![]() ![]() A phone call from the Sheriff’s office warned him to prepare for multiple deaths because of the collapse of the St. In the earliest hours of March 13, 1928, Oliver Reardon received his first intimation of the disaster. The records of Coroner Reardon were meticulously kept and have been preserved in the possession of his son, Joseph, owner of the Joseph P. This would make 424 people known dead from the St. In addition, there were charred remains of three more bodies and a partial skeleton discovered late in August which would not have been enumerated in the coroner’s list. His total of 420 is 35 more than that reported by the committee. Reardon, Ventura County Coroner at the time of the event, indicate that 231 bodies were retrieved from Ventura County, 88 from Los Angeles County, and 101 persons were reported missing. The official record of the Claims Bureau of the Citizens’ Restoration Committee reported in August 1928 that there were 224 identified deaths, 60 who were unidentified, and 101 persons reported missing, for a total of 385 deaths. The exact number of deaths resulting from this disaster will never be known. PN43262 OS, MVC Library & Archives collection.įifty-six years have passed since the collapse of the St. It illustrates just how much water would have flown through the Santa Clara River Valley. ![]() Francis Dam prior to its failure circa 1927. Outland’s definitive work on the subject Man-Made Disaster: The Story of the St. Those who would like to learn more can read Charles F. The total death toll is still a subject of debate. Allen provides a summary of the events and a list of the dead who were identified at the time. Unlike the earthquake, however, the dam collapse remains an often-forgotten event in the state’s history. ![]() The tragedy remains the second-greatest loss of life in California’s history, after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Debris and people were swept away as far as the Oxnard plains and the Pacific Ocean. The dam broke near midnight of March 12, 1928, sending a wave of water and debris down the Santa Clara River watershed. Francis Dam was completed in 1926 and located in San Francisquito Canyon in what is know Santa Clarita. In this month’s Journal Flashback we’re sharing an article by Patricia Allen on the horrific toll of the St. ![]()
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