The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-06-08

W. N. Hayes, Supervisor of the section
of the Pennsylvan la railroad covered by
the food, telegraphed at 10 o'clock last
night to Superintendent Pitcairn as fol-
lows: "The destruction Is terrible. The
dump at Johnstown Is gone between the
bridge and tower. West Of Johnstown, at
some points the tracks are entirely carried
away and road-bed gone. The river for
three quarters of a 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 I can not estimate the amount
Of damage. I walked over from
Johnstown to Sanghollow, four miles.
Johnstown is literally wiped out" Super
intendent Pitcairn, who Is at New Flor
ence, sixty five miles east Of Pittsburgh,
telegraphs that over one hundred men, wo-
men and children passed Sanghollow,
ciinging to debris. Seven were rescued at
Sanghollow, two at Conemaugh Furnace
and two at New Florence. Only forty
seven of the hundred and over passed New
Florence. The loss of life and property
will be terrible. A freight engineer says
that at 2p. m. he saw three men and wo-
man struggling for their lives in the Cone
maugh river just below Johnstown.
Ing w tSL6TH CnlOH OlllCo III
was swept away at A o'clock. The water
in Cambria City, where were located the
Cambria Iron Works, is thirty-five feet
deep and rising.
Pennsylvania railway officials state that
they have advices that over 200 dead
bodies have been counted floating down
stream at Johnstown alone, while all along
the line many additional lives have been
lost Johnstown is described as wholly
submerged, only two houses being entire
ly above the water line.
GREENsBURG, PA, June LIN order to
understand the nature of the calamity 1t
is necessary to describe the respective To-
cations Of the reservoir at Johnstown.
The reservoir lies about two and one-half
miles northeast of Johnstown, and is the
site of the old reservoir, which was one of
the feeders of the old Pennsylvani la canal.
1t Is the property of wealthy men In Pitts
burgh, who formed themselves into a
corporation, the title of which Is the
South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.
This sheet of water was formerly known
as Conemaugh Lake. 1t Is from 200 to
300 feet above the level OF Johnstown,
being In the mountains. 1t Is about three
and half miles long and from mile
to mile ana quarter in width and in
some places it IL lV IN uepth' ib NOUS
more water than any other reservoir, nat
ural or artificial In the United States. The
lake has been quadrupled in size by artiA-
cial means, and was held In check by
dam from 100 to 1000 feet wide. 1t is 80
feet In thickness at the base, and the
height is 10 feet. The top has a breadth
of over 20 feet. Recognizing the menace
which the lake had to the region below the
South Fork Club had the dam inspected
once month by the Pennsylvania Rail-
road Engineer. and their in
vestigation showed that nothing
less than some convulsion OF
nature would tear the barrier away and
loosen the weapon Of death. The steady
Yains of the past forty-eight hours in
creased the volume Of water In all the
mountain streams which were alrendy
swelled by the lesser rains earlier In ihe