Historians mark anniversary of St. Francis Dam collapse
By Eliav Appelbaum eliav@theacorn.com

When people think of California disasters, the first thing that comes to mind is the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

What about the St. Francis Dam disaster?

In the second-worst disaster in state history, the St. Francis Dam, located in the San Francisquito Canyon near Santa Clarita, burst three minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928. The dam's failure resulted in the deaths of more than 600 people, and its floodwaters reached as far as the city of Ventura and the Pacific Ocean.

Considered by many historians to be one of the worst American civil engineering failures of the 20th century, the St. Francis Dam disaster commemorated its 80th anniversary earlier this week.

Few Southern Californians, however, are aware of the catastrophe.

Mary Wilson was one of those people.

"I hadn't even heard about it until I got into local history," said Wilson, a Ventura County Continuing Education teacher.

For the last five years, Wilson, 52, an Oak View resident, has collected stories about local history as part of Turn Back the Pages, a historical preservation program. Her older students kept bringing up the dam disaster.

"Everyone said, 'You have to do something on the St. Francis Dam. That's the biggest thing that ever happened in Ventura County,'" Wilson said.

Wilson is coordinating a project that will donate audio recordings, photographs and historical documents of the county's biggest events to libraries and museums. Among the items will be a CD of 20-plus songs about Ventura County figures and events, including one called "St. Francis Dam Disaster," with lyrics by Wilson and music by Merlin Snider.

Wilson has gathered vignettes and anecdotes from students and survivors as well as from some contributors who learned about the event from family members.

The dam was built from 1924 to 1926 under the direction of William Mulholland, chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The disaster marked the end of Mulholland's professional career.

When the St. Francis Dam ruptured, 12 billion gallons of water surged through the canyon, creating a warpath of raging waters, mud and debris. The waters flooded parts of Valencia and Newhall, and turned west into the Santa Clara riverbed. The deluge struck towns like Fillmore, Piru and Santa Paula, and eventually reached the Pacific Ocean at Montalvo, 54 miles away from the dam.

Bodies of victims, found as far south as the Mexican border, were discovered every few years until the 1950s. The remains of one victim were discovered as late as 1992 near Newhall.

Even though the St. Francis Dam disaster marks a dark chapter in Ventura County history, it will be remembered as it deserves to be, thanks to the efforts of Wilson and other historians.

"It's amazing how many people don't know that it even happened," Wilson said. "It marked the second biggest loss of life in California state history, behind the (San Francisco) earthquake.

"I think it's important to remember the history of our entire county, and that was the biggest event that happened," she continued. "This project is a tribute to the people who went through that disaster. I think we need to not just live in the moment, but we need to know where we come from. You hear about the Wild West. This was the Wild West, even though it's not so much a Wild West story."