My mother-in-law, Dee, was a survivor of this disaster. She was 20 months old. They lived between the Santa Clara River and Bardsdale, one of the towns wiped out by the flood. As the wall of water hit the back of their house her Dad grabbed her and escaped out the front. Her mother and 4 siblings perished. As the water rose they got caught up in the branches of a large tree that had been uprooted from behind their house. Holding onto the tree they were swept 20 miles downstream. Most of the people that had managed to grab and use debris to stay afloat were eventually swept out into the Pacific Ocean and perished. The tree Dee and her father were riding came close to the to the north side of the river and the tree grounded for a moment, just long enough for her father to free them from the branches and swim/wade to shore.
@rosameryrojas-delcerro10598 ай бұрын
My 3rd great grandfather (yes, my grandfathers great-grandfather) mentioned this (and his first great-grandchild being born) disaster in his 1928 diary. (My grandad still owns it.) The family (during the depression) were normally produce (fruit&veg) haulers in the San Fernando Valley, but that week, they (he, his 2 sons and one grandson) made a little extra cash with thier jalopy pickup- truck by hauling the victims from the dam disaster to cemeteries and mortuaries etc down in the Valley. Nowadays the FDA would not have approved of that.
@ITSHISTORY8 ай бұрын
Please email me, I’d love to ask some questions about this story!
@mistypuffs8 ай бұрын
So sorry they lost their family in the disaster. Thank you for sharing such an incredible story, and so eloquently too - sending love to your mother in law ❤
@Krill_all_health_insuranceCEOs8 ай бұрын
Amazing story!
@ericnelson45408 ай бұрын
My grandfather, who passed this last January, told me stories about this. He lived in Santa Paula and was almost 6 when this happened. Even though he was so young when it occurred, the events were very clear in his mind 95 years later. I currently live in the Bardsdale area just south of the Santa Clara river and have a hard time believing how much water came down through the valley that night.
@travisn13068 ай бұрын
I live about 10 minutes away from the old dam site. You can still see old rusted cars embedded halfway up the mountains and huge slabs of concrete in the wash/storm drainage system. I used to do ranch work at a neighbors house and there’s an old graveyard where a family whom are victims of the flood are buried. Very interesting stuff!
@donaldschacht77198 ай бұрын
My Great Uncle Paul Gregson was killed in the event. My Grandmother told me that her Brother had a Trucking Company and that he had a fleet of Autocar Dump Trucks and that they were in a Camp below the Dam as they were working I believe on a Power Station. They were all washed away along with the fleet of trucks and his body was recovered and is buried in Sebastopol, CA. I have visited the Dam Site on the anniversary and found it quite interesting. Thank you for the story, Don
@Patty-Ann-DunnАй бұрын
Your uncle Paul was stupid for living in the path of that dam and I don’t feel sorry for anyone that is that stupid.
@natebarrios5320Ай бұрын
@@Patty-Ann-Dunn damn what is your problem
@JohnAsmith-f2t6 күн бұрын
Patty's a nut.
@jamiesuejeffery8 ай бұрын
The Teton Dam is another example of engineering failure which happened in eastern Idaho. I was not yet born, but my parents lived through it.
@Krill_all_health_insuranceCEOs8 ай бұрын
Never knew about that one
@Idahoguy101577 ай бұрын
The Bureau of Reclamation thought it could build a dam on the worst dam site imaginable. The rock foundation there were swiss cheese. No amount of grouting could fix that
@rosameryrojas-delcerro10598 ай бұрын
My 3rd great grandfather (yes, my grandfathers great-grandfather) mentioned this (and his first great-grandchild being born) disaster in his 1928 diary. (My grandad still owns it.) The family (during the depression) were normally produce (fruit&veg) haulers in the San Fernando Valley, but that week, they (he, his 2 sons and one grandson) made a little extra cash with thier jalopy pickup- truck by hauling the victims from the dam disaster to cemeteries and mortuaries etc down in the Valley. Nowadays the FDA would not have approved of that.
