Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures
> SAN FRANCISQUITO CANYON   > RUIZ CEMETERY INDEX
Ruiz Family, Dam Victims
Ruiz Cemetery, San Francisquito Canyon

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Niebes Ruiz 1794-1904

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Enrique (Henry) & Rosaria Ruiz

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March 9, 2002 — Seven direct members of the Ruiz family — Enrique (Henry), Rosaria, four of their unmarried children and their married daughter Rosarita Erratchuo — were killed by floodwaters shortly after midnight on March 13, 1928 — moments after the St. Francis Dam broke at three minutes before midnight on March 12.

Note that this is photograph was shot just prior to the Copper Fire of June 5, 2002.


Construction on the 600-foot-long, 185-foot-high St. Francis Dam started in August 1924. With a 12.5-billion-gallon capacity, the reservoir began to fill with water on March 1, 1926. It was completed two months later.

At 11:57:30 p.m. on March 12, 1928, the dam failed, sending a 180-foot-high wall of water crashing down San Francisquito Canyon. An estimated 411 people lay dead by the time the floodwaters reached the Pacific Ocean south of Ventura 5½ hours later.

It was the second-worst disaster in California history, after the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, in terms of lives lost — and America's worst civil engineering failure of the 20th Century.


LW2154c: 9600 dpi jpeg from digital image by Leon Worden.
RUIZ CEMETERY

INDEX


CENSUS-1 | CENSUS-2


Perea-Ruiz-Raggio Property


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Enrique (Henry) & Rosaria Ruiz

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Ruiz Family x7

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Perea (Founder)

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Constant LeBrun

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Gus LeBrun Marker & Death Certificate

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Nick Rivera

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Leonardo Cesena

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Erratchuo 1928

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1928 Mourners

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Newhall Cowboys 1928 Marker x2

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Johnny Cordova

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1963 Mabel Packard Wagner Visit x5

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Fred & Frances Cooke

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Harry S. Chacanaca

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Pre-2002 Fire

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2002 Copper Fire x10

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Raw Video ~2004

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Tesoro Extension 2015

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City Open Space 2018

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