1 00:00:01,333 --> 00:00:05,366 ♪ ♪ 2 00:00:14,566 --> 00:00:17,742 NARRATOR: At two-and-a-half minutes before midnight 3 00:00:17,766 --> 00:00:19,376 {\an1}on the 12th of March 1928, 4 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:23,976 {\an1}the lights in Los Angeles flickered. 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,176 {\an1}William Mulholland was asleep at his home near Windsor Square. 6 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:31,466 He didn't notice. 7 00:00:32,933 --> 00:00:35,042 WILLIAM DEVERELL: Mulholland runs an agency 8 00:00:35,066 --> 00:00:37,509 that is in charge of providing water 9 00:00:37,533 --> 00:00:40,409 {\an8}for Los Angeles. 10 00:00:40,433 --> 00:00:43,242 {\an7}He's a civil servant. 11 00:00:43,266 --> 00:00:45,442 {\an8}Nonetheless, he's extraordinarily powerful, 12 00:00:45,466 --> 00:00:47,409 {\an8}and he knows it. 13 00:00:47,433 --> 00:00:51,442 ERIKA BSUMEK: Mulholland is the man who brought 14 00:00:51,466 --> 00:00:53,609 water to the city of Los Angeles. 15 00:00:53,633 --> 00:00:55,276 With the aqueduct, 16 00:00:55,300 --> 00:00:57,909 with the dams, 17 00:00:57,933 --> 00:01:02,376 {\an1}he forges Los Angeles into a major city. 18 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:08,342 NARRATOR: Meanwhile, in a canyon 40 miles northwest of the city, 19 00:01:08,366 --> 00:01:10,109 {\an1}Ace Hopewell pulled his motorcycle 20 00:01:10,133 --> 00:01:13,976 {\an1}to the side of the road. 21 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,076 {\an1}He passed the St. Francis Dam about a mile back, 22 00:01:17,100 --> 00:01:19,642 {\an1}Mulholland's most recent creation: 23 00:01:19,666 --> 00:01:22,509 a wall of concrete 20 stories high 24 00:01:22,533 --> 00:01:25,300 {\an1}holding back 12 billion gallons of water. 25 00:01:27,533 --> 00:01:29,809 {\an1}As he lit a cigarette, 26 00:01:29,833 --> 00:01:32,809 {\an7}Hopewell heard a sound in the distance. 27 00:01:32,833 --> 00:01:37,776 {\an7}(rumbling in distance) 28 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:42,309 The St. Francis Dam was collapsing. 29 00:01:42,333 --> 00:01:44,876 {\an1}It's 54 miles to the ocean. 30 00:01:44,900 --> 00:01:47,842 {\an1}As many as 10,000 people 31 00:01:47,866 --> 00:01:50,342 {\an1}are downstream from this. 32 00:01:50,366 --> 00:01:52,809 {\an1}They could actually feel the vibration 33 00:01:52,833 --> 00:01:55,176 {\an1}and they could hear it coming. 34 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,876 {\an1}It felt like an earthquake. 35 00:01:57,900 --> 00:01:59,576 {\an1}They saw their neighbors running out. 36 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,642 {\an1}And then they realized. 37 00:02:01,666 --> 00:02:05,176 But by that time, the water was just upon them. 38 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,076 {\an1}Most of the people who were killed 39 00:02:07,100 --> 00:02:11,676 {\an1}probably never knew what was happening to them. 40 00:02:11,700 --> 00:02:16,842 DEVERELL: That wall of water carried bodies 41 00:02:16,866 --> 00:02:18,409 {\an1}out to the Pacific Ocean. 42 00:02:18,433 --> 00:02:20,476 ♪ ♪ 43 00:02:20,500 --> 00:02:22,609 NARRATOR: It was one of the worst civil engineering disasters 44 00:02:22,633 --> 00:02:24,542 in American history, 45 00:02:24,566 --> 00:02:26,776 {\an1}rooted in a national drive 46 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:31,042 to harness nature and remake the West. 47 00:02:31,066 --> 00:02:32,309 {\an1}The question is not whether 48 00:02:32,333 --> 00:02:34,176 {\an1}water should have been brought to Los Angeles, 49 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:38,342 {\an1}but rather how it was done. 50 00:02:38,366 --> 00:02:42,376 {\an1}Because the consequences are so devastating. 51 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:44,376 BSUMEK: When infrastructure fails, 52 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,542 {\an1}engineers use the disaster to learn from and rebuild. 53 00:02:48,566 --> 00:02:51,509 {\an1}But the failure of the St. Francis Dam is as much 54 00:02:51,533 --> 00:02:54,309 {\an1}a social-political story as it is 55 00:02:54,333 --> 00:02:56,942 {\an1}an engineering story. 56 00:02:56,966 --> 00:02:59,076 And when there's a social disaster, 57 00:02:59,100 --> 00:03:04,400 {\an1}we need to think about, where did we go wrong as a society? 58 00:03:14,433 --> 00:03:21,066 {\an8}♪ ♪ 59 00:03:29,866 --> 00:03:32,442 {\an8}JOSÉ ALAMILLO: When I was a young boy, 60 00:03:32,466 --> 00:03:36,976 {\an7}my parents would always warn me not to go to the river. 61 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,909 {\an7}They would tell the story of La Llorona, 62 00:03:40,933 --> 00:03:43,542 {\an7}the woman that would be crying along the riverbed, 63 00:03:43,566 --> 00:03:44,776 {\an7}searching for her children. 64 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,009 ♪ ♪ 65 00:03:48,033 --> 00:03:53,309 {\an1}There's definitely a haunting of the river even to this day. 66 00:03:53,333 --> 00:03:55,376 {\an8}♪ ♪ 67 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,476 {\an7}And I never understood until I was much older 68 00:03:59,500 --> 00:04:03,076 {\an7}why there were ghosts along the Santa Clara River. 69 00:04:03,100 --> 00:04:09,966 {\an8}♪ ♪ 70 00:04:15,566 --> 00:04:20,442 ♪ ♪ 71 00:04:20,466 --> 00:04:22,409 NARRATOR: The St. Francis Dam disaster 72 00:04:22,433 --> 00:04:26,176 {\an1}began in a flush of hope. 73 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:30,176 {\an1}On a perfect November morning in 1913, 74 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,942 {\an1}40,000 Angelenos gathered at a new landmark called the Cascades 75 00:04:34,966 --> 00:04:40,809 {\an1}to inaugurate one of the wonders of the modern world. 76 00:04:40,833 --> 00:04:43,976 {\an1}The Los Angeles Aqueduct was a perfect emblem 77 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,442 {\an1}for the city of tomorrow: 78 00:04:46,466 --> 00:04:49,609 {\an1}more than 200 miles of pipes and canals 79 00:04:49,633 --> 00:04:53,509 {\an7}carrying enough water for two-and-a-half million people, 80 00:04:53,533 --> 00:04:56,042 {\an7}ten times the current population, 81 00:04:56,066 --> 00:05:01,842 {\an7}from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the outskirts of the city. 82 00:05:01,866 --> 00:05:08,176 MARIA MONTOYA: The aqueduct does hail a new beginning for Los Angeles. 83 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,742 {\an1}It very much follows on the idea of Manifest Destiny, 84 00:05:12,766 --> 00:05:14,342 {\an7}but now it's not just about land. 85 00:05:14,366 --> 00:05:15,909 {\an7}It's about controlling the resources 86 00:05:15,933 --> 00:05:19,242 {\an1}to make the American West the kind of civilization 87 00:05:19,266 --> 00:05:22,500 {\an1}they want it to be, the kind of place that they want it to be. 88 00:05:25,133 --> 00:05:27,509 NARRATOR: The "Los Angeles Times" proclaimed, 89 00:05:27,533 --> 00:05:30,309 {\an1}"A mighty river has been brought out 90 00:05:30,333 --> 00:05:35,109 {\an1}from the mountain wilderness, an inexhaustible supply of water." 91 00:05:35,133 --> 00:05:37,209 And there was more. 92 00:05:37,233 --> 00:05:40,576 {\an7}They realized that they could use this flow 93 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,276 {\an1}to turn generators and generate 90% of the electricity 94 00:05:44,300 --> 00:05:47,342 {\an1}that was needed by Los Angeles. 95 00:05:47,366 --> 00:05:51,109 NARRATOR: With ample water and clean power, 96 00:05:51,133 --> 00:05:53,742 {\an1}L.A. would lead the way to a better future, 97 00:05:53,766 --> 00:05:56,642 {\an1}far from the crowded cities of the East. 98 00:05:56,666 --> 00:05:58,409 ♪ ♪ 99 00:05:58,433 --> 00:06:00,176 {\an1}"No black pillars of smoke 100 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,376 {\an1}shall blind the sun," the "L.A. Times" promised, 101 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,509 {\an1}"no army of grimy workers 102 00:06:06,533 --> 00:06:10,476 "shall feed the red-mouthed furnaces, 103 00:06:10,500 --> 00:06:13,776 "for the river, bound with hoops of steel, 104 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:18,276 {\an1}shall generate the power for numberless industries." 105 00:06:18,300 --> 00:06:22,309 BSUMEK: "We will be a modern city. 106 00:06:22,333 --> 00:06:23,776 {\an7}"We're not going to be like those older places 107 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:25,442 {\an7}"that have these older social problems. 108 00:06:25,466 --> 00:06:27,442 {\an7}We can remake ourselves in this new way." 109 00:06:27,466 --> 00:06:31,709 {\an7}Having, quote-unquote, "ended the frontier era," 110 00:06:31,733 --> 00:06:37,342 {\an1}the West is now going to be 111 00:06:37,366 --> 00:06:40,609 {\an1}won or lost through its cities. 112 00:06:40,633 --> 00:06:47,866 {\an1}The rise of faith in the city, it's very optimistic. 113 00:06:49,566 --> 00:06:51,942 NARRATOR: The mastermind behind the aqueduct 114 00:06:51,966 --> 00:06:53,709 was the head of the Los Angeles Bureau 115 00:06:53,733 --> 00:06:55,842 {\an1}of Water Works and Supply, 116 00:06:55,866 --> 00:07:00,533 {\an1}an Irish immigrant who never finished grade school. 