Civil Engineer. A self-taught civil engineer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Mulholland engineered the Los Angeles Aqueduct, bringing water to the city of Los Angeles, California from the Owens River in Owens Valley within Inyo County, California to the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. The L.A. Aqueduct led to the California Water Wars which was central to the plot of the classic Roman Polanski neo-noir film "Chinatown" (1974). He also worked on the Panama Canal, Hoover Dam and the Colorado Aqueduct. He engineered the Mulholland Dam and the Hollywood Reservoir located in the Hollywood Hills on top of the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles. Completed in 1924, its reservoir holds 2.5 billion gallons of water for Hollywood and the surrounding communities. At one time, he was the favorite to become the mayor of Los Angeles but stated: "I'd rather give birth to a porcupine backward." His career and reputation were ultimately ruined by the bursting and collapse of the St. Francis Dam in 1928, which he engineered. It killed approximately 500 citizens of Los Angeles County and Ventura County. An inquest placed responsibility for the disaster on improper engineering, design, and governmental inspection, it also recommended that Mulholland not be held responsible because he had no way of knowing that the dam's site contained unstable rock formations (which were ultimately determined to be the cause of failure). Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Highway in Los Angeles are named after him.
Civil Engineer. A self-taught civil engineer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Mulholland engineered the Los Angeles Aqueduct, bringing water to the city of Los Angeles, California from the Owens River in Owens Valley within Inyo County, California to the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. The L.A. Aqueduct led to the California Water Wars which was central to the plot of the classic Roman Polanski neo-noir film "Chinatown" (1974). He also worked on the Panama Canal, Hoover Dam and the Colorado Aqueduct. He engineered the Mulholland Dam and the Hollywood Reservoir located in the Hollywood Hills on top of the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles. Completed in 1924, its reservoir holds 2.5 billion gallons of water for Hollywood and the surrounding communities. At one time, he was the favorite to become the mayor of Los Angeles but stated: "I'd rather give birth to a porcupine backward." His career and reputation were ultimately ruined by the bursting and collapse of the St. Francis Dam in 1928, which he engineered. It killed approximately 500 citizens of Los Angeles County and Ventura County. An inquest placed responsibility for the disaster on improper engineering, design, and governmental inspection, it also recommended that Mulholland not be held responsible because he had no way of knowing that the dam's site contained unstable rock formations (which were ultimately determined to be the cause of failure). Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Highway in Los Angeles are named after him.
Bio by: chilifries
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