Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures

St. Francis Dam Disaster.
The Topeka State Journal(newspaper),
Tuesday, March 13, 1928.


Click image to enlarge

DAM BREAKS, 200 DEAD
Water Rushes Down Santa Paula Valley, California, Drowning Hundreds While They Sleep


FEW GIVEN CHANCE TO
ESCAPE AFTER SUDDEN
OPENING OF RESERVOIR


Under Sheriff in Charge of Rescue Work
Wires Los Angeles Office 100 Bodies Re-
covered Where Waters Entered Santa
Paula and Santa Clara Rivers.


SOME ESTIMATE
DEATH TOLL MAY
GO AS HIGH AS 400


Others Believed Lying Under
Yellow Sand of Canyon


Property Damage For Thirty
Miles To Reach Millions.


FIRST LAID TO EARTHQUAKE


Later Reports Declare Dam
Was Weakened By Seapage.


Camp of Southern California
Edison Co. Is Engulfed

As can be seen in this Topeka, KS newspaper from March 13, 1928, the St. Francis Dam disaster was big news and made huge banner headlines all over the country when first reported in the press. Today this second largest disaster in California history is mostly forgotten in the rest of the country but well remembered in the Santa Clarita Valley.


al2038: Newspaper images: 9600 dpi jpeg of 300 dpi jpg of original newspaper from the collection of Alan Pollack
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