Big Rig Crash into Bridge Prompts Closure of San Francisquito Road 51:14 - 51:18 full to the . While the remnants of this old dam may not seem all that amazing, this is a sobering reminder of a great catastrophe. After riding for a few minutes, Hopewell reported hearing an enormous roar. The camp is jointly operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LAC). The diverted portion of Old San Francisquito Canyon Road rejoins with the section that's open to traffic a couple of miles down from the dam site, and just a few feet from Power Plant #2. . comm. Today, a two-lane road named after the canyon itself connects Santa Clarita to the mountain communities of Green Valley and Elizabeth Lake. There was nothing resembling an advanced warning system, which might have provided residents downstream from the rush of water with time to evacuate. The breach unleashed 12 billion gallons of water that spread across the region, carrying mud and debris through towns and farming communities. This could be about when "Phil" Phillips who may have operated an early ready-mix concrete company in the San Fernando Valley and wife Gladys acquired the property. 39210 San Francisquito Canyon Rd, Santa Clarita, CA is a single family home that contains 1,031 sq ft and was built in 1985. AL2024 - St. Francis Dam Before the Break, circa March 1928. 2017). 1932. A 120-foot-high deadly wall of water . Hidden behind a chain-link fence, the California Historic Landmark plaque compresses the history of the dam to a couple rusty paragraphs. Power Plant Ones capacity and generation success provided more than enough electricity to meet the Citys needs. 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The two main buildings the restaurant and the house had been abandoned by the time they were destroyed in the June 2002 Copper fire . ? Remove Ads. The subject property had been reduced to 29.45 acres when the Hunick family acquired it and no longer included the northwest side of San Francisquito Canyon Road. Old . The photographer is identified as Bob Martin; his name and the address of his Hollywood studio appear on the back of related contact sheets. GR0840 - St. Francis Dam Floodpath, 1928. With an initial 28 MW capacity, it provided more than enough power to serve the entire city of Los Angeles. LW2986 - People Stand on Footbridge Over Forebay, 1926-1928. The Zestimate for this house is $398,003, which has decreased by $35,184 in the last 30 days. Built over the course of two years, between 1924 and 1926, the dam was planned and engineered by William Mulholland, the General Manager and Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Bureau of Water Works and Supply. She says hearing that the seismic risk to the dam is taken seriously and that it's been upgraded . The ranch property is shaded yellow; the green lines are property lines. Nuclear Power Plant Planned for Saugus-San Francisquito News Reports 1960. George W.P. 10/2/2018: HR2156: Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial Act: U.S. Senate Committee Substitute Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. Do you know of other interesting ruins in the state? St. Francis Dam Disaster. 2009 - John Bergstrom (Music Video): The St. Francis Dam LW2055 - Wm. The Los Angeles Aqueduct Chapter 23, McGroarty's History of Los Angeles County, 1923. If there is an error in human judgement, I was that human." Sellout Crowd Revisits 1928 Tragedy Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel, SCVHistory.com 3-12-2016. A modest pile of concrete, half buried by soil and vegetation on the canyon's floor, is all that remains of the once nearly 200-foot tall dam. Crash kills 3 in Saugus, 2 others in critical condition 2 were invited there several times when I was growing up at No. 29354 San Francisquito Canyon Rd, Saugus CA, is a Single Family home that contains 3774 sq ft and was built in 1983.It contains 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.This home last sold for $1,190,000 in February 2022. LW3052 - L.A. Aqueduct Construction Headquarters at Saugus Junction, 1907-1912. DI2818 - St. Francis Dam Ruins: Block 5 (1928). AL1101 - L.A. Aqueduct Worker Sends Postcard to Mom from Jawbone Division (Mojave Desert), 1911. Only the 1906 San Francisco earthquake accounted for more fatalities. 