The Cascades

The Cascades is a California Historical Landmark in Los Angeles County.

Approximately 4 miles north of San Fernando · location approximate

Directions to the area ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

This is the terminus of the Los Angeles-Owens River Aqueduct, bringing water 338 miles from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the City of Los Angeles. Begun in 1905, the great aqueduct was completed November 5, 1913. The Mono Craters Tunnel project, completed in 1940, extended the system 27 miles to its present northernmost intake near Tioga Pass.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection

Historical maps covering this location

1880 · Los Angeles & San Bernardino topography. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1888 · Southern California (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1900 · Fernando, California (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1900 · San Fernando, California (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1925 · Sylmar, California (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Los Angeles & San Bernardino topography, 1880, covering the location of The Cascades, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Los Angeles & San Bernardino topography, 1880, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

The Cascades

Historical maps covering this location

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