Now Mulholland was promoting an immense new project: the Hoover Dam. It would take 5 hours to get there, but no official warning would be sounded for considerably more than an hour after the rupture. AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is a production of GBH Boston. The City of Los Angeles paid all expenses associated with the burial of those three hundred-plus victims. The intense swirling of the water probably undercut the schist on the east wall, allowing a huge block of concrete to slide down the dip of the rocks into the canyon. Full collapse probably took under a minute. It demolished 1,200 houses, washed out 10 bridges and knocked out power lines. ", "And she says, 'George, I think there's going to be trouble up on the San Francisquito dam.' But the settlers at the source of L.A.s water in the Owens River Valley were deeply angry about how the city had secretly bought up their land and water rights. Ultimately, the Los Angeles Department of Power and Light paid out close to $7 million in damages, although there was also an attempt at a cover-up concerning details of the disaster. ", Built by William Mulholland, known as the father of Los Angeles' municipal water system, the 1,300-foot span of concrete in San Francisquito Canyon held more than 12 billion gallons a year's supply for the entire city about 50 miles to the south. These victims were coated with that same oozy mud and had to be cleansed before any identification could take place. Test. UC Santa BarbaraScholars Reflect on Supreme Court Ruling and Higher Education in Post-Affirmative Action Era, Edison, Frontier Settle for $22 Million in Rey Fire Litigation, Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Co-Founder Michael Benedict Has Died, CECs New Hub Makes a Big Buzz in Downtown Santa Barbara, Ventura County Man Wins $1.3 Million at Chumash Casino, Homeless Encampment Beside the Tracks Bulldozed with Little Warning, A Desperate Leap: Santa Barbara Mans Suicide Reveals a Court Battle over Mesa Home, A Water War Is Underway in Santa Barbara Countys Carrot Country, Introduction to Music Production for Teens, Everything Fiesta! The St. Francis Dam before its collapse. It is said to be California's worst engineering catastrophe to date. The dam collapse that ruined Mulholland's career SCVHistory.com | St. Francis Dam | Failing St. Francis: Water Pressure Hundreds of houses, bridges, roads and other buildings were destroyed, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Your donation will help support our online initiatives, keep exhibitions open and evolving, protect collections, and support education programs. I put my camera on a tripod, opened up my lens wide to f4.5 and gave it 2-3 seconds exposure., I got pictures of the water still going out, he said. Watson explained that he had photographed the dam about a week before the collapse, en route to visit his brother in Hughes Lake. Their patients dont know where they went, Plaschke: Reeling Angels need to swallow hard and trade Shohei Ohtani. It was harvest season now; school would have to wait. A family traveling over the eastern road at about 11 p.m. on the night of the failure saw lights at the bottom east side of the dam. Los Angeles was the wests fastest growing city, but its insatiable thirst came at a high cost. St. Francis Dam Disaster | History Daily Jen has worked at KPBS since 2000. The east side of the dam went first; the western third followed almost immediately. Soledad in front of the home into which her grandparents moved after the flood. The Paiutes had lived there for a thousand years, sustained by elaborate irrigation systems that they built over centuries. Thus, when the bedrock collapsed in the landslide, there was nothing to support that part of the dam, and it collapsed. In a chain reaction, the dam slid precariously on its base; the land under the west wing collapsed. Watson said he dashed out to Castaic, getting there about 1 a.m. "Water was still going out," said Watson. The records of Oliver L. Reardon, Ventura County Coroner at the time of the event, indicate that 231 bodies were retrieved from Ventura County, 88 from Los Angeles County, and 101 persons were reported missing. March 1928: Funeral procession proceeds across floodplain following the St. Francis Dam disaster. (BTW, if you search for him on YouTube, you can find snippets from talks hes given on the St. Francis dam collapse. Heres a picture the day of the flood showing that the lines on the west are still in place. Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV + Wednesday, Nov 9 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 / On demand now with PBS Video App. Today marks the 500th day of war in Ukraine and fierce fighting is continuing. ), Watson said he dashed out to Castaic, getting there about 1 a.m. Water was still going out, Watson said. The collapse of the St. Francis Dam was a colossal engineering and human disaster that might have slowed the national project to tame the West. ", "I got pictures of the water still going out," said Watson. Around 12:45 a.m., what one survivor later called the great black wall of water left the San Francisquito canyon, turning west toward the Santa Clara River Valley and its 10,000 sleeping residents. In 2003, for the 75th anniversary of the St. Francis Dam collapse, Los Angeles Times writer Cecilia Rasmussen wrote this article, "An Avalanche of Water Left Death and Ruin in Its Wake." Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. She was unable to speak. The St. Francis Dam in San Francisquito Canyon, about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, collapsed just before midnight on March 12, 1928. (Well return to the story of the dissolving rock below, but it was a major point in the investigations following the dam collapse.) "So we got in this truck and went up there. The collapse of the St. Francis Dam was a colossal engineering and human disaster that might have slowed the national project to tame the West. Bodies would wash ashore as far south as San Diego. Discover the story of the Supreme Courts first female justice. Full collapse probably took under a minute. USGS. PDF 1993: REASSESSMENT OF THE ST. FRANCIS DAM FAILURE - Lessons Learned One of her letters mentioned that she had read in the paper that several of the employees of the Edison Company were identified by their company clothing badges, but this was not helpful in the case of her lost son. Many were washed out into the Pacific Ocean and/or found on the beaches of Mexico. March 13, 1928: Whats left of the St. Francis Dam as seen from the air at a point just below the dam. March 13, 1928: Aerial view of Santa Paula after it was inundated by the collapse of the St. Francis Dam. That section, featured in a front-page photo in the March 14, 1928 Los Angeles Times, was later blasted to pieces. The St. Francis Dam in San Francisquito Canyon, about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, collapsed just before midnight on March 12, 1928. There was an operator on The Times called Lucille, says Watson. About half of Santa Paulas population was of Mexican descent, most of them recent arrivals working in the citrus industry. The water hit their small home with such force that the walls broke apart immediately, flinging everything into the churning waves. The breach unleashed 12 billion gallons of water that . 1928: Crowds gather outside a temporary morgue set up for victims of the St. Francis Dam collapse. Hughes, the chief operator of Power House No. Today, the St. Francis dam site is an easy stroll off San Francisquito Canyon Road, but no sign or memorial exists, save for concrete debris and . March 14. In this months Journal Flashback were sharing an article by Patricia Allen on the horrific toll of the St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928. In the early 1920s, massive population growth and years of drought convinced Los Angeles city planners they needed a vast and secure water source. She was terrorized, said her goddaughter. A young mother who was wearing a special white nightgown was identified a month after the disaster. The first and most important is that the dam was finished in 1926 and for well over a year had been collecting water. In the early 1920s, Southern California was suffering through years of drought, and the aqueduct flow had been cut in half. Allen provides a summary of the events and a list of the dead who were identified at the time. Explore our new collection featuring a selection of films documenting the U.S. Latino Experience along with articles and original features exploring Americas continued struggle with democracy, inclusion and justice for Hispanics and Latinos, and celebrating their contributions to the American story. Because the area was home to large numbers of migrant workers and their families, the exact toll will never be known. Vainly, they tried to grasp the childrens slender arms as they flailed and cried out, but the current was too strong. We could hear people yelling, out in the stream.. It is not complete, but it is as correct as possible. All but one survived. The collapse of the St. Francis Dam on March 12, 1928, is, in terms of loss of life, the second-greatest disaster in California history. Still, the destruction is almost unimaginable today given the loss of life and some 24,000 acres of farm and ranch land washed away. When Californias Water Wars Turned Violent. If so, the west toward should have been the one to go. The St. Francis Dam's Death Toll - Museum of Ventura County 2. This story, as little known as it is, is a warning., Says director Rob Rapley: The modern West was in many ways conceived in the first decades of the 20th century. California Retrospective: St. Francis Dam collapse left a trail of Fifty years later, bodies from the disaster were still being unearthed. Bodies would wash ashore as far south as San Diego. It was an unbelievable sight that a stunned Santa Paula citizenry gazed upon in the first fog-filtered rays of dawn. Engineer William Mulholland with a surveyor's scope, circa 1908-1913. . Her long hair snared in its branches, wrenching her up into the air. Test. PN43262 OS, MVC Library & Archives collection. De qu estn hablando? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. The folks in the farm towns downstream used to joke that theyd see you later if the dam dont break., Built by William Mulholland, known as the father of Los Angeles municipal water system, the 1,300-foot span of concrete in San Francisquito Canyon held more than 12 billion gallons a years supply for the entire city about 50 miles to the south. One major problem is that loss of the Southern California Edison line that caused Powerhouse #1 to go dark at 11:57:30 pm on March 12, 1928. Learn. Irene screamed for her Chole but the roar of the flood was deafening. In years to come, residents of the surrounding area would speak of seeing ghosts along the river bottom, like the spirit of La Llorona, the weeping woman of Mexican myth crying along a riverbed, searching for her drowned children. An estimated 12 billion gallons of water were unleashed down Los Angeles Countys San Francisquito Canyon to the Santa Clara River in Ventura County and out to the Pacific. The collapse of the St. Francis Dam was a colossal engineering and human disaster that might have slowed the national project to tame the West. The 1928 St. Francis Dam collapse unleashed a flood that killed almost 500 people in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The