The Red Cloud chief., 1889-06-07
APPALLING CALAMITY.
Johnstown, Pa, Instantly Swept
! Away BY q Flood
1es Catastrophe In b Cosntry's
HAseofy-Fffteea Hssdrsa Lfvss Lost
By the Barsting q . Rsoerveir-
Terrible Scoooa.

ny ehe BoFsttnG Of . Reoe1votr-
Terrible Sceoea.
Pnfs1UR0R. Pa, June LA sudden
frsshet in the North Fork river. east Of
Johnstown. Pa. in the Allegheny mount.
aims resulted in An awful catastrophe.
Last evening, according to q reliable
courier. l.So0 lives were lost The reser.
voir broke about i've O'Clock and the i'm.
msoss volume Of water rushed down to
the city. carrying with it death and de.
struction. Houses with their occupants
were swept away and hundreds Of people
were drowned
Up to nine p. m. information received
about the Johnstown catastrophe came
through Pennsylvania railway officials
Who averred that over go dead bodies had
been counted floating down stream from
Johnstown alone. while along the line
many additional lives have been lost
1t was asserted that there were but two
houses in Johnstown proper entirely
above the water line.
A special train bearing Pennsylvania
railway officials and q large number Of
newspaper men left this city for the scene.
Telegraphic communication was entirely
cut of.
W. H. Hays, superintendent Of the Sec
tion of the Pennsylvania railroad covered
by b food, t~esegraphed last night to
Superintendent Pitcairn As follows: THE
destruction is terrible. The dam at
Johnstown is gone between the bridge
and tower. West Of Johnstown at some
points the track are entirely carried
and road bed gone. The river for
three-Quarters Of q mile above the bridge
is filed with buildings and driftwood
forty feet high. and is on fire, burning
furiously. and is entirely beyond our con-
troll / can not estimate the amcuut Of
damage. l walked over last night from
Johnstown to Sang Hollow, four miles.
Jobnstown is literally wiped out"
Superintendent Pitcairn, who was at
New Florence. siX;y-five miles east of
Pittsburgh. te!egraphed that over one
hundred men, women and children passed
Sang Hollow clinging to debris. Seven
were rescued at Sang Hollow. two at
Conemaugh Furnace and two at New
Florence. Only forty-seven Of the hun-
dred n over passed New Forenca The
loss of life and property was terrible.
A special from B.airsville station on
the Pennsylvania railroad says: John
Barton. a freight engineer, saw three men
and a woman struggling for their lives in
the Conemaugh river just below Johns.
town. The Western Union Office in
Jamestown was swept away at four
O'Clock yesterday afternoon. The wa,er
in Cambria City, where are located the
Cambria iron works, is thirty.five feet
deep and rising"
The reservoir or dam Al South Fork,
which is said to rave burst with such ter.
rible results, is described by a gentleman
acquainted with the locality in which it
was tuate to be an immense body Of
water formerly used as q water supply
for the old Pennsylvania canal. 1t
has been owned for several years
by a number of Pittsburgh gentlemen
who used it as . fishing ground. The
gentleman who gave this information said
tn It if tbs report o: tbs bursting Of the
lam was true, he ha1 no doubt that the
damage and loss of life was fully as great
rs Indicated in he dispatches.
OTHER TOWNS PROBABLY GONE
PITTSBURGH. Pa. June 1.-The course a
the torrent from the broken dam at the
foot Of the lake to Johnstown is almost
eighteen miles, and with the exception of
one point the water passed through . mar.
row Y shaped valley. Four miles below
she dam lay the town of South Fork where
the South Fork itself empties into the
Conemaugh river. The town contained
about 9, 90 inhabitants. 1t has not been
heard from, but it is said that four dfths
Of il has been swept away.
Four miles further down On the Cone.
.naugh river. which runs parallel with the
main line of the Pennsylvania railroad
was the town of Mineral Point It had
0oo inhabitants. 30 per cent Of the houses
Oeing in q fat close to the river. 1t seems
impossible at this time to hope that any
of them have escaped.
Blk miles further down was the town Of
Conemaugh and here alone wal there .
geographical possibility Of the spreading
Of the flood and the breaking OF its force
1t contained $500 inhabitants and must
be almost wholly devastated.
WoodvilIe, with . COZ people. lay q mile
below Conemaugh in the fat, and one
mile further down were Johnstown and
its cluster Of sister towns-Cambria
City and Conemaugh borough with .
total population of 50. 600. On made
ground and stretched along right at the
river verge were the immense iron works
of the Cambria Iron and Steel Company.
who had S.. 0o0. 900 invested in their plant.
Besides this there are many other large
industrial establishments on the ba nix OF
the river. how badly damaged ~ not -
estimated.
TIE cAMBRI CITY HORROR
DERRY. Pa, june lat Cambra City
there are probably a dozen houses in what
vas q thriving manufacturing town forty.
eis hit hours ago No estimate . b
formed Of the amount Of damage. but the
probable loss of life is terrible. There are
at present so lives known to have
been sacrificed and hundreds OF peo-
ple sre homeless The cold raw
weather Of this morning is particularly
severe on those who n without
shelter and no means of relief At hand IS
the trains can not reach here from either
west or east Every thing possible is Be-.
ing done for the suferera Communica.
tion with the outer world Q been cut Oh
and only temporary accommodation can
be had. Some place the damage to prop
erty at from So COZ, 600 to $l5, 900. 900, but
until the excitement calms down il 10 i'm.
possible to form any correct estimate
The latest man from Johnst0wn brings
the information that scarcely . house -.
mains in the city. The upper portion
above the bridge has been completely sub