Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds. Two men hold a stretcher in front of a house that was in the path of the catastrophic flood following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam. The ground is strewn with wood and tree debris and mountains are visible in the background. The St. Francis dam, built between 1924 and 1926 in St. Francisquito Canyon (near present-day Castaic and Santa Clarita), collapsed on March 12, 1928 at two and a half minutes before midnight. The resulting flood killed up to 600 people, making it the 2nd greatest loss of life in California after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It is considered one of the worst civil engineering failures in American history. Text from negative sleeve: Saint Francis Dam
Type
image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
uclamss_1429_1841 ark:/21198/zz002dcqfv
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Flood damage--California--Santa Clara River Valley Dwellings--California--Santa Clara River Valley Saint Francis Dam Failure, Calif., 1928 Disaster relief--California--Santa Clara River Valley
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