lower reaches of the dam were the first to go. Blaring sirens and cries of Mucho agua! could be heard throughout the small community Anglos called Spanish Town. The flood killed almost everyone in the small community at an electrical generating station along the aqueduct. Major funding for the programs at the Museum of Ventura County is made possible by, Museum of Ventura County Join the Museum and you, your family, and guests will enjoy all the special benefits that make being a member of the Museum of Ventura County so worthwhile. The lower portion of the town was the most appalling, unmitigated mess anyone had ever seen. A year after the disaster, lawmakers created what would become the Division of Safety of Dams under the California Department of Water Resources. Sounds of drowning, screaming victims and bleating cattle, would reach her ears and rush away into the night. If mere exposure to water would have brought about its dissolution, the dam should have collapsed long before it was filled. Soledad Luna was at home asleep when the St. Francis Dam collapsed, minutes before midnight on Monday, March 12, 1928. March 1928: Remaining section of St. Francis Dam with crumbled sections at base. Whether they did or notand a leak would explain why the damkeeper and his girl friend were at the dam at the time of its collapsethere was a massive landslide along the Pelona schist at 11:57:30 pm on March 12 which took out the Edison power line on the east side of the dam. I havent yet found an entire lecture, but hes an engaging speaker and worth listening to. In their wake, the waters left more than 400 dead (the exact number never confirmed to this day) and some 1,400 structures wiped out. She therefore wasnt swept up there while sleeping in their house about a quarter of a mile downstream from the dam. Connect with the Museum through social media: Bonita C. McFarland Scholarships 2023 Award Winners. All this evidence suggests that something was happening on the eastern side, not the western side of the dam. Flood in the Desert | American Experience | PBS There was also a fault that separated the underlying Pelona schist (see more below) from the sandstone that was on top fo it. It could have been even worse, but warnings had allowed hundreds to escape the rampaging floodwaters. The Survivor's Reunion: Don Ray Interviewing the Survivors: William S.Thomas Reassessment of the Dam Failure: Dr. J. David Rogers Keeping the Memory Alive: Frank Rock From Privilege and Responsibility to Heavy Ground: Donald C. Jackson/Norris Hundley Jr. St. Francis Dam Disaster: John Nichols AMERICAN EXPERIENCE "Flood in the Desert" features interviews with historians, engineers and descendants of survivors of the tragedy. The first was the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. She is originally from Las Vegas and attended UNLV. What couldnt be covered up were the memories of those who lived through it. Nine living persons were found in the debris of the river and were first thought to be dead. But within days a concerted effort was underway to erase it from popular memory. A Talk About Old Spanish Days, Book and Audiobook Launch with Live Performances: With a Kiss We Die, Book Talk Local YA Author Elizabeth Foscue, Please note this login is to submit events or press releases. So we got in this truck and went up there. March 1928: Victims were taken to a temporary morgue. In researching the St. Francis dam disaster, Ive learned that theres a lot of mythmaking about why the dam failed. Trew Knowledge. (LogOut/ Environmental Geology135 - Lecture Exam 1: The Collapse of the St. Francis Dam. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. About a week before the collapse, Watson explained he photographed the dam while en route to visit his brother in Hughes Lake. The collapse of the St. Francis Dam on March 12, 1928, is, in terms of loss of life, the second-greatest disaster in California history. THE SEARCH FOR WATER September 1904, William Mulholland and Fred Eaton left Los Angeles for a trip by buckboard up the Newhall grade through the Santa Clara Valley and north along the edge of the Eastern Sierras to the edge of the soda filled Owens Lake and its source, the Owens River. But within days a concerted effort was underway to . This became the common story, repeated even in reliable texts. 5 things you didn't know about the St. Francis Dam failure By Peggy Kelly Originally published in Santa Paula Times | March 19, 2010 Eighteen-year-old visitor Laurena Carter shot this photograph in late February 1928, about two weeks before the dam failed. A roaring 120-foot wave of water crashed down the canyon, demolishing everything in its path. The water carried debris, boulders, mud, trees and anything else in its path away in an unrelenting wave of destruction. Reports of the Luna familys ordeal received widespread mainstream media coverage. Google Scholar. The girl friends body was discovered, fully clothed, wedged between some of the concrete blocks you can see in the picture. The Luna family lived in the colonias, or villages, of Santa Paula, a small town located among the orchards of Californias Santa Clara River Valley. Nonetheless, this was the conclusion of theGovernors commission, which met for one dayMarch 19, 1928and issued their written report five (5!) Im going to summarize it here, first starting with the weaknesses of the traditional approach, and then recasting Professor Rogers story. Narrated by Andre Braugher. The dam was so profoundly flawed that it took engineers decades to tell which of its many shortcomings was responsible for the collapse. The St. Francis Dam, after the collapse. March 1928: A battered piano was found in an orchard following the flood caused by the failure of the St. Francis