|
|
|
1.The Building Of The Dam Begins
|
2.Slowly Coming Together
|
3.Nearing Completion
|
|
4.The dam is completed in 1926 and slowly the reservoir begins to fill with Owens Valley water
|
5. Walking across the dam
|
6. Filled to capacity the morning of the disaster. William Mulholland and his assistants inspect the dam.
|
|
7. The front of the dam on the morning of the disaster. It was so full, water was running over the top.
|
8. Bottom view of the dam and canal
|
9. An artist's rendition of what happened at 11:57 PM, on that faithful night in San Francisquito Canyon
|
|
10. The morning after......
|
11. Shock and Awe: William Mulholland looks over the remains of the collapsed dam. He put all the blame on(wrongfully) himself and lived a virtually exiled life until his death
|
12. This is not the stairway to heaven but refered to as the tombstone. Over 450 people died from the failure of the dam.
|
|
The St. Francis Dam sight today
|
This big mass of concrete is what is left of the dam. Ground Zero
|
This is the remains of the Wing Dyke on the Western Abutement
|
|
Close up view of the wing dyke
|
Heading down San Francisquito Canyon Road toward the dam sight
|
The steps on the downstream side can still be seen. They now face up as the Tombstone was blasted on its back
|
|
A closer view of the Tombstone
|
In the middle of this rubble is the spillway of the dam, which released water out of the dam downstream
|
More broken dam rocks
|
|
This is where all that water was stored. Now it is but a quiet wilderness area
|
Looking towrds the east abutment where other blocks of the dam were demolished
|
In between the Tombstone an the other dam blocks runs a natural stream
|
|
Looking at the East abutment. The V shape carved in the hill is where the dam was anchored
|
The east part of the dam requires a hazordous hike down to the stream and up jagged rock
|
Looking down at the natural stream
|
|
Looking across to the western abutment and where the wing dyke connected to the dam
|
A annual tour of the dam held on every anniversary of the tragedy
|
May all the victims of The St. Francis Disaster rest in peace
|
