Come Join us here at Pasadena Adjacent as we receive a V.I.P. tour of another concrete wonder. The guardians of this discrete structure atop Devil’s Gate Dam in Pasadena, employ the gears and levers that stand between you and me in keeping the flow of our river under control. Considering the amount of ash descending from our toasted mountain range and the series of storms headed our way; they will be kept busy.
(select to access large files)
This is a view of the river downstream from the dam
This view is why the dam’s named after the devil
This is a view of how the dam appears today
This is Greg Sweet’s view as to why it’s black
Interesting to note: According to Aleister Crowley, encoded within The Sacred Text of Thelma, is the revelation that this very location houses one of the seven portals leading to hell.
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All BOLD italicized text represents a hot link
Installment Fourteen of my series examining the “Secret, Feral and Concrete”
It’s weird. It sort of reminds me of the images of the water, post-Exxon Valdez.
And where is all this ash-laden water heading? Does it flow into reservoirs, if so doesn’t that kill the aquatic life? The sediment must be covering and choking everything. What a mess, and I’m not even touching on the politics involved in the management and sexual intrigue which placed her there, except to say WTF?
PS: Last post was really interesting.
All right – I can see the link in the comments section. Will have to come back for the others.
An exceptional & timely post. I’m sure I’ve given you this link before, but still – John McPhee’s LA against the Mountains my favorite bit of writing about the San Gabriels & storms & fires…
PS – called BLICK – (my photo was a drive by picture taking) – a nice young man said the store moved from across the street (didn’t ask when) and they have paintings – you think the panels would be considered ‘paintings’? I’ll have to go in person next time I’m up that way.
Interesting all over the place. Always happy to see my hero Mr. V in a video. Tash is right, that NY’r was a very well written and prescient piece.
Nice PA, PA. I especially like you guys taking us from the safe and predictable inner-workings of the machinery to the danger of that rushing water. And where does the ash go – I never gave it a thought. After Ivan we had a layer of pink fiberglass batting that covered the bottom of the basin I lived on. I used to swim in there all the time but now, you couldn’t get me in that water, not for love or money.
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All BOLD italicized type leads to a hot link
Thank You Ace Field Reporter Mostly LA County
John McPhee
“Those evergreen oaks fingering up the creases in the mountains were known to the Spaniards as chaparros. Riders who worked in the related landscape wore leather overalls open at the back, and called them chaparajos. By extension, this all but impenetrable brush was known as chaparral.”
Another reference to Chaparros (which itself comes from the Basque word txapar) describes the small and dwarf evergreen oak leading up to the old growth evergreens as a “Fairy Forest”.
This is the Tujunga area (upstream and around the bin, several homes within a small community were lost). The mountain without it’s covering of fairy dust is presently melting into our rivers.
“Those scrub oaks fingering up the creases” are the survivors
“Blossoms of the Spanish bayonet stood up like yellow flames”
Yucca are the other survivors. Switzer’s entrance off the 2. The grove of pine did not survive. It was planted 30(?) years ago. They are conifer cross breeds created by the San Dimas experimental forrest in their attempts to find evergreens adaptable to a changing climate.
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All BOLD italicized type leads to a hot link
The Great Fires
(notice the first bulleted entry: Pickens Fire)
http://www.clafma.org/fires.html
John McPhee
“So momentous are these conflagrations that they are long remembered by name: the Canyon Inn Fire, August, 1968, nineteen thousand acres above Arby’s by Foothill Boulevard, above the world’s foremost container nursery, above the chief executive officer of Mackinac Island Fudge; the Village Fire and the Mill Fire, November, 1975, sixty-five thousand acres above Sunland, Tujunga, La Crescenta, La Cañada. The Mill Fire, in the words of a foreman at Flood, “burnt the whole front face off.”
PA Research Team
Interesting to note that although the month was August, Southern California was not experiencing Santa Anna conditions when the Station Fire occurred. It started next to a US forest service station. The county of Los Angeles Fire Department was a few canyons over working on the Azuza fire. They had everything there and offered their help (which was refused from the top down). Those most experienced with our unique range were no longer employed. “A lack of institutional memory” a quote from the mayor of South Pasadena over another issue but certainly applicable here.
I’d better not comment about the fire as I’m still so upset about it, especially after driving along the Angeles Crest Highway to Mt Waterman recently and seeing how much forest has been lost. The entire Arroyo Seco catchment area has burnt, so the river is carrying a huge amount of topsoil and ash, much of which seems to have filled Hahamongna, though more is running all the way to the ocean.