39210 San Francisquito Canyon Rd Santa Clarita, CA 91390 A little over a decade later, the property was inundated by the St. Francis reservoir i.e., it was under water from 1924-1928. Nearby homes similar to 28668 San Francisquito Cyn have recently sold between $899K to $1,190K at an average of $430 per square foot. 2023. The canyon grows wider as it approaches the Santa Clarita Valley. Title records show the land was deeded in 1946 to Bert W. Hunick and wife Ora Hunick. View details, map and photos of this single family property with 2 bedrooms and 2 total baths. The death toll was estimated at more than 450, but experts say that figure could be much higher. Camp History. In his own words, he was seeking silence and peace when he moved his family to this harsh and remote. Instead of building dam in Big Tujunga Canyon, he chose instead to build one in San Francisquito Canyon. $368,888. 1928 - Path Newsreel: St. Francis Dam Disaster "The children from Powerhouse No. The Mystery of the Lost Raggio Gold, News reports 1912-1914. Bert and Ora Hunick's granddaughter, Lynda Deem Burke, remembers (pers. The collapse sent a 10-story wall of water barreling down San Francisquito Canyon. AL3028 - St. Francis Dam Failure, Aerial View, March 1928. Plat of the "Hicken" homestead; "Hickin" is probably correct. . 1928 - Fox Newsreel: Nighttime Recovery of Bodies Of course, rapidly expanding Los Angeles was becoming thirstier and thirstier. The (future) Phillips Ranch was under the St. Francis reservoir, shown in blue. FILM: St. Francis Dam Under Construction in "The Temptress" MGM 1926. "Gladys said it was very popular for quite a while, having a pool, a restaurant, an aviary, a shooting range, deer and quail hunting, horse back riding and far enough away to limit uninvited law enforcement.". The summer of 1927 was ripe with conflict between Los Angeles and Owens Valley interests, prompting the withdrawal of about 2.5 billion gallons of water from the reservoir. HS2811 - Telephone Company Crew, 3 Miles West of Castaic Junction, ~1928. At the San Francisquito Canyon head is the San Francisquito Pass, which the early routes between Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley crossed. By the end of the 1890s, Mulholland had overseen the modernization of Los Angeles' water infrastructure from an ad hoc collection of rickety pipes and wells, into a modernized system that pumped its water from the vast underground flow of the Los Angeles Riverand metered its customers. Of the equipment inside the century-old facility, one of the original 1917 turbine generators remains intact Unit 3 with 10 MW of capacity. Have you ever been to any of these historical ruins? 2002 - Gladys Laney (Memories), AUDIO-VIDEO: ST. FRANCIS DAM IN ART-MUSIC-FILM It may not be the easiest thing to do as things have changed a great deal since then. "The Tombstone" stood until 1929. (Photo via Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection) The dam itself was the second concrete dam designed and built by Mulholland and his water department. LW3083 - Ruins of St. Francis Dam & Empty Reservoir, George Watson Photo, March 1928. comm. JB2801 - Power House No. LW2840 - Jawbone Siphon, 3-27-2016 (26 Views). (Photo via Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection) On its way to the ocean, a full 54 miles away from where the dam once stood, the wave devastated the towns of Castaic, Saugus, Bardsdale, Saticoy, Santa Paula, Piru and Fillmore. ft.) lot listed for sale on. 2017 - Oddity Odysseys: Exploring the St. Francis Dam Ruins St. Francis Dam: One Family's Ordeal by David Desmond Gazette, July-August 2006. MF2601 - Walking Across Top of St. Francis Dam, 1926-1928. 3 killed in Santa Clarita collision - Daily News Shown Here: Statute at Large 135 Stat. 920 CASA DE SAN PEDRO - The first known commercial structure on the shore of San Pedro Bay was built here in 1823 by the trading firm of McCulloch and Hartnell to store cattle hides from the San Gabriel and San Fernando missions. "William Mulholland" Presides Over L.A. Aqueduct Cascades Centennial LADWP, 11-5-2013. Worried that the new leak's dirty qualities could indicate the dam's foundation was eroding, Harnischfeger phoned immediately for Mulholland. The crash at 29889 San Francisquito Canyon Road . With the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, it became possible to harness the power of the entirely gravity fed water system and use it to generate electricity effectively at little cost. ", Carol Rising Longo, daughter of St. Francis Dam worker and survivor Ray E. Rising, has similar memories (pers. More than 400 people were killed when water burst through the leaky dam and roared across a widespread part of the area northwest of Los Angeles. From the Archives: The 1928 St. Francis Dam collapse HS2809 - St. Francis Dam Shortly Before Its Collapse. Two minutes