This photo was taken in the Santa Clara River Valley. The setting with palm trees and cranes is similar to other photos in this collections identified as Bardsdale.
Area of foliate debris deposited in front of a tree line by the flood following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam. A man in a suit and hat stands in the middle ground, center.
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.
Men standing outside a rope cordoning off an area with tents in the days following the failure of the Saint Francis Dam and resulting flood. A sign in a tree on the right reads "Bardsdale Hdqtrs" with an arrow pointing to the left and a sign on a tent reads "Headquarters." There is a building partially visible on the left, a house behind the tents on the right, 2 parked automobiles and one truck. A sign on the truck reads "...studios ...corp. ...D. Brown...Generator [?] No. 1."
