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Uploaded 12/31/2013

Frank Rock: 1928 St. Francis Dam Disaster

FRANK ROCK
Topic: St. Francis Dam Disaster of 1928
With Historical Photos & Film Footage

2002

[TEXT & PHOTOS OF THE ST. FRANCIS DAM]

(c)2002/2013 SCVTV
6 Comments for Legacy: Frank Rock: 1928 St. Francis Dam Disaster
  1. Matthew Cohen says:

    Paula G: Frank said that the BODIES were found in San Diego. In other words when the water reached the ocean at Ventura the currents washed the bodies from Ventura all the way to San Diego.

  2. paula graham says:

    The water ending up in the pacific ocean was into ventura… not san diego … little glitch there…

    • Matthew Cohen says:

      Paula G: Frank said that the BODIES were found in San Diego. In other words when the water reached the ocean at Ventura the currents washed the bodies from Ventura all the way to San Diego.

  3. Shaun Hughes says:

    Greetings from Gateshead, England. Fascinating presentation. A Hidden Los Angeles post on Facebook made me look up the disaster on Wikipedia, and a link brought me here. I enjoyed the presentation immensely. And the story is one to be told. Thank you.

  4. Harvey Zwyer says:

    the is little montion in the articles that I read that the additional 10 feet of height caused the failure asyou said. From what I can interpret the location was poor causing all sorts of issues on the east and west side of the dam.
    No one discussed that the inspections by Mulholland were worthless. What should they look at given that the dam failed due to the undermining of the foundations?

  5. Gene Majors says:

    Great presentation. My parents, grandmother and great-grand-parents were at the dam on the day of March 12, 1928. It was a Sunday drive to celebrate my mother’s 19th birthday the next day (March 13). My great-grandfather noticed the muddy water and knew something was wrong and told my father that they needed to get out of there. As they were leaving, my mother had my dad stop the car and she took a photo of the dam. It is posted on this web page. She wrote on the photo, “St Francis Dam. The day before it went out”. I grew up hearing this story and in the late 1950’s visited the site with my parents.

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