before midnight on March 12, the dam failed catastrophically, sending a tsunami down into San Francisquito Canyon. San Francisquito Canyon Road was built to go right past the dam site through the canyon, past all of the rubble, but it was washed out in the early 2000s by rain, and thereafter decommissioned, replaced by a rerouted new road. AL2091 - Power House No. We would stop at Phillips Ranch to sit under the trees and rest and even used the bathroom there at times.". It was the most amazing pool and house I had ever seen as a young child. A few hours later at about midnight, the Harnischfegers were among the first to die when a wall of water roared down on the canyon. St. Francis Dam Disaster Poem by Ron Pinkerton 7-16-1979. One key feature of the property was the Phillips Ranch Restaurant, which was a large, two-story, cinder-block building that stood next to Phillips' own home and well-used swimming pool. Hart-Earp Letters Discuss Dam Disaster by Truman Rex Fisher Letter, Los Angeles Times, 2-15-2003. 5 of eight 12-frame film rolls. A silent film ca. 1928. It was assigned the addresses 35500-35600. 10/5/2017: Sens. The restaurant continued to be listed in the local 1969 phone book but had already been shuttered. America's newest national monument honors the lesser-known history of Survivors Remember St. Francis Dam Tragedy by Pearl Obispo The Signal, 3-17-2003. The dam was located in the San Francisquito Canyon, about 5 miles northeast of what is now Magic Mountain, California. World's (Then-) Largest-Diameter Concrete Pipe Installed in Whitney Canyon News reports, February 1910. Today, Power Plant One is one of many facilities used to power the City of Los Angeles a city with a peak demand of over 6,300 MW. Though he had signed off on the dam as structurally sound the day before, the words he said while reaching for the phone early in the morning"Please, God. Dana Knauber remembers (pers. an abandoned section of the old San Francisquito Canyon Road (previously maintained by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works). LW2419 - Elizabeth Tunnel Construction (L.A. Aqueduct), 1910. The property was originally homesteaded by Ben Hickin [cq], who on July 15, 1912, was granted a patent to 47.56 acres of land straddling San Francisquito Canyon Road (see plat below). In six hours more than 450 people were swept away in the dark and murky waters. You can walk down to the dam site down this "Old" San Francisquito Canyon Road, which is now closed to traffic. 2010 - Katy Moffatt (Music Video): The St. Francis Dam Disaster (at 09:10) 2006 - Hetta Laurena Carter and the Sloppy Cement 2, 6-21-1920. Saugus Division Aqueduct Workers Angered by Pay Cut, Spoiled Food News reports, 1909. One of the buildings, an 1865 cottage is thought to be the oldest remaining stone building in Malibu. OV2401 - Newhall Land Letter to Mulholland Re: Water Rights, 8-22-1924. Report to Arizona Gov. There was also a basement, which is where I slept.". HC2802 - Crowds Flock to the St. Francis Dam Tombstone, 2 Views, 1928 (Helena Carter collection). Llano del Rio is the abandoned site of socialist commune in the early 1900s. Mulholland inspected the dam, ordered some patchwork fixes to be built, and signed off on the dam's structural sanctity. juanita maria spencer car accident california The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began filling a reservoir in the San Francisquito Canyon in 1926. Coroner's Inquest in the News: Witnesses Report Leaks News reports, 1928. . 1995 - Philip Scorza & Frank Rock: St. Francis Dam Disaster 100 Mules Commemorate 100th Anniversary of L.A. Aqueduct SCVNews.com, 11-4-2013. Seven miles up San Francisquito Canyon in far northern Los Angeles County, at an unmarked spot on an abandoned county road, there's a pile of rubble. 39018 San Francisquito Canyon Rd is a 1,419 square foot house on a 1.82 acre lot with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. As of 2017, the property is on the defaulted tax roll. SCVHistory.com LW3102 | San Francisquito Canyon | Phillips Ranch 3D WALKTHROUGH. 2009 - Raw Oral History: Biz Basolo, Fillmore Resident & Dam Survivor Unit 2 was removed during the remodel and the original Unit 1 was replaced with a turbine that had more power than the original Units 1 and 2 combined 25 MW. Video: Man-Made Disaster: The Story of St. Francis Dam Narrated by Charles F. Outland, SCVHS 1994. The 94th Anniversary of the St. Francis Dam Disaster The Washington times. St. Francis Dam Disaster: Victims and Heroes by Alan Pollack, 03-2008. The Last Dam Victim / Dynamiting the Tombstone. The dam collapsed on March 12, 1928, killing about 450 people. 