Flood of 1825 causes LA River to change course

The river drastically changes course, especially on the south side of LA. People subsequently refer to this flood as the LA River’s “big change.” Instead of emptying into the Ballona wetlands, it empties into the San Pedro Bay. Various marshlands dry up entirely, eliminating forests of western sycamore, cottonwood, and alder. Whereas the river previously ran near the Plaza along Main Street, after the 1825 flood it passes near the foot of the Dominguez Hills. Various residents described the flooding to the US Army Corps in 1914, 85 years later. A Mr. and Mrs. A. J. King relate, “There was no land that was not covered with water with the exception of one small section from the old fort at Bixby hill to Boyle Heights hills.” J. R. Ramirez describes water as filling the “whole Los Angeles River valley.”