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. Bridge under reconstruction after the flood following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam. A wooden truss tower in the foreground is used to move large bridge componenent into place. Beyond the tower is a donkey engine with the bridge and workers beyond. Utility poles line the bridge and 4 automobiles are on the right. The flood destroyed almost all of the bridges in its path. Text from negative sleeve: Saint Francis Dam
Type
image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
uclamss_1429_1938 ark:/21198/zz002dctsg
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Bridges--Flood damage--California--Santa Clara River Valley Donkey engines--California--Santa Clara River Valley Saint Francis Dam Failure, Calif., 1928 Disaster relief--California--Santa Clara River Valley
Source
Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection OpenUCLA Collections
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