@crtune8 ай бұрын
I have visited the site several times and it is chilling. You can still see small memorial crosses left by family and friends of the dead. My father worked for the LA DWP and was a surveyor around the time of the later Bouquet Canyon dam project. This subject also worked its way into the movie "Chinatown" which has the mystery around the murder of a character based upon Mulholland. This is not the only great dam disaster and it is worth noting that civil engineering society notices have warned the inadquate maintenance of our existing dams risks some future dam failure.
@millenials_best8 ай бұрын
There was the walnut Grove dam break in prescott az, late late 1800s
@AClayton1728 ай бұрын
Sad thing is most damns around these days are never %100 they're always leaking...
@jameswilson51658 ай бұрын
Titanic syndrome: Man says, "We got this." Nature says, "Hold my Beer."
@towcub7 ай бұрын
May Dad was almost three years old and was living on the hill south of Santa Paula on an orange ranch. The water came up to the stoop of their small home but did not come in, as he sat with his sister on the stoop and observed.
@johnshowler25437 ай бұрын
Twe studied this at Drexel University. The lack of foundation exploration failed to detect the presence of slaking rock. This is a soft rock that dissolves when it becomes wet. The first abutment broke catestrophically and the immense pressure jet of water shot out richocheted across the canon striking the other abutment which was already compromised. It then failed catastrophically. Interestingly the water surface of the dam had been observed to drop rapidly just before the dam gave way. Where did the water go? No where. The dame itself slid forward this enlarging the reservoir suddenly and dropped the water surface. No one caught what had happened although they realized there was imminent danger. Shortly thereafter the first abutment blew out having its foundation turned to liquid rock or mud. This could have been avoided by proper engineering geology exploration.
@carlupthegrove2628 ай бұрын
I lived in what is now Santa Clarita, near San Francisquito Cyn in the 1980s and visited the dam site many times. Most recently just last year. It's a spectacular and emotional hike. Driving from there west on CA126, close to where the flood waters traveled, it's almost unbelievable how far the wall of water traveled. The book Water for Angels by Lee Standiford is recommended reading for those interested in this event, its background and resulting impact.
@staubach1979rtАй бұрын
Great book.
@mssixty342622 күн бұрын
Thank you for the book recommendation.
@rael54698 ай бұрын
0:11 LOOK how cleanly the dam cracked. You can't tell me that there wasn't some fatal flaw at exactly those points. Those are pretty straight up and down fractures.
@srtyler8 ай бұрын
Perhaps failing to cool the concrete as they did at the Hoover Dam was a large contributing factor
@AirDOGGe5 ай бұрын
The ground was unstable.
@rael54695 ай бұрын
@@AirDOGGe If it was only the ground then the water would have forced it's way around the dam.....but instead the dam fractured straight up and down. The concrete was SH.
@nomercyinc67838 ай бұрын
the wall of debris and water made it all the way to the ocean. which is an hour drive from santa clarita
@chadwells75628 ай бұрын
The numbers are insane, I think the wave was something like 100 ft high at the time it exited into the ocean
@nomercyinc67837 ай бұрын
@@chadwells7562 It was nearly the height of the valley itself and moved at nearly 50 mph at certain points. its crazy bodies were washed out into the ocean from the scv area
@southwestxnorthwest8 ай бұрын
You forgot to mention that William Mulholland had no professional engineering training or education
@chadwells75628 ай бұрын
That likely wasn’t unusual in those days, disasters like these were one of the many reasons they professionalized engineering. There was no formal training for being a lawyer in the 1800s and probably into the 1900s as well, you apprenticed.
@frankchan42728 ай бұрын
And a “criminal negligent” person has a street named after him.
