Home » Santa Clarita News » Politics » Knight Introduces Saint Francis Dam Memorial Bill, Castaic Wilderness Act

Knight Introduces Saint Francis Dam Memorial Bill, Castaic Wilderness Act

Congressman Steve Knight, CA-25, introduced the Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Castaic Wilderness Act in Washington D.C. Wednesday morning.


Sponsored Articles


Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking Santa Clarita news alerts delivered right to your inbox.

H.R. 3153, would authorize a national memorial to commemorate the more than 400 people killed by the collapse of the St. Francis Dam on March 12, 1928, according to officials. The bill would also help educate the public about the historical event.

“It is important to educate the public and honor the individuals who perished in the St. Francis Dam Disaster,” Knight said. “This memorial site is a high priority for the Santa Clarita Valley and I am proud to be part of the effort to make it happen.” St. Francis Dam Disaster Site Tour 2015-15

Congressman Buck McKeon, Knight’s predecessor, introduced a similar bill,  H.R. 5357, the Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial Act, nearly a year ago but retired before the bill went through.

“Many thanks to Congressman Steve Knight for his foresight in protecting 69,000 acres of pristine wilderness for generations to come, and for having the federal government acknowledge the greatest civil engineering tragedy in the United States, the Saint Francis Dam failure,” said California Assemblyman Scott Wilk, R- Santa Clarita. “This memorial will honor those that had fallen and will help bring closure to friends and families.”

If approved, H.R. 3153 will establish a national memorial to honor the victims of the Saint Francis Dam disaster of March 12, 1928, create the Saint Francis Dam Advisory Commission to plan the memorial and work in conjunction with the Department of Interior, permanently protect the memorial site and surrounding area of the Saint Francis Dam, educate the general public on this tragic event that may be America’s worst civil engineering failure of the 20th Century and the worst flood in the state of California’s history and designate the Saint Francis Dam National Monument, according to officials.

“I am delighted that Congressman Knight has introduced this wonderful bill. It has been 87 years since the Saint Francis Disaster,” said Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel, president of the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy and president and executive director, Community Hiking Club. “Families have waited long enough for their loved ones to be memorialized, and Congressman Knight has accepted this challenge. Not only has he worked hard to give these families closure, but he is protecting the last available pristine wilderness in the district for generations to come.”

St. Francis Dam Disaster Site Tour 2015-8Erskine-Hellrigel gave Knight a tour of the St. Francis Dam disaster site earlier this month.

Different from H.R. 5357, the H.R. 3153 bill also seeks to designate surrounding federal lands as wilderness due to its historic and environmental significance, according to officials.

“The protections of the area would prohibit all motorized and mechanical vehicles including bicycles, but all of the trails that are open now (for the hikers and cyclists) will continue to be open in the future,” said Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel, director of the Santa Clarita Community Hiking Club, in a previous story. “The trails that are not sustainable will not be open to anyone.”Dozens Turn Out For St. Francis Dam, Castaic Wilderness Meetings

The protected area would include thousands of acres of Fish Canyon, Salt Creek, Elderberry Canyon, Tule and Red Mountain in the Angeles National Forest, said Erskine-Hellrigel, in a previous story.

The wilderness area is expected to improve the water quality of the creeks that feed into Castaic Lake, protect dozens of endangered species, Native American habitation sites and burial grounds, condor habitat, and the largest grove of Black Oak in the state of California, according to a press release, from a previous story.

“We now have a golden opportunity to recognize and honor the lives of those hundreds of victims by passing legislation to create the St. Francis Dam National Memorial and Monument. In addition, this bill will set aside and preserve some 69,000 acres of the Castaic wilderness to be enjoyed in its pristine condition by ours and future generations,” said Alan Pollack, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. “There are precious few areas left in Southern California where we can enjoy unspoiled nature at its finest. Thanks to our Congressman Steve Knight for introducing this landmark bill into the House of Representatives. We hope to get swift passage there and in the Senate, and onto the desk of our President for his signature.”

Fernandeno Tataviam Band of Mission Indians Vice President Rudy Ortega Jr., Los Angeles Equine Advisory Committee officials, local bicyclists in the areas in and around Santa Clarita Valley, Wilderness Society officials and several other organizations and individuals attended the 2014 meeting to have their voice heard. Several local bicyclists attended the 2014 meeting and voiced concerns about losing cycling trails.

