ft.) lot listed for sale on. On March 12 it will be 94 years since the night in 1928 when, at 30 seconds past 11:57 p.m., the mighty St. Francis Dam shuddered, fractured, then collapsed. Between 1924 and 1926, the canyon was the site of the construction of the St. Francis Dam. Camp History. Old ruins are one of the best ways to take a peek into the past. LA3401 - Bouquet Dam & Reservoir Under Construction, 4 Views, 1933-1934. Trees and power lines toppled, cars and houses crushed under branches, and . DI2803 - Tombstone, Inside Looking Out, 1928.
Power Plant One, the First Power Plant to Generate Electricity for the GR0840 - St. Francis Dam Floodpath, 1928. Photo credit: Wikipedia/Kbh3rd.
San Francisquito Canyon Rd, Santa Clarita, CA 91350 - Redfin ST0901 - L.A. Aqueduct Construction Headquarters at Saugus Junction, 1909. Five days later, on March 12, 1928, dam keeper Tony Harnischfeger discovered a newer, larger leak with muddy and murky water. EVENT: Behind the Hollywood Sign, with Obscura Soc Photo Essay: Verdugo Hills Cemetery - Deteriorated Photo Essay: Fender Factory & Custom Shop Tour. For LADWPs COVID-19 response, visit www.ladwp.com/covid19response. Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. Avalanche of Water Left Death, Ruin in Its Wake by Cecilia Rasmussen Los Angeles Times, 2-16-2003. Later investigations, during the 1960s, revealed the dam was built on the site of an ancient landslide, undetectable to geologists with tools and equipment of the 1920s. LW2743 - St. Francis Dam Floodpath, about a mile below the dam. The 12 MW capacity Unit 4 turbine is also an original, first installed within the plant in 1923. LW2403 - Damkeeper Tony Harnischfeger & Family, n.d. LW3321 - Initial Associated Press Wire Photo, Distributed 3-13-1928. Even when the dam was filled almost to maximum capacity throughout 1927, the amount of water leaking from the dam was considered insignificant. his name and the address of his Hollywood studio appear on the back of related contact sheets. 1928 - Fox Newsreel: Carrying Bodies Into Newhall Morgue, more LW2642 - St. Francis Dam Disaster: Ruins, 17 Views, Ex-San Francisco PUC Archives, ~3-13-1928. MLS# V1-14072. 0 Vac/Sierra Hwy Pav /Vic Mi, Agua Dulce, CA 91350. 2016 - Philip Scorza: L.A. Water Story and the St. Francis Dam Disaster As for the dam, the only vague indicator of what once transpired in the sleepy canyon is a commemorative plaque at the rebuilt Powerhouse #2. Their activity stopped in 1848, when the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill started the California Gold Rush. Graffiti Removal at St. Francis Dam Site 2-28-2017. 2018 - Santa Paula Candlelight Vigil for Dam Victims St. Francis Dam DisasterIn The News LW3042 - St. Francis Dam Intact, George Watson Photo ~1926. Most of these declared bluntly that the dam's design was defective, and the collapse was the consequence building on a weak foundation, though geologists of the time found no fault in the San Francisquito Canyon rock. Dam keeper Harnischfeger, along with his son and girlfriend, were likely the first causalities of the 10-story wall of water. Though the U.S. House of representatives passed the bill back in July, the U.S. Senate is yet to. Brunner's Newhall History 1940. The crash occurred at 4:11 p.m. at San Francisquito Canyon .
