Jeffry Joseph Prendergast Papers, Water Resources Collection
Russell Michalak
Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library
800 North Dartmouth Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711
Email: specialcollections@claremont.edu
URL: https://library.claremont.edu/scl/
© 2024
The Claremont Colleges Library. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Jeffry Joseph Prendergast Papers, Water Resources Collection
Dates: 1944-1963
Collection number: H.Mss.0696
Creator:
Prendergast, Jeffry Joseph, 1875-1962
Extent:
0.8 Linear Feet
(2 document boxes)
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, The Claremont
Colleges Library, Claremont, CA 91711.
Abstract: This collection of
papers was assembled by Jeffry Pendergast. The Prendergast papers include documents about
water rights and water supply in California from 1944-1963.
Physical Location: Please consult repository.
Language of Material: Languages represented in the
collection: English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Special
Collections.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Jeffry Joseph Prendergast Papers, Water Resources Collection
(H.Mss.0696). Special Collections and Archives, The Claremont Colleges Library, The
Claremont Colleges Services, Claremont, California.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Provenance unknown.
Accruals
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
Processing Information
Arranged and processed by Russell Michalak, 2009.
Biography / Administrative History
Jeffry Joseph Prendergast (1875-1962) was born in DePere, Wisconsin, on August 31, 1875.
His father was a civil engineer for the railroads and the family moved to Newton,
Massachusetts in 1881, then Chula Vista, California in 1889, before finally settling in
Redlands, California, where Jeffry completed his high school education in 1894. Following
high school, Prendergast received two and a half years of training in civil engineering at
the University of California, Berkeley before embarking on a varied career that included
working in the maintenance-of-way department of the Santa Fe Railroad in San Bernardino, at
the Southern California Power Company's (now Southern California Edison) Power House Number
1 in Santa Ana Canyon, with the San Diego Water Department, and developing his own grain
business in Redlands. Prendergast also developed a mining claim in Searchlight, Nevada,
setting up a stamp mill for gold production.
By 1907, Prendergast had settled back in Redlands. He married his wife Mary Gill in 1904
and his son Thomas was born in 1910. Prendergast served as secretary-treasurer of the Home
Telephone Company, in association with C. A. Rolfe, until 1915, before turning his attention
to citrus growing, which saw him develop several orange properties. He also participated in
local politics shortly after his return to Redlands, serving as city councilman from 1908 to
1912, and state assemblyman for two sessions, 1921 and 1923. Following the death of H. H.
Garstin in 1929, Prendergast succeeded him as president and general manager of the Bear
Valley Mutual Water Company and the Bear Valley Development Company, where her oversaw water
management, primarily for citrus irrigation use.
Source:
"Prendergast, Jeffry Joseph (1875 – 1962)." The Redlands Area Historical Society, Inc.
Accessed June 27, 2024. https://rahs.org/photo/prendergast-jeffrey-joseph-1875-1962/
Scope and Contents of the Collection
This collection of papers was assembled by Jeffry Pendergast. The Prendergast papers
include documents about water rights and water supply in California from 1944-1963. Subjects
include California Division of Water Resources,the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California, and the areas/counties of origin. The area of origin statutes represent a
legislative response in California to an absence of an effective for market pricing
water.
Organization and Arrangement
This collection has been organized into the following series:
- Series 1: California Mountain Water Documents, 1944-1962
- Series 2: Papers on Water Use in California, 1950-1963
- Series 3: Areas/Counties of Origin, 1955-1962
- Series 4: California Government Documents, 1955-1963
- Series 5: Newspaper Clippings, 1962
- Series 6: Feather River Association, 1958-1959
Related Materials
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library’s online public access catalog.
Subject Terms
Area of Origin
California
California. Division of Water Rights
California, Southern -- History -- 20th century
County of Origin
Feather River (Calif.) -- Water rights
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Calif.)
Prendergast, Jeffry Joseph, 1875-1962
Water-supply
West (U.S.) -- History -- 1945-
Genre and Form of Materials
Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
Correspondence
Speeches, addresses, etc.
