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histories, local historians’ interpretations, public commentary, archival documents, and

archaeological resources are all utilized in this analysis to explore how memories are

established and transmitted within a community and persist over time. This analysis will

reveal the combination of forces influencing the collective forgetting of the disaster, as well

as how memory has persisted within the flood zone.

Historical Background

The St. Francis Dam failure is a salient component within the broader context of

California history as well as the lore associated with the development of water resources in

the West. The dam was a feature of the First Los Angeles Aqueduct, built by the City of Los

Angeles’ Bureau of Water Works and Supply (BWWS), under the direction of Chief

Engineer William Mulholland. Mulholland’s Owens Valley - Los Angeles Aqueduct played

a central role in the explosive growth of Los Angeles. His legacy also includes what is

considered to be the greatest civil engineering disaster in modern United States history

(Jackson and Hundley 2004:9). The St. Francis Dam disaster is the second largest disaster in

California history, in terms of loss of life, and is the largest man-made disaster in the state.

The failure resulted in changes in dam design and construction in California and across the

country.

A worst-case scenario, the St. Francis Dam catastrophically failed precisely at

11:57:30 p.m. on March 12, 1928. In the darkness of night, 12.38 billion gallons of water

drained in less than 72 minutes down narrow San Francisquito Canyon, through the Santa

Clara River Valley, to the Pacific Ocean. The flood carried with it trees, buildings, fences,

telegraph poles, railway tracks – everything in its path. Some victims drown; others were

crushed and mangled by impaction with moving objects (Reardon 1928; Claims Records

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