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. Downward view towards the stepped face of the largest remaining portion of the Saint Francis Dam after its collapse and the canyon beyond. Text from negative sleeve: Saint Francis Dam Text from newspaper caption: Graphic Views of Flood-swept Area Near Castaic After Dam Break: Picture at Right Shows the Dam as it is Today. (Times photo.) [Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 1928]
Type
image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
uclamss_1429_1892 ark:/21198/zz002dcs66
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Dam failures--California--San Francisquito Canyon Saint Francis Dam Failure, Calif., 1928 Weather Disaster
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