I went to the site a couple of years ago. Interesting place.

To grasp how large the St. Francis Dam was and what it held back is this photo taken before the collapse.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1205297133.jpg

What it looks like today from the same vantage point......
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1205297206.jpg

After the reservoir dumped its load..........a massive wall of water went down San Francisquito Canyon.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1205297344.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1205297370.jpg

Don't forget about the huge pieces of damn, that went down stream as well. A number of residents were never found and presumed buried some where in the flood path.

The resulting distruction wiped out the south part of Castaic entirely.
As the wave went south it took out everything in its path. It is said the wall of water exiting San Francisquito Canyon was 90 feet tall. This photo is where the current location of the Valencia town center resides where the water dropped to 65 feet .

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1205297842.jpg

As the wall went west down the Santa Clara riverbed it hit the town of Piru.
Most of you will know this area as the 126 Highway. This photo is about 3 miles west of where Indian Dunes used to be.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1205297913.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1205297932.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1205297957.jpg

This photo is at the 126 at Filmore where Fish Hatchery Road is today.
Nothing survived in the path of this wall of water that was estimated at 35 feet at this location.
With such a long distance traveled the amount of force and scourering this far away is unimaginable?
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1205297982.jpg

All the way to Ventura and the Pacific Ocean the carnage continued some 50 miles way.
One man, one moment and one mistake with hundreds of lives lost William Mulholland had to carry the weight of an unbearable burden.


This thread has been built in search for a car and it's resulting lore and history of a road in Mulhollands name.
If William Mulhollands legacy can leave us with something of value let it be this.....
"Sh** happens! Forgive!"

Water
 

Excellent photos Jeff, thanks for posting.


Mulholland took the blame for the dam failure because of two main reasons.

1. Against all recommendations from all geologists and engineers not to build at the St. Francis Dam site, William Mulholland with all his power decided to build one there anyway.

2. William Mulholland was called to the leaking dam just a few hours before failure and stated that "all dams leak". But it was leaking muddy water, a sure sign of danger.

(His greed for water also influenced him to fill the resevoir so that it was over 15 feet of it's engineered capacity.

One lone driver witnessed the collapse from the resevoir side. A DWP worker was driving along the side of the the resevoir at about midnight. He said that he had stopped briefly when a small quake hit the area. This caused a huge landslide of "water soaked" Pelona Schist to fall into the resevoir on the eastern flank. That resulted in an enormous surge wave towards the dam front. With very poor geologic conditions, an already leaking failing dam, and being overfilled beyond capacity was just too much for the stucture. Skyscraper sized pieces of concrete washed downstream at high speed taking everything out in it's path. The DWP driver was the only survivor in the area and reported a thunderous sound when the wave-front hit the dam.

Poor Chief Mulholland, what a fall from grace....

Wow. Never knew this history. And I just happened to take 126 from Valencia to Oxnard, yesterday, passing through all the area shown in the pictures above. Who says PPOT is a waste of time?

Lighten
 

Time to lighten up and have some light humor here. Like a 911 ultralight (not a glider).


Have you ever given thought as to what kind of car you might be if you were a car? Me neither, but a friend sent this link to me with the model of car she is. I decided to check it out and took this quick 12 question test. After you find what type car you are, put it in the subject box and forward to your friends.
Let us know what car you are.


Visit http://www.tomorrowland.us/sportscar/ and have a laugh!

apparently i would be a lamborghini murcielago.

Porsche 911
 

I guess I'm where I need to be with regard to my garage contents!

Porsche 911! (well I was a Modena, and changed a few things and tried again)

I took it a couple times.
Both times, Ferrari 360 Modena

In case the word hadn't gotten around...

Some of us are going to Streets of Willow on Friday, March 21st.
Here's the thread in the Autocross/Track section of Pelican:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-autocross-track-racing/397871-streets-fri-21-mar.html

Mulholland canyon dive. Anyone, anyone?? Saturday?

no thanks. add an 'r' and i might be interested.

You want to drive into the canyon?
Dude, you might wreck your car.

as in dive over the edge? sounds good to me. Sunday??

i was going to take your jeep.

lol :D

I'm out for any Mulholland activities this weekend. I have a couple (more) toddler birthday parties. Actually my own kid's. 16 screaming/crying pre-school kids running around the house/backyard on Saturday. You guys are welcome to join the hysteria. As I found out from last weekend's parties, there is a silver lining: MILFs. Sunday, we're doing it again, for family/friends.

i'm autocrossing on sunday so no mul dives or milf dives on that day.

Any single MILFs?