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NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018
(Rev. 8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number 7 Page 1
St. Francis Dam (Site of), Los Angeles County, California — Narrative Description [continued]
The St. Francis Dam site is located within San Francisquito Canyon in northern Los Angeles County, approximately ten miles to
the northeast of the nearest urbanized place, the City of Santa Clarita. The dam site consists of a portion of the creek bed and two
steep hillsides flanking the creek, as well as a small segment of the post-disaster two-lane blacktop San Francisquito Canyon Road
constructed along the canyon floor bisecting the dam site on the northern side of the creek. Powerhouse No. 2, located nearby, is not
included in this nomination.
The site of the base of the dam at San Francisquito Creek is located at approximately 1,650 feet Mean Sea Level (MSL) in elevation.
The tops of the abutments were located on the flanking hillsides to the northwest and southeast, at approximately 1,850 MSL. Some
concrete rubble from the collapsed portions of the dam is included within the nominated site, but is not readily distinguishable from
the surrounding natural materials of the canyon floor. The pulverized remains of the concrete structure which formed the dam’s
western wing dike is somewhat more visible. [Figure 2]
The topography within the setting of the dam site is a combination of rolling and steep hillsides with local peaks to roughly 1,000
feet above the canyon floor. Vegetation is mainly native chaparral, and riparian within the channel of San Francisquito Creek. Surface
flows within the creek are seasonal. San Francisquito Powerhouse No. 2 is located approximately 1.2 miles downstream from the
dam site.