Reservoir and cleared land

In 1887, the Allens and their neighbors and friends decided to invest in the increasing of the water flow from Eaton Canyon to serve lands lower on the slope to the south of them. The Cranks to the south and both the Brigdens and Craigs to the southwest were part of the small consortium. As described by Sarah Noble Ives in her early history of Pasadena and Altadena:

...a tunnel over five hundred feet long was driven into the east bank of the canyon. It passed through a spur and ended in thye gravel at a point highter up the creek. At about the same time a tunnel two hundred and fifty feet long was driven through a spur near the falls, coming out on a level with the creeek about half a mile farther up the canyon. At this point a concrete dam diverted the water into a screw-joint iron pipe carried around the wall of the canyon to and through the lower tunnel. The pipe was then carried across the canyon by suspension cable supports to the west side, out on the mesa about about 1500 feet elevation, and to the Allen reservoir, which was masonry lined and cemeented, and of four hundred thousand gallons capacity. From here further distributions were made.

The land around the reservoir was cleared and not planted except down by the edge of the arroyo where lemons imported from Sicily were hearty enough to succeed. Though enlarged, the placement of the reservoir remains the same and can be seen from a gated fence off of Altadena Drive.