Failed Sheffield Dam after the earthquake, Santa Barbara, 1925

Description: View of the failed Sheffield Dam after the June 29 earthquake. The earthquake liquefied the soil beneath the concrete-faced, compacted earth dam and a section moved downstream 100 feet. Broken concrete is visible next to the drained reservoir.
Text from negative sleeve: Earthquakes, Long Beach, 1933 [negative is mis-filed]
On June 29, 1925 at 6:42 am a major earthquake hit the area of Santa Barbara. It was 19 seconds in duration and registered 6.8 on the Richter magnitude scale. The downtown of Santa Barbara was destroyed, the Sheffield Dam collapsed, and thirteen people died. The facade of the Mission Santa Barbara was severely damaged and lost its statues. Three persons thought to shut off the town electricity and gas, thereby preventing catastrophic fire. The city was rebuilt in a unified Spanish Colonial Revival style in 1925-1929.

Genre: cellulose nitrate film
news photographs
Location: Santa Barbara (Calif.)
Longitude: 34.44461
Latitude: -119.693255
Resource type: still image
Subjects: Sheffield Reservoir (Santa Barbara, Calif.)
Sheffield Dam Failure, Calif., 1925
Reservoirs--California--Santa Barbara
Earthquakes--California--Santa Barbara
Dam failures--California--Santa Barbara

Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections
Local Identifier: uclamss_1429_2084
ARK: ark:/21198/zz002dd0tv
Manifest url

Rights statement: copyrighted
Rights Holder: UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, A1713 Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. E-mail: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310)825-4988
Rights Country: US
Funding Note: Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds.
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .