Back to Saint Francis Dam Driving Tour - OverviewThe ocean is turned a murky brown for miles up and down the coast as the floodwaters leave the riverbed and enter the Pacific. Bodies are washed out to sea and found days later, some as far away as San Diego. Many lives were lost and many others were saved and like all crises, there is a uniting and setting aside of past differences.
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The story
Mulholland is ruined in his suffering and the guilt he feels changes him and until his death 6 years later, he is haunted. A sad end to an amazing man and modern day horatio alger...The loss of life can only be estimated but there is a consensus among researchers between 400 and 500 were lost with some pushing the number closer or beyond 600 souls.
The Red Cross and other relief agencies, cooperation with and assistance from neighboring and far away communities become a hallmark of teamwork in the wake of a disaster. The inquest was held and root causes for the failure proposed with all being arguments, some stronger than others. The speculation and conspiracy theories and links to aqueduct bombings in the owens valley were dismissed by scientists at the time and the geology of the canyon proved to be complex enough that the department and Mulholland were not held liable though they contributed mightily to the clean up and restitution efforst. Mulholland will return his orchards and ranch in the San Fernando Valley which has since been replaced with the Northridge Fashion Plaza Shopping mall. He will die a few years later a mentally broken man.
The design of the Hollywood reservoir being a duplicate of the St. Francis Dam was immediately lowered to around half filled and remains that way until this day. There is no mica schist in the hills that make up Hollywood...
Stop 14 of 14
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