When: Thursday, September 21, 2023 • 7:00 AM - 7:30 PM PST
Registration Fee: $149 (Registration fee includes transportation to and from the convention center along with beverages, snacks, and lunch)
This is an extended field trip that will depart at 7:30 am and return at an estimated time of 7:30 pm. The registration fee includes transportation to and from the convention center along with beverages, snacks, and lunch. All participants are required to ride the bus to and from the site. Tour organizers suggest that you wear long pants and sleeves at the dam site along with shoes/boots with tread. The tour does involve a walk from the vehicles to the dam of about 1.5 miles round trip with a mild degree of incline. There is not any heavy-duty hiking, but participants will be walking in dirt with some rocks. If you want to bring hiking sticks/poles, they are permitted.
This trip will include a tour to the St. Francis Dam site along with presentations and discussions of the disaster. Dr. Alan Pollack will be presenting a historical overview of the St. Francis Dam disaster and the events leading up to it. He will start with the history of water acquisition for Los Angeles, including the Zanja system, the population explosion in Los Angeles in the 1880s, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, and the Owens Valley Water Wars. Following this will be a discussion of the construction of St. Francis Dam, including engineering and geological flaws that led to the disaster and the ultimate reasons for the dam's failure. The discussion will continue with a journey through the day of the disaster, starting with the dam failure and following the path of the flood to the sea. Finally, we will look at the investigations following the tragedy and the legacy left by the dam failure for future dam safety.