@histguy1018 ай бұрын
@@frankchan4272His aquaduct is still working and bringing water to LA
@Imveryfriendly8 ай бұрын
That's not true I was in an engineering class with him
@AllenMichael-pl6ps8 ай бұрын
SO
@XHollisWood8 ай бұрын
I was stationed in San Fran Cyn at a USFS Fire Engine company. Just above the old dam site and below the aqueduct crossing off San Fran Cyn hwy. The FS was located within a LACo. Juvenile Detention Camp. Thank you for this content & research.
@philsalvatore39028 ай бұрын
The author has it backwards. The Mulholland Dam was a copy of the original San Francisquito Canyon Dam. Aside from the serious problems with the site the San Francisquito Dam was built on, the dam was raised during construction but the width was not increased to match the increase in height. The resulting dam was unstable. There was minimal documentation of the raise in height and a question remains why William Mulholland did that.
@SYNtempАй бұрын
Yes, there is good chance that the dam without the last "extension" might have not failed, or if it still failed, the results would not have been so severe...
@michaelatkins548019 күн бұрын
I love the 1930s cars "rushing to the scene" at 11.35! Also the Citroen Traction Avant just before that.
@waynep3438 ай бұрын
LADWP lowered the water level in lake hollywood behind the Mulholland dam and over the next years built up 350,000 cubic yards of dirt in front of Mulholland dam they have never brought it to full pool.
@james_the_darklord8 ай бұрын
Mulholland wasn't really an engineer, only self-taught and he ordered the increase in the height of the dam which it wasn't in the original design of it
@rosameryrojas-delcerro10598 ай бұрын
He built the dam near the Hollywood sign also.
@sandybruce90928 ай бұрын
I’ve read about William Mulholland and I’m glad you mentioned his lack of education - being only self-taught! That right there would have scared the whatever out of me. I wonder if people now living on or near Mulholland Drive know what damage this guy is responsible for!!!
@frankchan42728 ай бұрын
And he has street named after him even though he was a criminally negligent.
@philsalvatore39028 ай бұрын
That was surprisingly common in that era. An awful lot of aeronautical engineers came up by sweeping the shop floor and if they were liked, maybe the engineers would teach them how to draft. If they were good at that they would start teaching them engineering. A friend's father got his start at Supermarine Aircraft in the UK that way, sweeping the shop floor followed by becoming a draftsman. Ed Heinemann, the famous aeronautical engineer at Douglas Aircraft who designed many of the US Navy's combat aircraft including the SBD dive bomber, the A-1 Skyraider, the big A-3 Skywarrior, A-4 Skyhawk (aka Heinemann's Hot Rod) and the F-16 among others was likewise a self taught engineer. Very few people had rich parents to pay for their kids to attend a university 120 years ago. A good many engineers were self taught in that era out of necessity.
@Treemaster897 ай бұрын
@@sandybruce9092 oh i’m sure they do. There’s a reason DWP is widely disliked 😂
@Robert-w1x8 ай бұрын
Outstanding video! Very informative and interesting!
@michaelsmiley158 ай бұрын
Based on what I wread Mulholland was not an engineer and the dam was not big enough at the base The top was widened without considering the mass by volume It never worked it was constantly leaking The only reason more people didn't die was the failure occurred at 2:30 in the morning
@staubach1979rtАй бұрын
11:57PM and yes, Mulholland WAS an engineer.
@bofty8 ай бұрын
“The dam keeps cracking” This guy: “totally fine”
@indridcold84338 ай бұрын
He was also the guy that plotted the fastest course for the Titanic and told Captain Smith the icebergs would just bounce off the Titanic hull.
@Schlipperschlopper4 ай бұрын
China: Tofu steel :-)
@johnharris66558 ай бұрын
California got close to another dam collapse in 2017 when the Oroville Dam spillway failed. But Oroville is not some small dam, which is the tallest in the US. That dam failure would have impacted millions of people who live down stream in the Sacramento valley.
