William Mulholland dismissed cracks that formed in the St. Francis Dam as soon as its reservoir was filled.
Notes on verification
Corroborated by multiple independent, credible sources including Britannica, Engineering News-Record, and ASDSO case study, consistent across historical and technical accounts. [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists | tier=unverified indep_score=0.3 clusters=4 claim_tier=notable] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]
Sources
- The Worst: Stupid Engineering Mistakes (seed:technology_and_ai)
- https://damfailures.org/case-study/st-francis-dam-california-1928 (corroboration)
- https://www.enr.com/articles/61151-total-failure-of-st-francis-dam-renewed-calls-for-oversight (corroboration)
- https://www.americanhauntingsink.com/mulholland (corroboration)
- http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/12/st-francis-dam-disaster/ (corroboration)