2003, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: San Francisquito Canyon, "Roster of St. Francis Dam Disaster Victims", Rancho El Rio de Santa Clara o la Colonia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=San_Francisquito_Canyon&oldid=1119939015, Landforms of Los Angeles County, California, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using Infobox landform with no type, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 4 November 2022, at 06:38. DI2802 - Another Copy: St. Francis Dam Intact, 3-9-1928. LW2985 - St. Francis Dam Under Construction ~1925-1926. Knauber described the single-family home: "Living room with a large fireplace, a long, wood dining table with leather covered wrap-around 'diner style' seating on the window side and captain chairs on the kitchen side and a medium sized kitchen. Residents and emergency vehicles will be allowed through, but the road is expected to be closed to through traffic while . Powered by JettyManage My Subscriptions, DWP-NC MOU and Advocacy Committee Meetings. 5) Failing St. Francis: Water Pressure or Political Pressure? Brunner's Newhall History 1940. St. Francis Dam: Too Big Not to Fail by Alan Pollack, 03-2010. To honor the history of the facility, LADWP established some small exhibits on the site in the 1990s. The failed dam unleashed a wall of water that sped under cover of darkness from San Francisquito Canyon, located nearly five miles northeast of the Santa Clarita Valley, to the Pacific Ocean. It was originally built as a weekend getaway for Gladys and Phil. 7/22/2015: Knight Bill Would Protect 70,000 Acres; Establish St. Francis Dam Monument (SCVNews) L.A. Board of Water & Power Commissioners Annual Report, 6-30-1929. Gladys had a palomino horse named Baby that I learned to ride on. Bodies were discovered years after the collapse, others were washed out to sea. DI2811 - Floodpath & Rubble Just Below the Dam, 1928. Mapped in 1910-11. Report on St. Francis Dam Flood Newhall Land & Farming Co., 3-24-1928. Both remain in-use today. The history of the Rancho San Francisco (and it was also sometimes confusingly called Rancho San Francisquito) is rather complicated and can be found on the SCVHistory website, so I won't cover it extensively here, but it was granted by Mexican Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Antonio del Valle on January 22, 1839. Driving Directions to the St. Francis Dam Site. Sold - 29236 San Francisquito Canyon Rd, Saugus, CA - $735,000. Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. The ranch property is shaded yellow; the green lines are property lines. EC1801 - Photo Album: Los Angeles Aqueduct Under Construction, 1908-1913. 2005 - Harry Carey Jr. & Cappy Carey published in the Los Angeles Times or the (San Fernando) Valley Times, which was an unrelated publication. The (future) Phillips Ranch was under the St. Francis reservoir, shown in blue. san francisquito canyon abandoned house san francisquito canyon abandoned house. Click to enlarge or download original scan. March 5, 1964 Phillips Ranch in San Francisquito Canyon. Following a series of dynamite attacks on the aqueduct conducted purportedly by interests in the Owens River Valley, the dam's reservoir began acting as a replacement for the aqueduct flow. or water main break : It was assigned the addresses 35500-35600. I love a good case of adaptive reuse. FR3001 - Power House No. LW2743 - St. Francis Dam Floodpath, about a mile below the dam. 6-3-2004. 2 Under Construction, ~1920. The Los Angeles Aqueduct (Map and Facts) Bullock's Advertisement, L.A. Times, 3-8-1926. Their activity stopped in 1848, when the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill started the California Gold Rush. While the aqueduct was under construction, Mulholland began investigating potential sites to build a large reservoir. The Phillips Ranch was located at GPS coordinates 3434'02.6"N 11828'04.8"W (34.567390, -118.468002) in Baird Canyon, an offshoot of San Francisquito Canyon, 4.4 road miles north of Stator Lane (the LADWP Powerhouse 2 community) on the southeast side of San Francisquito Canyon Road. Collection of Dr. Alan Pollack, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (San Francisco, CA) San Francisco Chronicle, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (San Francisco, CA) The San Francisco Call, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Oakland, CA) Oakland Tribune, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (St. Louis, MO) St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Topeka, KS) The