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William Burgess Mathews or also known as "one of the outstanding water law attorneys of the West" left behind a legacy that was well renowned. My great, great grandfather William B. Mathews was elected city attorney in Los Angeles in 1900 where he served as the general counsel of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power from 1909 to 1929. He worked along side a man name William Mullholland who said that he could design an aqueduct and bring water from the Owens Valley to the Eastern Sierra. William Mullholland and William Mathews started working together in 1905 to gain the water rights and land to build the aqueduct. My grandfather would tell us growing up that his dad said that "he did all of the legal dirty work that secured Owens Valley water”.

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Due to my great, great grandfathers contributions a reservoir that provides water to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California was created and named after him. This reservoir is named Lake Mathews and is located in Riverside county and is now a ecological reserve and surrounded by 4,000 acres of protected land. Growing up we would have many family reunions where we would take a bus over to Lake Mathews and continue to learn about my great grandfather William Burgess Mathews legacy.

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Because Los Angeles built the aqueduct, the eastern Sierra would no longer have enough water to supply all of the farm lands, and the farmers fought for their water rights for many years. My great, great grandfather also told the story that Mr. Mullholland knew that the water was coming and proceeded to buy all the land in the San Fernando Valley and took control of all the farming. The aqueduct was an engineering miracle at the time because the water traveled solely by gravity. The success of the California Aqueduct continued so did my grandfathers success.

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William B. Mathews was a leader in the development of water in Los Angeles and eventually became the chief counsel for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He was an important figure in the creation of the document that led to the Boulder Canyon Project Act, that was introduced in the first session of the 67th Congress. The purpose of this was to bring power to Los Angeles. The Boulder Canyon project was finally approved in 1928 and signed by President Calvin Coolidge. This was all happening during the great depression and because of its success they say it brought approximately 21,000 jobs to Los Angeles.

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California had its own monumental developments during the early 1900's. Some of which included oil being discovered along her Kern River in 1900, women's suffrage was granted in 1911, labor was booming during this time and the historic Titanic sank in 1912.

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Over the years we were fortunate enough to hear so many great stories about our family history from my grandfather himself. I was lucky enough to call my grandfather one of my best friends and I will forever cherish the many stories he was able to tell me about my amazing family and our history.

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During this time many significant events were happening through out the US. The Wright brothers made their first powered flight in 1903, "Bloody Sunday" which was the first event of the violent revolution occurred in 1905, and the NAACP was formed in 1909. The 16th amendment that established income tax was formed in 1913, and World War I began in 1914. These were all events that had a large impact on American history.