Well this whole post started to be one thing (the prisons at Blythe) and wound up being something completely different. (the Colorado River aqueduct). I'd seen this structure on the side of a distant mountain while traveling I-10 between Palm Springs and Phoenix many times. On this occasion I stopped to see what it was.

It turned out to be one of 5 lift stations (pump stations) pumping the water of the Colorado River Aqueduct UP (in the case of the Hayfield lift, top left, 440 feet up). This enables the water to gravity flow through canals and tunnels from it's origin at lake Havasu to its final destination
at Cajalco Reservoir in Los Angeles where it is distributed for drinking water to most of southern California. Specifically it travels through 63 miles of canals, 92 miles of tunnels, and 84 miles of buried conduit. (see map above) through some of the most inhospitable terrain in the US. To give an idea of the amount of water pumped up each lift, the pump building contains nine 1,000 horsepower electrical pumps. The aqueduct delivers 1.3 million acre feet of water to LA every year and in 1992 was named one of the 7 engineering wonders of the United States by the American Society of Civil Engineers.






Though I was not to pursue the prison subject that day, I did continue on to Blythe. Where I was rather disappointed. Blythe has only a population of 21,000 and the picture above confirms it's size. However I did cross over the Colorado River into Arizona for some gas which saved me 54 cents a gallon. (I was advised later by a "environmental enthusiast" acquaintance that this was money for cleaning up the air in LA. (I'd be way happier if they'd just charge the people who dirty LA air for that.... I'm just sayin), but of course there's no arguing with environmental acolytes.

Finally, while I was taking the picture above of the Interstate Bridge, I locked myself out of the car..... SHIT.... but can you believe that a magnetic Hide-a-Key I put on the single piece of ferrous metal I could find under the bumper,...... WAS STILL THERE .. EIGHT YEARS LATER.
There IS a God and he was in Blythe, California that day, mayby visiting the prisons.