|
|
St. Francis Dam Disaster
Click image to enlarge View looking south (downstream) between the dam and the Powerhouse No. 2 community at Stator Lane. 4x6-inch BW film transparency (larger than 4x5). The unknown photographer is standing just above the high water line. Compare with this photo and this photo.
Construction on the 600-foot-long, 185-foot-high St. Francis Dam started in August 1924. With a 12.5-billion-gallon capacity, the reservoir began to fill with water on March 1, 1926. It was completed two months later. At 11:57:30 p.m. on March 12, 1928, the dam failed, sending a 180-foot-high wall of water crashing down San Francisquito Canyon. An estimated 411 people lay dead by the time the floodwaters reached the Pacific Ocean south of Ventura 5½ hours later. It was the second-worst disaster in California history, after the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, in terms of lives lost — and America's worst civil engineering failure of the 20th Century.
DI2811: 9600 dpi jpeg from original 4x6-inch transparency purchased 2015 by Sharon Divis. |
Geology (Nickell 1928)
Geology (Elizondo 1953)
Still Flowing 3/13/1928
San Francisquito Cyn.
Just Below Dam
San Francisquito Cyn.
Photo Gallery
Ruiz Cemetery Area
Lower S.F. Canyon
Castaic Junction x3
3 mi. West of Castaic Junction
|
The site owner makes no assertions as to ownership of any original copyrights to digitized images. However, these images are intended for Personal or Research use only. Any other kind of use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly publication in any medium or format, public exhibition, or use online or in a web site, may be subject to additional restrictions including but not limited to the copyrights held by parties other than the site owner. USERS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE for determining the existence of such rights and for obtaining any permissions and/or paying associated fees necessary for the proposed use.
