Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-06-19
Swept hsn !a' Fac d tA' Earth.
Ruins, Wreckage and Sand Cover the Once
Prosperous COnemaugh Valley.
DESOLATION IN THE FLOODS WAKE
Horrible Work of the waters HI INC
Triangle of Hills and About
the Stone Bridge.
FASTENED IN A WRECK AND ROASTED.
HUNDREDS OF HUMAN BEINGS WHOSE NAMES
WILL NEVER BE KNOWN MET
DEATH IN THE FIRE.

HUNDREDS OF HUMAN BEINGS WHOSE NAMES
WILL NEVER BE KNOWN MET
DEATH IN THE FIRE.
STILL THREATENED by PEsTILENCE
DIPHTHERIA AND OTHER CONTAGIOUS DIS
EASES SPREADING DESPITE THE EFFORTS
OF PHYSICIANS AND HEALTH
OFFICERS.
JoHNsTowN, Pa, June s, 16S9.-By SLOW
degrees and painful labor the barren place
where Johnstown stood begins again to look
a little like the habitations of a civilized
community. Daily little is added to the
cleared space once filed with the concrete
rubbish of this town daily the number OF
willing workers who are helping the town
to rise again increases. To-day the great
yellow plane which was filled with the best
business blocks and residences before the
food is covered with tents for soldiers and
laborers and gangs of men at work. The
wrecks are being removed or burned up.
Those houses which were left only partly
destroyed are beginning to be repaired.
Still it will be months, very likely years, be-
fore the pathway of the flood ceases TO De
perfectly plain through the town. Its Doun.
DIARIES are as plainly marked now as If
drawn on a map where the flood went it
left it's ineffaceable track. Nearly one
half of the triangle in which Johns
town stood is plainly marked, one angle
of the triangle pointing to the east and di-
rectly up the Conemaugh Valley, from
which the flood descended. Its eastern side
was formed by the line of the river. The
second angle pointed toward the big stone
arch bridge, which played such an import
ant part in the tragedy. The western ran
along the base of the mountain on the bank
of Stony Creek, and the third angle was to-
ward Stony Creek Valley.
MILES OF BUILDING IN THE WRECK.
Imagine that before the flood this TRAN
gle was thickly covered with houses. The
lower or northern part was filled with sold
business blocks, the.upper or southern half
with residences, for the most part built of
wood. Picture this triangle as mile and
half in its greatest length and three quar-,
tiers of a mile in its greatest breadth. This
was the way Johnstown was ten days ago.
Now imagine that in the lower half of this
triangle, where the business blocks were,
every object has been swept utterly away
with the exception of perhaps seven scat
tered buildings. In their place is nothing
but sand and heaps of debris. Imagine that
in the upper portion of this triangle the
pathway of destruction has been clearly cut
kAo no
to pieces, turned upside down, laid upon
their sides or twisted on their foundations
Put into tile open space on the lower enc
of the triangle the tents and the fires o.
burning rubbish and you will have picture
of Johnstown to-day.
UNHEEDED WARNINGS.
The people had been warned enough
about the dangers Of their location. They
had been told again and again that the dan
was unsafe, and whenever the freshets were
out there were stories and rumors of its
probable breaking. The freshets had been
high for many days before that fatal Friday
All the creeks were over their banks anC
their waters were running on the streets
Cellars and pavemeuts were flooded. Re
ports from the dam showed that it wa;
holding back more water than at any Other
time in its history. A telegraph dispatct
early in the afternoon gave startling infor
nation about the cracks in the dam, but i
was the old story of the wolf. They hat
heard it 80 often that they heard it THU
time and did not care. The first warning
the people had Of their coming doom WA
the roar of the advancing wave. 1t rushed
out of the valley at four o'clock in the after
noon with incredible swiftness. Those VIII
ii e%il rli bot n
to be as high as an ordinary house. It Car
ried in its front an immense amount of bat
tered wreckage, and over it hung clout
of what seemed to be fog, but was the dus
from the buildings it had destroyed
Straight across the river it rushed upon th
apex of the triangle. 1t struck the frs
houses and carried them away in fragments
The cries and shrieks of the frightened pee
pie began to be heard above the roar of th
floods, and few steps further the grea
wave struck some unusually solid strnctur;
Its force right in the centre was already d
minished. On these houses it split aud Ii
greater part of it went on diagonally aero:
the triangle, DETECTING somewhat towar
the north and so on down to the stone arc
bridge.
NOTHING COULD WITHSTAND THE FLOOD
Wherever it went the houses tumble
down as if they were built Of cards. 1t VIZ
not alone in the great volume of water, br
the immense revolving mass Of lumber
carried gave it additional and terrific force
and houses, five bridges, railroad trains
boilers aud factories, fragments of iron
and piles of debris were whirling furiousl
about. What could stand against such a
instrument Of destruction as this. It swer
the triangle as clean as a board. 1t tor
I'D pavements. 1t dug out railroad track
and twisted them into strange and fantasti
shapes 1t carried with it thousands of h,
man beings, crushing them against til
fragments and drove their bodies into I'll
thick mass of mud and sand which it carrie
at the bottom. 1t went on and straight c
an arrow, and piled masses Of all 1t ha
gathered against and over the solid aches
the stone bridge. The bridge sustained til
shock How it did it engineers who hav
seen the effects and the marvellous streugt
in other places wonder. An immens
raft of houses ard lumber and trees an
rubbish Of every kind, acres in extent, CO.
iscted here.
ROASTED IN THE DEBRIS,
In these houses were imprisoned peopl
still alive. in numbers estimated at two G
three thousand, tossed about III the whirl
ing food which was turned into strange ed
dies by the obstruction it had met. In SOM
way not explained a fire broke out. Th
frame structures packed in closely togethe
were like SO much finder wood. Those wh
had escaped drowning died in their prison
more horrible death.
While this was going on that part of til
divided stream which turned to the sout
continued on its way. At first its vioieuc
was undiminished, but as it went on the in
clination of the land and the obstacles i
met somewhat broke its force 1t swep
across the triangle, inclining toward til
south and was turned still further in tina
direction by the bed of Stony Creek, at th
foot OF the mountain which forms the west
eru barrier of the basin in which Johns
town lies. Its course is plainly visible now
as it was two hours afterwards. Where
started everything is cleared away. A lit
fla furthar along the hnnSns are still stand