Reply #34: It really wasn't that hard until the advent of diverted water hit the state

[MadHound]

LA was nothing more than a cow town in the late 1800's, and most of California's population was further north around Sacto and SF, where the water was. However with the advent of diverted water to the area in the '20's, '30's and '40's, the Southern California area, along with the rest of California saw a huge jump in population.

Many other areas of the Southwest, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc. have followed the same trend, small little towns until water was diverted to their area and then they boomed.

You can only fool Mother Nature for so long, then she will extract her price, usually a high one.