The Man Mulholland Drive Is Named After: The St. Francis Dam Disaster

On the morning of 12 March 1928, the dam keeper reported a muddy leak. William Mulholland, the engineer Mulholland Drive is named after, inspected it and declared the dam safe. Twelve hours later it collapsed, and at least 431 people died. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold Open 0:57 The Ordinary Day 2:19 The Fault 4:49 The Failure 7:12 The Aftermath 9:00 What Changed SOURCES Coroner's inquest testimony and verdict (1928); Governor's Commission report (1928); J. David Rogers, geological re-analysis of the failure; Ann Stansell, Forgotten Casualty Project, CSUN (2014); Museum of Ventura County; Association of State Dam Safety Officials; Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. ARCHIVAL FILM & IMAGES Film: "Destruction of a Dam" (c.1928), Prelinger Archives via Internet Archive (public domain). Aftermath footage only, cropped and edited. Photos: H.T. Stearns / U.S. Geological Survey (public domain); U.S. Geological Survey, "Twisted Tracks" (CC BY 2.0); Pacific and Atlantic photo agency via Gallica (public domain); Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and Los Angeles Times (public domain); James W. Bledsoe, portrait of William Mulholland (public domain); unknown photographers, 1928 (public domain). Photos via Wikimedia Commons: SkyG702, "Aftermath Canyon", "Pp2before", "Pp2after" (CC BY-SA 4.0); Imveracity, "St. Francis dam", "Largest section of dam found downstream" (CC BY-SA 4.0); Imveracious, historical marker (CC BY-SA 3.0); Konrad Summers, "St. Francis Dam base remains" (CC BY-SA 2.0); Chris English, "Santa Paula St Francis Dam Disaster Memorial" (CC BY-SA 3.0). Maps: Kbh3rd, San Francisquito Reservoir topo and terrain relief (CC BY-SA 3.0 / CC BY 3.0). Drawing: Historic American Engineering Record, Los Angeles Aqueduct, HAER CA-298 (public domain).