117 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:04,476 {\an1}"Well, I went to school in Ireland when I was a boy," 118 00:07:04,500 --> 00:07:07,342 {\an1}William Mulholland told a reporter, 119 00:07:07,366 --> 00:07:10,042 {\an1}"learned the three Rs and the Ten Commandments... 120 00:07:10,066 --> 00:07:13,509 {\an1}"or most of them... made a pilgrimage to the Blarney Stone, 121 00:07:13,533 --> 00:07:18,042 {\an1}received my father's blessing, and here I am." 122 00:07:18,066 --> 00:07:19,576 J. DAVID ROGERS: He starts out 123 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:20,709 {\an8}as a ditch digger. 124 00:07:20,733 --> 00:07:22,776 {\an8}I mean, you can't start out any lower, 125 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:24,176 {\an8}you know, than that. 126 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,909 {\an7}But that's what made him such a good field general. 127 00:07:26,933 --> 00:07:30,076 {\an1}He understands the working man 128 00:07:30,100 --> 00:07:31,909 {\an1}and how to marshal their efforts. 129 00:07:31,933 --> 00:07:34,709 {\an1}That was what he lived for. 130 00:07:34,733 --> 00:07:36,609 {\an7}Angelenos really loved him 131 00:07:36,633 --> 00:07:40,642 {\an7}because he was a working-class immigrant who had made good. 132 00:07:40,666 --> 00:07:43,542 {\an1}He was the hearty Irishman, 133 00:07:43,566 --> 00:07:46,242 {\an1}the man of the people. 134 00:07:46,266 --> 00:07:47,742 {\an8}♪ ♪ 135 00:07:47,766 --> 00:07:50,176 {\an8}NARRATOR: But the settlers in the Owens River Valley, 136 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,109 {\an7}the source of L.A.'s water, 137 00:07:52,133 --> 00:07:55,276 {\an7}saw William Mulholland very differently. 138 00:07:55,300 --> 00:08:00,409 {\an1}As far as they were concerned, he was taking their river, 139 00:08:00,433 --> 00:08:03,776 {\an1}leaving farms and towns to wither on the vine. 140 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,076 {\an1}They had been kept in the dark about the aqueduct 141 00:08:07,100 --> 00:08:11,376 {\an1}as the city quietly bought up their land and water rights. 142 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:16,176 D.C. JACKSON: The Owens Valley was a rural, high-desert community 143 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:20,609 {\an7}that had begun settled by Euro Americans in the 1860s. 144 00:08:20,633 --> 00:08:25,209 {\an1}Their fortunes were tied to the Owens River. 145 00:08:25,233 --> 00:08:28,276 WILKMAN: The water wasn't stolen, 146 00:08:28,300 --> 00:08:32,509 {\an1}but it was not acquired all in the up-and-up. 147 00:08:32,533 --> 00:08:34,376 {\an1}They certainly didn't tell them that their plan really 148 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:36,376 {\an1}was to run the water down to Los Angeles. 149 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,309 NARRATOR: The anger in the Owens Valley 150 00:08:39,333 --> 00:08:41,876 {\an1}would haunt Mulholland to his grave, 151 00:08:41,900 --> 00:08:45,809 {\an1}but for most Angelenos, any qualms about the project 152 00:08:45,833 --> 00:08:49,442 were eclipsed by its breathtaking scale and ambition. 153 00:08:49,466 --> 00:08:52,942 ♪ ♪ 154 00:08:52,966 --> 00:08:56,309 DEVERELL: It is a gargantuan construction project: 155 00:08:56,333 --> 00:09:01,609 {\an1}placing metal aqueduct structures 156 00:09:01,633 --> 00:09:03,842 {\an1}in and around valleys, 157 00:09:03,866 --> 00:09:05,709 {\an1}arroyos, sheer mountains, 158 00:09:05,733 --> 00:09:08,142 {\an1}long, flat, dry expanses 159 00:09:08,166 --> 00:09:10,809 {\an1}of the California landscape. 160 00:09:10,833 --> 00:09:12,942 It's astonishing. 161 00:09:12,966 --> 00:09:17,633 ♪ ♪ 162 00:09:25,433 --> 00:09:29,433 ♪ ♪ 163 00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:36,809 JACKSON: To think that you could bring that water 164 00:09:36,833 --> 00:09:40,009 {\an1}over 200 miles, that's just extraordinary at the time. 165 00:09:40,033 --> 00:09:41,976 {\an1}It would be a huge project today. 166 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,442 (car horns honking) 167 00:09:44,466 --> 00:09:48,442 NARRATOR: On that November day in 1913, 168 00:09:48,466 --> 00:09:49,709 {\an1}when Angelenos gathered at the Cascades 169 00:09:49,733 --> 00:09:53,042 {\an1}to celebrate the opening of the aqueduct, 170 00:09:53,066 --> 00:09:57,133 {\an1}they were captivated by the city's glittering future. 171 00:10:00,333 --> 00:10:02,042 {\an1}Shortly after 1:00 p.m., 172 00:10:02,066 --> 00:10:05,142 Owens River water was released down the Cascades 173 00:10:05,166 --> 00:10:07,009 {\an8}for the first time. 174 00:10:07,033 --> 00:10:09,666 {\an8}(crowd cheering) 175 00:10:15,033 --> 00:10:16,842 WILKMAN: The people just rushed toward the water. 176 00:10:16,866 --> 00:10:20,109 {\an1}They had brought tin cups to dip 177 00:10:20,133 --> 00:10:21,942 {\an1}into the water as it was coming down, 178 00:10:21,966 --> 00:10:24,109 {\an1}to drink the first water from this man-made river. 179 00:10:24,133 --> 00:10:25,809 ♪ ♪ 180 00:10:25,833 --> 00:10:29,209 NARRATOR: As the crowd rushed to marvel at their new river, 181 00:10:29,233 --> 00:10:32,242 Mulholland perfectly captured the moment. 182 00:10:32,266 --> 00:10:35,209 "There it is," he shouted from the stage. 183 00:10:35,233 --> 00:10:38,533 "Take it." 184 00:10:44,900 --> 00:10:47,509 ♪ ♪ 185 00:10:47,533 --> 00:10:50,576 ROGERS: The aqueduct was a game changer. 186 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,509 It made Los Angeles 187 00:10:53,533 --> 00:10:56,566 {\an1}the fastest-growing city in the United States. 188 00:10:57,966 --> 00:11:00,809 BSUMEK: The aqueduct teaches Los Angeles that 189 00:11:00,833 --> 00:11:03,576 it can do bold and amazing things. 190 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:05,342 {\an7}Suburbs are springing up all over, 191 00:11:05,366 --> 00:11:07,266 {\an7}and migrants are pouring into Los Angeles. 192 00:11:09,166 --> 00:11:11,509 {\an1}It was a moment of great excitement. 193 00:11:11,533 --> 00:11:13,476 ♪ ♪ 194 00:11:13,500 --> 00:11:15,476 {\an1}That's not to say this works for everybody 195 00:11:15,500 --> 00:11:17,442 {\an1}by any stretch of the imagination. 196 00:11:17,466 --> 00:11:21,642 {\an1}There's racial segregation in law and in practice. 197 00:11:21,666 --> 00:11:24,376 {\an1}There's violence meted out to non-whites. 198 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:26,409 {\an1}So, it's not a alchemy 199 00:11:26,433 --> 00:11:30,709 {\an1}of fulfillment and happiness that spreads to everybody. 200 00:11:30,733 --> 00:11:34,376 {\an1}But the mythic qualities of it are palpable. 201 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:37,042 ♪ ♪ 202 00:11:37,066 --> 00:11:42,033 {\an1}The dream was: come here, perhaps start anew. 203 00:11:45,233 --> 00:11:47,842 NARRATOR: But as Los Angeles boomed, 204 00:11:47,866 --> 00:11:50,876 Southern California was drying up. 205 00:11:50,900 --> 00:11:54,142 {\an1}By the time the population blew past the one million mark 206 00:11:54,166 --> 00:11:57,876 in the early 1920s, the aqueduct flow had been cut 207 00:11:57,900 --> 00:12:01,276 {\an1}almost in half by years of drought. 208 00:12:01,300 --> 00:12:06,409 ROGERS: Just think about it: they were looking out 50 years, 209 00:12:06,433 --> 00:12:09,066 {\an1}and they were out of water in ten. 210 00:12:10,266 --> 00:12:12,476 Surprise, surprise. 211 00:12:12,500 --> 00:12:13,776 {\an1}That's what California is full of. 212 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:15,042 {\an1}It's full of surprises. 213 00:12:15,066 --> 00:12:18,842 {\an1}What Mulholland created was an illusion of abundance. 214 00:12:18,866 --> 00:12:22,809 {\an1}And so, the people of the city of Los Angeles 215 00:12:22,833 --> 00:12:23,976 {\an1}keep using more water 216 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,676 {\an1}instead of responding to drought conditions. 217 00:12:28,700 --> 00:12:32,109 LOUIS WARREN: There are lawns everywhere. 218 00:12:32,133 --> 00:12:36,909 {\an1}Spectacular flower gardens. 219 00:12:36,933 --> 00:12:40,209 {\an7}The amount of water poured onto those lawns 220 00:12:40,233 --> 00:12:42,000 {\an7}is pretty astounding. 221 00:12:43,700 --> 00:12:46,076 NARRATOR: In order to quench L.A.'s thirst, 222 00:12:46,100 --> 00:12:48,409 {\an1}the Bureau of Water went on another buying spree 223 00:12:48,433 --> 00:12:49,542 in the Owens Valley, 224 00:12:49,566 --> 00:12:52,976 {\an1}laying claim to most of the remaining water 225 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,542 {\an1}and further undermining the region's economy. 226 00:12:56,566 --> 00:12:59,309 {\an1}There's a tremendous amount of anger 227 00:12:59,333 --> 00:13:01,076 {\an1}growing in the Owens Valley. 228 00:13:01,100 --> 00:13:05,409 There's a sense that the community 229 00:13:05,433 --> 00:13:08,176 {\an1}is really being destroyed. 