@somethingsomething4048 ай бұрын
I still follow the time bomb channel that gives updates on Orville dam
@ihavenoideawhatimdoinghere62858 ай бұрын
As a california citizen south of the Shasta Dam, we worry about every small earthquake here. The Oroville Dam incident was to close to home
@philsalvatore39028 ай бұрын
The main dam was never in jeopardy of failing. The worst case scenario in that incident was the auxiliary spillway failing allowing the top fifty or so feet of the reservoir to spill out. That is no small amount of water and it would have done huge damage downstream, but the main dam would have been unaffected and most of the reservoir retained.
@johnharris66558 ай бұрын
@@philsalvatore3902 Then why were they ready to evacuate everyone down to Sacramento.
@AirDOGGe5 ай бұрын
@@johnharris6655 HE just stated why.
@mattwillems51588 ай бұрын
Great job. I drive past this area to go hiking and have been waiting for a deep dive into what happened here. ❤
@InternetJury8 ай бұрын
The sad part is that very few people, even locals, are fully aware of what happened here, when driving, literally, right through it these days. You see the remains if you look closely enough. They say that many of the people are still buried under the path of the flood.
@strobelightbrian8 ай бұрын
Great Video!
@SeanEnglishmtl8 ай бұрын
Well that explains the obsession with Mid 20th century cartoons with dam accidents. Next, I need to find the origin of their obsession with quicksands.
@millenials_best8 ай бұрын
But do you? Really? I personally like sleeping at night lol
@TheCheeseBaron7 ай бұрын
I was led to believe quicksand would be an occasional problem in adulthood
@MisterSherlock7 ай бұрын
My hometown has a statue of two guys who were warning the town of the incoming flooding. "The Warning" Statue has such historical significance bc of the amount of people that were saved that night.
@davidswanson56698 ай бұрын
4:40 I’ve never heard someone say the word “equipped” the way you say it: “equippeded”. I think it’s because usually we say the word equipped like “equipt”, but when you saw the word (as you’re recording the voiceover) you felt like the word needed its “ed” enunciated, even though you’d already said the word completely -hence the extra “ed”. This completes my English autopsy.
@bobgreene28928 ай бұрын
4:40-- When editing, it is very easy to be careless with an excision, which had a terrible effect on the dialogue. The only thing more noticeable is a computer reading dialogue which is beyond its vocabulary.
@staubach1979rtАй бұрын
Excellent.
@MG-bg4mv8 ай бұрын
Read the book Cadillac Desert, the story of water in the West.
@millenials_best8 ай бұрын
Thanks. I wonder if walnut Grove dam was in there? That's up in my neck of the woods
@johnkoch44723 ай бұрын
yes,or watch the vhs or dvd...
@indridcold84338 ай бұрын
The only thing that destroys the environment more than building a dam is when one fails.
@randyadsit20938 ай бұрын
Beginning geology students are told this story as a cautionary tale. There were several problems with the bedrock under the dam, and it’s quite possible the dam would still be here if the rock had held. (BTW, the rock under the eastern side is schist, not shale.)
@ElementofKindness8 ай бұрын
Reminds me A LOT of the Austin, PA dam failure.
@xaviermendoza143810 күн бұрын
My Grandfather smoked weed with William Mulholland aka Wild Willy grandpa called him. They would also quail hunt the wash canyon and he discovered the Dam Location.
@cutelittlelizzy936221 күн бұрын
DAM IT!
@d.l.d.l.81403 ай бұрын
There’s no re-bar sticking out of the surviving central portion of the dam. ? @19:15 26:11
@Thedoug369Ай бұрын
I think if I was a dam keeper, I'd rather have my keeper's quarters above the dam...if y'all know what I'm sayin.
@bbracing39258 ай бұрын
Would you do a story on a tragic fire that changed the whole world? It happened in a small town call Boyertown. The tragic event happened at the Rhoads Opera House on January 13th, 1908. This story still haunts my town to this day, and the building still stands as a memorial. There is also a mass grave at the local cemetery for all who were not identified in the following days of the tragic fire.
@CrisisActorJonsiri8 ай бұрын
Yo I love Dam videos of California..
@lenyfreeman38076 ай бұрын
Very educational and excellent detail. Wasn't the the original plan modified to hold more water?
@jetsons1018 ай бұрын
Bolder/Hoover Dam a perfect example of "Do it right the first time." St. Francis Dam a perfect example of "Quick and Cheap." Hmmmm Just thinking here, how about a vid on Mulholland Drive in the hills above LA.
@philsalvatore39028 ай бұрын
Yet William Mulholland was a consulting engineer on the Hoover Dam project.
@franblaye96397 ай бұрын
Did you know that some admittedly small sections of Mulholland Dr were unpaved as late as the 1970s.
@jetsons1017 ай бұрын
@@franblaye9639 It must have been the far west end. A lot of the 1950's Highway Patrol TV show were filmed on Mulholland Dr before the homes took over.....
@franblaye96397 ай бұрын
@@jetsons101 yeah, west end mostly. But no unpaved section was longer than a block or so.
@kyleosbun8 ай бұрын
Dam failing pics from back then are intense.
@philsalvatore39028 ай бұрын
San Francisquito Canyon Dam was not the only reservoir holding water for Los Angeles. Some ten miles or so below Owens Lake is Haiwee Reservoir, a large body of water created by damming the old gorge below Owens Lake with a dam on the north and south ends. This reservoir regulates the flow of water into the aqueduct to LA and was no affected by the acts of sabotage to the north. There was also Fairmount Reservoir just north of the San Francisquito Canyon Dam that regulated water into that reservoir. Both of these facilities exist today. North Haiwee Dam is currently being rebuilt for seismic safety and Fairmount was rebuilt about a decade or so ago.
@CVenza18 сағат бұрын
Can you provide the correct full name of Mulholland?
@nomercyinc67837 ай бұрын
additionally, the original road no longer exists due to the aftermath of a fire. they completely re routed the road leading up to the dam site and you can only see the area by foot.
@JordanC0528 ай бұрын
Well presented video dude! I will ask if you could perhaps use both metric and imperial systems. No idea how tall 140 ft is for example. I know how long a foot roughly is but in working out 140 in comparison is meters I've missed 3-5 sentences of new information. I'm very sure I'm not alone. I like your demeanor throughout man and will check out more of your content 😊
@johnharris66558 ай бұрын
This disaster is used as a major plot point in the movie "Chinatown"
@Krill_all_health_insuranceCEOs8 ай бұрын
Iconic film with a very iconic line...
@waynep3438 ай бұрын
There are 4 reservoirs above the santa clara river within 20 miles of the san andreas fault what will happen to those during the expected mega quake
@philsalvatore39028 ай бұрын
Castiac, Pyramid, both dams on Bouquet Canyon are modern zoned compacted earth dams. None of these are a seismic hazard. Not sure about Piru Dam. The old Van Norman Reservoirs are empty now and their 1976 replacement, the Los Angeles Reservoir, is a modern structure that easily withstood the Northridge quake with the only damage being to the bridge to the intake structure. The 1913 vintage South Haiwee Dam withstood the 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquakes (M6.4 followed the next day by a M7.1 quake) with apparently no damage, something that still amazes me as the M7.1 quake aimed its energy right towards that dam. The state of California is forcing dam owners to upgrade dams they judge to be seismic hazards. DWP is currently building a new North Haiwee Dam to replace the inadequate old dam, and the Santa Clara Water District was forced to replace the huge Anderson Dam, a project that is going to take 18 years to complete and leave the Santa Clara region (San Jose, Sunnyvale, etc.) with almost no back up water supply. The Army Corps of Engineers just finished reconstructing the dams on Lake Isabella as the old dams were judged inadequate, including adding a really huge new spillway,
@Omnivorous1One8 ай бұрын
A tragedy for sure. At least the engineer claimed responsibility& didnt try to push it off to someone else. I think these days you would have multiple people blaming one or many others for it. Takes someone with some integrity to own up & put responsibility on themselves for something like that.