The empty reservoir after the dam's collapse. By the time the water reached the Pacific Ocean at 5:30 a.m., the watery froth of earth, debris and victims was nearly 2 miles wide. The Rise and Fall of William Mulholland by Alan Pollack, 11-2007. AL3024 - St. Francis Dam Under Construction, 1924-1926. Both remain in-use today. The Zestimate for this Single Family is $1,180,100, which has decreased by $13,029 in the last 30 days.The Rent Zestimate for this Single Family is $5,100/mo, which has decreased by $550 . LW2840 - Jawbone Siphon, 3-27-2016 (26 Views). After riding for a few minutes, Hopewell reported hearing an enormous roar. DI2806 - Crowds Flock to the St. Francis Dam Tombstone, 1928 (Sharon Divis collection). San Francisquito Canyon was the site of placer mining for gold by Spanish missionaries from the San Fernando and San Buenaventura Missions, and later by Mexican Californios. A little over a decade later, the property was inundated by the St. Francis reservoir i.e., it was under water from 1924-1928. Power Plant One, the First Power Plant to Generate Electricity for the City of Los Angeles' Utility, Turns 100 Years Old. Water to continue to flow into the reservoir until it was within three-inches of the dams spillway. SP0000 - Dam & Power House Before & After Failure, 1926-1928, 20 Views. 1 and No. 1940s, Found 10-15-2013. Unofficial property records give a construction date of 1952 for a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom house. See all photos from Paolo H. for St. Francis Dam-Ruins of Collapsed Dam Useful 10 More than 400 people were killed when water burst through the leaky dam and roared across a widespread part of the area northwest of Los Angeles. Unit 5 also has a 25 MW capacity. At 11:57pm on March 12, 1928, the dam catastrophically failed, and the resulting flood took the lives of at least 431 people. The St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity dam located in San Francisquito Canyon in Los Angeles County, California, United States, built from 1924 to 1926 to serve Los Angeles's growing water needs. Knauber (Hart Class of 1968) said his mother owned the property about four years; he left for college before she sold it. At its height, nearly 1000 people had moved to this colony established by Job Harriman, who dreamed of cooperative living without war or interest on money or rent or land or profiteering. Life was difficult here and the colony virtually crumbled in 1918. The flood also washed over an Edison Power Company worker's camp, taking with it 84 workers, and carved a mile-wide gash across the Oxnard Plain where countless migrant agricultural workers slept. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. While the city maintained a store of water using smaller, more immediately local reservoirs after the aqueduct's opening, Mulholland saw the city's rapidly growing population as a sign that a large reservoir was still needed. Roll No.
St. Francis Dam Disaster | Fillmore Historical If SoCal history is your thing, check out this short but history-filled scenic road trip. Original post from 8:36 a.m. Thursday: The Los Angeles County Public Works announced Thursday the closure of San Francisquito Canyon Road between Copper Hill Road and Spunky Canyon Road in the . In order to insure against cost overruns, each total cost set forth with respect to a project for water resources development and conservation and related purposes authorized to be carried out by the Secretary in this Act or in a law enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act, including the Water Resources Development . 2016 - Jon Wilkman: Floodpath: The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th-Century America [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, March 19, 1928, Page 7, Image 7, brought to you by Library of Congress, Washington, DC, and the National Digital Newspaper Program. Newhall Morgue, FILM: Fox News Footage: Nighttime Recovery of Bodies, Memorialization and Memory of Southern California's St. Francis Dam Disaster of 1928, St. Francis Dam Disaster: Tracing the Human Story Through Archaeology and Oral History, News Story: CSUN Grad Student Memorializes Victims of 1928 St. Francis Dam Disaster, Engineer Suggests Ancient Landslide was Factor in Disaster, The 1928 St. Francis Dam Failure and Its Impact on American Civil Engineering. Photo credit: Wikipedia/Kbh3rd. RJ1010 - Joseph and Della Raggio with King Snake at Raggio Ranch, ~1940s. AP1925 - L.A. Aqueduct Construction Camp/HQ at Saugus Junction, 1911.
Visiting The Site Of L.A.'s Most Deadly Disaster: The Collapse Of The Report to Arizona Gov. The photographer is identified as Bob Martin; his name and the address of his Hollywood studio appear on the back of related contact sheets. The property was originally homesteaded by Ben Hickin [cq], who on July 15, 1912, was granted a patent to 47.56 acres of land straddling San Francisquito Canyon Road (see plat below). March 5, 1964 Phillips Ranch in San Francisquito Canyon. : Rep. Knight Bill Honors Dam Victims, Protects Sacred Sites While the remnants of this old dam may not seem all that amazing, this is a sobering reminder of a great catastrophe. Making up for lost time and missed opportunities, one adventure at a time. Remove Ads. **2019: Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and National Monument, Sec. LW2054 - William Mulholland, Civil Engineer & St. Francis Dam Builder, LW2206 - William Mulholland, Civil Engineer & St. Francis Dam Builder. LOS ANGELES (March 17, 2017) - Located inside San Francisquito Canyon near the trickling waters of the Los Angeles Aqueduct sits the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's (LADWP) Power Plant One, a 70 megawatt (MW) capacity hydroelectric plant whose grand . We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. ", Carol Rising Longo, daughter of St. Francis Dam worker and survivor Ray E. Rising, has similar memories (pers. The ranch also sported horse stables and other outbuildings. FILM: Pathe Newsreel Footage of Broken St. Francis Dam and Story of Pilot Who Died Getting It, 3-13-1928. All of those amenities were in serious disrepair when Knauber's family moved in. 920 CASA DE SAN PEDRO - The first known commercial structure on the shore of San Pedro Bay was built here in 1823 by the trading firm of McCulloch and Hartnell to store cattle hides from the San Gabriel and San Fernando missions.
