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 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.
View of 2 houses heavily damaged by the flood following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam, with the bare beam structure of a completely destroyed building in the foreground. Bare, uprooted trees deposited by the flood rest against the houses.
Two men hold a stretcher in front of a house that was in the path of the catastrophic flood following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam. The ground is strewn with wood and tree debris and mountains are visible in the background.
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.
View of a wooden house destroyed by the flood following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam; only the roof is left, lying on the ground. A damaged house sits behind it. Three people walk on the dirt road next to the houses.
View of a wooden house in damaged by the flood following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam. The house is surrounded by mud. Three men are visible on the left near the back of the house. Power utility poles on both sides of the house are still standing.
