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This is the best non video article I found about this event. William Mulholland, an Irish immigrant and self taught civil engineer brought plentiful water to the dry but burgeoning city of Los Angeles in the early 20th century, but not without conflict. Farmers in Owens Valley, where much of the diverted water came from, retaliated with coordinated dynamite blasts to hinder his progress. Mulholland's epic work, the St. Francis Dam, collapsed at midnight not long after it's completion, sending a billion gallons of water raging down the Francisquito canyon, killing hundreds of people in the darkness, mostly poor Mexican farmhands.
Given the poor communication technology of the time, very few were given warning. The resulting catastrophe permanently ruined Mulholland's reputation, and he died a broken man with a heavy conscience.

This is the best non video article I found about this event. William Mulholland, an Irish immigrant and self taught civil engineer brought plentiful water to the dry but burgeoning city of Los Angeles in the early 20th century, but not without conflict. Farmers in Owens Valley, where much of the diverted water came from, retaliated with coordinated dynamite blasts to hinder his progress. Mulholland's epic work, the St. Francis Dam, collapsed at midnight not long after it's completion, sending a billion gallons of water raging down the Francisquito canyon, killing hundreds of people in the darkness, mostly poor Mexican farmhands. Given the poor communication technology of the time, very few were given warning. The resulting catastrophe permanently ruined Mulholland's reputation, and he died a broken man with a heavy conscience.

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[–] • 1 pt

There is no documents of the dam itself being sabotaged of course, only the early aquaducts. There are definitely doubts about what actually happened. Dam technology was not very advanced at the time and the area is geologically unstable. It seems possible the dam failed because of faulty design, but the element of opposition shouldn't be ignored.

[–] • 1 pt

Good read, thanks. I thought I read that the debunked that and the ground itself was unstable and he did nothing wrong, a hundred years too late for him.