Avoiding Regret: Photo Essay: What's Left of the St. Francis Dam The restaurant continued to be listed in the local 1969 phone book but had already been shuttered. Though the Los Angeles River could provide enough water for hundreds of thousands of resident Angelenos, the millions that Mulholland envisioned living in the future metropolis would would quickly parch the local rivers and aquifers. Only the 1906 San Francisco earthquake accounted for more fatalities.
Lyon's Station - elsmerecanyon.com You can walk down to the dam site down this "Old" San Francisquito Canyon Road, which is now closed to traffic. 2023. In the Depression Era of the 1930s, Author Marshall South built a home at the top of what he called Ghost Mountain. There was also a basement, which is where I slept.". Ada on Catalina Island, The, EVENT: Explore the St. Francis Dam Disaster Site & LA Aqueduct, Photo Essay: Riverside Main Library's New Life As The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, Photo Essay: The End of the Line for the Last of Its Kind, Gardena Cinema, Photo Essay: In Search of Terra Firma in the Mojave Desert, Where Earthquakes Cracked the Earth, Photo Essay: Wildflower Season Begins at Hemet Maze Stone, Photo Essay: The 8th Wonder of the World Is In Palm Springs? LW2714 - Power House No.
While the aqueduct's construction was a source of enormous controversy both locally and in Owens River Valleysee: the San Fernando Valley land grab and California Water Wars, both fictionalized in the film Chinatownthe aqueduct's completion ultimately ensured a reliable supply of water that the Angelenos could drink from for decades to come. All of those amenities were in serious disrepair when Knauber's family moved in. comm. HS0101 - St. Francis Dam Site, January 2001. The photographs were made to illustrate a feature story about the ranch, probably (Photo via Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection) On its way to the ocean, a full 54 miles away from where the dam once stood, the wave devastated the towns of Castaic, Saugus, Bardsdale, Saticoy, Santa Paula, Piru and Fillmore. Plat of the "Hicken" homestead; "Hickin" is probably correct. Lynda Deem Burke said. 10/2/2018: HR2156: Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial Act: U.S. Senate Committee Substitute But I also didn't plan on arriving lat Back in 2009, during one of my first visits to Palm Springs , I did what tourists do: I rode the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. 1 Employee Time Book for 1928. The dam was located in the San Francisquito Canyon, about 5 miles northeast of what is now Magic Mountain, California. Video broadcast Tuesday Feb. 1, 2021 on the NBC4 News. 4 Beds.
San Francisquito Canyon - Wikipedia san francisquito canyon abandoned house san francisquito canyon abandoned house. FR3001 - Power House No. Photo Gallery - Cascades Open for L.A. Aqueduct Centennial, Multiple Views, 11-9-2013. AL3042 - St. Francis Dam Failure, Real Photo Postcard, Ruins of the Dam, April 13, 1928. AL1201 - Letter of Recommendation from Concrete Supt., Sent from Surrey, 1912. Survivors Remember St. Francis Dam Tragedy by Pearl Obispo The Signal, 3-17-2003. Not much is said about this historical landmark in San Berardino County, but the stone steps up to what is said to be an old bath house is an interesting place to explore. 1995 - Philip Scorza & Frank Rock: St. Francis Dam Disaster HC2808 - Western Abutment After the Break, 1928. San Francisquito Canyon Road was built to go right past the dam site through the canyon, past all of the rubble, but it was washed out in the early 2000s by rain, and thereafter decommissioned, replaced by a rerouted new road.
