Though they received warnings of a potential break in the South Fork dam on the morning of 31 May 1899 most locals had learned to ignore them. In fact, a local resident who survived the flood compared the townspeople to those who lived in the shadow of Vesuvius but who ignored frequent warnings of an eruption.
[Photos taken 20 Aug 2015]
The valley where the 2- to 3-mile lake behind the dam on the South Fork of the Little Conemaugh stood. When a group of Pittsburgh industrialists & businessmen bought the property in 1879 the abandoned dam had not been maintained for perhaps 10-15 years. And the South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club did little to the dam except put it under more pressure by raising the lake level closer to the top of the dam.
Panning farther right along the Little Conemaugh one can see a roadway now crosses it. The Pittsburgh owners included both Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, both of whom became substantial philanthropists later in their lives.
As the torrential rains continued Lake Conemaugh reached the top of the dam about 12 noon. William Pickerill wrote, "South Fork Dam liable to break. Notify the people of Johnston to prepare for the worst." He apparently dispatched it by foot messenger just after 1:00p.m.
The next message, which also had to be sent by a messenger on foot at 1:52p.m read,"Water is now running over the Lake dam in center and west side and is becoming dangerous."
The Last Telegraph.
The dam is becoming dangerous and may go.
....
It did -- at 3:10 p.m.
....
Quoting from the National Park Service Johnstown Flood brochure, "...Most people never saw anything until the 36-foot wall of water, boiling with huge chunks of debris rolled over them at 40 miles per hour, consuming everything in its path....Making the wave even more terrifying was the black pall of smoke and steam from the burst boilers that hung over it -- the 'death mist' remembered by survivors.
"Thousands of people desperately tried to escape the wave, but they were slowed as in a nightmare as deepening water covered the town....Those caught by the wave found themselves swept up in a torrent of oily, yellow-brown water, surrounded by tons of grinding debris that crushed some and provided rafts for others. Many became helplessly entangled in miles of barbed wire from the destroyed Gaultier Wire Works.
"It was over in 10 minutes."
The death toll was 2209, the largest for any inland flood in the history of this nation. "Many bodies were never identified, and hundreds of the missing were never found."
"Clara Barton, known as the 'Angel of the Battlefield' during the Civil War, arrived five days after the flood. It was the first test of her newly-formed American Red Cross. With a staff of 50 doctors and nurses, she surveyed the injured, set up hospital tents, built six 'Red Cross hotels' for the homeless, and distributed food, clothing, and medicine.
See the links immediately below for more on The Johnstown Flood.
Links:
- Wikipedia article on The Johnstown Flood
- National Park Service webpages on the Johnstown Flood
- History.Com Recap of the the Johnstown Flood
Routes:
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- T 1 Dec Route: Sherwood Way W/M - Lib - Visitor Ctr - Sherwood Way W/M
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Finding Campgrounds:
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- Free campsites website
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