230 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,900 ♪ ♪ 231 00:13:13,866 --> 00:13:16,542 {\an8}ST. JOHN: To see this distant city 232 00:13:16,566 --> 00:13:20,700 {\an8}turning into a glamorous metropolis... 233 00:13:22,566 --> 00:13:25,042 {\an1}...and using their water, 234 00:13:25,066 --> 00:13:27,209 {\an1}must have been incredibly frustrating. 235 00:13:27,233 --> 00:13:30,242 {\an1}Arrogance absolutely plays a big role. 236 00:13:30,266 --> 00:13:35,309 {\an1}There is a lot of resentment that is driven by the decisions 237 00:13:35,333 --> 00:13:40,066 {\an1}and the attitudes of people like Mulholland. 238 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,242 BURKE: The farmers in the Owens River Valley 239 00:13:45,266 --> 00:13:49,576 weren't perceived as equal citizens. 240 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:51,342 {\an1}They are imperial subjects. 241 00:13:51,366 --> 00:13:56,109 NARRATOR: The anger only deepened when it became clear 242 00:13:56,133 --> 00:13:58,776 that much of the Owens River water 243 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,342 {\an1}wasn't going to Los Angeles at all. 244 00:14:01,366 --> 00:14:03,876 Even as the rest of Southern California 245 00:14:03,900 --> 00:14:06,009 was drying up, the city was providing 246 00:14:06,033 --> 00:14:07,876 {\an1}vast amounts of water to farms 247 00:14:07,900 --> 00:14:10,276 and orchards in the San Fernando Valley, 248 00:14:10,300 --> 00:14:14,276 {\an1}which belonged in large part to a syndicate 249 00:14:14,300 --> 00:14:17,309 {\an1}of the most powerful men in the city. 250 00:14:17,333 --> 00:14:20,342 WARREN: Did the city really need to provide landowners 251 00:14:20,366 --> 00:14:22,976 {\an1}in the San Fernando Valley with that much water? 252 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,876 {\an1}Well, it turns out that the owner of the "Los Angeles Times" 253 00:14:27,900 --> 00:14:32,476 {\an7}and some other associates have bought a lot of land there. 254 00:14:32,500 --> 00:14:37,876 {\an1}Those wealthy landowners made a killing. 255 00:14:37,900 --> 00:14:42,176 MONTOYA: It's very easy to picture Mulholland as corrupt, 256 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:46,142 {\an1}but he wasn't doing this because he was getting paid off to do it 257 00:14:46,166 --> 00:14:49,309 {\an1}or he was making money off of it. 258 00:14:49,333 --> 00:14:54,009 I think, for him, it's really about his own vision 259 00:14:54,033 --> 00:14:56,709 {\an1}and his power and his ability 260 00:14:56,733 --> 00:14:58,909 to remake nature. 261 00:14:58,933 --> 00:15:02,609 I think that's what's driving him. 262 00:15:02,633 --> 00:15:05,009 NARRATOR: The threat of shortages 263 00:15:05,033 --> 00:15:10,166 {\an1}accelerated the next phase in Mulholland's master plan. 264 00:15:11,733 --> 00:15:13,076 WARREN: In a dry year, 265 00:15:13,100 --> 00:15:16,576 {\an1}if there isn't a lot of snow in the Sierra Nevada, 266 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,842 {\an1}the aqueduct won't deliver as much water to Los Angeles. 267 00:15:20,866 --> 00:15:22,442 {\an1}So they need storage, 268 00:15:22,466 --> 00:15:25,842 {\an1}big reservoir, so you could fill it up in the wet years, 269 00:15:25,866 --> 00:15:30,076 {\an1}and in the dry years, it'll tide you over. 270 00:15:30,100 --> 00:15:32,809 NARRATOR: In the summer of 1922, 271 00:15:32,833 --> 00:15:35,576 {\an1}Mulholland decided to build seven new dams 272 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:37,642 {\an1}near the southern end of the aqueduct, 273 00:15:37,666 --> 00:15:41,242 {\an1}including a pair of majestic concrete structures 274 00:15:41,266 --> 00:15:44,342 {\an1}worthy of a great metropolis: 275 00:15:44,366 --> 00:15:48,009 {\an1}the Hollywood Dam, in the hills overlooking Los Angeles, 276 00:15:48,033 --> 00:15:51,309 {\an8}and biggest of all, the St. Francis Dam, 277 00:15:51,333 --> 00:15:55,909 {\an7}in a canyon 40 miles northwest of the city. 278 00:15:55,933 --> 00:15:57,242 {\an8}ST JOHN: The St. Francis Dam and the Hollywood Dam 279 00:15:57,266 --> 00:16:01,109 {\an1}are similar structures; they were both built 280 00:16:01,133 --> 00:16:03,542 {\an1}with the same design, 281 00:16:03,566 --> 00:16:09,376 {\an1}a tribute to engineering triumph and the control of nature, 282 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:11,209 {\an1}and it's impossible not to think 283 00:16:11,233 --> 00:16:13,900 {\an1}that he saw it as a tribute to him, as well. 284 00:16:15,166 --> 00:16:17,576 NARRATOR: Plans were drawn up in Mulholland's offices 285 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,142 in the fall of 1922. 286 00:16:20,166 --> 00:16:22,976 20 years before, the city had required 287 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,809 {\an1}that a group of experts review his plans for the aqueduct. 288 00:16:26,833 --> 00:16:30,509 But that was then. 289 00:16:30,533 --> 00:16:31,709 JACKSON: This is that sense 290 00:16:31,733 --> 00:16:33,976 {\an1}that he had earned the right 291 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:38,676 {\an1}to sort of do what he wanted to do. 292 00:16:38,700 --> 00:16:40,976 ROGERS: This is the second-largest storage reservoir 293 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,309 {\an1}in Southern California. 294 00:16:43,333 --> 00:16:46,976 {\an1}It should have had peer review; 295 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,476 {\an1}at least some people outside his organization reviewing it 296 00:16:49,500 --> 00:16:50,909 and looking at it. 297 00:16:50,933 --> 00:16:57,242 {\an1}But nobody's questioning him by the time you get to 1922. 298 00:16:57,266 --> 00:16:59,033 Nobody. 299 00:17:03,033 --> 00:17:06,076 ♪ ♪ 300 00:17:06,100 --> 00:17:08,909 NARRATOR: In April of 1924, 301 00:17:08,933 --> 00:17:11,009 {\an1}the first construction workers arrived 302 00:17:11,033 --> 00:17:13,776 {\an1}in the San Francisquito Canyon. 303 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:17,509 It had been 12 years since Mulholland's crews 304 00:17:17,533 --> 00:17:20,176 {\an1}ran the southern end of the aqueduct through here, 305 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:21,409 and three years 306 00:17:21,433 --> 00:17:23,242 {\an1}since they finished building a generating station 307 00:17:23,266 --> 00:17:25,009 called Powerhouse 2 308 00:17:25,033 --> 00:17:30,009 {\an7}about a mile downstream from the new dam. 309 00:17:30,033 --> 00:17:34,009 {\an7}The Powerhouse 2 workers and their families 310 00:17:34,033 --> 00:17:36,309 {\an7}lived in wooden bungalows clustered around the plant 311 00:17:36,333 --> 00:17:38,142 {\an7}at the bottom of the canyon. 312 00:17:38,166 --> 00:17:41,109 {\an7}Now their quiet little community 313 00:17:41,133 --> 00:17:44,876 {\an8}was overrun with men and machinery. 314 00:17:44,900 --> 00:17:47,676 {\an7}But just as the project was gearing up, 315 00:17:47,700 --> 00:17:50,733 {\an8}it suddenly took on a new urgency. 316 00:17:52,433 --> 00:17:55,509 {\an1}On the 21st of May 1924, 317 00:17:55,533 --> 00:17:58,076 {\an1}a massive explosion destroyed a section 318 00:17:58,100 --> 00:18:01,376 {\an1}of the aqueduct in Owens Valley. 319 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,609 {\an1}The damage was repaired within a few days, 320 00:18:04,633 --> 00:18:08,409 {\an1}but as far as the activists in the valley were concerned, 321 00:18:08,433 --> 00:18:10,976 {\an1}the fight was just getting started. 322 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:16,076 MONTOYA: The aqueduct was a disaster for Owens Valley. 323 00:18:16,100 --> 00:18:21,076 {\an1}The people who lived there lost almost all of their water. 324 00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:26,809 {\an1}It became such a desolate place. 325 00:18:26,833 --> 00:18:28,476 {\an1}It was a complete undoing 326 00:18:28,500 --> 00:18:31,009 of their livelihoods and their households 327 00:18:31,033 --> 00:18:34,109 and their families. 328 00:18:34,133 --> 00:18:39,542 JACKSON: To the city and to Mulholland, this is terrorism. 329 00:18:39,566 --> 00:18:42,176 You are destroying the water supply 330 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,309 {\an1}for this major urban center. 331 00:18:45,333 --> 00:18:48,009 NARRATOR: Six months after the first attack, 332 00:18:48,033 --> 00:18:49,676 {\an1}over a hundred men seized 333 00:18:49,700 --> 00:18:51,709 {\an1}the aqueduct control gates in Owens Valley, 334 00:18:51,733 --> 00:18:54,309 {\an1}opened up the valves, 335 00:18:54,333 --> 00:18:57,966 {\an1}and released the water onto the parched soil. 336 00:18:59,733 --> 00:19:03,242 {\an7}They wouldn't restore the aqueduct flow, they said, 337 00:19:03,266 --> 00:19:06,042 {\an7}until the city agreed to pay reparations 338 00:19:06,066 --> 00:19:09,766 {\an7}and limit any further expansion of the project. 339 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:17,576 ♪ ♪ 340 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:21,709 {\an1}By noon the next day, hundreds of men, women, and children 341 00:19:21,733 --> 00:19:23,076 {\an1}had joined the siege, 342 00:19:23,100 --> 00:19:26,809 {\an1}which had come to look more like a huge barbecue. 