AKA: City of Los Angeles, Department of Water and Power (LADWP), St. Francis Dam, Saugus, CA

Structure Type: built works - infrastructure - transportation structures - dams

Designers: William Mulholland (civil engineer)

Dates: constructed 1925-1926, demolished 1928

Saugus, CA

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Located near Saugus in the San Francisquito Canyon;

Part of the Los Angeles Aqueduct system, this 180-foot high 600-foot wide concrete dam broke on 03/12/1928, spilling 124 billion gallons of water throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, killing over 500 people and doing $20 million of damage; designed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Chief Engineer, William Mulholland; Mulholland retired in disgrace after the disaster in the early 1930s; recent study of the causes of the disaster seemed to indicate that underlying geologic conditions caused the dam to give way; the dam's left abutment was secured to a fragile, subterranean paleo-megaslide that could not have been detected by Mulholland in 1928; the dam was built by the Los Angeles Bureau of Water Works and Supply, 1925-1926;

Demolished; Failed upon its first filling, 03/12/1928;

PCAD id: 1673