Dozens embarked on a trip back in time Saturday to 88 years ago when one of the world’s worst civil engineering disasters killed hundreds of people. Alan Pollack, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, along with historian Phillip Scorza and Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel, president...

U.S. Rep. Steve Knight held a press conference Tuesday morning to announce and present the Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Castaic Wilderness Act. About 50 Santa Clarita Valley leaders, residents, Native Americans and St. Francis Dam historians attended the event at Tesoro Adobe Historic...

The earliest reference I could find to scam artists was in the 18th Century. These charlatans were counterfeiters, con men and general tricksters. Of course we all remember the traveling snake oil salesmen. Later, people like Victor Lustig from the Czech Republic (then known as Bohemia) managed actually...

It was the second largest disaster to ever occur in the recorded history of California. Its aftermath was steeped in controversy, some of which remains to this day. The St. Francis Dam ruptured unexpectedly (some would say otherwise) just before midnight on March 12, 1928, sending a huge wall of water...

The Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society will present a tour of the St. Francis Dam site on Saturday, March 14, 2015. The failure of the St. Francis Dam on March 12, 1928, the second-worst disaster in the history of California, and America’s biggest civil engineering failure of the 20th Century,...

After years with the Navy, I have a lot of friends who are on the Atlantic Coast and have never seen what I like to call a “real” mountain. I remember my first drive over the Appalachians in 1969. Sure, some of the roads had some steep grades, and the mountains were beautiful to see, but being a...

William Mulholland has played a huge role in all of our lives. Without his efforts to bring water to Los Angeles, most of us probably wouldn’t be here. He was responsible for the creation of a massive water system that not only changed the course of our history, but brought most of us here. One hundred...

Normally my Navy training kicks in and I’d do anything to avoid going to a meeting. Instead I’ve got two meetings that all y’all need to be at today. Our congressman, Howard “Buck” McKeon, has authored a bill to establish the St. Francis Dam Memorial and National Monument. He is also going...

U.S. Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon will hold a press conference Tuesday to announce his legislative proposal to establish a national memorial for the estimated 431 people who were killed in the St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928. “To honor the memory of all the souls that were tragically lost, I have...

[KHTS] – A California State University, Northridge grad student has completed of a master’s thesis on the memorialization of the Santa Clarita Valley’s St. Francis Dam Disaster of 1928. Ann Stansell, of Los Angeles, an anthropology and public archaeology student, spent three years compiling...