@Krill_all_health_insuranceCEOs8 ай бұрын
I think so too
@SuperPickle152 ай бұрын
today, a single engineer wouldn't be heading the project... it would be an entire engineering firm...and you think corporations gonna take liability?
@jerrysinclair37718 ай бұрын
Hey Ryan, It's not a California sotry, but the ''Dam-break in Georgia'' is interesting. I will send you the info. Great story on the Mega-Dam Catastrophe!
@jangles18398 ай бұрын
Is that the one that happened at Toccoa College? (Toccoa Falls)
@jerrysinclair37718 ай бұрын
@@jangles1839 Yes, my son in law went there 20 years after the flood. I sent you an email with 5 references.
@jangles18398 ай бұрын
@@jerrysinclair3771 yeah I live only around 30-40 minutes from there myself. I'll certainly look for that email. The email I use regularly is a Yahoo account but I'm sure I can find it. Thanks! ~ Scott 💙🙏🏻
@jimmyredd8 ай бұрын
Forget it Jack, it's Waterworld.
@LilyHarvest7 ай бұрын
lol
@bhami8 ай бұрын
It would be interesting to know if any specific lessons from the St. Francis Dam were applied to the construction of Hoover Dam, only about 300 miles away and begun just three years after the St. Francis collapse.
@teslagirl12 ай бұрын
Some events are so terrible that they haunt the places where they occurred... as if all the souls that cried out in pain and terror imbue the location with a soul of its own. You can feel it when you are alone there... where the St. Francis dam failed... or where a very different type of dam caused the Johnstown flood... or in Texas City, where an industrial explosion in 1947 that is today largely forgotten by the rest of the nation claimed 581 lives... you know somehow that the place is both haunted and actively haunting... and you can sometimes hear it in the wind. As if the place itself is a ghost.
@TruckWick8 ай бұрын
There's a really good book on this called Floodpath by Jon Wilkman
@KurtfromLaQuinta8 ай бұрын
A great book that really goes into the back story of Owen’s Valley. And the people involved in this tragedy. They were supposed to make a movie about that.
@roboparks3 ай бұрын
Oroville Dam? the 1st time it busted. its failed 9 times
@rogerpenske24113 ай бұрын
Blanco lirio
@badgerpa98 ай бұрын
Just imagine an even more massive ice dam break that happened at the end of the ice age in Washington. Prof from University of Washington has videos on the amount of water and the miles of land effected.
@millenials_best8 ай бұрын
Nick zenter? Hells ya
@anonymustly78187 ай бұрын
Van Norman went on to be the namesake of the Van Norman Reservoir perched above the city of Granada Hills, CA. It was damaged in the February 1971 earthquake resulting in a resident evacuation while it was drained to below threat level. It is currently an Audubon bird preserve.
@wayfarerzen8 ай бұрын
I was there years ago when the Orville dam almost collapsed. At least we were able to stop that one, can't imagine what would have happened if it collapsed. I guess now we can with this vid.
@denni986 ай бұрын
Years later, the St Francis Dam breaks 140 feet wall of water inspired the of building Magic Mountain's Roaring Rapids water ride. Now that's the best way to remember the Dam.
@AllenMichael-pl6ps8 ай бұрын
Towns swallowed whole and LIVES LOST ... remember that and the people who lost their lives when you drive down MULHOLLAND DRIVE named for the man who built the dam... Lives lost and he gets memorialized by naming a road in his honor.... That's California!
@terejosh138 ай бұрын
no, that's American sir there are countless street roads, buildings named after murders and traitors
@eljanrimsa58438 ай бұрын
The aqueduct he built is still bringing water to LA. And the Mulholland Dam he built is still standing, too. Mulholland Drive was named in 1924, before the St. Francis dam disaster.
