Castaic Junction - 12:55 AM, March 13th 11 miles downstream

Castaic Junction in 1928 was a sort of transportation hub for travel going south toward los angeles, north on the ridge route or to the west via telegraph road which evolves into the modern 126 highway.  It was a place where a tired driver could spend the night before heading on the next leg of their journey.   Two large railroad bridges and the main highway across the Santa Clara riverbed were lost in a matter of seconds in the deluge.

Robert McIntyre's restaurant, gasoline station and tourist camp was where you would stay if you could not complete the final couple of hours to Los Angeles. That early morning in March, there were eight automobiles and owners sleeping in or nearby them caught in the flood without warning.  They perished along with the elder McIntyre and one of his two sons brother George remaining as the sole survivor.  George is quoted as seeing several pairs of headlights coming over a rise in the road and then never coming up again on the side nearer to him.

A poultry buyer from Los Angeles on a night run to Porterville recounted how he outran the oncoming flood in his truck while headed north:

"When I reached Castaic I saw a great wall of water, seemingly about six blocks away...The noise was terrific and I was almost paralyzed with fright.  Men whom I afterward learned were Edison company employees came tearing down the highway toward me, shouting to turn back.  In some manner I made the turn in the highway at lightning speed and dashed for Saugus.  I pushed my truck to full speed, thirty five miles an hour.  With that terrible roar behind me and death threatening at every moment, the truck seemed to just creep along...I headed for the hills near Newhall and their comparative safety, held vigil through the night."

On west: Metal-truss auto bridge over the Santa Clara River at Castaic Junction; Auto bridge over San Francisquito Creek where it meets the Santa Clara River; Auto bridge over Southern Pacific Railroad tracks.

On east: Bridge over Santa Clara River; bridge over Bouquet Creek where it meets the Santa Clara River.