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Jerry Pillarelli | profile | all galleries >> Travel and Nature; Sites by State >> US Travel; by Trip, by State >> California >> Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Monument – California tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Monument – California

Images of Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Monument – Southern California, taken in September 2021.

At 11:57 p.m. on March 12, 1928 the 185-foot concrete St. Francis Dam suffered a catastrophic failure resulting in the release of a 12-billion-gallon tsunami which destroyed everything in its path as it roared down the Santa Clara Valley for 55-miles on its way to the Pacific Ocean. Over 450 lives were lost in one of the worst disasters in California history, second only to the San Francisco fire. The failure was later attributed to several factors including a Paleo Landslide at the east abutment of the dam and a thrust fault line below the dam.

On March 12, 2019 the Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Monument was created as a memorial to the lives lost, and today the site is managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS).

As this is a new national monument there are no visitor centers or signs to guide a person to the site, so I had to figure out how to get here by researching the event on the internet. Parked in a dirt patch next to the San Francisquito Canyon Road I made my way down the old San Francisquito Canyon Road to the site of the dam collapse where I found the remains of the ‘tombstone’, the center section of the dam which remained standing until it was later brought down using dynamite. Another mile down the road, in the debris field, I found huge blocks of concrete including a two-story section easily identifiable as a piece of the stair-stepped face of the dam itself. It was hard to imagine the force it took to sweep this block of concrete a mile downstream until I also tried to envision the power of 12-billion gallons of water being released in this small valley. As I walked among the concrete, twisted metal and rebar, that force became clearly evident to me…
Power Plant No. 2, destroyed by the 1928 disaster and rebuilt in 1929, in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Power Plant No. 2, destroyed by the 1928 disaster and rebuilt in 1929, in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument 		Monument at the USFS office near Power Plant No. 2 in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Monument at the USFS office near Power Plant No. 2 in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Concrete from the dam at the USFS office in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Concrete from the dam at the USFS office in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Old road ‘trail’ leading to the site of the dam failure in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Old road ‘trail’ leading to the site of the dam failure in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Site of the failed St. Francis dam and the rubble from the ‘tombstone’ in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Site of the failed St. Francis dam and the rubble from the ‘tombstone’ in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Remains of the St. Francis Dam including the partially buried stair-step face in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Remains of the St. Francis Dam including the partially buried stair-step face in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Concrete dam rubble with the Paleo Landslide site in the background in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Concrete dam rubble with the Paleo Landslide site in the background in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Remnants of St. Francis dam concrete laced with torn rebar in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Remnants of St. Francis dam concrete laced with torn rebar in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Twisted and torn rebar protruding from cement in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Twisted and torn rebar protruding from cement in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Section of rebar in cement in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Section of rebar in cement in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Twisted metal at the site of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Twisted metal at the site of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Pieces of the stair-step face of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Pieces of the stair-step face of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Debris field starting a quarter mile from the dam site in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Debris field starting a quarter mile from the dam site in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Large section of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Large section of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Small piece of concrete still attached to a larger block by bent rebar in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Small piece of concrete still attached to a larger block by bent rebar in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Dead tree next to a two-story block of St. Francis Dan concrete in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Dead tree next to a two-story block of St. Francis Dan concrete in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Section of the stair-stepped face of the dam almost a mile from the disaster site in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Section of the stair-stepped face of the dam almost a mile from the disaster site in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Portion of the stair-stepped face of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Portion of the stair-stepped face of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Closeup of the cracked stair-stepped face of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Closeup of the cracked stair-stepped face of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Two story section of the stair-stepped face of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Two story section of the stair-stepped face of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Twisted rebar in concrete from the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Twisted rebar in concrete from the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Rebar and metal tubing project from a St. Francis Dam concrete boulder in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Rebar and metal tubing project from a St. Francis Dam concrete boulder in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Concrete blocks in the debris field downstream from the St. Francis Dam site in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Concrete blocks in the debris field downstream from the St. Francis Dam site in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Tangled metal spirals from a St. Francis Dam cement block in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Tangled metal spirals from a St. Francis Dam cement block in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Torn metal pipe juts out of cement in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Torn metal pipe juts out of cement in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Large section of concrete lays almost a mile from the felled St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Large section of concrete lays almost a mile from the felled St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 View looking east from the debris field toward the site of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
View looking east from the debris field toward the site of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Contorted piece of metal pipe in concrete section of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Contorted piece of metal pipe in concrete section of the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Large chunk of concrete from the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Large chunk of concrete from the St. Francis Dam in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument		 Flat layer of concrete from the St. Francis Dam disaster in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument
Flat layer of concrete from the St. Francis Dam disaster in St. Francis Dam Disaster National Monument

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