2006.7.1

This is a field collected fragment of the St. Francis Dam near Santa Clarita in Southern California. The dam, one of the last water projects built by L.A. Citry Water supervisor William Mulholland, burst at midnight on March 13, 1928, hours after it was filled to capacity. The dam was designed to hold a full year's supply of water for Los Angeles. The filling of the reservoir activated a landslide on the east abutment that fell into the reservoir and causing the dam to break up. Over 600 lives were lost as flood waters washed over homes down the valley and out to sea at Montalvo. It was the worst engineering disaster of 20th century America. Fragment was collected by Dr. P.C. Klieger on February 5, 2006 from the 'Monolith' the largest intact chunk of the dam spanning the original site. PC Klieger

Used: irrigation | Water