Nature never intended Southern California to be anything but desert, so they said. But settlers turned it into farms, factories and living areas for millions of people. The key to that development was 300 miles north, in the High Sierra, where the company that became the Southern California Edison Company undertook the creation of one of the great water power developments in the world. They called it Big Creek. Completed in 1929, this work of engineering art involved six dams, eight tunnels (one 13 miles long), three major artificial lakes and five powerhouses—all created to ensure electric power for a rapidly growing Los Angeles and suburbs. Author David H. Redinger was Resident Engineer for the Big Creek Hydroelectric Project, one of the most extensive in the world. In this fascinating book, he recounts the obstacles encountered in building a railroad in the High Sierra, from carving roads and tunnels through rough terrain, to enduring snowstorms at high altitudes, and generally accomplishing near-miracles with brainpower, mulepower, steampower, and manpower.

Offers compelling insight into how designer Eastwood battled government bureaucrats, corporate patrons, and fellow hydraulic engineers to build seventeen dams in the western U.S. during the early twentieth century based on his innovative multiple-arch design. Reprint.