Other supporters of H.R. 3153 include: Santa Clarita City Councilmember Laurene Weste, city of Santa Clarita Parks, Recreation & Community Services and SCVTAC Chair Ruthann Levison, VFW Post 2043 Commander Gerald V. Olivas, Southern California Organizer for the California Wilderness Coalition Linda Castro and more than 50 other individuals, businesses and organizations in and around the Santa Clarita Valley. St. Francis Dam Fails 87 Years Ago, Santa Clarita Historians Hos

The whole project for the national memorial began about four years ago when, Pollack visited the Johnstown Flood National Memorial in Pennsylvania where more than 2,000 people were killed when the dam broke in 1889, he said.

“Then I started reading about Johnstown and I came to realise there were so many similarities between that disaster and this one. You had a dam that was poorly constructed, you have this big tragedy happen, hundreds of people dying whole families, terrible reception and that’s what we had here,” Pollack said.”There was one glaring difference between the two disasters, in Johnstown — they had a national memorial, visitor center, documentary film and the St. Francis Dam has nothing, so I figured why not try to do this with the St. Francis Dam.”

Pollack brought on Erskine-Hellrigel to bring the project together.

H.R. 3153 was introduced to the House of Representatives Wednesday, July 22 and Knight’s office believes the bill will head to the House Committee on Natural Resources next.

Tuesday, Wednesday Mark 85th Anniversary Of St. Francis Dam FailureThe construction of the dam began in August of 1924 and began to fill with water on March 1, 1928, according to SCVHistory.

A little more than two-and-a-half minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928, the dam failed.

The wall of water, 55 feet taller than the original Colossus’ tallest hill at Six Flags Magic Mountain, crashed through San Francisquito Canyon and reached the Pacific Ocean just south of Ventura. It took the immense wave five-and-a-half hours to reach the ocean.

An estimated 431 people were killed.

The failure of the St. Francis Dam is known as the second-worst disaster in California history, coming behind the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires, and America’s worst civil engineering failure of the 20th century, according to SCVHistory.

For more information about the St. Francis Dam Disaster, go to the SCVHistory website.

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

KHTS AM 1220 - Santa Clarita Radio

Knight Introduces Saint Francis Dam Memorial Bill, Castaic Wilderness Act

8 comments

  1. I support 100%. I am a Santa Clarita resident since 1989 and first heard about St. Francis Dam while riding bicycles up San Francisquito Canyon after I moved here. That led me to research the history. Being an engineer I took a real interest. I would hope there could be some kind of little memorial/museum. Thank you. John Dagg

  2. The proposed St. Francis Dam Monument will be a nice addition to our community and it’s great to see this proposed as a Monument. I look forward to visiting the site again soon.

    The Wilderness proposal is disappointing. Having been on some of the land proposed for Wilderness on hikes, bicycle adventures and motorcycles, it’s evident that at least a substantial portion doesn’t qualify as Wilderness under the federal Wilderness Act. In addition, as the article mentions, designating this land as Wilderness forever shuts out bicycles and all other mechanized activity. It forever drastically impacts how we manage this land and eliminates many recreational uses for land that’s so close to Santa Clarita and Los Angeles and puts control of this valuable resource in DC and away from the local community.

    As an avid off-road bicycle rider, I am deeply disappointed in Representative Knight for introducing such sweeping, limiting and draconian legislation with little or no input from current and potential users of the land. This bill will likely pass through Congress un-noticed and it will impact few today. Unfortunately in the coming years it will impact the region in ways not yet imagined.