Series 1:
California Mountain Water Documents
1944-1962
Box 1, Folder 1
Mountain Water Conference
1955 February 23
Note
St Francis Hotel, San Francisco. Includes conference agenda, attendance list, action
items, and session minutes. Addresses and statements by Edmund G. Brown, Patrick D.
McGee, Edwin J. Regan, Clair Engle, and Samuel B. Morris.
Box 1, Folder 2
Western Merced and Stanislaus Counties "A Report on Water Shed Conditions
prepared for State Board of Forestry"
1944
Box 1, Folder 3
Mountain Counties Water Resources Association
1952-1962
Note
Includes correspondence, progress report, photocopied newspaper clippings, address by
Attorney General Edmund G. Brown at Statewide Conference on Mountain Water -
California State Chamber of Commerce - San Francisco - February 23, 1955.
Series 2:
Papers on Water Use in California
1950-1963
Box 1, Folder 6
"Providing for Upstream Water Conservation"
1956
Note
Address by DeWitt Nelson, Director, California Department of Natural Resources at
National Conference on Water Resources Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce - St. Louis,
January 24-25, 1956.
Box 1, Folder 7
"The California Water Plan" by George Ballis
circa
1950-1959
Note
Published by Public Affairs Institute (Washington, D.C.).
Box 1, Folder 8
"California's Water Development Program: Problems and Benefits"
circa
1950-1959
Box 1, Folder 9
"Without Vision-And Unity-the People Perish"
1961 March 21
Note
Address by William E. Warne, Director, State Department of Water Resources at Town
Hall Luncheon, Los Angeles.
Box 1, Folder 10
"California Looks to the Future"
1956 April 26
Note
Address by Edmund G. Brown, Attorney General of California before the American Public
Power Association, Los Angeles.
Box 1, Folder 11
"Engineers and Water Lawyers"
1955-1956
Note
Address by Wallace Howland, Assistant Attorney General before the American Society of
Civil Engineers, Sacramento, California, October 25, 1955. Also includes meeting
minutes of the Second Meeting of Water Lawyers' Committee on County of Origin
Problems, San Francisco, California, January 4, 1956.
Box 1, Folder 12
"The Business, Industry and Labor Future of California"
1955 October 18
Note
Address by Edmund G. Brown, Attorney General of California before the California
Personnel Management Association, Berkeley, California.
Box 1, Folder 13
"Forest Use in Spanish-Mexican California"
1957
Note
By C. Raymond Clar. A brief history of the economic interest in the forest and the
actions of government prior to statehood. Issued by Division of Forestry, Department
of Natural Resources, State of California.
Box 1, Folder 14
Metropolitan Water District - Joseph Jensen, Southern California's Water
Problems
1959-1963
Note
Article reprint, "MWD Sends Reply to Poulson Blast;" Statement by Joseph Jensen,
Chairman, Board of Directors, The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
before the 32nd Annual Statewide Meeting, California State Chamber of Commerce, Los
Angeles Biltmore Hotel, December 3, 1959; "Saline Water in the Mexicali Valley,"
statement by Joseph Jensen, February 20, 1962; Map, "Water Development Program of MWD,
Adopted April 30, 1963; "Southern California's Water: Past, Present and Future," by
Joseph Jensen, October 1963.
Box 1, Folder 15
"Some Consequences of State Development of Water Resources"
1955
Note
Address by Wallace Howard, Assistant Attorney General before the Rotary Club of
Berkeley, Berkeley, California, December 7, 1955. Also includes correspondence and
meeting minutes of Water Lawyers' Committee on County of Origin Law, San Diego,
December 9, 1955.
Series 3:
Areas/Counties of Origin
1955-1962
Box 2, Folder 1
"What's Being Done to solve the County of Origin Problem", by Harold
Kennedy
1955-1956
Note
Address by Harold Kennedy, County Counsel of the County of Los Angeles. Excerpts of
speech delivered to the annual meeting of the Feather River Project Association,
Bakersfield Inn, Bakersfield, June 30, 1956. Also includes "Let's Get Started on
California's Water Problem," an address by Harold Kennedy at the Meeting of The
Southern California Council of the State Chamber of Commerce, Statler Hotel, Los
Angeles, and the Meeting of the Feather River Association at Bakersfield, October 8,
1955.