I’m so envious that you got inside Rapunzel’s tower! I have a lot of questions I want to ask the dam operators about the different channels the water runs through. On Monday, it was gushing through the lower exit into Devil’s Gate gorge, but yesterday no water appeared to be going through at all. The river was running high and fast into Hahamongna, yet he area in front of the dam was placid mud, without currents. So where was all that water going?
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Where Does All The Ash in Our Rivers GO?
Bellis and D…..I’ve put in a inquiry over at LA Creek Freak (lets see if they respond)
Linda: Thats a great comparison. Do read the link Tash put in I’m going to have to send out my field reporter to locate John McPhee’s book on the subject
D: Greg is a hot under the collar and passionate kind of guy. If he came to me for career advise (and of course we know everyone does) I might tell him to cool it on the “she devil” angle. (These kind of things can bite you on the ass when you go out seeking employment with “said” agency). On the other hand it takes steady nerves and daring to be a whistle blower. I admire this kind of moxy although I’ve also witnessed the harm done when false accusations are presented as truth (VH).
Did you catch Mr V’s walking rant? miles and miles of hilarity
Tash: I remember you telling me about John McPhee and a book he’d written but I don’t recall a link. Love him. I was expecting something dryer but his descriptions of the differing plant life made my heart melt. Thanks from myself and my research team. Stewart Buckholster owned Standard Brands Co; a hardware/home store that also sold art supplies. The company then split into a second line for selling only art supplies. This is where Mr V came in. The company later sold their art holdings to Blick. We have one here in Pasadena.
AH: I’ll have to tell Mr V you think he’s a hero. I just did…he said “oh, ok” He’s so Gary Cooper.
Paula: I’m intrigued by that image you’ve put forth of pink fiberglass batting. Makes me want to eat cotton candy and scratch simultaneously.
I called in my research team to figure out where exactly Pensecola is Florida is located and we are shocked. Your in the south! Spitting distance from Mobile and New Orleans. I thought you’d lost your home to Andrew and then moved. PARD brought in the links to Ivan. Did you rebuild on the same property? Do you have family members that could copy photos of your past? …..But originally your not from Florida?.
Bellis: I hear ya sister! I was there Monday evening too.
Go visit the links provided by my crack research and field team above. When I take the elevated curving 210 west from the San Rafael on-ramp and look up at the mountains (arguably the most spectacular panorama of the area) I’m reminded that half the mountain is toast. The Tujunga link/photo is the mountain you see at the far end from that vista.
Wow. Very interesting. It’s making me think a little differently about all our rain today.
We are very southerly, PA. Around here LA means Lower Alabama. And no, not Andrew, we took our ass-kicking from Ivan. We didn’t rebuild, we moooooved to half an acre with the Little Brown Brick House and the Big Work Shop, both fixer-uppers. The renovation on the LBBH has recently been completed (a few touch ups needed here and there) and now the WS is slated for improvement – but not for a while.
You haven’t lived until you stand on your seawall and look down to find the handmade silk, smocked blessing gown you labored over staring up at you out of the muck and fiberglass. Sometime after we moved our former neighbor called to say that a crew had come to the neighborhood to clean up the canal (i.e., remove my house and my belongings) and asked me if I wanted to be there. I declined. Later on another neighbor told me about the girl that dove head first off the top of a boat lift to get into the water and take care of some problem. They did an amazing job. I won’t get in that water now mostly out of principle, I left all that behind.
One of the L.A. Creek Freaks here (there’re three of us writing there, though I am the only one than answers to “he”.) The ash looks pretty awful – like in this video http://sgmountains.blogspot.com/2010/01/flood-of-ash-in-millard-canyon-during.html
I am not an expert on what impact it has on pristine areas… more an urban creeks guy (where trash and oil are more of a problem). Certainly excessive debris can smother areas… but I suspect that relatively healthy natural systems can tolerate a decent load of ash and bounce back. It’s part of the natural cycle of things… and it probably acts as an organic fertilizer…
ok… I hope someone who really knows can chime in…
The three J’s at LA Creek Freak
Jessica Hall, Joe Linton, Jane Tsong
apologies from Pasadena Adjacent
[...] of ash. See videos at The San Gabriel Mountains: Stories & Rants of a Quasi Mountain Man and Pasadena Adjacent. The latter asked our advice on where all that ash goes. I don’t have a good [...]