343 00:19:26,833 --> 00:19:29,276 ♪ ♪ 344 00:19:29,300 --> 00:19:32,576 {\an1}Families came with picnics, 345 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:36,576 {\an1}businesses up and down the valley closed for the occasion, 346 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,309 {\an1}and a group of musicians arrived, 347 00:19:39,333 --> 00:19:41,076 {\an1}courtesy of movie star Tom Mix, 348 00:19:41,100 --> 00:19:44,009 {\an1}who was shooting a Western nearby. 349 00:19:44,033 --> 00:19:47,242 {\an1}The siege lasted four days, 350 00:19:47,266 --> 00:19:51,466 {\an1}long enough to make news around the world. 351 00:19:52,666 --> 00:19:55,276 {\an7}To Mulholland's annoyance, 352 00:19:55,300 --> 00:19:58,509 {\an1}much of the coverage presented the settlers' actions 353 00:19:58,533 --> 00:20:00,976 as a noble struggle against the corruption 354 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,200 {\an1}and power of Los Angeles. 355 00:20:07,566 --> 00:20:09,609 ♪ ♪ 356 00:20:09,633 --> 00:20:14,376 WILKMAN: It became known in the press as "the Little Civil War." 357 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:19,209 And it was intense, and it was violent. 358 00:20:19,233 --> 00:20:22,876 WARREN: There are multiple layers of irony here. 359 00:20:22,900 --> 00:20:25,642 {\an1}When the settlers of the Owens Valley 360 00:20:25,666 --> 00:20:29,942 {\an1}came in the 1850s and '60s, 361 00:20:29,966 --> 00:20:32,609 they displaced the Northern Paiute people, 362 00:20:32,633 --> 00:20:37,733 the Native people who lived in the Owens Valley. 363 00:20:38,766 --> 00:20:42,009 NARRATOR: Before contact, 364 00:20:42,033 --> 00:20:43,976 {\an1}the Paiutes' homeland had stretched across 365 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,676 {\an1}30 million acres of the Western interior. 366 00:20:47,700 --> 00:20:51,142 {\an1}Although most preferred a nomadic lifestyle, 367 00:20:51,166 --> 00:20:54,042 one group settled in Owens Valley, 368 00:20:54,066 --> 00:20:57,609 {\an7}where the snowmelt coming off the Sierra Nevada Mountains 369 00:20:57,633 --> 00:20:59,976 {\an7}provided a reliable source of water. 370 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,576 WILL COWAN: The Paiutes there, they were building irrigation canals 371 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,309 {\an1}going back to 1000 A.D., 372 00:21:06,333 --> 00:21:07,809 {\an1}so they could take the runoff 373 00:21:07,833 --> 00:21:09,676 {\an1}from the back side of the Sierra Nevada 374 00:21:09,700 --> 00:21:12,776 {\an1}and they could grow different types of indigenous crops. 375 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,142 {\an1}Of course, during the conquest, 376 00:21:15,166 --> 00:21:18,342 {\an1}there's an influx of white Americans to the West Coast. 377 00:21:18,366 --> 00:21:20,976 {\an1}For the Owens Valley Paiute, in particular, 378 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,642 {\an1}there's tension over kidnapping of Paiute children 379 00:21:24,666 --> 00:21:26,676 {\an1}and other types of really atrocious things, 380 00:21:26,700 --> 00:21:29,242 {\an1}and there's a series of wars. 381 00:21:29,266 --> 00:21:31,776 {\an7}In the long run, it's, it's the Paiute who are removed 382 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:34,442 {\an7}from their ancestral lands as the settlers come there 383 00:21:34,466 --> 00:21:36,442 {\an1}and basically take over the irrigation system 384 00:21:36,466 --> 00:21:40,576 {\an1}that the Paiutes had built a thousand years before. 385 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,542 {\an1}So what the settlers did to Native people, 386 00:21:43,566 --> 00:21:46,876 {\an1}the City of Los Angeles is in a sense doing to them: 387 00:21:46,900 --> 00:21:49,533 {\an1}taking the water away. 388 00:21:50,900 --> 00:21:53,542 NARRATOR: The Los Angeles Water Bureau picked up 389 00:21:53,566 --> 00:21:55,942 {\an1}where the Paiute Wars left off, 390 00:21:55,966 --> 00:21:59,309 {\an1}insisting that any Paiutes who remained in the valley 391 00:21:59,333 --> 00:22:02,276 {\an1}should be removed through a land swap 392 00:22:02,300 --> 00:22:05,109 {\an1}for humanitarian reasons. 393 00:22:05,133 --> 00:22:10,576 {\an7}"Some are living in dugouts or crudely constructed shacks 394 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,476 {\an8}that are a disgrace to American ideals," 395 00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:17,376 {\an7}an internal report observed, before coming to the point. 396 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:22,976 {\an1}"Nearly all of them use immense quantities of water." 397 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,242 COWAN: Is it a morality tale? 398 00:22:25,266 --> 00:22:27,742 {\an1}It's always a morality tale. 399 00:22:27,766 --> 00:22:30,309 But of course, it depends on whose morals 400 00:22:30,333 --> 00:22:33,476 {\an1}and whose perspective. 401 00:22:33,500 --> 00:22:36,376 BSUMEK: Dispossession is really woven into 402 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:38,876 {\an1}the fabric of the American West. 403 00:22:38,900 --> 00:22:40,776 {\an1}It's the philosophy that 404 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,476 {\an7}forms the entire foundation of the settlement of the region. 405 00:22:43,500 --> 00:22:48,000 ♪ ♪ 406 00:23:01,666 --> 00:23:05,042 {\an8}NARRATOR: By the fall of 1924, 407 00:23:05,066 --> 00:23:08,400 {\an7}the canyon was a hive of activity. 408 00:23:10,733 --> 00:23:13,242 {\an1}Trucks ferried sand and gravel 409 00:23:13,266 --> 00:23:17,500 {\an1}to a small concrete plant at the downstream face of the dam. 410 00:23:22,766 --> 00:23:27,733 A crane lifted the liquid concrete. 411 00:23:29,733 --> 00:23:32,900 {\an1}Workers directed it into position. 412 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:40,509 {\an1}Over the next 16 months, that same operation would be repeated 413 00:23:40,533 --> 00:23:44,342 {\an1}tens of thousands of times. 414 00:23:44,366 --> 00:23:47,342 {\an8}A gravity dam's a very simple concept. 415 00:23:47,366 --> 00:23:49,542 {\an7}It's a retaining wall that you're building 416 00:23:49,566 --> 00:23:54,476 {\an1}to have something of much greater weight and stability 417 00:23:54,500 --> 00:23:56,776 than the forces you're putting against it. 418 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,376 {\an8}And this is water, this is concrete. 419 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,309 {\an8}So a dam that has a triangular shape 420 00:24:03,333 --> 00:24:07,533 {\an1}should be able to hold back a lake that's of infinite length. 421 00:24:08,666 --> 00:24:10,542 NARRATOR: As work proceeded on the dam, 422 00:24:10,566 --> 00:24:12,709 {\an1}Mulholland decided to make it taller 423 00:24:12,733 --> 00:24:15,409 {\an1}than originally planned. 424 00:24:15,433 --> 00:24:17,642 ROGERS: Mulholland had made a promise 425 00:24:17,666 --> 00:24:19,642 {\an1}that he wanted enough storage 426 00:24:19,666 --> 00:24:25,109 {\an1}to contain one year's water supply for Los Angeles. 427 00:24:25,133 --> 00:24:29,842 {\an1}Because the population was increasing so much every year, 428 00:24:29,866 --> 00:24:33,209 {\an1}the demand was greater and greater. 429 00:24:33,233 --> 00:24:34,709 And so Mulholland 430 00:24:34,733 --> 00:24:37,942 {\an1}increased the height of the dam ten feet 431 00:24:37,966 --> 00:24:40,876 {\an1}the first year that they were in construction, 432 00:24:40,900 --> 00:24:42,709 {\an1}and then the second year, he did it again, 433 00:24:42,733 --> 00:24:46,542 without increasing the base width. 434 00:24:46,566 --> 00:24:48,109 {\an7}What's important here is, okay, 435 00:24:48,133 --> 00:24:49,442 {\an7}you can raise the height of the dam. 436 00:24:49,466 --> 00:24:51,709 But if you do this, 437 00:24:51,733 --> 00:24:54,342 {\an1}there's going to be more pressure on the concrete, 438 00:24:54,366 --> 00:24:56,209 {\an1}and you better make sure that it's thick enough 439 00:24:56,233 --> 00:24:59,066 to withstand that. 440 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,509 NARRATOR: In fact, Mulholland was distracted 441 00:25:03,533 --> 00:25:06,509 {\an1}by an even more ambitious enterprise. 442 00:25:06,533 --> 00:25:09,909 MONTOYA: The Boulder Dam project, 443 00:25:09,933 --> 00:25:11,676 {\an1}which becomes the Hoover Dam, 444 00:25:11,700 --> 00:25:16,042 {\an7}is an undertaking that even dwarfs the aqueduct: 445 00:25:16,066 --> 00:25:21,076 {\an7}to take water from the Colorado River, move it 446 00:25:21,100 --> 00:25:25,609 {\an7}to various places along Southern California. 447 00:25:25,633 --> 00:25:30,909 {\an1}Mulholland is a consultant to that project. 448 00:25:30,933 --> 00:25:33,476 {\an1}It feeds into his vision of what 449 00:25:33,500 --> 00:25:36,909 {\an1}he thinks Southern California can become. 