Imperial (214 page)

Richard Brogan—Interviewed in Calexico, 2004.

Photograph from the folder labeled “Apricots”—ICHSPM photograph, cat. #P91.90.3 (undated Hetzel image; the archivist told me that it looked as if it came from the 1940s; Hetzel died in 1949).

The worker who lost his job the day before the union election—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case AFB-2. Court of Appeal.

“The birth of serious hope for a farm union”—Matthiessen, p. 15.

Details of the march from Coachella to Calexico, 1969; the murder of Rufino Contreras—Salazar, pp. 210-12; Griffith, p. 10.

“On this day greed and injustice struck down our brother Rufino Contreras . . .”—César Chávez, p. 167 (“Rufino Contreras,” February 14, 1979).

Enthusiasm of the nurseryman from Fresno—
California Cultivator
, vol. XXIV, no. 14 (April 7, 1905), p. 323 (“News of Country Life in the Golden West”).

“In five years’ time, Imperial valley will be recognized . . .”—Ibid., vol. XXVI, no. 18 (May 4, 1906), p. 419 (“News of Country Life in the Golden West”).

$600 offer to Coachella grape grower—Ibid., vol. XXVII, no. 1 (July 5, 1906), p. 2 (“News of Country Life in the Golden West”).

“One of the most profitable industries in this section . . .”—Packard, p. 40.

Calipatria and Mount Signal districts have greatest grape acreage in Imperial County—Griffin and Young, p. 181.

The tale of “Horace Caldwell”—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Cases HC and RP. California Supreme Court.

Richard Brogan—Interviewed in Calexico, April 2004. Terrie Petree was present.

Interview with Carolyn Cooke—April 2004, in Indio.

Footnote: Tale of the UFW rock concert—
California Farmer
, April 5, 1975, p. 10 (“UFW denied concert site”).

Interview with the Tylers—Palm Desert, April 2004. Shannon Mullen was present.

“To be a man is to suffer for others . . .”—McGregor, p. 1 (Marc Grossman).

Details of Chávez’s birth—Matthiessen, p. ix.

“His invariable costume . . .”—Ibid., p. 9.

“He was the first person to tell us that women are equal to men . . .”—McGregor, p. 15 (Jessie De La Cruz).

“We have nothing else to do with our lives . . .”—Matthiessen, p. vii.

The “submarines”—Ibid., p. 34.

Affadavit executed at Calexico, 14 March 1979—ALRB restricted files, 1979. Case WG. A sprawling file which has to do with a strike in Salinas and in which we find a UFW affadavit executed at Calexico.

Chávez’s hatred for Mexican labor contractors—Matthiessen, p. 18.

“Contractors of labor always Mexicans . . .”—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Farm Labor situation 1933-34. Carton #C-R 84. Folder: 6. Dean Hutchinson’s handwritten notes. Sheet 21.

Footnote: Celestino Rivas—Interviewed in Calexico, 2003. Lupe Vásquez was present and introduced me.

Chávez in Oxnard—Matthiessen, p. 51.

Portraits of the Kennedys and Zapata—Ibid., p. 40.

“Hard-edged and monotonous . . .”—Ibid., p. 32.

The Lamont grower’s complaint—Ibid., p. 80.

“Growers & laborers had reached an agreement prior to this . . .”—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Farm labor situation 1933-34. Carton #C-R 84. Folder: 6. Dean Hutchinson’s handwritten notes. Sheet 2.

Events in Delano—Ibid., pp. 54, 57, 80.

Description of the 1965 California Mid-Winter Fair Parade—After
Imperial County: The Big Picture
, photo on p. 58.

Events of the marketing order hearing in Coachella (1967)—California State Archives. Department of Food and Agriculture. Bureau of Marketing. Marketing order files, 1941-1971. Box 1. State of California. California Department of Agriculture. Public Hearings: May 2, 1967. Location: Coachella, California. Joan E. Smith, certified shorthand reporter (Rialto, California). Pp. 7-10, 32, 30 (Lionel Sternberg, president of David Freedman and Company), pp. 11, 29 (Mr. Asker), pp. 46-47 (Max Cook of Heggblade and Marguleas Company).

Fawcett grape girls—ICHSPM photograph, cat. #P91.166.

Events in Coachella, 1968—Matthiessen, pp. 90-92.

ALRB on tomato-throwing, etc.—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case GF. Court of Appeal.

The march of May 1969—Griswold del Castillo and Garcia, pp. 89-90.

UFW strikes, 1970-71—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case MG.

Remarks of Frank Oswald and Sterling Oswald, 1934—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Farm labor situation 1933- 34. Carton #C-R 84. Folder: 6. Dean Hutchinson’s handwritten notes. Sheets 44-45.