Box 2, Folder 2
"Areas of Origin," Correspondence
1955-1956
Box 2, Folder 3
"Studies of the Areas of Origin," by Samuel B. Morris
1955-1956
Note
Talk by Samuel B. Morris, Consulting Engineer, Los Angeles given to North Coast
Council California State Chamber of Commerce, Santa Rosa, September 21, 1956. Also
includes "Water of Counties of Origin," by Samuel Morris, presented before the
California State Chamber of Commerce, San Francisco, February 23, 1955.
Box 2, Folder 4
"Areas of Origin," Summary Statement by State Department of Water Resources:
Economic Demand for Surplus Northern California Water in Southern
California
1955-1962
Note
Bulk of folder materials relate to presentation before the California Water
Commission, Los Angeles, California (December 5, 1958). Also includes correspondence,
photocopied article clippings and J.J. Prendergast's "Suggestions for Using the San
Bernardino Basin Siphon of the State Water Plan to Bring M W D Aqueduct Water into the
San Bernardino Basin."
Box 2, Folder 5
"Areas of Origin," Water Resources Commission For the Division of
Forestry
1955-1956
Note
Includes correspondence, article clippings, reports, and three addresses: "Areas of
Origin Water Reservation," by Henry Holsinger, Principal Attorney, Division of Water
Resources, at a meeting of Statewide Water Resources Committee of the California State
Chamber of Commerce, San Francisco, July 25, 1955; "Let's Get Started on California's
Water Problem," an address by Harold Kennedy at the Meeting of The Southern California
Council of the State Chamber of Commerce, Statler Hotel, Los Angeles, and the Meeting
of the Feather River Association at Bakersfield, October 8, 1955; "Statement of
Burnham Enersen on Behalf of California State Chamber of Commerce Regarding State
Water Department, Assembly Interim Committee on Government Organization, January 5,
1956.
Box 2, Folder 6
"Areas/Counties of Origin," Essays
1955-1956
Note
Includes correspondence, proposed State of California Assembly Constitutional
amendments, drafts of statutes, memoranda, meeting minutes, and addresses.
Box 2, Folder 7
"Areas of Origin," From McCutchen, Thomas, Matthew, etc. Law Firm
1956
Note
Includes correspondence, addresses and statements, report on the Sub-Committee on
"Areas of Origin," proposed county and state constitutional amendments, press
releases, memoranda, and meeting notices.
Box 2, Folder 8
"Areas of Origin," From California Division of Forestry State Water Rights
Board
1955-1957
Note
Includes copies of Senate Bill No. 1557 and Assembly Bill No. 4, presentation
materials, correspondence, State Water Rights Board notice forms, and proposed
regulation changes.
Box 2, Folder 9
"Areas of Origin," From California Division of Forestry, Proposed
Constitutional Amendment
1956-1957
Note
Includes proposed State Constitutional amendments, correspondence, statements,
memoranda, and recommendations from the Department of Water Resources related to
"County of Origin" problems.
Series 4:
California Government Documents
1955-1963
Box 2, Folder 10
California Constitutional Amendment
1955-1956
Note
Resolutions to propose an amendment to the State Constitution - addition of Section 5
to Article XIV relating to a State Water Plan.
Box 1, Folder 4
Statements Municipal Water Districts in Southern California before the Senate
Fact Finding Committee
1962-1963
Series 5:
Newspaper Clippings
1962
Box 1, Folder 5
Newspaper Clippings Concerning Water Issues in San Bernardino,
California
1962
Series 5:
Feather River Association
1958-1959
Box 2, Folder 11
Feather River Association
1958-1959
Note
Includes 1958 Annual Report, articles of incorporation and by-laws, and presentation
materials related to the Feather River Project Association.
