Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-06-06

place
THE PLAY OF TITANIC FORCES.
Just above the upper tower, "Sz, at
Sang Hollow. is shown the mightiest work
of the flood. Around a bend in the river,
along the foot of the mountain, and Just
where the full weight of that destructive
wave could strike with the most terrible
force. the tracks of the Pennsylvania
railroad were picked up and twisted like
willow withes. Pieces of the track, the
rails held together by the crOss-ties, were
bent double as easily as broom wire IS
twisted in the hands of boy. Not only
were tracks thus dealt with, but the
superb road bed, with its depth of crush
ed stone that had been beaten down as
solid as rock with years of travel over 1t,
was completely washed away and moth
ing left but the native rock. and even that
the Unsuitable Water-fiend had attempted
to rip up and wash away from its parent
mountain. Struggling along through the
wreck of steel rails crOSS-tieS, and litter
of all description, for distance of over a
quarter of mile, not particle OF the
track was in proper position. Some OF 1t
lay in the river, some of it turned on its
edge Law along the embankment like a
mammoth picket fence, bound together
with steel girders. Passing this, the next
obstruction reached was the body of an
immense sycamore tree lying across the
tracks. A hundred men were behind the
log trying to roll it over, but the united
strength of three hundred men could
scarcely bulge it a foot.
THE DOOM OF JOHNSTOWN.
As the bridge was reached the full hOr-
ror of the scene broke in upon the party.
To the left across the river lay Cambria
City, with the immense plant of the Cam
bria Iron Works. Scarcely a house re-
mained standing, and the irOn-works,
whose buildings and machinery repre-
sented millions of capital stood there
useless and wrecked. The ends of the
large furnaces and mills that received the
first shock of the torrent were completely
wrecked. Huge iron beams were snap
ped off like pipe-Stems; heavy machinery,
engines, boilers, etc, were tossed about
like dry-gOOdS boxes; tiat-cars, which had
been loaded with finished stock, were
overturned and many of them carried
down the river Heavy brick butreSSes
and walls were shattered like egg-shells.
There was nothing but ruin, the extent of
which cannot be realized even when seen.
Down the main street of Cambria City,
where had run railway line, nothing
was to be seen but a stream of muddy
water. The houses had all been raZed
to the ground or carried off by the cur
rent.
Turning to the right a hell on earth
greeted the sight. When the dam-burst
had reached the city it swept thousands
of frame buildings before it, which were
piled up against the railroad bridge and
reached forty feet above the structure
Backing up the stream this debris eX-
tended fully 1000 yards. Those who wit
messed this part of the catastrophe de-
scribe it as the most horrible that imag-
inatiOn could conceive. More rapidly
than the eye could count them the build
ingS came crashing into those which had
already lodged against the bridge. High
above the noise of the roaring torrent and
crash of houses as they went to pieces in
the general wreck, could be heard the
shrieks and cries of the doomed occu-
pants of the buildings. Prayers arose to
heaven for aid; curses mingled with these
appeals, while the p9an of woe was
sWelled with walls and cries of friends
who stood on the bridge and on the banks
powerless to save. Many were rescued,
more acts of bravery being done than
history can chronicle; but there WIS but
a small proportion of them that reached
place Of safety.
THE WRECK TAKES FIRE.
Along in the night, fire added to the
terrors of the flood. This immense pile of
timber began burning and the scene be-
came too horrible to look at. 1t seemed
as though the priests of MolOch had
lighted a funeral pile and offered the
awful sacrifice of human bodies to their
god, From the hillsides the paralyzed
pOpulace looked down into that field of
fire where brother and neighbor lay dead,
either crushed or drowned, and with the
certainty that the flames would soon
finish the work of the flood and consume
all that was mortal of their loved ones
Nothing more tragic was ever conceived
and never can the horrors of that night
be described. Imagine yourself on the
top of the mountain at whose base lay
the city and around whose foot had curv-
ed the COnemaugh. Sweeping around in
graceful circle of three or four miles
the mountain range formed huge bowl
in which was the whirlpool of destruction
and death. Looking down in the i'm
mediate foreground you see the burning
field of houses. Away up to the north
east, through narrow valley, touching
the mountains On either side, comes the
Conemaugh, its bosom covered with
houses, mills and workshops, rolling and
tumbling in the widest confusion. Many
of the houses are filed with human be-
ings, the whole being borne down into
that huge bowl, more victims for Moloch,
more food for the flood and fire fiends.
Rising from this world of misery comes
Z be c-ia hot fba 10 No ho{@
field ever furnished more horrible sounds
ONE-HALF SWEPT AWAY.
From distinct recollection of the city
before the flood the present appearance
indicates that fully One-half of it has been
swept away. A large portion of the
houses that remain have been so wrecked
and twisted as to be uninhabitable.
Along Stony creek, up in JohstOwn
borough, great damage had been done,
and many houses from that end of the
city went down to join the great majority
at the bridge.
While seated upon rock overlooking
the fatal valley the question naturally
arose. What has become of the inhabi-
tants of all that devastated district? If
they have been saved, where are they =?
They are not here on the hillside: two or
three hundred at the most being the num-
Der resting there. The half of the re-
houses are filled with water and
they cannot be there. Where are the
then, that lived in those dis
tricts? This question was asked of an
old but active man who had saved him.
self by swimming from his floating home
as he passed along the hillside. "Where
are they, you ask? There they are" he
said, as he pointed to the burning wreck.
and "There they are" he said, pointing to
the basin formed above the Cambria
IrOn-WOrks, and There they are" he
said, as he pointed to the back-water of
Stony creek. thousands and thousands
of them have gone down with that first
rush of water. Hundreds of them lodged
in that hell at the bridge; hundreds of
others went aver the embankment when
the water went through, and hundreds
have gone, the good Lord only knows
where"
DISTRESS OF THE SURVIVORS.