“AND I WILL tell you something,” Don said, “the people of the Owens Valley, they fought the good fight in that water war, and it was one, it was a war for survival. Those crooks from LA bought the land and abducted all the goodness out of her. Years of plentiful water flowed down to LA. The year was 1924. The men of the Owens Valley had had enough. Down they came from Independence; they veered west into the Alabama Hills. There lay the water gates, the Alabama Gates as they were known there. The men walked to the gates and basically opened them, turning the wheels to let the water return to the desert, the Owens River water, like prodigal water returned over land to Owens Lake. They repatriated their own damn water.
“And up from Los Angeles Mayor Mulholland sent armed police to take back
