The
monument above (The Warning, sculpted by Eric Richards) was
erected in 2003 in Santa Paula, California, to mark a heroic
evening in 1928. Motor
Officers Thornton Edwards (on the Indian) and Stanley Baker (on
the Harley) were on duty the evening of March 12, 1928, when
California experienced what remains the second worst disaster in
the state’s history. The
recently completed St. Francis Dam, 36 miles upstream in Santa
Clarita, collapsed shortly after midnight.
The collapse released 52 billion gallons of water, and that
water was headed directly toward Santa Paula. The
Santa Paula Police Department learned of the impending danger
shortly after the dam broke.
Thornton and Baker spent the next 3 hours riding their
motorcycles throughout Santa Paula, notifying residents and
evacuating the town. Thornton
actually worked for the State Highway Department, which became the
California Highway Patrol. Baker
was a Santa Paula Police Department Officer.
Although the records from this era are sketchy, legend
holds that Thornton’s bike had to be repaired during his
midnight ride when it ingested water.
As a result of these two officers’ actions, the residents
of Santa Paula were successfully evacuated, and few Santa Paula
residents died that night.
The
water released by the dam (the reservoir had just filled, and the
poorly-designed dam was not strong enough to contain it) mixed
with mud and debris to form a wall of slurry that advanced 54
miles to the ocean at about 12 miles per hour.
The disaster killed an estimated 470 people, and to this
day, it is still the second worst disaster in California history.
Only the San Francisco earthquake and its resulting fires
resulted in more death. The Warning contains no
mention of either motor officer’s name; rather, it is intended
to honor all acts of heroism, and to honor those killed during the
St. Francis Dam collapse. If
you head through downtown Santa Paula, The Warning is hard
to miss, and it’s worth a trip to this beautiful town just to
see it.
(Special
thanks for the above research to Peggy Kelly, a reporter for the Santa
Paula Times.)
I'd only heard about this disaster recently. Saw an old film clip of this somewhere. I'll have to check out that sculpture sometime.
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