Image talk:LA-waterwheel-1863.jpg

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[edit] Determining the location

I think that this photograph is a mirror image. This is how the image appears in Gumprecht's book on the Los Angeles River, but when I ordered a print of the photo from the Los Angeles Public Library, they provided two prints -- one each way. They did so without comment, but it suggested that they are uncertain of the proper orientation. Mr. Gumprecht has no knowledge of the actual orientation (pers. comm.). Attempts to recreate the scene in Google Earth and World Wind are difficult due to the height of the buildings in downtown Los Angeles, as are attempts to match the photo form any viewpoints on the North Broadway area in Elysian Park.

However, the preponderance of analysis suggests that the bluff in the distance in Boyle Heights. Perhaps more convincing is the location of the broad flatlands, on the left as presented here. Given the orientation of the hill above the intake site, the photo is taken looking east. The flatlands could only be the flood plane/alluvial fan of the Los Angeles River downstream of the Elysian Narrows. That is to the south of the known intake point of the Zanja Madre. The photo as presented here indicates that it would be to the north of the intake point. Hence, I suggest reversing the photo.

The Railroad Survey illustration of the Pueblo of Los Angeles (taken from a vantage about a mile west of the intake of the Zanja Madre) http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/exhibits/ames/49.html is in good accord with the reversed view of this photograph.

Christopher Richard, Curator of Aquatic Biology, Oakland Museum of California Salmo13 21:31, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

That is very interesting information, beyond what I was able to garner from the LAPL website and what little information I could find online (and had read in the occasional LA Times article). I wish I was still in Los Angeles to take a look around. I definitely agree that it was located in the area you've described. --Bobak 19:23, 9 August 2007 (UTC)