St. Francis Dam Disaster of 1928

William Mulholland’s story parallels the American Dream. He was into poverty in Belfast, Ireland and eventually would be the man that brought water to Los Angeles. Mulholland’s name would be synonymous with water in Southern California. However, his final creation would halt his hero status permanently.

Mulholland’s amazing rise from ditch digger to chief engineer for the Los Angeles Water Department was an amazing feat of hard work and dedication. He was a self-educated engineer and had a vast knowledge of civil policy and public administration. He proved himself worthy with technical assistance on other water-related projects in Arizona, Nevada, Central America.

Mulholland’s biggest task was bringing water to a quickly growing Los Angeles. He created the Los Angeles Aqueduct (still in use today) from the Owens River 200 miles north of the Los Angeles Basin. The project took 8 years to complete and was finished in 1913. The project did not fare smoothly as the farmers of the Owens Valley that depended on the river for irrigation were forced off of their lands as their farms and ranches quickly became a desert.

During the 8 years of construction on the aqueduct, the population of Los Angeles had doubled. The aqueduct simply was not enough and a reservoir was made a valid option for not only household water needs, but for the needs of the fertile San Fernando Valley’s ranches and farms.

Mulholland chose the San Francisquito Canyon for construction of a new dam. The canyon paralleled the aqueduct 30 miles north of Los Angeles city limits. The potential reservoir was also thought to be a backup plan for earthquake damage or sabotage (most likely from angry Owens Valley farmers) to the nearby aqueduct.

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Also, the dam was never audited by any safety committees or public works offices. Too much trust was put into Mulholland himself. When Mulholland wanted to build higher, there was no one questioning his ideas. When there were leaks and cracks, no one else inspected them except Mulholland. Due to disasters like the St. Francis Dam, no one works alone anymore in high engineered projects from freeways to bridges.

Sadly, William Mulholland was responsible for the 2nd greatest loss of life in California history. His obsession with engineering accomplishments of epic proportion ended up being his demise.

While a large memorial stands for the victims of the St. Francis Dam in Ventura, a very appropriate and small memorial stands for William Mulholland in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles: a fountain, a symbol of never-ending water for Los Angeles.