Exhibit tells a story about St. Francis Dam disaster
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: March 19, 2008
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
Those attending the opening of the exhibit memorializing the 80th Anniversary of the St. Francis Dam disaster were for the most part a somber group, the reception not rife with the happy chitchat usually accompanying such affairs. It’s easy to see why: the Santa Paula California Oil Museum exhibit details the events leading up the creation of the dam, located about five miles from what is now Magic Mountain, and the deadly aftermath after the 12+ billion gallons of water raced through the river valley when the dam collapsed at 11:57 p.m. on March 12, 1928.
Curated by John Nichols - author of “Images of America: St. Francis Dam Disaster” released by Arcadia Publishing - and Jennifer Heighton, the exhibit features the often-overlooked back-story of the events that led to the building - and collapse - of the St. Francis. That back-story, as well as tales of survivors, never-before-seen photographs and unique maps, was the focus of Sunday’s opening reception where some - those visiting from outside the river valley - admitted they had just recently heard about the disaster, while others said they have been curious about it for years.
“You can’t hear too much about it,” said historian Mitch Stone, who will be leading a tour to the dam site in May. “I hope,” he added, “we’ll be able to get into one of the powerhouses” near the dam, which was created to hold a year’s worth of water in case there was trouble with the Los Angeles Aqueduct designed by William Mulholland, who also designed the St. Francis Dam.
The plan for how the St. Francis was built and how it should have been to avoid catastrophic failure is detailed by drawings by the late Clarence Freeman of Fillmore in his “a Monday morning quarterback design after about 70 years,” which cites the March 24, 1924 report of the Governor’s Committee that studied the collapse.
For years the death toll resulting from the disaster was set at 450, now raised to 600, but it is probably even higher. If it wasn’t for telephone operator Louise Gipe - shown on duty in a vintage photograph - and other “Hello Girls,” the official death toll would have swelled even higher.
Other heroes of the disaster - including State Motor Officer Thornton Edwards, Sam Primmer, Stanley Baker, Lee Sheppard - are also shown, as are victims, mute witnesses to the destruction caused by the collapse. The American Red Cross is highlighted in the exhibit, as are the fundraising efforts to help the Mexicans impacted by the disaster.
“I think people are still learning about the disaster” and are naturally curious about “death and destruction,” said co-curator Jennifer Heighton. On a local scale, people also “like seeing neighborhoods they know and can relate to,” personalizing the disaster eight decades later.
“I think it might help us to be more thoughtful” of what man creates - for whatever reason - that goes awry that can be applied to contemporary times, noted Carol Hardison of Santa Paula. “This exhibit can jar us awake to the full potential” of what people can do that later impacts them and others. “I’m sorry that the pain of the hardest hit and most vulnerable was ignored,” Hardison noted.
The exhibit at the museum, located at the corner of 10th and Main Streets, shows the creation of the aqueduct, as well as before and after photos of the St. Francis Dam’s 200-foot-high concrete walls and scenes of what the avalanche of water left after it swept 54 miles down the river valley to the ocean. Grim photographs and newspaper accounts detail the disaster and the recovery efforts; an editorial condemns Los Angeles and warns of dire consequences for its “criminal neglect.”
Also included in the exhibit is what Nichols describes as the “world’s longest map” - four pieces of a more than 70-feet-long elevation traces the area between the Owens Valley and Los Angeles’ Antelope Valley, where the gravity fed 233-mile Aqueduct was constructed.
The exhibit also features hundreds of photos that have never been exhibited before, now seen around the room where a wall painting shows the St. Francis Dam flood map, as well as a series of four-foot long panoramic photographs taken by Ventura photographer Bernie Isensee to document the devastation commissioned by the Ventura County District Attorney, who foresaw the possibility of a lawsuit against Los Angeles County.
The museum is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors, and $1 for children ages 6-17; children under 5 are free, as is admission for museum members. The exhibit continues through July 27th. For more information call the museum at 933-0076, or visit the website at www.oilmuseum.net.