450 00:25:36,933 --> 00:25:40,676 NARRATOR: Even as the biggest dam he'd ever built 451 00:25:40,700 --> 00:25:43,709 was rising in the San Francisquito Canyon, 452 00:25:43,733 --> 00:25:46,676 {\an1}Mulholland was on the road for weeks at a time, 453 00:25:46,700 --> 00:25:50,476 {\an1}mapping out routes for a Colorado River aqueduct 454 00:25:50,500 --> 00:25:55,000 {\an1}and lobbying in Sacramento and Washington. 455 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,176 All the while, behind the St. Francis Dam, 456 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:04,033 {\an1}the water was rising, the pressure building. 457 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:09,709 JACKSON: When it's completed in the spring of 1926, 458 00:26:09,733 --> 00:26:12,742 {\an8}there's almost no public notice of it. 459 00:26:12,766 --> 00:26:14,576 {\an8}There are a number of dynamite attacks 460 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,676 {\an1}that take place along the aqueduct. 461 00:26:17,700 --> 00:26:21,176 {\an1}I think they don't want to draw attention to it. 462 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,176 NARRATOR: The official reticence did nothing to pacify 463 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,809 the settlers in the Owens Valley. 464 00:26:27,833 --> 00:26:31,742 {\an1}On May 27, 1927, an explosion 465 00:26:31,766 --> 00:26:35,842 {\an1}ripped out one of the largest siphons in the aqueduct. 466 00:26:35,866 --> 00:26:37,776 A few nights later, 467 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:40,876 another 60-foot section was destroyed. 468 00:26:40,900 --> 00:26:43,609 By the end of June, there had been 469 00:26:43,633 --> 00:26:45,676 three more attacks on the aqueduct, 470 00:26:45,700 --> 00:26:48,209 {\an1}and the city was alive with rumors of a plot 471 00:26:48,233 --> 00:26:50,842 {\an1}to bomb the St. Francis Dam. 472 00:26:50,866 --> 00:26:54,342 {\an1}The authorities had yet to make a single arrest. 473 00:26:54,366 --> 00:26:58,142 No one in the valley was talking. 474 00:26:58,166 --> 00:27:02,076 {\an8}Hundreds of armed guards were sent in. 475 00:27:02,100 --> 00:27:06,033 {\an8}To locals, they were an occupying army. 476 00:27:12,166 --> 00:27:14,276 {\an8}Despite the worries about sabotage, 477 00:27:14,300 --> 00:27:16,842 {\an8}communities that lay in the potential flood path 478 00:27:16,866 --> 00:27:19,476 {\an8}were never consulted about the dam. 479 00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:23,442 {\an1}The Santa Clara River Valley stretched 50 miles 480 00:27:23,466 --> 00:27:27,042 {\an1}from the San Francisquito Canyon to the Pacific Ocean, 481 00:27:27,066 --> 00:27:30,209 {\an1}a patchwork of citrus farms and oil wells 482 00:27:30,233 --> 00:27:34,276 {\an1}that was a magnet for newcomers seeking work. 483 00:27:34,300 --> 00:27:37,276 ALAMILLO: There were some groups that had been there for generations, 484 00:27:37,300 --> 00:27:40,476 {\an1}back from the Spanish era 485 00:27:40,500 --> 00:27:43,276 {\an1}and the Mexican period of the 19th century. 486 00:27:43,300 --> 00:27:46,576 {\an1}But many were starting to arrive, really, 487 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:48,976 in the early 1900s, 488 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:50,876 {\an7}and especially during the Mexican Revolution, 489 00:27:50,900 --> 00:27:53,409 {\an8}like my grandfather. 490 00:27:53,433 --> 00:27:56,876 NARRATOR: Half the people in Santa Paula were of Mexican descent, 491 00:27:56,900 --> 00:28:01,909 {\an1}most of them recent arrivals working in the citrus industry. 492 00:28:01,933 --> 00:28:04,609 GLORIA VELASCO: My great-aunt and her husband 493 00:28:04,633 --> 00:28:06,976 {\an1}were hardworking people. 494 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:08,376 {\an8}Poor. 495 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:10,109 {\an7}So they had to follow the crops. 496 00:28:10,133 --> 00:28:14,776 {\an1}Soledad, being the oldest child, 497 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:19,309 {\an1}stayed behind in camp taking care of her siblings. 498 00:28:19,333 --> 00:28:21,409 ♪ ♪ 499 00:28:21,433 --> 00:28:25,676 {\an1}When they would come home, they lived in Santa Paula. 500 00:28:25,700 --> 00:28:28,209 {\an1}And it was very close to the river bottom. 501 00:28:28,233 --> 00:28:31,009 ALAMILLO: Not a lot of people knew 502 00:28:31,033 --> 00:28:32,909 {\an1}of the St. Francis Dam. 503 00:28:32,933 --> 00:28:36,276 {\an1}Even the ranchers who owned a lot of the orchards, 504 00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:38,376 {\an1}they didn't even know the dam was being built 505 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,042 until the cement was being poured. 506 00:28:41,066 --> 00:28:44,466 {\an1}You can imagine that the Mexican community had no idea. 507 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,242 JACKSON: That's what's so weird. 508 00:28:48,266 --> 00:28:50,709 I mean, it's this major structure. 509 00:28:50,733 --> 00:28:53,642 {\an1}And it's just fascinating that there's so many people 510 00:28:53,666 --> 00:28:56,900 {\an1}who don't really have any sense that it's there. 511 00:29:03,166 --> 00:29:04,942 ROGERS: Mulholland gets a call, 512 00:29:04,966 --> 00:29:07,042 {\an1}I think it was a Monday, 513 00:29:07,066 --> 00:29:11,642 {\an1}from Tony Harnischfeger, who's his dam keeper. 514 00:29:11,666 --> 00:29:15,842 NARRATOR: Harnischfeger was highly attuned to the dam's condition. 515 00:29:15,866 --> 00:29:18,376 He and his family lived in the shadow 516 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,442 {\an1}of the enormous structure. 517 00:29:20,466 --> 00:29:24,276 Over the last year, Harnischfeger had watched 518 00:29:24,300 --> 00:29:28,609 {\an7}as a series of cracks appeared in the dam. 519 00:29:28,633 --> 00:29:30,842 {\an8}ROGERS: Those cracks went all the way through the dam. 520 00:29:30,866 --> 00:29:32,376 {\an8}There were at least four of them. 521 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,509 {\an7}And Mulholland plugged all of the cracks 522 00:29:35,533 --> 00:29:38,209 {\an8}with oakum on the downstream face. 523 00:29:38,233 --> 00:29:40,709 {\an7}That was the absolute worst thing you could do, 524 00:29:40,733 --> 00:29:43,742 {\an7}because now you're taking that hydraulic pressure 525 00:29:43,766 --> 00:29:46,576 {\an7}and you're putting it on the interior of the dam. 526 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,842 NARRATOR: Harnischfeger was on edge. 527 00:29:49,866 --> 00:29:52,476 {\an1}The reservoir had been filled to capacity 528 00:29:52,500 --> 00:29:55,209 for the first time five days before. 529 00:29:55,233 --> 00:29:59,409 {\an1}Water was leaking under the dam's west side. 530 00:29:59,433 --> 00:30:01,509 ROGERS: Mulholland goes out there 531 00:30:01,533 --> 00:30:03,709 right away to take a look at it. 532 00:30:03,733 --> 00:30:06,209 And what he told Harnischfeger was, you know, 533 00:30:06,233 --> 00:30:08,342 {\an1}"There's no active erosion 534 00:30:08,366 --> 00:30:11,209 "occurring of the dam foundation. 535 00:30:11,233 --> 00:30:14,742 {\an1}This is a lot about nothing." 536 00:30:14,766 --> 00:30:16,942 {\an8}NARRATOR: Mulholland was back at the office 537 00:30:16,966 --> 00:30:19,209 {\an7}in time for a late lunch. 538 00:30:19,233 --> 00:30:21,542 {\an7}But with every passing minute, 539 00:30:21,566 --> 00:30:24,342 {\an7}the internal stresses on the dam were multiplying. 540 00:30:24,366 --> 00:30:27,009 {\an7}At around 11:20 p.m., 541 00:30:27,033 --> 00:30:31,076 {\an7}the structure finally began to give way. 542 00:30:31,100 --> 00:30:35,009 {\an7}A huge crack opened up on its upstream side. 543 00:30:35,033 --> 00:30:37,376 {\an8}JACKSON: This is where that extra height 544 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,076 {\an7}really makes a difference. 545 00:30:40,100 --> 00:30:41,909 {\an1}It's kind of like, you know, 546 00:30:41,933 --> 00:30:44,842 {\an1}straws on a camel's back. 547 00:30:44,866 --> 00:30:48,342 ROGERS: This dam did not have the capacity 548 00:30:48,366 --> 00:30:53,376 to stop the loads that were being put on it. 549 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:58,576 {\an1}The dam was actually tilting one half of a degree. 550 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,242 {\an8}NARRATOR: Already the St. Francis Dam was fractured by cracks, 551 00:31:02,266 --> 00:31:05,609 {\an7}and its central section was tilting forward. 552 00:31:05,633 --> 00:31:08,242 {\an8}Then another defect 553 00:31:08,266 --> 00:31:11,542 {\an7}in Mulholland's design came into play. 554 00:31:11,566 --> 00:31:14,442 {\an8}JACKSON: What about water that seeps under the base 555 00:31:14,466 --> 00:31:18,409 {\an7}of the dam and then begins to push up at the bottom, 556 00:31:18,433 --> 00:31:22,676 {\an7}what was termed uplift? 557 00:31:22,700 --> 00:31:25,242 {\an7}The dam had sort of pushed up off of its foundation. 558 00:31:25,266 --> 00:31:28,476 {\an8}NARRATOR: Like most modern dams, 559 00:31:28,500 --> 00:31:32,209 {\an7}the St. Francis included relief wells to prevent uplift, 560 00:31:32,233 --> 00:31:35,942 {\an7}but only in its center section. 