From Hero to Scapegoat

	Fifteen years later, on March 12, 1928, Mulholland’s career took a tragic turn when the St. Francis Dam, one of several dams built to increase storage of Owens River water, collapsed.
When the dam broke 12 billion gallons of water poured into the Santa Clara Valley, north of Los Angeles.
	Whole towns were wiped off the map.
Hundreds of people found themselves homeless.
	The flood claimed over 400 lives.
The Coroner's Jury that investigated the failure of the St. Francis Dam reached three conclusions: that the underlying rock structure was of poor quality and the design of the dam was not suited to the inferior foundation that there was an error in engineering judgment in determining the character of the foundation of the dam site and in deciding the best type of dam to build there that there was an error in regard to fundamental policy related to public safety, in that excessive responsibility was vested in one person and no independent experts were authorized to check on his work.
	In essence, the Jury found that Mulholland, although not criminally liable for the deaths, did make serious errors. "The Chief" took full responsibility, saying: "If there is an error of human judgment, I am the human." Several months later he retired. His final years were lived in the shadow of the St. Francis Dam collapse.
If it wasn’t for Mulholland, Los Angeles would not have survived……	Bibliography Santa Clara Valley History Wikipedia PBS USC Archives