Coroner Frank Nance and engineer H. A. Van Norman at the Coroner's Inquest following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam, Los Angeles, 1928

Item Overview

Title

Coroner Frank Nance and engineer H. A. Van Norman at the Coroner's Inquest following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam, Los Angeles, 1928

Date Created

March 22, 1928

Publisher

Los Angeles Times

Language

No linguistic content

Collection

Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection

Notes

Description

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.
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, 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.

Caption

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.

Physical Description

Extent

1 photograph

Medium

b&w nitrate negative

Keywords

Genre

cellulose nitrate film
news photographs

Subjects

Saint Francis Dam Failure, Calif., 1928
Coroners--California--Los Angeles
Governmental investigations--California--Los Angeles
Civil engineers--California--Los Angeles

Names

Nance, Frank A. (Frank Albert), 1875-1950
Van Norman, H. A. (Harvey Arthur), 1878-1954

Location

Los Angeles (Calif.)

Resource type

still image