Topeka State Journal, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Chicago, IL) The Chicago Daily News, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Toledo, OH) The Toledo News-Bee, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Detroit, MI) The Detroit News, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Milwaukee, WI) Wisconsin News, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Everett, WA) The Everett Daily Herald, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (New London, CT) New London Evening Day, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Boston, MA) Boston Evening Transcript, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Fitchburg, MA) Fitchburg Sentinel, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Albany, NY) Albany Evening News, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Lewiston, ME) Lewiston Evening Journal, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Washington, DC) The Evening Star, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 1st Edition, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 2nd Edition, 3-13-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Times, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Evening Express, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 1st Edition, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 2nd Edition, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Oakland, CA) Oakland Tribune, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Prescott, AZ) Weekly Journal-Miner, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Denver, CO) The Rocky Mountain News, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (St. Paul, MN) St. Paul Pioneer Press, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Chicago, IL) Chicago Daily Tribune, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Chicago, IL) The Chicago Daily News, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (St. Louis, MO) St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Dallas, TX) The Dallas Morning News, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Richmond, VA) Richmond Times-Dispatch, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Raleigh, NC) The News and Observer, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Charlotte, NC) The Charlotte Observer, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Atlanta, GA) The Atlanta Constitution, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Milwaukee, WI) Wisconsin News, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Beloit, WI) The Beloit Daily News, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Omaha, NE) The Omaha Morning Bee-News, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Toledo, OH) The Toledo News-Bee, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Springfield, MA) The Springfield Union, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (New York, NY) The New York Times, 3-14-1928, List of Survivors from Edison Camp at Kemp Santa Paula Chronicle, 3-14-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (New York, NY) The New York Times, 3-15-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (Raleigh, NC) The News and Observer, 3-15-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster (San Francisco, CA) The San Francisco Call, 3-15-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 1st Edition, 3-15-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 2nd Edition, 3-15-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 3rd Edition, 3-15-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 4th Edition, 3-15-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 5th Edition, 3-15-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 1st Edition, 3-16-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 2nd Edition, 3-16-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 1st Edition, 3-17-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 2nd Edition, 3-17-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 3rd Edition, 3-17-1928, The St. Francis Dam Disaster Los Angeles Examiner, 4th Edition, 3-17-1928, But One Girl Left of School; Even Teacher Dead (Cecilia Small) Source & Date Unknown (1928), Dr. Mead Blames Base for Dam Failure Los Angeles Evening Herald, 4-10-1928, Felda (aka Velda) Louella Smith Pike, St. Francis Dam Victim, d. 1928 The Signal, 4-19-1928, FILM: Fox News Footage: Setting Charges to Blow Up the Tombstone, Wing Dyke 4-17-1929, Remains of St. Francis Dam (the "Tombstone") Toppled The Signal, 4-18-1929 & 5-30-1929.