“I didn’t know they were going to put it up so soon,” said Cynthia Dunbar of the Santa Paula Historical Society. “Eric did an incredible job with the statue, the stories they tell,” of the frantic efforts to warn people the dark night of the disaster.Jett said it has only been in recent months that he has heard of the St. Francis Dam Disaster which claimed at least 450 lives and wreaked havoc throughout the Santa Clara River Valley when the dam collapsed just minutes before midnight on March 12th.“It blew me away that such an event had happened and I had never really heard about it,” said Jett, who plans to return for the March 16th dedication and visit the “St. Francis Dam Disaster” exhibit at the Santa Paula California Oil Museum.Plans for the dedication of the St. Francis Dam memorial monument include the possibility that survivors of the disaster might arrive by Fillmore & Western Railway train at the Depot for the ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the disaster.
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Saturday morning those traveling down 10th Street got a quick glimpse of the new St. Francis Dam monument. The monument, just east of the Depot, was commissioned to honor not only those that lost their lives during the March 12, 1928 St Francis Dam flood but those that remember that cold evening. The St. Francis Dam monument will be dedicated March 16th. Photo by Don Johnson |
The Warning: Memorial of St. Francis Dam Disaster placed
March 07, 2003
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesMuch care was taken with the placement of the two motorcycle officers in forged steel, and after being hoisted into place on the cement pedestal, “The Warning” is now at home at the corner of 10th and Santa Barbara streets.“The Warning” is the first of a series of monuments to commemorate the upcoming 75th anniversary of the St. Francis Dam Disaster; the formal unveiling of Santa Paula artist Eric Richard’s statue will be held March 16th during a special commemorative event.The memorial is the culmination of years of work by the Santa Paula Historical Society and the St. Francis Dam Memorial Project to create lasting memorials to the victims and survivors of the March 12-13, 1928 dam collapse.“The Warning” already drew a crowd before it was placed at the northeast corner of Santa Barbara and 10th streets on Saturday.“I always pull over when I see a crowd of people on a corner,” said Joel Jett of Ventura. “This is awesome. . .”
