The Historic Chapman’s Millrace was unveiled at the San Gabriel Mission this week on Tuesday Sept. 24, 2013.

The historic Millrace was originally designed by an ex-pirate and prisoner named Joseph Chapman in the early eighteen hundreds. Which in turn “supplied the mission with water for crops, making it a very successful california mission archeologist John Dietler said,” as per Pasadena Star-News.

On Tuesday, city leaders and residents gathered to witness the opening of the Millrace as a monument in the Plaza Park just outside of the San Gabriel Mission. Jon Rasmussen of the Pond Company flipped on the switch to make this historic water-way have water flowing through it once again.

Father Bruce Wellems spoke on behalf of the restoration of the historic water channel, and mentioned owner of the Pond Company, Jon C. Rasmussen, who was the man in charge of bringing the historic artifact to life. This fantastic piece of history is now a 20-foot, 15-ton section of a waterway, as well as a “cornerstone of the thriving agricultural community centered on the San Gabriel Mission,” said by the Pasadena Star News. The Pond Company’s restoration of the millrace included installing a pump, plumbing for the recirculation and biological filter system, as well as an automatic filling device for it to function and cycling of the water through this historic section of sluice as it had almost 200 years ago.

Source: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/