Douglas daily dispatch., 1928-03-26
Men Who Help Build St.
Francis Dam Give Evi-
dence To Coroner
LOST FAMILIES
Prospectors Testify That
There Was No FOunda-
ton For Dam

LOS ANGELES, March 26. tP9-Men
who helped build the st. Francis dam,
and who lost their families and homes
constructed collapsed, today gave a
coroner's jury their opinions of the
cause of the disaster.
All of their testimony and opinions
boiled down to a story of leaks in the
structure and their own forebodings
that the dam would go out.
Il was at the dam every day." testi-
fled Henry Ruiz, a pioneer OF the
San Francisquito canyon, eight or
whose family were lost in the catas-
trophe and now rest in one large
grave on the edge of the canyon.
IT saw that leaking on the west
side. There was leaking on the east
side, too."
He said he often spoke OF the condi-
ton of the dam with his family and
that they feared the great wall would
break some time.
81 worked on that dam," he said,
sand I know how it was built. The
sides were cleaned by hydraulic and
the cement was put up against the
sides. They even began filling the
dam up with water before it was COM
pleted."
James j. Eriatcho, was another
witness who had worked on the dam.
The flood took his wife and baby
I He told the jury She dam had not
looked good" to him.
"The irst warning he had was the
water coming into my nouse," he
said. "They didn't give me a chance
to save my family. That water just
washed me right out and 1 never saw
my wife and baby any more"
Russell Burns and his wife, Ollie
Burns, also told OF seeing the water
seeping through the red hill that the
dam had been built up against" They
lost two sons, the sons wives and
three grandchildren.
"Oh, you old people are getting
foolish" was the answer OF one OF
the sons to their fears for the dam,
the couple said.
Henry L. King o Saugus, another
worker on the dam, said it had APP
peared to hi mthat the concrete was
just poured up against the canyon
walls and he declared there was
| considerable dirt in the gravel used
in the concrete" Two grey haired men
who had poked and pried around the
/, San F'ranciSquito canyon 1or half a
lifetime, testified at the inquest over
the Los Angeles county dead that they
were suspicious OF the st. Francis
dam.
| William T. HoKe, Jr., said he had
lSpent 35 years up and down the can
yon placer mining here and there, and
from his experience he declared: u
don't believe there was a foundation
in the canyon below power house No
strong enough to support dam OF
that size I don't believe you could
find ten cubic feet of rock without q
fissure or fault in it,"
Hoke declared that he had observ-
ed seepage at the west end OF the
dam as early as February 1 and thai
lon the day before the dam broke the
seepage was 100 per cent greater
than on Sunday" On Saturday, three
days before the dam broke, and swept
Iprobably $50 persons to their deaths
he said, he had talked with Tony
Hrschelfeger, the dam kepeer. "Yes
lit looks pretty bad" he quoted Tony
as saying.
August Ferrier of Newhall brought
As years of canyon prospecting tC
bear in his testimony. He told O.
cracks and seepage and formation
which he distrusted. To a young
woman living in the canyon he sac
The declared: 81 don't think the dam
safe. What will you do il 1t goe
OUT and she answered, "Oh, car
Continued on Page Ten)