Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds. H. A. Van Norman, assistant chief engineer of the water bureau, testifying before Los Angeles Coroner Frank Nance at the Coroner's inquest following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam. Nine men are visible in the jury box on the right and one man is seated behind a table in the foreground. 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. H. A. Van Norman's testimony was reported in the article "Fear of Dam Told Jury: Alarm Voiced on Eve of Break: Coroner's Inquiry Reveals Workers Saw Menace in Water-Soaked Hill; Others Recall Flood's Roar: Not Like Blast, They Say; Van Norman on Stand." Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 1928: 1. A similar photograph was published with the caption: "The Location Was Justifiable" H. A. Van Norman, assistant chief engineer of the water bureau, who yesterday underwent an intensive questioning regarding the building and strength of ill-fated structure.
Type
Image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
uclamss_1429_1911 ark:/21198/zz002dcsv1
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Saint Francis Dam Failure, Calif., 1928 Coroners--California--Los Angeles Civil engineers--California--Los Angeles Governmental investigations--California--Los Angeles Van Norman, H. A. (Harvey Arthur), 1878-1954 Nance, Frank A. (Frank Albert), 1875-1950
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