Los Angeles’ Mother Ditch
About 73 feet of the Mother Ditch, Los Angeles’ first municipal water system, was uncovered by workers excavating the site of a $100-million Chinatown development in the 1200 block of North Spring Street. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
The Zanja Madre, or Mother Ditch, was an ancient maze of brick and wooden pipes and conduits that brought water from the Los Angeles River to the young city, its channels twisting and bending along a 90-mile network.
A construction worker examines a section of the Zanja Madre, or Mother Ditch, uncovered during excavation for a development in Chinatown. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
When first created in 1781, the Zanja Madre was an open ditch fed by a small dam built on the L.A. River. Because of health concerns, it was enclosed in 1877 and finally abandoned in 1904. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Construction worker Carlos Andrade searches for bricks stamped with the name of the brick provider on a section of Los Angeles’ first municipal water system. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Officials said a 40-foot section of the Zanja Madre would be removed from the Blossom Plaza site Saturday and preserved for future display. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
An old bottle found with a section of Los Angeles’ first municipal water system discovered by workers excavating the site of a $100-million Chinatown development. The cross-section view shows the double layers of brick that made up the pipe. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Workers will use a vacuum to remove sediment from the brick Zanja Madre and carefully lift it out of the ground with a crane before taking it by flatbed truck to be preserved. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)