Santa Clara River Bridge Remains

The St. Francis Dam failure in 1928 was devastating.  The loss of life and property extended for miles.  The remains of the dam still exist but there are some other ruins from this terrible event that can be found as well.

The Santa Clara River bridge was part of the original ridge route which extended from Los Angeles to Bakersfield.  It crossed the Santa Clara river at what was then Castaic Junction.  The bridge there was washed out when the flood waters from the dam failure came through but the concrete supports and some evidence of the old ridge route still survive.

I decided to venture out and find this historic site.  It's amazing that after all these years this site still exists.


Below is a postcard depicting the bridge while still in tact.


The same area today.



This is the asphalt from the original ridge route where it would have met the bridge





Bridge supports

St. Francis Dam disaster

The St. Francis Dam disaster was one of the worst engineering failures in California history.  On March 28th 1938, the St. Francis Dam failed and collapsed.  A wall of water flowed through San Fransicquito canyon, through the Castaic Junction, Fillmore, Santa Paula and finally ended up in the pacific ocean.

Growing up in Southern California I don’t recall ever hearing about this, I guess it wasn't a proud moment in California History.  As an adult living in the Santa Clarita Valley I became interested in the history of the surrounding areas.  After reading up on the disaster and the history of the site I decided to go check it out for myself.  It’s hard to believe that the site and the remains of the dam have just been sitting there off San Fransisquito Canyon road for nearly 90 years.

Below are some pictures I took from three different trips out to the site between Feb and Nov  2014

Someone was nice enough to let you know when get there and when you pass  the site.

This is the top of the west ridge. The remains are far less weathered up here.

This huge rock like structure is actually a large piece of the dam. This is about 1/4 mile down the river bed from the dam site.  I'd say it's about the size of a two story house.


You can line up this last shot with the shot right after the dam failed linked below. Note the dark rubble on top of the stepped concrete.
 

http://www.scvhistory.com/gif/al3030.jpg






This is an interesting trip and not a long hike.  If you’re interested in learning more about this site and the history please visit the link below
http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/stfrancis.htm