Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds. The St. Francis Dam was a 200-foot high concrete gravity-arch dam built between 1924 and 1926 in St. Francisquito Canyon (near present-day Castaic and Santa Clarita). The dam collapsed on March 12, 1928 at two and a half minutes before midnight. The resulting flood killed more than 600 residents plus an unknown number of itinerant farm workers camped in San Francisquito Canyon, making it the 2nd greatest loss of life in California after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It is considered the worst American civil engineering failure in the 20th century. View of a large tent for the relief effort following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam and resulting flood. Tents were set up in several locations in the Santa Clara River Valley to house the displaced flood survivors and the relief workers who came to aid the survivors and rebuild the devastated communities. On the left are a smaller tent, parked cars and men in suits. The flooded valley and mountains are in the distance. Text from negative sleeve: Saint Francis Dam
Type
image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
uclamss_1429_1861 ark:/21198/zz002dcr4p
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Saint Francis Dam Failure, Calif., 1928 Floods--California--Santa Clara River Valley Disaster relief--California--Santa Clara River Valley
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
