The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1889-06-06
A VISIT TO THE DAM
1t Did Not Give Way TO Pressure, But Was
Worn Away by the Flood
Rolling Over 1t.

Rolling Over 1t.
JoHNsTowN, PA, June 3.--The only
practicable way to reach South Fork dam
is by circuitcus route over the hills,
but at intervals one can see the river
valley. And what q sight it is
Where before was pretty mountain stream,
whose banks were tufted with thickets and
there is now bare trough about
one-quarter OF a mile wide. in the center of
which a muddy stream leaps and plunges.
Trees and underbrush along the course of
the great rush of the escaped lake are quite
gone: even the soil is secured 1away and the
bare faces of rock strata are Exposed. The
villages of Woodvale, Conemaugh, Mineral
Point and South Fork have been literally
wiped off the face OF the earth.
No harm was done to the club-hou and
cottages of the South Fork Club, but the
transformation worked by the food is even
more striking there than anywhere else.
The houses formerly stood by the shores of q
beautiful lake, whose little bays laved a
verdant expanse of country. Now the cot
taCes are on bluff above q wide ravine,
seventy-fve feet deep, at the bottom of which
rolls muddy stream. The picturesque
beauty of the place was extracted when
the waters rushed out of that curl
Gus gap in the great embankment that
formerly pent in its waters. When one ex-
amines the breach in the dam the feeling is
one of great surprise. There is none of the
laceration of the edges that one would ex-
pect from a rending force, but, on the con-
trary, the aperture has symmetry that sug-
gests art rather than accident. The middle
of the dam has been neatly scooped out for
about two-thirds of its height; the lower por-
tion of this is again scooped out, and this
latter excavation extends to tine bottom
of the dam, making on opening
that affords ample space for the stream now
running through it.
The edges of the gap have been smoothed
off by the rush of the waters SO tina: there is
nothing jagged in the outlines. The dam
itself is nothing but great embankment of
earth faced ea both sides with loose stone in
the style called by engineers rip
rappine." It is..ztilt intact for about 800
feet on each side of the gap. On the east end
close to the shore the dam is grooved by
wier over seventy-five feet wide and about
ten feet deep, which Was the outlet by which
the stream below was fed from the lake. The
bridge across this wie- is intact. The road
to the clubhouse crossed this bridge and
went along the top of the dam to the west
side. The house is about three-quarters OF
a mile above the dam. On the west end OF
the dam is now a sluice-way about twenty
feet wide and three feot deep. This was
hastily dug on Friday to relieve the pres
sure on the dam. but failed to save 1t.
It SO happened that at the time of the
food there civil engineer present in
charge of the constructson of a sewer and
water-works on the club grounds. This gen.
tlemnn, Mr.. John G. Parke, Jr., saw the
catastrophe from first to last Here is his
account of it as taken from his own lips:
''On Thursday night the dam was IN per-
feet condition, and the water was not within
seven feet of the top. At that stage the
lake is nearly three miles long. It rained
very hard Thursday night am told, for ]
slept too soundly myself to hear it, but
when got up Friday morning 1 could sec
there was flood, for the water was over the
drive in front of the clubhouse. and the
level of the water! in the lake
feet below the top of the
dam. L rode up to the head OF the lake and
saw that the woods were boiling full of
water. South Fork and Muddy Run.
which emptied into the lake, were fetching
down trees logs, cut timber. and stuff from
saw-mill that was up In the woods in that
direction. This was about Z 80 o'clock. When
1 returned Col. Unger, the President of the
club, hired twenty-five Italians and num-
ber of farmers joined in to work on the dam.
Altogether thirty men were at work. A
pillow was run along the top of the dam and
earth was thrown in the face of the
dam to strengthen it. At the same
time channel was dug on the west
end of the dam to make sluice-way there.
through which it was possible to cut, but
then we struck bedrock that it was impossi-
bic to get into without blasting. When we
got the channel opend the water soon secured
down to the bedrock, and a stream
twenty feet wide and three deep
rushed out on that -. end OF