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Personnel
The entire personnel of the Department of Water
Works and Supply and the Department of Water and Power
Commissioners, who were responsible for the building of the
dam, appears to have had an unusual degree of confidence in
the Chief Engineer and relied entirely upon his ability,
experience and infallibility in matters of engineering
judgment.
With a background of many years of very dis-
tinguished achievement in the building of a great water
works system, including seventeen earth fill and rock fill
dams, there was ample reason for a very high degree of
confidence.
However, the Chief Engineer and his principal
I
assistants had had limited experience in the building of
large masonry or concrete dams prior to the building of the
St. Francis Dam. Earth fill and rock fill dams are built
wholly or in part on unconsolidated or yielding foundations,
while masonry or concrete dams must have hard, impervious,
unyielding foundations. This organization apparently did not
appreciate the necessity of doing the many things that must
be done in order to be certain that the foundation of a dam
of the concrete gravity type is and will remain hard,
impervious and unyielding.
As a consequence of these conditions, serious
errors were made, while the entire responsible organization
seemed confident that they were maintaining their previous
,
high standard of accomplishment.
There appears to have been no disposition to
neglect anything because of expense, as funds were available
to moot any requirement deemed necessary. The only reasonable
explanation is that those in charge were completely deceived
as to the true conditions and acted through ignorance and not
from intent to omit any precaution from any motive.
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