St. Francis Dam
By Henry Petroski
The tragic story of the first concrete gravity dam failure
This Article From Issue
March-April 2003
Volume 91, Number 2
Page 114
DOI: 10.1511/2003.12.114
Los Angeles could not have grown into the metropolis that it is today without the expansion of its water supply. In 1900 the city's population was about 100,000 and growing rapidly, to reach 175,000 within five years. Since the Los Angeles River watershed was capable of supporting only about 200,000 people, the city had the choice of limiting growth or finding new sources of water. A drought in 1904 raised the issue to crisis proportions.
Photograph by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
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