33 USC CHAPTER 36, SUBCHAPTER V: GENERAL PROVISIONS - uscode.house.gov Story of a St. Francis Dam Survivor by Lauren Grokett For The Signal Zone, 11-23-2001.
St. Francis Dam-Ruins of Collapsed Dam - Yelp (Photo via Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection) The dam itself was the second concrete dam designed and built by Mulholland and his water department. This is an archival story that predates current editorial management. San Francisquito Canyon is a canyon created through erosion of the Sierra Pelona Mountains by the San Francisquito Creek, in Los Angeles County, Southern California.[1].
English - Cadillac Desert Mulholland's Dream merged files | Amara The acres ( sq. The canyon grows wider as it approaches the Santa Clarita Valley. The ruins found in Solstice Canyon have become a popular hiking and exploration site. The March 12, 1928, collapse of the St. Francis Dam north of Los Angeles is, in terms of loss of life, the second-greatest disaster in California history. Courses. In his own words, he was seeking silence and peace when he moved his family to this harsh and remote. HS7050 - Photo Gallery: Fillmore-Bardsdale Flood Damage, March 1928. Spent many days riding horses and swimming at that ranch. "The construction of a municipal dam should never be left to the sole judgment of one man, no matter how eminent," the jury said. Doors and windows were nailed shut, the pool was empty and needed new filters (which were stored in a manmade cave in the hillside), dozens of peacocks roamed the ranch because the aviary was wrecked, and the side house needed extensive repair. 1 sometimes to swim in the big pond there. 2001 - Frank Black (Music): St. Francis Dam Disaster, ST. FRANCIS DAM NATIONAL MEMORIAL LEG. Sq. The division's geologists and engineers review and approve dam construction plans and conduct regular inspections. Seven miles up San Francisquito Canyon in far northern Los Angeles County, at an unmarked spot on an abandoned county road, there's a pile of rubble. Download original scans, SCVHistory.com is another service of SCVTV, a 501c3 Nonprofit Site contents SCVTV. Located in the northern rim of the Santa Clarita Valley, about a 40 minute drive north of Los Angeles, the canyon is nondescriptnot particularly different than any one of the hundreds of other foothill canyons all over Southern California. 2003, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: San Francisquito Canyon, "Roster of St. Francis Dam Disaster Victims", Rancho El Rio de Santa Clara o la Colonia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=San_Francisquito_Canyon&oldid=1119939015, Landforms of Los Angeles County, California, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using Infobox landform with no type, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 4 November 2022, at 06:38. WS2801 - Cleanup at Power House No. juanita maria spencer car accident californiapan peninsula canary wharf service charge juanita maria spencer car accident california Before it broke, the dam was a instrumental component of the long and windy chain of infrastructure that moved drinkable water from the Owens River Valley, in Inyo County, to the mushrooming city, 233 miles to the south, known as Los Angeles. 2 in the 1950s a couple of times for swim parties, once for a Halloween Party, and once for a picnic. SR2701 - Baby Book of Richard Bruitt Smith, b. Unfortunately for him, a collage of private ranching interests owned much of the land Los Angeles would have needed to purchase. (Matt Tinoco/LAist) A five minute drive past Power Plant #2 is a gravelly turnoff from where you may park. AP2319 - Perea Property / Raggio Ranch, 1887. On April 16 and April 28, 1917, Units 2 and 3 were placed in operation bringing the facilitys capacity up to 28 MW, enough for about 20,000 homes. The Rent Zestimate for this home is $2,600/mo, which has increased by $65/mo in the last 30 days. This Censored Life, Or, I Will Not Go Quietly. WF2800 - St. Francis Dam Disaster, 6 Contemporary Photo Postcards Including Generators, 1928. Don't let people be killed. This property is not currently available for sale. Mulholland also received a telephone call in the wee hours of the morning on March 13. That section, featured in a front-page photo in the March 14, 1928 Los Angeles Times, was later blasted to pieces. The Zestimate for this house is $398,003, which has decreased by $35,184 in the last 30 days. Ranch and restaurant owner Gladys F. Phillips is the woman seated at the bar in the interior photos (per Lynda Deem Burke; see below). 1 sometimes to swim in the big pond there.
engineering failures due to ethics - cheapcarshippingrates.com FILM: St. Francis Dam Under Construction in "The Temptress" MGM 1926. In the 1920s, Tumble Inn, which included a hostel and a gas station, was built along the old Ridge Route and was a stopping point for many travelers. The crash was reported just after 4 p.m. on San Francisquito Canyon .
