St. Francis Dam

The St. Francis Dam, or the San Francisquito Dam, was a <a href="/facts/Concrete/K6whGVNx">concrete</a> <a href="/facts/Gravity_dam/yTDn9Qv0">gravity dam</a> located in <a href="/facts/San_Francisquito_Canyon/lSa6SPNf">San Francisquito Canyon</a> in northern <a href="/facts/Los_Angeles_County,_California/y0xFvt6t">Los Angeles County, California</a>, United States, that was built between 1924 and 1926. The dam <a href="/facts/Dam_failure/ucfqEKGI">failed catastrophically</a> in 1928, killing at least 431 people in the subsequent flood, in what is considered to have been one of the worst American <a href="/facts/Civil_engineering/avh5kEq2">civil engineering</a> disasters of the 20th century and the third-greatest loss of life in California history.
The dam was built to serve the growing water needs of the city of <a href="/facts/Los_Angeles/pyXpYEX9">Los Angeles</a>, creating a large regulating and storage <a href="/facts/Reservoir/2FewszmR">reservoir</a> that was an integral part of the <a href="/facts/Los_Angeles_Aqueduct/2dddhAlk">Los Angeles Aqueduct</a>. It was located in San Francisquito Canyon of the <a href="/facts/Sierra_Pelona_Mountains/goSs05Gr">Sierra Pelona Mountains</a>, about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of the present day city of <a href="/facts/Santa_Clarita,_California/mhobzNSd">Santa Clarita</a>. 
However, a defective soil foundation and <a href="/facts/Product_defect/1AxySAqA">design flaws</a> led to the dam's collapse just two years after its completion. Its failure ended the career of <a href="/facts/William_Mulholland/JNfX5Lh6">William Mulholland</a>, the general manager and chief engineer of the Bureau of Water Works and Supply (now the <a href="/facts/Los_Angeles_Department_of_Water_and_Power/JtWRo6kv">Los Angeles Department of Water and Power</a>).

St. Francis Dam open-in-new

St. Francis Dam