Report to Mr. Asa Keyes District Attorney, Los Angeles County, California on the Failure of the St. Francis Dam

Los Angeles, 1928. Good plus.. [4],23 leaves, plus forty-six photographs. Folio. Contemporary black leatherette, cover gilt. Spine ends chipped and worn, leather coming away from boards, extremities worn. Small pen notation to title page, contemporary ink stamps in text. Light wear. Report compiled by District Attorney Asa Keyes following the tragic and catastrophic failure of the St. Francis Dam. The St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity dam located in the San Francisquito Canyon in northern Los Angeles County, built between 1924 and 1926. Just before midnight on March 17, 1928, the dam failed, killing at least 431 people in the subsequent flood. It is considered one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of the 20th century, and the third-greatest loss of life in California history. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, officials at all levels began enquiries into the causes. This typescript report, produced within a month of the collapse and flood, was ordered by Keyes as part of his investigations. The text is accompanied by six charts and thirty-six photographic views with captions. Though there were many theories about the cause of the collapse, experts concluded that the failure was due to defective foundation materials, "which, while reasonably hard when dry, became soft and yielding when saturated with water." The dam's failure ended the career of William Mulholland, the general manager and chief engineer of the Bureau of Water Works and Supply, which is now the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. When asked by Keyes if he would build the dam on the same spot again, Mulholland replied, "No, I must be frank and say that now I would not." Formerly the property of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, this piece was acquired by author Tom Zimmerman (along with other source material) for his book on the city, Paradise Promoted: The Booster Campaign That Created Los Angeles, 1870-1930 (2008). No copies noted in OCLC.