Opening of the Historic Chapman’s Millrace

mill & school kidsThe Historic Chapman’s Millrace was unveiled at the San Gabriel Mission this week on Tuesday Sept. 24, 2013.

The historic Millrace was originally designed by an ex-pirate and prisoner named Joseph Chapman in the early eighteen hundreds. Which in turn “supplied the mission with water for crops, making it a very successful california mission archeologist John Dietler said,” as per Pasadena Star-News.

On Tuesday, city leaders and residents gathered to witness the opening of the Millrace as a monument in the Plaza Park just outside of the San Gabriel Mission. Jon Rasmussen of the Pond Company flipped on the switch to make this historic water-way have water flowing through it once again.

Father Bruce Wellems spoke on behalf of the restoration of the historic water channel, and mentioned owner of the Pond Company, Jon C. Rasmussen, who was the man in charge of bringing the historic artifact to life. This fantastic piece of history is now a 20-foot, 15-ton section of a waterway, as well as a “cornerstone of the thriving agricultural community centered on the San Gabriel Mission,” said by the Pasadena Star News. The Pond Company’s restoration of the millrace included installing a pump, plumbing for the recirculation and biological filter system, as well as an automatic filling device for it to function and cycling of the water through this historic section of sluice as it had almost 200 years ago.Jon, arch & artist

Source: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/

Echo Park Lake Algae Clean-up


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Echo Park Lake was originally created in the 1860’s as a reservoir for drinking water, But you sure wouldn’t want to be drinking the water anytime soon!

Today, Echo Park Lake Functions mainly as a basin for the City’s storm drain system, as well as it provides for recreational activities and wildlife habitats. Not to mention, there is an incredible amount of algae that grows abundant in the water of Echo Park.

The City of Los Angeles funded a Clean-up for Echo Park, a a two-year renovation costing 45 million dollars. Some of the major changes included new plantings of water Lilies, and lotus plants, as well as removal of the algae from the water. The Pond Company was assigned as part of the clean-up crew for an over-seeing of the constructing of plant protection as well as the algae clean-up. The once murky and dirty water has been transformed into a gorgeous display of lilies, wetlands and the fantastic blooming lotus. On June 15, 2013 a grand opening was held for Echo Park Lake, when it became officially open to the public. Crowds of people flooded into the park to to witness the long-awaited opening of Echo Park Lake.

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Methods of the clean-up included hand removing the algae and rolling it into ball shapes to be taken out. Wheelbarrow loads of algae have since been removed from the Echo Park Lake. On the left Jon Rasmussen of the Pond Company is carrying a heavy load of algae removed from the water hawthorne and water lily beds.