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World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2017 391
Deputy DA Dennison followed with a series of questions that sought to identify ultimate
responsibility for constructing a dam without any site-specific input, other than the constraints of
the natural topography:
Q: I want to know if I have this thing straight now. The Coroner asked you this question and I
don’t think it has been answered definitely; who designed the St. Francis Dam?
A: The St. Francis Dam was designed under the instructions of the Chief Engineer and based on
studies which were made for a gravity type dam, which was the Hollywood Dam, that is, the
main study is,- as I explained - that was made on the basis of a dam two hundred and ten feet
high and it was applied to both of the studies in connection with that and were applied to both of
these dams.
Q: Now, who designed the St. Francis Dam? Did you design it?
A: I did not.
Q: Did Mr. Mulholland design it?
A: It was designed under his instructions.
Q: Then, am I to understand that Mr. Mulholland designed the St. Francis Dam?
A: It was designed under his instructions.
Q: Did you design the Hollywood Dam?
A: No sir.
Q: Who did design it?
A: It was designed under Mr. Mulholland’s instructions, and Mr. Bayley was detailed on that
work, and other men made the details under his instructions.
Q: “Did I get this correct? Is this information you are trying to give the Coroner: that Mr.
Mulholland designed the Hollywood Dam, that is, he said that he wanted a dam over there?”
A: “He gave instructions for a dam to be designed with a gravity type section, according to the
best engineering practice and it was assigned to Mr. Bayley to do that.”
Q: And Mr. Bayley had prepared the blueprints in accordance with Mr. Mulholland’s request
for a dam?
A: He prepared studies in connection with that, and, as a result, the drawings were made.
Q: And then, when they wanted the St. Francis Dam, they got out the old drawings of the
Hollywood and revamped them under your instructions and sent them up there?
A: They got out the computations and the studies on the Hollywood Dam, and the matter was
gone into with Mr. Mulholland and others at that time.
CONCLUSIONS
The maximum cross section of St. Francis Dam provided by BWWS after the failure was not
entirely factual, suggesting a higher base-to-height ratio than actually existed. This oversight
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2017
