An Unusual Turn

Digitization of the Willis S. Jones papers took a rather unusual turn this week as it consisted of a mixture of different types of archival materials such as sketch maps, weather reports, pump level notes, installation calculations, a few letters and reports. Few of the most interesting materials to work on were the pump level notes that consisted of calculations of horsepower, boost, lift, water elevation, transmission and gravity. Weather reports mainly consisted of rainfall measurements in different stations across the Los Angeles and Riverside County over different seasons leading to the calculations of the running hours of the pumps. An interesting item was the sketch map of a ‘portable derrick’ that was used for building of the pumping plants and pipelines. Another vital piece of information were the letters that were exchanged between Willis S. Jones and the Vail Company during the process of the building of the plants and pipelines. One could notice that many re-negotiations had taken place before the decisions on the rates were made. Additionally, the rainfall of each season played a crucial role in determining the rates of that particular season.