Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1889-06-14
The Coming of the Flood.

For forty-eight hours a steady and heavy
rain had been falling all along the valley of
the South Fork and Conemaugh Rivers, and
at o'clock the people Of the valley had been
warned of impending danger.
At O'Clock there was q WaCer-spOut and
then The dam gave way. With 4 rush and a
roar the flood went pouring down the valley
carrying everything before it. Sturdy elms
and stanch old oaks were wrenched out Of the
ground and tossed and tumbled like straws
by the irresistible torrent.
Four miles below the dam was the town of
South Fork, where the South Fork empties
into the Conemaugh. 1t had 800 houses and
1000 Inhabitants The warning had been re-
ceived by the people of this devoted town and
many of them had clamored up the noun
tain sides to await the subsistence of the
storm, taking with them only few belong
ings wherewith to stock inprovised camps
From their places of security in an incredibly
short time after 5 o'clock they saw their
homes swept away and the town completely
destroyed
Down through the ''Pack-saddle' came the
rushing waters, already freighted with the
trees and timbers of the valley above. The
trunks and boughs Of the trees its first vic
TINS, were used by the angry torrent as
weapons wherewith to strike destruction in
ats further course
Many people were still in their houses, and
the Surglng waters were rapid in their
movements that many of these were caught
at their avOcatiOns and drowned at their
posts. Others rushed to the upper floors only
to be Overtaken there, while some succeeded
in reaching the roofs, and these were carried
away with the tide and were seen tossing
hither and thither on the upper wave, then
submerged or dashed against some obsJacle
In the pathway of the vengeful torrent.
Gathering fresh impetus and fresh strength
as it went the flood rushed on and caught the
little village of Mineral Point four miles be-
low. The Point had 500 inhabitants and was
on fiat at the very bottom of the green-clad
valley. 1t was completely overwhelmed in
the terrible wall of waters that Surged on
ward and must have been forty feet high.
Six miles further down the river, which
runs alongside the tracks of the PENNSYLVANIA
road, was the beautiful little town of Cone
maugh. Here the valley Widened and the vii
lage sat on a little eminence though in the
centre of the valley, and it was hoped that in a
case of food the torrent would be stopped here.
Indeed, the people below Conemaugh had
so much faith in this idea that they had made
little or no preparation for the flood, even
after the warning was sent out But the de-
voted little COnemaugh was wreSted from
ats foundations, and its homes and business
houses were ruthlessly tossed and torn by the
maddened waters and her $500 people were
made homeless, while many of them were
swept away by the tidal wave to destruction.
Woodvale, village of 1000 inhabitants, a
mile below, and the city of JohnstOwn, an
other mile down the valley, with her suburbs,
Cambria City and Conemaugh Borough,
were next caught in the food.
The torrent had travelled eighteen miles,
and it was forty feet deep when it washed
over Johnstown.
Johnstown with ner suburbs had a a popu-
1ation of more than % 600. The Cambria
Iron and Steel Company employed 1900 men
in their big factory and had IS, 600, 600 worth
of buildings, machinery and stock. All this
was reduced to a ruin and the devoted city
was literally wiped out and thousands of lives
were lost.
From places far up the mountain side
fugitives from the flood watched the course
of the destroyer as it did its CHASTITY work
among their homes. After two hours but
two roofs in the city could be seen above the
water, and during those awful two hours
those in safety had witnessed scenes such as
have turned dark hair to gray and furrowed
up smooth young faces with the seams and
wrinkles like those OF old age while many
heart was torn and bleeding with anguish
nnspeakable.
In the food as it came down the valley
were hundreds of people clinging, with the
grip of drowning ones, TO trees to which they
had taken at the first warning of the APP
preaching food. The trees had been torn up
by the roots and carried away with their
human freight.
Here and there one or two or three persons
foated swiftly past on the roof of their homes
N on some bulky article of furniture, the
thing nearest to them when the tide reached
fthem up the valley. And then there were