561 00:31:35,966 --> 00:31:40,309 {\an7}The wings of the dam were beginning to slip away. 562 00:31:40,333 --> 00:31:44,809 {\an8}Around 11:30 p.m., a massive chunk of the dam, 563 00:31:44,833 --> 00:31:50,642 {\an7}severed by cracks and weakened by uplift, blew out. 564 00:31:50,666 --> 00:31:53,176 {\an7}Intensely pressurized water began 565 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,242 {\an8}jetting through the resulting gap. 566 00:31:55,266 --> 00:31:59,866 {\an7}The entire east wing was on the verge of collapse. 567 00:32:01,833 --> 00:32:04,909 WILKMAN: Over time, water from the reservoir had begun 568 00:32:04,933 --> 00:32:06,909 {\an1}to saturate the east abutment, 569 00:32:06,933 --> 00:32:09,809 which was made up of this geological formation 570 00:32:09,833 --> 00:32:12,242 called schist, 571 00:32:12,266 --> 00:32:15,633 {\an7}and it's layers of slate literally stacked on each other. 572 00:32:17,500 --> 00:32:20,442 {\an1}If it begins to be on an angle, as the hillside was, 573 00:32:20,466 --> 00:32:25,576 {\an1}and water gets in between these slate-like layers, 574 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,109 it slides like a deck of cards. 575 00:32:28,133 --> 00:32:31,076 ♪ ♪ 576 00:32:31,100 --> 00:32:33,442 NARRATOR: At two-and-a-half minutes before midnight, 577 00:32:33,466 --> 00:32:36,642 the entire hillside under the east wing 578 00:32:36,666 --> 00:32:38,733 {\an1}collapsed into the dam. 579 00:32:41,933 --> 00:32:46,576 WILKMAN: The dam was sliding on its base. 580 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:50,609 {\an1}And the west side crumbled down. 581 00:32:50,633 --> 00:32:53,466 And it collapses. 582 00:32:56,233 --> 00:33:00,342 NARRATOR: Tony Harnischfeger probably saw it happen. 583 00:33:00,366 --> 00:33:03,676 Ace Hopewell, smoking a cigarette 584 00:33:03,700 --> 00:33:07,442 a mile up the road, heard it in the distance. 585 00:33:07,466 --> 00:33:11,076 The landslide severed the wires 586 00:33:11,100 --> 00:33:14,076 {\an1}carrying power to Los Angeles. 587 00:33:14,100 --> 00:33:17,676 The lights in the city flickered. 588 00:33:17,700 --> 00:33:21,109 ♪ ♪ 589 00:33:21,133 --> 00:33:23,009 JACKSON: This huge flow, 590 00:33:23,033 --> 00:33:25,776 close to a million cubic feet per second, 591 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:28,909 {\an1}just rushes down the canyon. 592 00:33:28,933 --> 00:33:32,409 For Harnischfeger and his family, 593 00:33:32,433 --> 00:33:35,109 "Oh, my God!" 594 00:33:35,133 --> 00:33:38,509 {\an1}There's no way you're going to withstand that. 595 00:33:38,533 --> 00:33:41,476 (water rushing) 596 00:33:41,500 --> 00:33:42,942 (insects chirping, sound of water absent) 597 00:33:42,966 --> 00:33:44,909 NARRATOR: The sound of the collapsing dam 598 00:33:44,933 --> 00:33:47,542 took a little less than seven seconds to reach 599 00:33:47,566 --> 00:33:50,476 {\an1}the cluster of cabins around Powerhouse Number 2, 600 00:33:50,500 --> 00:33:53,342 {\an1}where it woke Lillian Curtis. 601 00:33:53,366 --> 00:33:55,076 {\an1}She looked out to see 602 00:33:55,100 --> 00:34:00,009 {\an1}"a misty haze hanging over everything." 603 00:34:00,033 --> 00:34:02,842 {\an1}Suddenly, Curtis grabbed her husband and screamed, 604 00:34:02,866 --> 00:34:05,709 "The dam has broke!" 605 00:34:05,733 --> 00:34:10,742 ROGERS: It's a colossal force coming down the canyon, 606 00:34:10,766 --> 00:34:15,076 {\an1}not like anything your senses would ever have understood. 607 00:34:15,100 --> 00:34:18,509 NARRATOR: Curtis scrambled up the side of the canyon 608 00:34:18,533 --> 00:34:21,309 {\an1}with her three-year-old son, while her husband 609 00:34:21,333 --> 00:34:24,209 {\an1}went back to fetch the girls. 610 00:34:24,233 --> 00:34:27,433 ♪ ♪ 611 00:34:30,033 --> 00:34:33,209 ST. JOHN: That people had enough time 612 00:34:33,233 --> 00:34:35,809 {\an1}to try to save their families 613 00:34:35,833 --> 00:34:38,342 {\an8}and then to fail is, 614 00:34:38,366 --> 00:34:41,209 {\an7}is a horrifying idea. 615 00:34:41,233 --> 00:34:44,609 ♪ ♪ 616 00:34:44,633 --> 00:34:46,809 NARRATOR: 40 minutes after the collapse, 617 00:34:46,833 --> 00:34:49,809 {\an1}the deluge burst out of the canyon and turned into 618 00:34:49,833 --> 00:34:52,042 the valley of the Santa Clara River, 619 00:34:52,066 --> 00:34:54,642 where 140 Edison Company workers 620 00:34:54,666 --> 00:34:57,300 {\an1}were sleeping at an encampment. 621 00:34:59,433 --> 00:35:02,476 "The confusion," one man remembered, 622 00:35:02,500 --> 00:35:05,376 "was indescribable." 623 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:09,976 {\an1}Fewer than half of them would see the sun rise. 624 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,076 ♪ ♪ 625 00:35:12,100 --> 00:35:14,776 WARREN: Most of the people who were killed 626 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,142 {\an7}probably never knew what was happening to them. 627 00:35:17,166 --> 00:35:18,742 {\an8}They just knew they were drowning. 628 00:35:18,766 --> 00:35:22,476 NARRATOR: In Santa Paula, ten-year-old 629 00:35:22,500 --> 00:35:25,909 Soledad Luna heard shouting outside. 630 00:35:25,933 --> 00:35:28,576 (men shouting) 631 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:31,476 VELASCO: Two motorcycle policemen were going around 632 00:35:31,500 --> 00:35:34,042 {\an1}yelling, "Agua, agua!" 633 00:35:34,066 --> 00:35:37,009 My great-grandfather thought it was crazy. 634 00:35:37,033 --> 00:35:39,766 {\an1}"It hasn't been raining... What water is he talking about?" 635 00:35:41,266 --> 00:35:43,909 {\an1}So my family didn't really pay much attention 636 00:35:43,933 --> 00:35:47,676 {\an1}until other neighbors started running. 637 00:35:47,700 --> 00:35:50,309 NARRATOR: Precious minutes ticked by 638 00:35:50,333 --> 00:35:53,276 as Soledad's father and her Uncle Sisto packed 639 00:35:53,300 --> 00:35:55,909 the family's possessions before finally 640 00:35:55,933 --> 00:35:58,409 {\an1}gathering her young cousins. 641 00:35:58,433 --> 00:36:01,176 VELASCO: Sisto got his children, 642 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,942 put the four oldest in the flatbed of the truck, 643 00:36:04,966 --> 00:36:08,142 {\an1}and his wife was sitting in the cab of the truck 644 00:36:08,166 --> 00:36:12,542 holding their infant when the water hit. 645 00:36:12,566 --> 00:36:16,542 {\an1}As the truck toppled over, they could see the little 646 00:36:16,566 --> 00:36:19,209 {\an1}children's arms flailing in the water, 647 00:36:19,233 --> 00:36:21,742 {\an1}trying to grasp, and crying out. 648 00:36:21,766 --> 00:36:25,376 NARRATOR: With nowhere to go, 649 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,042 Soledad's mother grabbed her four children 650 00:36:28,066 --> 00:36:30,842 {\an1}and huddled them on the bed. 651 00:36:30,866 --> 00:36:35,200 {\an1}The first impact tore their flimsy house apart. 652 00:36:36,466 --> 00:36:40,276 Miraculously, Soledad, her mother, 653 00:36:40,300 --> 00:36:42,809 {\an1}and her three siblings were carried away 654 00:36:42,833 --> 00:36:47,709 {\an1}on the crest of the flood, their bed a life raft. 655 00:36:47,733 --> 00:36:50,976 {\an1}But Soledad's luck seemed to run out when her hair 656 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:55,409 became entangled in the branches of a tree. 657 00:36:55,433 --> 00:36:57,809 Soledad watched her mother and siblings 658 00:36:57,833 --> 00:37:00,842 {\an1}float away into the darkness. 659 00:37:00,866 --> 00:37:02,976 VELASCO: Soledad screamed, 660 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,842 and her mother tried to grab her and couldn't. 661 00:37:05,866 --> 00:37:07,876 She couldn't see. 662 00:37:07,900 --> 00:37:09,709 It was, it was dark. 663 00:37:09,733 --> 00:37:12,676 But she could hear animals drowning, 664 00:37:12,700 --> 00:37:16,476 people screaming. 665 00:37:16,500 --> 00:37:20,409 And that was so terrifying to her. 666 00:37:20,433 --> 00:37:23,776 NARRATOR: As the flood carried Soledad's mother downstream, 667 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:25,709 it spread across the landscape until 668 00:37:25,733 --> 00:37:28,966 the leading edge was almost two miles wide. 669 00:37:30,933 --> 00:37:34,309 Even so, it still had power enough 670 00:37:34,333 --> 00:37:38,442 to demolish railroad and highway bridges. 671 00:37:38,466 --> 00:37:40,509 {\an1}Along the way, it had picked up all the debris 672 00:37:40,533 --> 00:37:43,866 {\an1}of the economy of the Santa Clara River Valley. 673 00:37:45,733 --> 00:37:49,076 {\an1}Orchard trees, cattle. 674 00:37:49,100 --> 00:37:52,009 {\an1}And as you get to the ocean, 675 00:37:52,033 --> 00:37:54,876 {\an1}oil from oil drilling. 676 00:37:54,900 --> 00:37:59,376 {\an1}So it's this mix of sludge 677 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:02,409 and rocks and parts of steel bridges 678 00:38:02,433 --> 00:38:07,076 {\an1}and bodies and animals in a kind of an oil slick. 