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Conclusions

After carefully weighing all of the evidence, that

has been presented, we have reached the following conclusions

The St. Francis Dam was defective due to the very

poor quality of the underlying rock structure upon which it

was built and to the fact that the design of the dam was not

suited to inferior foundation conditions. The actual failure

was caused either. wholly or in part by these defects-

The construction of this dam, without having the

design and foundation conditions passed upon by independent

engineers and geologists, and without more thorough and

systematic methods of design, supervision and inspection,

involved two basic errors.

One of these was an error in engineering judgment

in determining the character of the foundations at the St.

Francis Dam site and deciding upon the best type of dam to

build there.

The other was an error in regard to fundamental

policy relating to public safety.

The responsibility for the error in engineering

judgment rests upon the Bureau of Water Works and Supply,

and the Chief Engineer thereof

The responsibility for the error in public policy

belongs to those to whom the Chief Bngineer is subservient,

including the Department of Water and Power Commissioners,

the legislative bodies of city and state, and to the public

at large. It is a logical result of a set of conditions that

the citizenship has allowed to develop and continueo This is

the more fundamental error, for if proper safeguards had been

provided in the city charter and in the state laws, making it
impossible for excessive responsibility to be delegated to or

assumed by anyone individual in matters involving great menaces

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