Heavy Ground: William Mulholland and the St. Francis Dam Disaster

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Focusing on the St. Francis Dam Disaster of March 1928, this book delves into the intertwining social, political, and technological factors that led to this catastrophic event, marking it as the worst civil engineering disaster in 20th-century America. The sudden collapse of the dam, designed by engineer William Mulholland, resulted in the tragic loss of around 400 lives and unleashed over 12 billion gallons of water into the Santa Clara River Valley, highlighting the profound impact of engineering failures on communities.