679 00:38:07,100 --> 00:38:10,842 ♪ ♪ 680 00:38:10,866 --> 00:38:13,142 NARRATOR: At 5:25 in the morning, 681 00:38:13,166 --> 00:38:15,342 at the mouth of the Santa Clara River, 682 00:38:15,366 --> 00:38:19,242 {\an1}the floodwaters finally washed into the sea. 683 00:38:19,266 --> 00:38:22,533 ♪ ♪ 684 00:38:31,100 --> 00:38:35,000 {\an8}(winds gusting) 685 00:38:39,100 --> 00:38:41,709 ALAMILLO: The next day was gloomy, 686 00:38:41,733 --> 00:38:44,276 overcast. 687 00:38:44,300 --> 00:38:48,576 There was no color at all that morning. 688 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,276 {\an1}My grandfather walked around. 689 00:38:51,300 --> 00:38:55,266 He remembered houses just broken into pieces. 690 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,966 Trees uprooted and thrown everywhere. 691 00:39:02,733 --> 00:39:07,442 Cadavers lined up like piles of wood. 692 00:39:07,466 --> 00:39:11,833 Mothers crying, in tears, sobbing. 693 00:39:14,333 --> 00:39:18,809 {\an8}WILKMAN: There were bodies strewn everywhere. 694 00:39:18,833 --> 00:39:21,409 Boy Scouts would go out with little flags, 695 00:39:21,433 --> 00:39:23,642 {\an1}and when they found a body, 696 00:39:23,666 --> 00:39:26,576 they would put the flag in the ground, 697 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:30,109 {\an1}and then a recovery crew would come and pick up 698 00:39:30,133 --> 00:39:32,642 and carry the body away on stretchers, 699 00:39:32,666 --> 00:39:35,533 {\an1}put them on the back of trucks, and take them into town. 700 00:39:38,466 --> 00:39:41,409 NARRATOR: Rescuers found Lillian Curtis, 701 00:39:41,433 --> 00:39:44,042 {\an1}her son, and a neighbor on a hillside 702 00:39:44,066 --> 00:39:47,242 {\an1}overlooking the ruins of Powerhouse 2. 703 00:39:47,266 --> 00:39:50,709 Everyone else in the town was dead. 704 00:39:50,733 --> 00:39:54,076 ♪ ♪ 705 00:39:54,100 --> 00:39:57,476 VELASCO: They found my Great-Aunt Irene 706 00:39:57,500 --> 00:40:01,509 {\an1}where the mouth of the river empties into the Pacific Ocean. 707 00:40:01,533 --> 00:40:05,242 {\an1}She was cold and wet, 708 00:40:05,266 --> 00:40:09,642 scared, not able to speak the language. 709 00:40:09,666 --> 00:40:14,342 {\an1}(people talking in background) 710 00:40:14,366 --> 00:40:17,533 ♪ ♪ 711 00:40:20,133 --> 00:40:23,642 {\an1}Soledad was found many, 712 00:40:23,666 --> 00:40:26,742 many, many hours later hanging from the tree. 713 00:40:26,766 --> 00:40:30,009 ♪ ♪ 714 00:40:30,033 --> 00:40:34,376 {\an1}It traumatized her so much that to the very day that she passed, 715 00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:38,176 {\an1}she could still remember the man's name that found her. 716 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:41,042 It was a Mr. Baxter. 717 00:40:41,066 --> 00:40:44,109 {\an8}♪ ♪ 718 00:40:44,133 --> 00:40:48,309 {\an8}WILKMAN: Mulholland doesn't get there until hours later. 719 00:40:48,333 --> 00:40:51,776 {\an7}He stands in shock and awe 720 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,242 and horror, 721 00:40:54,266 --> 00:40:57,900 looking at where the St. Francis Dam once was. 722 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:04,442 {\an1}And all that's left is this center section of the dam. 723 00:41:04,466 --> 00:41:08,242 {\an8}Everything else from the dam is gone. 724 00:41:08,266 --> 00:41:11,400 {\an8}♪ ♪ 725 00:41:16,166 --> 00:41:18,442 {\an8}NARRATOR: Within days, 726 00:41:18,466 --> 00:41:21,966 {\an7}tourists began showing up at the disaster zone. 727 00:41:23,933 --> 00:41:27,242 {\an1}Scaling the towering monolith that became known as 728 00:41:27,266 --> 00:41:30,542 the Tombstone. 729 00:41:30,566 --> 00:41:33,942 Collecting bits of debris for souvenirs. 730 00:41:33,966 --> 00:41:40,942 {\an1}The sightseers fed a growing bitterness among the survivors. 731 00:41:40,966 --> 00:41:44,476 ♪ ♪ 732 00:41:44,500 --> 00:41:47,242 COWAN: The haves and have-nots are very finely delineated 733 00:41:47,266 --> 00:41:50,709 {\an1}during times of distress, during times of disaster. 734 00:41:50,733 --> 00:41:53,376 {\an7}It makes the inequalities in a society very acute. 735 00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:56,376 ♪ ♪ 736 00:41:56,400 --> 00:42:00,342 NARRATOR: Searchers found bodies of ranchers, housewives, 737 00:42:00,366 --> 00:42:05,376 {\an1}teachers, farmhands, children. 738 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:09,809 {\an1}But some of the bodies were lost forever. 739 00:42:09,833 --> 00:42:11,942 {\an8}ALAMILLO: We never know how many, 740 00:42:11,966 --> 00:42:15,442 {\an7}exactly, died that night. 741 00:42:15,466 --> 00:42:20,309 {\an1}It was a community that had many transients. 742 00:42:20,333 --> 00:42:25,876 {\an1}There were migrant workers or migrant families. 743 00:42:25,900 --> 00:42:28,842 {\an7}And so many of them, maybe, who lived along the river, 744 00:42:28,866 --> 00:42:31,609 {\an8}who got swept away, 745 00:42:31,633 --> 00:42:35,742 {\an1}they will never be known. 746 00:42:35,766 --> 00:42:38,109 And the fact that we can never name them 747 00:42:38,133 --> 00:42:40,142 {\an1}or find out who they are 748 00:42:40,166 --> 00:42:43,176 still haunts us even to this day. 749 00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:45,966 ♪ ♪ 750 00:42:53,133 --> 00:42:55,709 {\an8}NARRATOR: For supporters of Hoover Dam, 751 00:42:55,733 --> 00:42:59,176 {\an7}the disaster couldn't have come at a worse time. 752 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:02,442 {\an8}Just as the Senate was about to decide 753 00:43:02,466 --> 00:43:05,409 {\an7}the fate of the project, Mulholland's catastrophe 754 00:43:05,433 --> 00:43:08,709 {\an8}threatened to bring down the whole enterprise. 755 00:43:08,733 --> 00:43:12,742 ROGERS: The Hoover Dam was the largest line-item 756 00:43:12,766 --> 00:43:16,609 {\an1}expenditure in the history of the United States. 757 00:43:16,633 --> 00:43:20,176 {\an1}They had the votes to finally get this thing. 758 00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:21,809 The problem was that Mulholland was the biggest 759 00:43:21,833 --> 00:43:26,909 visible cheerleader for that whole proposal. 760 00:43:26,933 --> 00:43:30,609 {\an1}How can you be sure about the safety of any other dam? 761 00:43:30,633 --> 00:43:36,542 {\an1}They've got to find a way to deal with this very quickly. 762 00:43:36,566 --> 00:43:38,242 ♪ ♪ 763 00:43:38,266 --> 00:43:42,042 NARRATOR: On March 15, two days after the disaster, 764 00:43:42,066 --> 00:43:44,509 {\an1}California Governor C.C. Young 765 00:43:44,533 --> 00:43:48,376 {\an1}appointed a commission to investigate the dam's failure. 766 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:52,142 {\an1}Within a week, the commission announced that the dam 767 00:43:52,166 --> 00:43:54,442 {\an1}had collapsed because of a deficiency 768 00:43:54,466 --> 00:43:56,876 {\an1}in the soil under the west wing. 769 00:43:56,900 --> 00:43:59,476 {\an1}It was a reassuring conclusion: 770 00:43:59,500 --> 00:44:02,242 {\an1}the failure was an aberration, 771 00:44:02,266 --> 00:44:05,242 {\an1}unlikely to be repeated. 772 00:44:05,266 --> 00:44:07,009 It's a rabbit trail. 773 00:44:07,033 --> 00:44:09,409 It's not what caused the dam to fail. 774 00:44:09,433 --> 00:44:15,476 But nobody wants to investigate it too much. 775 00:44:15,500 --> 00:44:18,409 NARRATOR: Meanwhile, the city moved quickly 776 00:44:18,433 --> 00:44:21,242 {\an1}to settle with the survivors. 777 00:44:21,266 --> 00:44:24,409 WILKMAN: The city agreed upon a kind of a fixed price. 778 00:44:24,433 --> 00:44:28,109 $5,000 for a human life is not enough. 779 00:44:28,133 --> 00:44:30,442 {\an1}But that's what was negotiated. 780 00:44:30,466 --> 00:44:33,509 {\an1}The city paid, very quickly. 781 00:44:33,533 --> 00:44:36,666 They wanted to get it out of the way. 782 00:44:39,033 --> 00:44:42,709 NARRATOR: But for Mulholland, the reckoning was just beginning. 783 00:44:42,733 --> 00:44:46,342 {\an1}Some of the victims had died in Los Angeles County, 784 00:44:46,366 --> 00:44:48,676 {\an1}so the county coroner had to determine whether 785 00:44:48,700 --> 00:44:51,176 {\an1}a crime had been committed. 786 00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:52,676 {\an1}It's not a criminal trial. 787 00:44:52,700 --> 00:44:55,109 {\an1}It was a trial to determine who was responsible 788 00:44:55,133 --> 00:44:57,709 {\an1}and to determine if they were going to indict anybody. 789 00:44:57,733 --> 00:45:00,142 It's quite possible that William Mulholland 790 00:45:00,166 --> 00:45:02,676 would've been indicted for murder. 791 00:45:02,700 --> 00:45:05,609 ♪ ♪ 792 00:45:05,633 --> 00:45:08,242 NARRATOR: Eight days after the disaster, 793 00:45:08,266 --> 00:45:10,142 William Mulholland took the stand 794 00:45:10,166 --> 00:45:13,976 at the Los Angeles County Courthouse. 795 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:18,309 To date, 277 bodies had been found. 796 00:45:18,333 --> 00:45:21,742 {\an1}Hundreds were still missing. 797 00:45:21,766 --> 00:45:25,509 {\an1}Mulholland was at times prickly and evasive 798 00:45:25,533 --> 00:45:28,909 under interrogation, but he did, finally, 799 00:45:28,933 --> 00:45:31,409 {\an1}get to the heart of the matter. 800 00:45:31,433 --> 00:45:34,476 {\an1}"If there is any error in human judgment," 801 00:45:34,500 --> 00:45:37,309 Mulholland admitted, "I was the human. 