Francisquito Conservation Camp #4 - California Department of San Francisquito Power Plant No.
The camp is jointly operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LAC). MLS# SR21049733. published in the Los Angeles Times or the (San Fernando) Valley Times, which was an unrelated publication. A state commission later determined that the dam was poorly built in a geologically unstable site. There was nothing resembling an advanced warning system, which might have provided residents downstream from the rush of water with time to evacuate. ", Carol Rising Longo, daughter of St. Francis Dam worker and survivor Ray E. Rising, has similar memories (pers. When it first opened its doors Power Plant One had just one generator, producing 9375 kilowatts, enough to power over 6,500 homes today. A patchwork of telephone switchboard operators and motorcycle police officers began the frantic task of notifying residents of low lying areas in its path. 2009 - John Bergstrom (Music Video): The St. Francis Dam LW2986 - People Stand on Footbridge Over Forebay, 1926-1928. The collapse of the St. Francis Dam is considered to be one of the . JB2801 - Power House No. 1926 - Dam Under Construction in 'The Temptress' (Greta Garbo) AL1301 - ARCHIVE FOOTAGE: Construction & Opening of L.A. Aqueduct, Mulholland, Etc., 1913. "Phil (Phillips) did build the ranch to be a resort," Knauber said. Though the bond campaign almost didn't make it, Mulholland managed to persuade investors to buy $1.5 million of municipal bonds. SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (KABC) -- Three men died and two people were injured in a fiery crash in Santa Clarita, officials say. 2006 - Hetta Laurena Carter and the Sloppy Cement The death toll was estimated at more than 450, but experts say that figure could be much higher. St. Francis Dam: One Family's Ordeal by David Desmond Gazette, July-August 2006.
1929 - Fox Newsreel: Setting Charges to Blow Up the Tombstone, Wing Dyke
1928 - Path Newsreel: St. Francis Dam Disaster 2 were invited there several times when I was growing up at No. San Francisquito's Power House #1 by Kimberley Renee 2 This is one of two generating plants in San Francisquito Canyon where the Los Angeles Aqueduct runs alongside the canyon. L.A. Board of Water & Power Commissioners Annual Report, 6-30-1929. 2 and Clubhouse, 1927. A modest pile of concrete, half buried by soil and vegetation on the canyon's floor, is all that remains of the once nearly 200-foot tall dam. LOS ANGELES (March 17, 2017) Located inside San Francisquito Canyon near the trickling waters of the Los Angeles Aqueduct sits the Los Angeles Department of Water and Powers (LADWP) Power Plant One, a 70 megawatt (MW) capacity hydroelectric plant whose grand opening 100 years ago today marked the start of Los Angeles electric future. Roll No. DI2816 - Unidentified Person Climbs the St. Francis Dam Tombstone, 1928. Of the equipment inside the century-old facility, one of the original 1917 turbine generators remains intact Unit 3 with 10 MW of capacity. California is not generally considered a particularly old place, but believe it or not, this state is full of history. Bill Hart and the Little Dam Victim by Leon Worden The Signal, 5-17-2003. .
