THE ST. FRANCIS DAMLocation: Angeles National Forest North of Santa Clarita, CA
Accessibility: Half-mile hike down a paved road Built: 1926 |
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In the hills of Santa Clarita, are the ruins of what was once a magnificent structure that stood over two hundred feel tall. The St. Francis Dam made history when it collapsed on March 12th, 1928 and caused the devastating loss of over four hundred lives.
Now remembered as a "disaster", the St. Francis Dam was constructed with hope and promise to provide water for the residents of Los Angeles for years to come. William Mulholland was assigned the job as Chief Engineer to oversee construction of the dam. The dam was built in San Francisquito Canyon between from 1924 to 1926. The design of St Francis was to be the same shape and size as the Mulholland Dam built in the Hollywood Hills to create the Hollywood Reservoir, a dam that still stands today. The geological features between San Francisquito Canyon and the Hollywood hills are quite different, however.
Years of investigation followed to determine what went wrong, and stories arose surrounding the tragedy of that night, although there were no surviving eye witnesses of the collapse. The St. Francis Dam disaster is known as one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of the 20th century and the second greatest loss of life in California's history after the San Francisco Earthquake. Some of the ruins still exist today and are open for exploration if you know where to look.
For an exclusive look at these ruins with St. Francis Dam experts, Dr. Alan Pollack and Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel, check out our special St Francis Dam episode. Also see below for extended interviews with our guests. It's an experience you won't want to miss.
For an exclusive look at these ruins with St. Francis Dam experts, Dr. Alan Pollack and Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel, check out our special St Francis Dam episode. Also see below for extended interviews with our guests. It's an experience you won't want to miss.
At 11:57 PM on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam burst. It took only forty minutes for the 12.4 billion gallons of water to rush out in a 10-foot-high wave that would crush, destroy and claim everything in it's path. Just twelve hours earlier, Mulholland and his assistant chief engineer, Harvey Van Norman had inspected the dam and did not find concern with a few patches of leaking muddy water. They claimed the muddy water was coming from runoff from the recently constructed San Francisquito Canyon Road nearby, not erosion from the dam's foundation as was feared.
Years of investigation followed to determine what went wrong, and stories arose surrounding the tragedy of that night, although there were no surviving eye witnesses of the collapse. The St. Francis Dam disaster is known as one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of the 20th century and the second greatest loss of life in California's history after the San Francisco Earthquake. Some of the ruins still exist today and are open for exploration if you know where to look.
For an exclusive look at these ruins with St. Francis Dam experts, Dr. Alan Pollack and Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel, check out our special St Francis Dam episode.
For an exclusive look at these ruins with St. Francis Dam experts, Dr. Alan Pollack and Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel, check out our special St Francis Dam episode.
