a clear day. It’s where the Chaffeys got their water from, to irrigate their Ontario irrigation colony in 1882.
Rain and the snow-melt caused water to flow down the mountain through both the San Antonio Canyon and the Cucamonga Canyon. When the Chaffeys started to develop the area which they named Ontario, those who questioned George Chaffeys judgement, believed with some reason, that there was insufficient water in the San Antonio Canyon to irrigate a whole colony, but George Chaffey saw beneath the surface of things.
He had observed that whilst a considerable amount of surface water flowed down through the canyon, a lot of water also percolated down through the rocky terrain and reached the dry gravelly bed of the creek, just running to waste, and he set about bringing that subterranean flow to the surface. To achieve this, starting about 700 metres above ground surface level, he drove a tunnel 950 metres into the mountain under the bed of the San Antonio Canyon, to augment the surface supply. A splendid stream was discovered beneath the surface and this was directed from the mouth of the tunnel, in a rock and cement lined ditch, a distance of about 300 metres to the junction of the creek from where it could be distributed to the farms.
It was a risky venture, but George Chaffey backed his judgement and again was successful. The Ontario colony was developed, and the water required was more than adequate. There were however times of drought, and George was called to deal with that problem.
How he did it will be revealed in the next exciting episode – stay tuned!