Page 18 - sg_vigilanceforever1994

18 VIGILANCE FOREVER - 75 years of The Signal 1919-1994

St. Francis ing below her felt "like a soft rain." 'That next day was when the sad-
The disaster has been given these ness came," Abigail says. "Mama took
Continued from page 18 dimensions by investigators: A wall of everything out for the Red Cross, and
water 170 feet high hurled down the we all gave up our shoes."
The house was still when Rose canyon at 18 mph, a destructive soup Bill returned the next morning,
awakened her mother just before mid- of concrete and barbed wire debris. muddy and broken, his truck laden
night. The little girl had dressed up for It stripped bark off trees and ripped with bodies, which were taken to a
the Sunday outing, and a favorite ring laces from its victims' shoes, demol- dance hall down the street.
she wore caused painful swelling in ishing 1,200 houses and 10 bridges, "Great St Francis Dam Crumbles,"
her finger. and knocking out power in Castaic, wrote The Signal, March 15, 1928.
"I didn't want to wake the others, so Piru, Santa Paula and Fillmore before Buried in the story, an understated
I took her into the kitchen and turned splashing through Ventura, into the sea paragraph expressed the destruction:
on the light," says "At the San
Abigail. "I Id h • ff • h di Francisquito school, the
She soaped the fin- COU ear It O In t e IStance teacher, Miss Cecelia
th it was like a million freight Small, lived in her own
ger, pulled e ring off, -
and turned off the light. cabin. It is said a small
She took Rose's hand trains letting off steam." boy made his home
and led her back to the with her. Nothing is left
child's room, reaching _ Abigail Riley of the school house or
for a light She pulled cabin, and it is pre-
the switch. sumed both perished."
No lights. In its path, at least 450 people were The dam keeper's lunchbox was
"Then I remembered- the DAM!" dead found among the debris at the site
She ran for her husband, just as a Abigail's mother ran the Round where Powerhouse #2 had been.
neighbor banged on the door, shouting Rock Hotel in Piru, where families of The dam keeper's girlfriend was
that the St. Francis Dam had burst. victims gathered, hoping to find each found there beneath the rubble. "And
"I could hear it off in the distance - other, trying to make sense of the dis- she was fully clothed," Hanson
it was like a million freight trains let- aster. reveals, a fact that suggests the girl had
ting off steam," Abigail said, recalling She remembers a speechless, grief- been walking on the dam when it
how she stood on the front porch as stricken man at the piano, who played failed. Hanson ponders: Was she
Bill went off into the night to help with a soulful melody. The man had lost his alone?
rescue efforts. Mist from the flood rag- entire family in the flood. 'Therein lies the mystery."

"MANY HAVE QUIT AT A TIME WHEN-A LITTLE MORE

EFFORT, A LITTLE MORE PATIENCE, AND A LOT MORE

SERVICE, WOULD HAVE ACHIEVED SUCCESS."

MY GOAL?

To earn the right to be your Realtor®

REALTOR®
Masters Club Thank you for your support in making me the #1 Realtor for

1991-1992-1993 Century 21 in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Century 21
ASK FOR DIANE: (805) 286-5042
Newhall Valencia Realty