Rindge Dam vs Mother Nature
When Rindge Dam was built during the 1920s, there was no environmental impact report required or even a permit needed. The mindset of that era appeared to be that technology and innovation could control Mother Nature.
Until it couldn’t.
In the historical archives documenting the construction of Rindge Dam, correspondence reveals that the dam never served as hoped for the Rindge ranch. Although May Rindge retained one of the state’s most competent engineering teams of Stanford University geologist graduate Wayne Loel and consultant civil engineer A.M. Strong to design and build Rindge Dam, it was a battle against the elements. Correspondence from the state’s Public Works archive is a telling paper trail associated to the ongoing hurdles the dam faced from its construction in 1924 to its decommission in 1967.
A.M. Strong’s letter inquiring about dam permits. From the California Division of Dam Safety archive.
Upon retainment by Rindge, Strong sent a letter to the State’s Public Works Engineering Division dated March 1924 requesting any requirements needed to construct a 100-foot-tall and 120-foot-wide concrete dam that could store over 500 acre-feet of water on Malibu Creek. The response was, “The State does not issue permits for the construction of dams but makes examination of site selected and makes frequent inspection during period of construction.”
Loel’s 1924 drawing plans for the construction of a100-foot tall, 120-foot wide at top and 60-foot wide at streamline concrete barrier planned to store over 500 acre-feet of water on Malibu Creek. Despite being a prominent geologist of the era, he did not anticipate the high sedimentation issues in the watershed. From the California Division of Dam Safety archive.
Within a month of the letter, dam construction was underway and by the end of the year completed. A notch in the natural rock outcrop had been cut during dam construction to act as a spillway, Upon a visit to the dam site the state engineer requested several changes in the dam that included a larger excavated spillway to limit the amount of overflow over the dam itself.
In correspondence with the State dated May 1925, Loel acknowledged the dam was unsafe, but knew Rindge was facing financial trouble with her highway lawsuits. He wrote to the State Engineer Office’s, “You are perfectly aware, of course, that the dam with the spillway in its present condition is absolutely unsafe in case of flood water, since the loose boulder material on the south wall of the spillway is entirely unsupported…. As for myself, I do not like to see the dam stand in an uncompleted condition and it appears to me that the present time, when the company is endeavoring to get insurance, would be an opportune moment to press the matter of the completion of the spillway.”
Rindge Dam before the spillway was completed in 1925. Photos courtesy of the California State Water Board.
The State’s reply was, “Please note that before approval may be given the structure must be provided, first, an adequate spillway as already outlined to you in previous correspondence. Second, we should be furnished with measurements of leakage so that determination may be made as to whether grouting shall be resorted to. Third, Final drawings of the structure as completed should be furnished.”
Rindge Dam in 1926 during a heavy rain just after the completion of the spillway. **
On behalf of Rindge, Loel responded to the State with an alternative and less expensive spillway plan citing his client’s lawsuit costs. The state insisted on their spillway requirements and ultimately Rindge agreed to perform the work. A State Engineering inter-office memo dated April 4, 1926, notes, “It is probably fortunate that, on our insistence, Mrs. Rindge had this work done, as had the water been allowed to pass over the unprotected rock ridge it would probably have cut away the rock to a point which might danger the right abutment.”
However, the problems continued and in 1928, Loel notified the State he was in a lawsuit with Rindge’s Marblehead Land Company for final payment and the issues remained ongoing with the dam. He wrote, “For this reason I hesitate to ask the company for permission to inspect the structure, but believe such an inspection should be made, not only for the protection of the beach residents below the dam but as protection to myself,” adding, “Incidentally, the foundation rock on which the dam rests is identical with the now famous west abutment of the St. Francis dam*, the red conglomerate being readily soluble in water. We had considerable difficulty in making this water-tight…”
Over the years, the correspondence continued, addressing problems related to high sedimentation rates from the watershed that were clearly not anticipated in the building of the dam. By 1941 the dam came once again under state supervision. The Marblehead Land Company continued to request permission to perform work in hopes of improving water storage and getting the outlet pipes to work adequately. A letter dated June 1945 indicated the dam held only 76.5 acre feet of water. By 1967 it was less than 15 acre-feet of water, and the Rindge family requested it be decommissioned which was granted.
They were done fighting Mother Nature.
Upon request by the Malibu Land Company, Rindge Dam was officially decommissioned by the State’s Division of Dam Safety in 1967.
* William Mulholland's St. Francis Dam catastrophe occurred in 1928. Located ten miles north of Santa Clarita, the dam’s sudden and unexpected collapse killed over 430 people downstream and is considered the worst American civil engineering disaster of that century.
**Photo courtesy of the Wienberg (Eric) Collection of Malibu Matchbooks, Postcards, and Ephemera of the Pepperdine Libraries Special Collections and Archives