Rain Rain Rain… Pouring Down Upon the Night « L.A. Creek Freak
Hi PA. Thanks for the plug. I will answer to my charges soon. Also, I have much more altruistic plans in mind for my forestry classes and my involvement with The Angeles than working directly for the Forest Service. But suffice it to say that I will not compromise my principles, and that I don’t have a personal vendetta against Jody Noiron. I just want to see my beloved mountains managed properly.
I’m finally back on my real computer so I can stream videos. Don’t know whether to be broken-hearted or complacent about nature running her course (per Joe L.). It’s devastatingly powerful, though, no matter how you look at it. PA, I’m in awe that you got to go inside the square tower! It looks bigger inside than I thought it would be. Kudos.
You are the best, and not just as an artist & person, but as a morale booster. Thx much for the ‘mulan magnolia’ comment.
Morale? – corp. lingo overload… Self-esteem, is more like it.
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Margaret: Welcome back
PJ: Thanks for filling in the blanks. I like the irony involved with the expression “You haven’t lived untill…..” my thought …true and I’m ok with that. For someone like myself whose object/image sensitive I don’t think I’d ever fully process it.
Joe: Thanks for the response including “Friends of the LA River” on Face Book. I recognize a FB commenter I’d like to connect to because of her work in the Arroyo.
Apologies to Jessica Hall and Jane Tsong. Collaborations are tricky business in terms of credit (ask any disbanded rock band). If they had a image on their icons??
Mountain Man Sweet: I look forward to your upcoming post. You are the one person whose focused on this issue and I (and I include Bellis) appreciate it. I joined a group on Face Book called “Station Fire” If your not already a FB member you might want to sign up and link up.
Petrea: I saw an open door and being obnoxious is second nature for me (I am Ramona’s daughter). That long pipe on the machinery of the right side is the gage measuring water levels. I should have asked more questions but we were running out of light and I wanted to get downstream.
Tash: You took a leap on that post. By isolating the text into a relationship with the image and then further doing so in color, you opened the work up to multiple interpretations. Very conceptual and beautiful (the two don’t always meet)…and thats artspeak. Aren’t you glad you have the county blog to play with?
This stormy weather must be a windfall for the devotees of Trash Tuesday. Liken to converting it to Trash Week!
THis is amazing. A. MA. ZING. I have a shot of the black water coursing down the Arroyo from a few days ago. It looked like a river of ink. I’m going to link to this in that post.
Can’t believe you got in that tower. You’re awesome.
PA, they were giving tours today. Little kids, moms, dads…I’ve never seen so many people out there. I got some shots to put up and link to you this week. (Jumping on Laurie’s bandwagon.)
Oh by the way, the water’s running brown now, not black. Seems maybe the runoff has, um, run off. Least so’s I’m hoping.
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CO: According to the dam operator, it was our first rainfall that really brought the Trash Tuesday bounty downstream.
Laurie: Awesome? Not really. The door was open and the operator was looking for company. Thanks for the link-up
Petrea: You mean I’ve lost my V.I.P. status? The carbons off the lilly!!! This might explain the transition from licorice to chocolate (the trails were actually in better shape then I expected)
thanx for the furture link up. cool
I was a little bummed, too. I wanted it to be exclusive.
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From Commenter Bellis about Chaparral Fires
“The chaparral can only cope with a fire every 30 years or so – more frequent, and the regeneration fails, and grasses take over. I’m sad that an area by Clear Creek Ranger Station has burnt again in the Station fire – it was recovering nicely after a previous fire 3 years ago. How will it recover now? The natural fires caused by lightning that the plants are adapted to are relatively infrequent – but the intensifying drought combined with the pressure of too many humans has increased the frequency and heat of fires. Let’s hope for more normal rain levels over the next 20 years to bring back the beautiful forest that we all enjoyed until this huge, destructive fire.”
[...] blogging community was agog–nay, thrilled with a jealous pang–when, on January 19th, Pasadena Adjacent posted this revelatory tour (with her customary, fun-filled video) inside the workings of the Devil’s Gate Dam tower. She [...]
Just a great piece.
definitely concrete
[...] Thelma, is the revelation that this very location houses one of the seven portals leading to hell. Follow this link to see a fuller posting on the [...]