Oral Histories
Interview of Irwin E. Farrar
Lawyer and president of the Farrar-Loomis Seed Company and the Riverside Alfalfa Growers Company. President of the Eastern Municipal Water District and director of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
- Subtitle:
- Riverside County Water Pioneer
- Series:
- Oral History of California Water Resources Development
- Topic:
- Urban Planning and Land UseWater Resources
- Biographical Note:
- Lawyer and president of the Farrar-Loomis Seed Company and the Riverside Alfalfa Growers Company. President of the Eastern Municipal Water District and director of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
- Interviewee:
- Farrar, Irwin E.
- Place Conducted:
- Sessions one and two: Farrar's home in Hemet, California; Session three: Farrar's room at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, Session four: Oral History Program office, Powell Library, UCLA.
- Supporting Documents:
- Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
- Interviewer Background and Preparation:
- The interview was conducted by James V. Mink, University Archivist and Director, UCLA Oral History Program; B.A., M.A., History, UCLA; B.L.S., UC Berkeley; Certificate in Archival Administration and Preservation, American University, Washington, D.C. Mink prepared for the interview by researching Farrar's personalpapers and a typescript of an extensive autobiographical memoir Farrar had prepared prior to the interviews.
- Processing of Interview:
- The editing and preparation of a preliminary index were done by Elizabeth Farrar, Mr. Farrar's daughter, in consultation with Bernard Galm, Senior Editor, UCLA Oral History Program. She checked the verbatim transcript against copies of the original tape recordings and edited for punctuation, spelling, paragraphing, verification of proper and place names, and made certain stylistic changes. Mr. Farrar reviewed and approved the edited transcript. He introduced new material, but made few deletions. Statistical data was also checked for its accuracy.The preliminary index and edited transcript were reviewed by Joel Gardner, Editor, Oral History Program, who also wrote the introduction. Other front matter was prepared by the Program staff.
- Length:
- 12 hrs.
- Language:
- English
- Copyright:
- Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
- Series Statement:
- This series had its origin in a grant from the University of California Water resources Center in 1965. The project was a joint effort by the UCLA Oral History Program and the Regional Oral History Office, University of California, Berkeley. For some years after the close of the grant period, limited interviewing in this area continued.
- Abstract:
- Birth in Ventura County, California; covered wagon trek to Long Beach, 1897; father's arrival in California in 1880s; family's move to Westminster/Huntington Beach area of Orange County, ca. 1898; drainage problems around Bolsa Bay; Bolsa Chica Gun Club litigation; celery farming and Southern Pacific Railroad Company spur; Huntington Beach High School, 1907-11; development of Signal Hill and Santa Fe Springs oil fields; move to Corona/Arlington area of Riverside County, 1911; education at University of Southern California and at Stanford University; starting law practice in Corona; move to Hemet; origin of Ramona play; first production, 1923; agricultural enterprises in Riverside County; sugar beet seed industry; involvement with water problems; development of San Jacinto Tunnel; Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD); San Jacinto River Protective Committee; problem of Soboba Indians; San Jacinto earth-quake, 1918; Earl Warren; Goodwin J. Knight; Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Sr.; Ronald W. Reagan; family ties with Richard M. Nixon; California State Water Project; Arthur D. Edmonston; Burns-Porter Act; cost of aqueduct; Joseph Jensen; bond issue, 1970; first president, Eastern Municipal Water District, 1950-59; Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District; history of MWD; MWD and agriculture; dedication of California State Water Project, May 1973.