-
The Saint Francis Dam failed at -
11:57:30 P.M. March 12, 1928
- It was in 1967 when I chose a book from the school library about great disasters in history. I don't remember the name of the book but found it interesting reading. The author wrote of great earthquakes, floods, storms, shipwrecks and fires.
- There was a small article about a disaster in California involving a dam collapse and the resulting flood. The author wrote five paragraphs describing the disaster and mentioned its name only once. After finishing the book the irony of such a great disaster only receiving barely two pages of notice inspired me to look deeper into the story. I found only several more brief accounts about the event when searching the local library. The account of the this disaster and it's forgotten story remained with me, flickering occasionally in my memory throughout high school and college.
- Twenty three years later I moved to California and several months after unpacking rode my motorcycle to San Francisquito Canyon looking for the St. Francis Dam. I found it. Well, I found the remains of the dam, as huge pieces of concrete strewn along the canyon floor. Something else was discovered about the disaster that day. No one that I asked about the location of the dam or the dam's failure knew anything about it.
The
Saint Francis Dam, circa.
The Saint Francis Dam, March
13, 1928
Read an epic poem about the disaster. - Some of the best links on the internet.