Remembering the March 1928 St. Francis Dam Disaster North of Los Click to enlarge. LW2985 - St. Francis Dam Under Construction ~1925-1926. By the spring of 1928, the reservoir in San Francisquito Canyon was a. After the fire, the former restaurant building was vandalized by drug users. Badwater Road, Badwater Rd, Furnace Creek, CA, USA. The home was at one time featured in Architectural Digest, but is now in ruins after a fire destroyed it. The Hunick family probably lived farther downriver during the 1928 flood, because Bert Hunick lost a sister and uncle in the dam failure Jefferson Hunick, 82, and Ellen (Hunick) Crosno, 55, daughter of Charles Hunick. California Historical Landmark No. comm. At its height, nearly 1000 people had moved to this colony established by Job Harriman, who dreamed of cooperative living "without war or interest on money or rent or land or profiteering." . 1928. 3D WALKTHROUGH. www.ladwp.com/CustomerService, To report a power outage MEDIA ADVISORY: LADWP Board President and General Manager to March with NSBE Employees at 38th Annual Kingdom Day Parade to Honor the Legacy of MLK, Jr. April 23, 2022 | Chatsworth Nature Preserve Earth Day Open House, May 21-22, 2021| Municipal Green Building Conference & Expo (MGBCE). By the end of the 1890s, Mulholland had overseen the modernization of Los Angeles' water infrastructure from an ad hoc collection of rickety pipes and wells, into a modernized system that pumped its water from the vast underground flow of the Los Angeles Riverand metered its customers. St. Francis Dam Disaster. The exhibition areas located both indoors and outdoors, feature historic photos, equipment and information. With an initial 28 MW capacity, it provided more than enough power to serve the entire city of Los Angeles. Upcoming Courses. 40422 San Francisquito Canyon Rd was last sold on Nov 1, 2021 for $1,135,000 (9% lower than the asking price of $1,250,000). HB1402 - St. Francis Dam Rubble, 11-14-2014. LW3682 - Photo Gallery: 1940s LADWP House at Dry Canyon Reservoir, 2020. Location: San Francisquito Power Plant No. comm. Nothing greets you when you arrive at the site of Southern California's single most deadly disaster. Construction proceeded uneventfully, and water began filling the dam in March of 1926. DI2818 - St. Francis Dam Ruins: Block 5 (1928). Original 2009 - Raw Oral History: Biz Basolo, Fillmore Resident & Dam Survivor At the time, Hopewell figured he was heard a landslide. Title records show the land was deeded in 1946 to Bert W. Hunick and wife Ora Hunick. Power Plant Ones capacity and generation success provided more than enough electricity to meet the Citys needs. Click to enlarge. HC2801 - Dam: Plugging Leak with Sloppy Cement, 2/1928. His work at the beginning consisted largely of digging ditches and laying down iron pipe to transport water from the Los Angeles River, to other neighborhoods around the city, but Mulholland's ingenuity and wry brilliance for water engineering meant he quickly became one of the city's lead watermen. AL3034 - St. Francis Dam Under Construction ~1925. The water continued on its deadly path until around 5:30 a.m. a day later. Sold - 39210 San Francisquito Canyon Rd, Santa Clarita, CA - $398,000. published in the Los Angeles Times or the (San Fernando) Valley Times, which was an unrelated publication. The kids from No. OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. L.A. Board of Public Service Commissioners Annual Report, 6-30-1923. "Gladys said it was very popular for quite a while, having a pool, a restaurant, an aviary, a shooting range, deer and quail hunting, horse back riding and far enough away to limit uninvited law enforcement.". HS2811 - Telephone Company Crew, 3 Miles West of Castaic Junction, ~1928. The mine only operated for two years and, along with the mine itself, the kilns were abandoned. "Breaking of the St. Francis Dam" 78 RPM Record | by John Hutchens (J. McGhee), 3-25-1928. The first is the Mulholland Dam in Hollywood Hills, responsible for Lake Hollywood, which supplied the basic design for St. Francis Dam. The middle and upper portions of this canyon fall within the Angeles National Forest. (28) Photos 2016.
A city electric employee, Ace Hopewell, rode his motorcycle past the dam about 10 minutes before it collapsed. (Photo via Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection). LW3791 - (Kemp) Edison Camp Survivor C.E. AP2333 - St. Francis Dam Failure, March 1928. AL1959 - Oil Wells and Los Angeles Aqueduct, Placerita Canyon, 1940s-50s. It was the most amazing pool and house I had ever seen as a young child. Even Near The Hollywood Sign, Authorities ID Man Arrested In Killing Of LA Auxiliary Bishop David O'Connell As Husband Of Housekeeper, Another Missing Hiker Has Been Found Dead In San Gabriels As Search For Actor Julian Sands Continues. 1111 of S.47, 116th Congress 2019 After a year or so of planning and engineering, the L.A. Bureau of Water Works and Supply began pouring concrete for dam in August of 1924. 2016: Knight's HR5244: Giving the Victims Their Due (Pollack/Heritage Junction Dispatch) Conan Nolan reports for NBC4 in November 1999. In March 1928, the worst civil engineering failure in California history killed more than 450 people when a wall of water carved a path of staggering destruction from a canyon north of Los Angeles to the coast. Annual SCVHS St. Francis Dam Disaster Lecture (Video) 3-11-2017.