The table grape boycott accomplishes its aim, 1970—McGregor, p. 2.

“We are the people of the fields . . .”—César Chávez, p. 144 (“In Coachella,” 1973).

“Labor organizing efforts by the United Farm Workers disrupted the valley . . .”—Laflin,
A Century of Change
, entry for 1973.

The Nazi Gauleiter’s distinction between trade union and state—Krebs, p. 17.

The scene from Kern County—Street,
Photographing Farmworkers
, p. 251 (anonymous UFW photograph, possibly by Gayanne Fietinghoff ).

“This tragedy happened because of the greed of the big growers . . .”—César Chávez, p. 147 (“After a Bus Accident,” February 11, 1974).

March of June 1975—Hammerback and Jensen, p. 104.

Interview with Mr. and Mrs. La Londe—July 2004, in their home in Coachella. Shannon Mullen was present.

Contracts obtained in the Imperial Valley, 1978—Griswold del Castillo and Garcia, p. 131.

The tale of Tasty Foods—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case GF. Court of Appeal.

Question of the Month
—California Farmer
, November 19, 1977, p. 23.

The tale of Abel Farms—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case AFB. Court of Appeal.

“Respondent is found to have violated the act for an alleged threat that only the discriminatee saw.”—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case GF. Court of Appeal.

Police report on UFW strike at Monterey—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case WG.

Chávez admits that UFW violence in Imperial is bad PR.—Street,
Photographing Farmworkers
, p. 259 (text by Street).

The tale of Sylvester & Co. and Joffe Brothers—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case CJM. Court of Appeal, petition for review.

“You’re going up against competition . . .”—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case VC. Civil. Respondent’s brief.

More about Abel Farms—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case AFB, AFB-2. Court of Appeal.

The Fast for Love—McGregor, p. 11 (Arturo S. Rodriguez).

“Before this century is done . . .”—Matthiessen, p. 29.

Brawley Chamber of Commerce’s description of alluring labor qualities—Brawley Business Directory, p. 8.

Richard Brogan—Interviewed in Calexico, April 2004.

Historical note: In October of 2003 I happened to be in Brawley during a strike of the union workers of a certain southern California supermarket chain. They were out there picketing; you’d think they’d want to educate me, but when I asked about the history of labor in the region, their spokesman waved me off, advising me, incredibly enough, to go to City Hall, because “they have a lot of old newspapers there.”

140 . Subdelineations: Waterscapes (1950 -1975)

Epigraph: “ ‘Get more water to get more people to get more economic growth’ . . .”—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Paul S. Taylor papers. Carton 4. Folder 4:24: “A Fresh Look at Fresh Water: Drafts 1 & 2, w/Corrections, 1970.” Various typescript bundles on yellow paper, corrected. Top bundle, p. 4.

Footnote: “It is my impression . . .”—Paul S. Taylor papers, loc. cit. Folder 4:24. Robert J. Markson, Associate Editor, to Paul S. Taylor, January 16, 1970 (letter on McClatchy Newspapers letterhead).

Fact and factoid from the Colorado River Association (1952)—Op. cit., pp. 10, 21.

Footnote: 1963 United States Supreme Court ruling against California, “favoring, by California standards, development in Arizona”—Rogers and Nichols, p. 20.

Date of annexation of EMWD by MWD—Riverside City Directory (1951), p. 9.

Santa Ana River water “litigated ‘almost continuously since the 1950s’ ”—Patterson, p. 307.

“The upper limit of safe annual yield,” etc.—California Department of Justice (1959), pp. 31-32. Between 1928 and 1979, the average annual flow of the Colorado River was 13,900,000 acre-feet, which is to say 4,000,000 acre-feet below the estimate of the Hoover Colorado River Compact Commission. But it was simply needless to question the supply of water. (Average annual flow of the Colorado River, 1928-79—Warne, p. 1.) Declining aquifers and increased use of the Colorado and Feather rivers, 1960s—Lilliard, pp. 139-40.

James J. Doody: “The 2,580,200 acre-feet of Northern California water . . .”—California State Archives. Margaret C. Felts papers. Box 1. Loose typescript (10 pages). James J. Doody, District Director, Southern District, Department of Water Resources, The Resources Agency of California, State of California,
Meeting Southern California’s Water Needs
. Presented before the Southern California Section, Society of American Foresters, San Diego, December 10, 1965. P. 5.

Immediately following remarks on desalinization—Ibid., p. 10.

The tale of Mike Dunbar—
Sacramento Bee
, July 11, 2006, p. B7 (Daniel Weintraub, “Orange County tries new approach to desalinization”). The article lists several objections to desalinization plants, including: deaths of sea creatures pumped up into the system and difficulties of proper filtration, both of which might well be addressed by pumping brackish groundwater instead of seawater.