802 00:45:37,333 --> 00:45:40,766 {\an1}I won't try to fasten it on anybody else." 803 00:45:42,933 --> 00:45:45,742 MONTOYA: The fact that Mulholland takes 804 00:45:45,766 --> 00:45:49,542 {\an7}responsibility for the St. Francis Dam disaster 805 00:45:49,566 --> 00:45:54,576 {\an7}allows people not to have to ask really difficult questions. 806 00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:56,976 {\an1}If blame could be put on this individual, 807 00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:59,133 {\an1}you just remove the individual. 808 00:46:01,333 --> 00:46:04,642 NARRATOR: In November 1928, a few weeks before 809 00:46:04,666 --> 00:46:07,376 the crucial Senate vote on Hoover Dam, 810 00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:11,376 {\an1}William Mulholland retired from the Water Bureau. 811 00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:13,442 JACKSON: It was time for him to move along. 812 00:46:13,466 --> 00:46:15,876 {\an1}And so long as he did, then he was, 813 00:46:15,900 --> 00:46:17,642 {\an1}well, he was given a pension. 814 00:46:17,666 --> 00:46:20,909 {\an1}They hold a banquet for him. 815 00:46:20,933 --> 00:46:25,466 {\an1}No mention is ever made of the St. Francis Dam. 816 00:46:29,066 --> 00:46:32,376 NARRATOR: In the spring of 1929, the City of Los Angeles 817 00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:35,142 {\an1}erased one of the last vestiges of the disaster 818 00:46:35,166 --> 00:46:39,109 by obliterating the dam's remains. 819 00:46:39,133 --> 00:46:42,366 (speaking inaudibly) 820 00:46:45,533 --> 00:46:48,076 {\an1}But it wasn't so easy to get rid of the very 821 00:46:48,100 --> 00:46:50,576 conspicuous reminder of the St. Francis Dam, 822 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:55,609 {\an1}and of William Mulholland, in the heart of Los Angeles. 823 00:46:55,633 --> 00:46:58,142 ROGERS: Nobody trusted the Hollywood Dam 824 00:46:58,166 --> 00:47:02,076 {\an1}after St. Francis Dam went out. 825 00:47:02,100 --> 00:47:06,142 {\an1}They ended up drawing it down two-thirds. 826 00:47:06,166 --> 00:47:09,276 {\an1}It only holds one-third its design capacity, 827 00:47:09,300 --> 00:47:12,442 and it had a huge embankment fill 828 00:47:12,466 --> 00:47:15,276 {\an1}added to the front of it. 829 00:47:15,300 --> 00:47:17,209 ST. JOHN: The monument to 830 00:47:17,233 --> 00:47:20,476 {\an1}the triumph of man over nature and to William Mulholland 831 00:47:20,500 --> 00:47:22,276 gets buried in dirt. 832 00:47:22,300 --> 00:47:26,476 {\an1}People in Hollywood no longer have to be reminded 833 00:47:26,500 --> 00:47:30,442 {\an1}that there is a huge dam looming over their heads. 834 00:47:30,466 --> 00:47:33,509 WILKMAN: Mulholland had a stroke 835 00:47:33,533 --> 00:47:36,509 and his health began to deteriorate. 836 00:47:36,533 --> 00:47:39,609 At family gathering, he would just 837 00:47:39,633 --> 00:47:42,900 sit in the corner and just stare into space. 838 00:47:45,900 --> 00:47:48,376 NARRATOR: William Mulholland died in Los Angeles 839 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:51,442 on July 22, 1935, 840 00:47:51,466 --> 00:47:55,733 {\an1}two months before the dedication of Hoover Dam. 841 00:47:57,333 --> 00:47:59,209 ♪ ♪ 842 00:47:59,233 --> 00:48:02,609 COWAN: Heroes serve the purpose of simplifying stories. 843 00:48:02,633 --> 00:48:05,576 Villains also do something similar. 844 00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:11,542 And in this story, Mulholland is the villain. 845 00:48:11,566 --> 00:48:12,976 {\an1}There's lots of other folks, including 846 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:14,842 {\an1}the populace of Los Angeles, who voted for the project, 847 00:48:14,866 --> 00:48:16,433 {\an1}who overwhelmingly supported it. 848 00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:21,700 {\an1}This is a communal effort. 849 00:48:27,433 --> 00:48:31,242 {\an1}(helicopter blades whirring) 850 00:48:31,266 --> 00:48:34,142 NARRATOR: The St. Francis Dam had largely disappeared 851 00:48:34,166 --> 00:48:36,609 from popular memory, 852 00:48:36,633 --> 00:48:39,742 {\an1}but it left a deep impression among the engineers 853 00:48:39,766 --> 00:48:43,942 {\an1}who were designing the next generation of public works. 854 00:48:43,966 --> 00:48:46,209 The Hoover Dam 855 00:48:46,233 --> 00:48:48,409 {\an1}was to be the cornerstone of a new West, 856 00:48:48,433 --> 00:48:50,342 {\an1}and its creators were 857 00:48:50,366 --> 00:48:54,309 determined to banish the ghost of St. Francis. 858 00:48:54,333 --> 00:48:57,876 {\an1}I think a lot of good things come out of failures. 859 00:48:57,900 --> 00:49:00,609 We pull back, 860 00:49:00,633 --> 00:49:03,609 {\an1}we do things more carefully. 861 00:49:03,633 --> 00:49:07,676 {\an1}St. Francis Dam had a huge impact on Hoover Dam. 862 00:49:07,700 --> 00:49:10,676 NARRATOR: Where the St. Francis Dam had been largely 863 00:49:10,700 --> 00:49:13,376 one man's creation, sketched out and then 864 00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:17,176 altered on the fly, Hoover Dam was scrutinized 865 00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:20,076 by teams of experts at every stage 866 00:49:20,100 --> 00:49:22,676 of its design and construction. 867 00:49:22,700 --> 00:49:25,709 {\an1}It captured the imagination 868 00:49:25,733 --> 00:49:28,376 {\an1}as few public works ever have. 869 00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:33,542 Immense dams became defining monuments of the age. 870 00:49:33,566 --> 00:49:36,700 {\an8}♪ ♪ 871 00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:48,176 BURKE: The legacy of the St. Francis Dam disaster 872 00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:51,542 {\an1}was a very short-term moral, 873 00:49:51,566 --> 00:49:54,676 {\an1}which is, "Build your dams more carefully." 874 00:49:54,700 --> 00:49:58,209 {\an1}I wish that they had taken 875 00:49:58,233 --> 00:50:01,176 {\an1}a bigger moral from the story, 876 00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:06,609 {\an7}which is, "Never trust anyone 877 00:50:06,633 --> 00:50:09,642 who tells you that you can have it all." 878 00:50:09,666 --> 00:50:12,176 {\an1}When they said, "Yeah, 879 00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:16,809 {\an1}"even though it doesn't rain, the sun is always shining, 880 00:50:16,833 --> 00:50:20,509 {\an1}"we can feed the growing city of L.A. 881 00:50:20,533 --> 00:50:23,809 {\an1}and water our crops," 882 00:50:23,833 --> 00:50:26,566 {\an1}all of them thought that they could have it all. 883 00:50:28,333 --> 00:50:31,142 COWAN: The idea that moving water from one geography 884 00:50:31,166 --> 00:50:33,309 {\an1}to another can be done to such great effect, 885 00:50:33,333 --> 00:50:36,809 {\an1}to say that's a disaster might be counterintuitive. 886 00:50:36,833 --> 00:50:39,476 But in some ways, 887 00:50:39,500 --> 00:50:42,609 {\an1}that allowed other regions to do the same thing. 888 00:50:42,633 --> 00:50:47,676 It got us in the situation we're in today. 889 00:50:47,700 --> 00:50:51,076 {\an1}We can look at Mulholland Dam, or St. Francis Dam, 890 00:50:51,100 --> 00:50:53,976 or Hoover Dam, and we can think of those 891 00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:55,609 {\an1}as engineering marvels. 892 00:50:55,633 --> 00:50:58,042 {\an1}But also, all of these things 893 00:50:58,066 --> 00:51:00,476 have led us to an unsustainable future. 894 00:51:00,500 --> 00:51:04,076 {\an1}People are so optimistic that technology will solve 895 00:51:04,100 --> 00:51:06,909 {\an1}these environmental problems 896 00:51:06,933 --> 00:51:08,642 {\an1}that sometimes we lose sight 897 00:51:08,666 --> 00:51:12,576 {\an1}of other ways to solve problems. 898 00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,642 {\an1}We're going to have to learn to manage our resources, 899 00:51:15,666 --> 00:51:17,876 {\an1}most particularly water. 900 00:51:17,900 --> 00:51:21,142 Where are we going to get it from? 901 00:51:21,166 --> 00:51:23,376 {\an1}What are we going to do with it? 902 00:51:23,400 --> 00:51:26,342 {\an8}This story, and as little known as it is, 903 00:51:26,366 --> 00:51:28,976 {\an8}is a warning. 904 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:32,476 And it couldn't be more relevant to today. 905 00:51:32,500 --> 00:51:35,833 ♪ ♪ 906 00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:51,166 ♪ ♪ 907 00:52:00,133 --> 00:52:03,166 ♪ ♪ 908 00:52:08,233 --> 00:52:11,676 {\an8}ANNOUNCER: "American Experience: Flood in the Desert" 909 00:52:11,700 --> 00:52:13,376 {\an8}is available on DVD. 910 00:52:13,400 --> 00:52:18,076 {\an7}To order, visit ShopPBS or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS. 911 00:52:18,100 --> 00:52:20,409 {\an7}"American Experience" is also available 912 00:52:20,433 --> 00:52:24,576 {\an8}with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video. 913 00:52:24,600 --> 00:52:28,500 ♪ ♪ 914 00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:40,366 ♪ ♪