Three geologists and/or civil engineers examine an engineering drawing shortly after the failure of the Saint Francis Dam, [San Francisquito Canyon (Calif.) ?], 1928
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. The collapse of the Saint Francis Dam prompted the creation of over a dozen separate investigations into the cause of failure. Almost all of these comprised investigative panels of prominent engineers and geologists. Three civil engineers and/or geologists, examine an engineering drawing, bounding a large volume of drawings, shortly after the failure of the Saint Francis Dam. The man on the left may be H.A. Van Norman, assistant chief engineer of the water bureau. On the front page of the volume, some of the text reads "Corporation...Maps...Valley...Tandberg [?]...Engineer" Text from negative sleeve: Saint Francis Dam
Type
Image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
uclamss_1429_1924 ark:/21198/zz002dct97
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Engineering drawings Saint Francis Dam Failure, Calif., 1928 Geologists--California--San Francisquito Canyon Civil engineers--California--San Francisquito Canyon Governmental investigations--California Van Norman, H. A. (Harvey Arthur), 1878-1954
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.