@michaelwindsor65367 ай бұрын
He had built and opened L.A.'s entire still-operating water system 15 years earlier. He was L.A., California, and engineering royalty. Roads and dams had already been named after him by 1928. He also took full responsibility for the catastrophe, which would be unheard of from a captain of industry today.
@staubach1979rtАй бұрын
Does your ignorance make you blissful?
@mesh12488 ай бұрын
Still a marvel at how smart and hardworking the animal beavers are to be able to build something like this yet they always have more to learn….
@sweetlisajohnson8 ай бұрын
They are definitely smart little guys. I've seen numerous dams .. They don't mess around...💕
@paulsto65168 ай бұрын
Check out the movie Chinatown .
@plantguy33468 ай бұрын
good movie
@twillison88247 ай бұрын
I find it hard to fault the people who sabotaged the aqueduct. Diverting water to make an inhabitable area liveable is so damn stupid. The same can be said for growing crops in the desert.
@lahillsm38 ай бұрын
19:15 Looks like they didn't use rebar.
@jokeroneninesevenzero8 ай бұрын
They didn't. I've been exploring the dam for a few years. The only rebar I've found are the pieces of the spillway.
@philsalvatore39028 ай бұрын
Gravity dams never use rebar. Even concrete gravity dams constructed today do not have rebar except for outlet structures, powerhouses or bridges over spillways. But the main structure of the dam is unreinforced concrete. The dam is poured in blocks and the blocks allowed to cure before the forms are removed and the next row poured. The sheer size and weight of the concrete is enough to make the dam stable, if it is designed right. What is really cool is how parabolic thin arch dams are built. The too are un-reinforced but their eggshell shape transmits the water loads to the canyon walls, allowing the dam to be very thin.
@Sugarsail18 ай бұрын
Rebar is put into concrete to take tension loads because concrete is far stronger in compression than tension. However a dam like this has all of its loads in compression so rebar isn't needed. What's more is that if rebar gets wet inside the concrete (from a tiny crack) it will "spall" that is it rusts and expands causing further failure of the concrete around it which actually makes steel rebar a liability in gravity dam contruction.
@world_still_spins8 ай бұрын
4:04 I think they tried to design the dam to eventually look like the drawing at 404. In other words not found.
@jameseroh6544Ай бұрын
The story is more bizarre than is commonly known. While LADWP modernized AFTER this event, and made drawings of the water system. The LA Aquaduct was built without drawings of any kind. Another bizarre fact was the density of the concrete was very low. Techniques like slump tests were not performed. Also, steel or other material rebar was not used. The tragedy was worse than stated. Many farm workers and homelss people lived along the riverbanks. Some photographs taken in the days before the disaster. Suggest as many as 15k people died that day.
@websoldier45768 ай бұрын
LADWP has only done token acknowledgement of this disaster.
@WrulfWroar20 күн бұрын
Also, today we already know that we cannot build dams like that, with a grade of stairs in one side because it's more weak points in the junctures of 90°.
@johnking99428 ай бұрын
So the early cracks in the dam were wider at the bottom than at the top and it was determined that these were contraction cracks? Not that the foundation was under a force that was spreading the base. ???????
@HoyeGraphics8 ай бұрын
Either you bring the water to L.A. or you bring L.A. to the water
@CellaDragon6 ай бұрын
Currently: A mall/entertainment space will be built there and half the land will be built up by Fontainebleau. Construction on the first phase has already started.
@giannidcenzo8 ай бұрын
That's a lot of cracks.
@rogerpenske24113 ай бұрын
There it is; take it!
@tenderonibaloney88548 ай бұрын
Learning about water rights. "well, dam"
@Brimstone6677 ай бұрын
you should do a story on mount shasta damn an the town of kennett california, where my grandpa was from
@joelsheebs7283 ай бұрын
Overpopulation and lack of water...where have I heard that before?