Dam. The breach unleashed 12 billion gallons of water that . View of the remaining center portion of the St. Francis Dam, visible after its disastrous collapse. Introduction "There it is, take it." This is the famous line William Mulholland told the city mayor and the public after the grand opening of the LA aqueduct. "We sat around there till dawn, and [Harvey] Van Norman, chief engineer for Bill Mulholland, came up with a truck and said he'd take us up to the dam," said Watson. Its victims' bodies were recovered from the Pacific Ocean as far south as San Diego, and while the . (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). Soledad awoke to chaos. Blocks up to 9100 metric tons (10,000 tons) were swept down the canyon as far as 800 meters (1/2 mile). Over the years, the true death count of the St. Francis Dam disaster was updated to at least 431, but we may never know . Then on the night of March 12-13, 1928, Watson was dispatched to Castaic. Nothing greets you when you arrive at the site of Southern California's single most deadly disaster. The general supposition seems to have been that the dam was built on unconsolidated bedrock, which dissolved as soon as it was exposed to water. I. Why the St. Francis Dam Collapsed - Scientific American We could barely see it. The death toll was estimated at more than 450, but experts say that figure could be much higher. Piru was next. The St. Francis Dam disaster not only destroyed hundreds of lives and millions of dollars worth of property; it also washed away the reputation of William Mulholland, the father of modern Los Angeles, and jeopardized larger plans to transform the West. That last statement was echoed by Joseph Reardon in a recent interview when he told of plans made and hastily implemented by his father to meet the demands of the disaster. Based on this analysis, the authors propose a failure sequence that is, in all likelihood, the completereverseof what actually occurred: It is likely that seepage increased rapidly in volume shortly before the dams failure, washing out the soft conglomerate, undermining the west abutment of the dam, and permitting the concrete to crack into large blocks. His record book carefully notes where each body was taken. Ninety years ago this week, the worst civil engineering failure in California history claimed more than 450 lives and left a path of staggering destruction. Work sometimes went around the clock, and for meager wagesthe pickers were paid by the filled box. There was also a fault that separated the underlying Pelona schist (see more below) from the sandstone that was on top fo it. Dam builder William Mulholland, pointing, with water officials, from left, Fred Fischer, R.F. Among them was the body of the small daughter of G.O. 2. Already at 10 years old, CholeSoledads nickname in the familywas expected to be her mothers right hand, assisting with a host of responsibilities: helping around the home, preparing food, taking care of her two younger brothers and an 18-month-old sister, Hortense. Navajo Mystical Precognition & the St. Francis Dam Collapse As the water receded it became apparent that their first task was to recover and care for the bodies that were exposed in the debris. His observations never seem to have gone anywhere, yet they provided the solution to the question of the collapse. The Limoneira Company, which owned one of the largest plantations in the area, ran a Spanish-language school called Olivelands near the packing plants, but Soledads attendance depended on the crops and what work remained at home. The pressure of 12 billion gallons of water was pitted against the dams upstream side, which was already fractured with cracks. One of the first photographers on scene was The Times' George Watson. This photo was published in the March 15, 1928, Los Angeles Times. Suddenly it hit the Santa Paula Bridge like a crash of thunder. Thelma McNabb was one of the lucky ones; she lived to tell her story. The avalache of water flowed into the Santa Clara Riverbed and followed it through several towns, including Filmore, Santa Paula and Castaic. Though the Hughes family had lived just below the dam, the childs body was found on the Sespe Ranch. Even the pebbles broke up along tiny fractures. A few hours later at about midnight, the Harnischfegers were among the first to die when a wall of water roared down on the canyon. It was constructed in a narrow part of the canyon where the east wall is composed of thin-bedded Pelona Schist dipping down toward and underlying the canyon floor. A picture of the grandmother and her charges was included showing them seated together on the running board of a car. He said rocks and pieces of the dam washed down the valley for half a mile and were twice as big as a two-story house.. Lessons from the St. Francis Dam | Science This information was added to the number and picture pasted in the book. The death toll from the collapse varies from about 400 to more than 600. A dam failure or dam burst is a catastrophic type of structural failure characterized by the sudden, rapid, and uncontrolled release of impounded water or the likelihood of such an uncontrolled release. Exhuming California's St. Francis Dam Disaster | The Nation One was a woman who always wore a distinctive opal ring, the other a young man whose mother described his engraved 1924 senior class ring. Its victims bodies were recovered from the Pacific Ocean as far south as San Diego, and while the official death count was 420, given the migrant community caught in the floods path it certainly claimed more victims whose names would never be recorded. At 5:30 a.m. the work bell rang, calling the adults to their stations on the surrounding orchards and in packing plants. Water and Power Associates