Upper San Gabriel River Trip
Whittier Narrows
Whittier Narrows lies several miles from the Santa Fe Dam, right at the southern edge of the San Gabriel Valley. The ground here is mostly flat, and the river channel is a wide U shape ( \__________/ ) as it is free to meander across a wide floodplain. This made for good farming and for much of the region's recent history, citrus groves and farms dominated the land. That is until the flooding in the 1930s and a population boom in Long Beach made controlling the river for those downstream more important than the farmers and low-income residents north of the proposed dam. The area's name originates from its location. Both the Rio Hondo and the San Gabriel River pass through a narrow gap between the Montebello Hills to the west and the Puente Hills to the east. During periods of high flow, the rivers would often merge, creating one large flood plain USACO (2011). The narrow pass and the high flood risk made this area an ideal location for a dam. The Whittier Narrows Dam is a 56 foot high, 16,960 foot long earth-fill dam. Built in 1957, it was constructed primarily for flood risk management and groundwater recharge (USACO (N.D.), Dept. of Agriculture (1947)). Like the Santa Fe Dam, it is designed to halt floodwaters and only contain water for a few days. The close proximity of the Rio Hondo and the San Gabriel River in this area also created a large, riparian wetland, some of which still exists today in the Whittier Narrows Natural Area. There are many protected species in the Natural Area and efforts to keep the area natural and free of invasive species is an on-going battle. Front side of the dam, looking downstream (southwest). Note how wide and flat the river channel is here.
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