@stephenautopsy62468 ай бұрын
I actually visited this sight with ny second grade class. We also saw native american holes in rocks
@leeatterberry12398 ай бұрын
All right this is somebody that does not want to waste his time talking about OJ Simpson 👍
@Ray-tu4rw8 ай бұрын
Makes me glad I've lived my entire life in the Great Lakes basin.
@ayethe46038 ай бұрын
My god that guy was insane
@glenlarson53732 ай бұрын
Braindead
@matismf8 ай бұрын
Mulholland has an important road named after him.
@eljanrimsa58438 ай бұрын
Not only a road. His Mulholland Dam is still standing.
@projectcontractors7 ай бұрын
There's never enough time to do it right the first time, and plenty of time to due it the second time.
@vincentrockel11495 ай бұрын
I've often wondered about the type of mind that is necessary to design structures capable of causing mass destruction if done improperly. There's a real lack of risk aversion in their thought process, it seems to me. Probably didn't live downstream of the dam...
@davidmorrill29438 ай бұрын
Go figure. In the LA area many things are named after Mulholland (sp).
@diegosuarez15638 ай бұрын
Today, all those involved at the top, would be sued out of everthing.
@trxtech30108 ай бұрын
I assume that dam had a warning on it how the Dam might cause cancer lol.
@joelspaulding59648 ай бұрын
Prop 65 covers all
@D_R-G_S6 ай бұрын
The Hoover dam could never
@MSportsEngineering8 ай бұрын
Thanks Dam Daddy
@RobertCastaneda-yf2hhАй бұрын
No rebars.
@terrycalvert85427 ай бұрын
We all need water and creates source is not always easy getting water to LA has taken hundred years of projects from up north and Colorado river Hoover dam has been successful for a century and has supplied water and electricity for a century and has controlled the yearly floods that caused damage i dams do cause some issues but help mankind more than problems they may create always need good engineering and top company to build it
@melvinjackson16497 ай бұрын
Why is there never enough time to do it right the first time but always enough time to do it over?
@margaos18 ай бұрын
Los Ángeles...? You show Puebla, Mexico, with the volcanos in the background. Shame on you!!!
@peppermintnightmare47418 ай бұрын
Damn.
@Jmatt4558 ай бұрын
So much for "Self taught" engineering.
@rosameryrojas-delcerro10598 ай бұрын
Yeah, self-taught only works in some professions... Not that. I think Mulholland built the dam near the Hollywood sign as well.
@applegal30588 ай бұрын
Sometimes self-taught ends in very strongly built structures, because someone puts in the extra time to make things right. Other times, it leaves room for overlooking obvious flaws that an educated engineer would foresee.
@765kvline8 ай бұрын
@@applegal3058 Educated engineers and geologists designed, built and fixed the location of both Vajont and Malpasset dams. Those tragedies were the fault of "educated" technicians.
@applegal30588 ай бұрын
@@765kvline oh ok...yeah, everyone makes mistakes and everyone can ignore warning signs for whatever reason.
@chadwells75628 ай бұрын
Engineering and other careers weren’t professionalized in those days. Being self-taught or apprenticed was likely common in this period. In the 19th century you didn’t go to law school to become a lawyer either, you apprenticed
@dr.zacharysmith12078 ай бұрын
When I was a youngster my father had told me a story about that disaster he told me his aunt and uncle where on traveling on a bridge when it was washed out there bodies or car where never found .
@hashmanclub6 ай бұрын
The dam was not big enough, so they made it taller, to hold more water. It should have been re-enforced
@Sublette2178 ай бұрын
Ah, yes - the notorious failure of the Vanderlip Dam…
@rossm82318 ай бұрын
The cause of failure is summed up in a single word: Arrogance.
@PaulSmith-d4oАй бұрын
You mean an 8 foot pipe ,not 8 inch pipe
@ninjaswordtotheheadАй бұрын
All safety regulations are written in blood; usually because some rich jerk was greedy.