    For those that love strict federal government control of public lands and restricting access from so many users and user groups, this Bill is a win. This application is an abuse of the Wilderness Act and a disappointing early sign of Representative Knight’s concern for all of his constituents and his willingness to place so much control of local land in DC

  3. As an avid cyclist, parks and recreation commissioner and conservationist, I must strenuously object to H.R. 3153. This proposed bill goes far beyond a park and memorial to the dam. It creates a government-mandated ban on bicycles and other forms of conveyance/use over tens of thousands of acres of land that is in no way connected to the memorial. Having helped craft Congressional legislation in the past, I am also critical of the process used to create this bill. It is very rare that 2 different intentions like this are rolled into one bill. The “Wilderness” process is something that we at the SCV Trail Users and International Mountain Bike Association have been aware of for some time and have been actively commenting on since its conception. The idea that the discussion process should be cut off in favor of rolling that process into the memorial bill is not congruent with the process that was already underway. I don’t mean to cast aspersions on anyone, but I suspect certain forces sought to overcome objections to the Wilderness bill by convincing Congressman Knight and his staff to roll Wilderness into the St. Francis Bill.

    I know I speak for the entire community of cyclists and at least one of my fellow Parks & Recreation commissioners when I call for Congressman Knight to decouple Wilderness from the St. Franciis Dam bill.

  4. I agree. The St. Francis Dam Monument is a good proposal and long overdue. However, the proposal to set aside 70,000 acres of land as Wilderness into perpetuity is NOT appropriate without public notice and debate. Congressman Knight should have held a Town Hall Meeting to get input from the public and to hear different views from his constituents. Citizens should not have to lobby Congress regarding the management of their local public lands which is exactly what they will need to do if these 70,000 acres become a Wilderness.

  5. Clearly a political move to curry favor of the environmental lobby. The proposed area is disproportionate and Congressman Knight is clearly using an excuse to honor the loss of life in order to close off an enormous area not at all associated with the disaster to recreational vehicles and bicyclists. In classic elite political class fashion, the congressman is pandering to special interest groups and entertaining zero public opinion other than from those who support his legislation.

    As an avid user of public lands and a local taxpayer, I will be sure to contact Knight’s office and voice my opposition to this bill. I will also be forwarding this information to the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) in order to ensure that our voices are heard. I encourage you who feel the same to exercise your rights! Our OHV funds that have been used to maintain this area should be returned to the OHV fund if this legislation is passed.

    To author such a bill in the names of those who were lost is a despicable, yet all too common practice amongst politicians whose only real agenda is to build upon their own narcissistic legacy.

  6. Having studied the St Francis Dam collapse of 1928, I agree that a memorial is long overdue, BUT I must disagree with HR #3153 that would designate 70,000 acres as a Wilderness Area. HR #3153 is nothing more than a hidden land grab by special interest groups that have the ear of Mr Knight. This bill is an effort to bypass the approved and legal process of designating a Wilderness Area. Looking at the map shown in the article the bulk of the land is no where near the actual site of this horrible event. If the HR # 3153 supporters and Mr Knight want to protect the land, let it be the land directly affected by the dam’s collapse all the way to the ocean, if necessary. But then what to do with everything and everyone that falls within this area today. I believe Mr Wright and his staff need to rewrite HR #3153 with some common sense and with the memorial as being the primary focus and not the almost 70,000 acres as the number 1 item. If not, HR #3153 does a distinct and dastardly disservice to the individuals (the purported honorees) that died that night and to the loved ones that may still survive.

  7. HR 3153 would deeply impact other wilderness areas as an active outdoorsmen and working in the field of outdoor sports this plan would condense our wilderness even more and create less areas for people to go and confine space which could create more traffic and hazards when doing so. Who’s land is it anyways? Sure doesn’t feel like the publics!

  8. This bill does not memorialize the those who died, it disgraces them. A hidden agenda under the ruse of calling it a memorial. A land grab by special interests is all this truly is. Are we truly to believe, after all these years Mr. Pollack, that it was not until you read about the Johnstown disaster that you came to realize the many similarities and even then, what was it.. a national memorial. Why, though all these years have you done nothing more to memorialize all involved in the St. Francis Dam disaster, in the least, more locally?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Jessica Boyer

Jessica is an award-winning journalist, photographer, videographer and artist. She has worked with news organizations including NBC Los Angeles, KHTS AM 1220, and the Pierce College Roundup News. She is studying to receive a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism with an emphasis on Photojournalism and a minor in Communications at California State University, Northridge. She has studied and worked in many fields including filmmaking, journalism, studio photography, and some graphic design. She began her journalism journey at the Arroyo Seco Conquestador News Network and the Saugus High School News Network.