“After fighting for twenty years to take Colorado River water . . .”—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Paul S. Taylor papers. Carton 5. Folder 5:2: “To Make the Desert Bloom Like the Rose, 1969?” Yellow typescript on “The American West” letterhead, entitled “Issue: Colorado Book.” P. 51.

“Subject to increase or reduction in certain contingencies . . .”—California Department of Justice (1959), pp. V-26-27.

Edith Karpen’s memories—Based on an interview in January 2004.

Water-table drop near Morelos, 1958-98—Munguía, p. 62 (Barrientos et al.).

Old Carlos—Interviewed very briefly in El Major Indigenes Cucapá, 2003. Terrie Petree interpreted.

Señora Teresa García—Interviewed on 19 February 2004, on her family ranch, Rancho García, in Colonia Sieto de Cierro Prieto, not far past the glass factory a few kilometers south of Mexicali. Terrie Petree interpreted.

“Prudent planning for the future . . .”—California Department of Justice (1959), Appendix F, “Extracts from Testimony on the Future Quality and Composition of Colorado River Water, California Exhibit 5585, A Memorandum Dated August 15, 1958, from Raymond A. Hill to Northcutt Ely Re Future Salt Burden of Colorado River,” p. 18.

Average virgin flow of the Colorado 1906-83—Bureau of Reclamation, Sandra J. Owen-Jogre and Lee H. Raymond, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S.G.S. Water Supply Paper 2407: An Accounting System for Water and Consumptive Use Along the Colorado River, Hoover Dam to Mexico (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996), p. 2.

Ruben Salazar: “In what might be described as the ‘wettest’ town in Baja California . . .”—Op. cit., p. 61 (“Murder of a Crusader Underlines Tijuana Choice: Reform or Go Red,” January 8, 1962).

Footnote: Mexicali Valley and Baja water statistics, mid-1970s—Whitehead et al., p. 307 (Eduardo Paredes Arellano, Secretaría de Agricultura y Recursos Hidráulicos, Mexicali, “Water, the Most Important Natural Resource for the State of Baja California, Mexico”). Until 1977, which was the last in a long series of drought years, Baja California got 3,250 million cubic meters of water per year, either surface or underground, 2,950 in the Mexicali Valley. (Never mind that this second statistic calculates out to nearly 91%, not 88%). Baja’s 3,250 total cubic meters I calculate out to 2,634,779 acre-feet, based on 1 acre-foot = 1,233.5 cubic meters. The high rain in Baja from 1900 to 1947 and again from 1978 to the time of writing (
ca.
1985) is mentioned on pp. 308-9.

“The Colorado River, which makes Imperial County the fifth-ranking United States county . . .”—Lilliard, p. 153.

“As the sun rose, I saw the poplar trees of the Colorado River.”—Arrillaga, p. 75 (19 October).

San Diego’s nearly $42 million for water utilities in fiscal 1971—The California Builders Council, p. IV-352 (Table IV-99). The breakdown was as follows: Water Utilities Administration Division $322,877; Water Quality Division $2,983,764; Utilities Systems Division $5,950,891; Utilities Engineering Division $1,233,084; Water—Joint Accounts $23,209,780; Sewerage—Joint Accounts $7,633,502; Utilities Customer Service $832,031;
less:
Bond Funds of (—$347,892). Total: $41,818,037.

San Diego’s water costs for fiscal 1972—Ibid., p. IV-357 (Table IV-100).

Professional restatement of the law of appropriation—Rogers and Nichols, p. 125 (sec. 92).

Yearly usage figures for various Imperial Valley crops—
California Farmer
, January 4, 1975, p. 16 (“Irrigation tests with a giant flower pot”).

“The dove abounds in the cut-over alfalfa fields . . .”—ICHSPM, document cat. #A2002.154.2, Ball Advertising, pamphlet: “Visitors’ Recreation Guide Book to Imperial County California: 36 Pages of Information” (
ca.
1964), p. 21.

“Irrigation and reclamation must take first national priority . . .”—
California Farmer
, January 4, 1975, p. 1 (Hartt Porteous, “Water—A National Priority”).

The stock photo from the Olson Collection: California State Archives. Olson Photo Collection. Accession #94- 06-27 (238-387). Box 2 of 7. Folder 94-06-27 (279-310): Desert. Photo #94-06-27-0279.

“Experience in the Coachella Valley indicates . . .”—Dunham, p. 82.

141. Wellton-Mohawk (1961)

Epigraph: “Irrigated agriculture will always be a short-lived enterprise . . .”—Committee on Irrigation-Induced Water Quality Problems, p. 39.