The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-06-15
A Graphic Description.

A Special from Johnstown.
1t so happened that at the time of
the food there was civil engineer
present in charge of the construction
of sewer and water works on the
club grounds. This gentleman, Mr..
John G.. Parke, Jr., saw the catas-
trophe from first to last. Here is his
account of it as taken from his own
lips:
"On Thursday night the dam was
in perfect condition, and the water
was not within seven feet of the top.
AT that stage the lake is nearly three
miles long. 1t rained very hard
Thursday night am told, for slept
too sOnndly myself to hear it, but
when ] got up Friday morning l
could see there was flood, for the
water was over the drive in front of
the club house, and the level of the
water in the lake had risen until it
was only four feet below the top OF
the dam. | rode up to the head of
the lake and saw that the woods
were boiling full of water. This was
about 7 O'Clock. When l returned
Colonel Unger, the President of the
club, hired % Italians and a number
of farmers joined in to work on the
dam. Altogether thirty men were
at work. A plOw was run along the
top of dam aud 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
a sluice-Way there. There was about
three feet of shale rock through
which it was possible to cut, but then
we struck bedrock that it was I'M
possible to get into without blasting.
When we got the channel opened the
water soon secured down to the bed.
rock, and stream twenty feet wide
and three deep rushed out on that
end of the dam while the wier was
letting out an enormous quantity on
the other end. Notwithstanding
these outlets the water kept rising at
the rate of about ten inches an hour.
"By 1880, l had made up my mind
that it was impossible to save the
dam and getting on my horse I gal
loped down the road to South Fork
to warn the people of their danger.
The telegraph tower is mile from
the town, and l sent two men there
to have messages sent to Johnstown
and other points below. l heard
that the lady operator tainted when
she had sent off the news and had to
be carried off. The people at South
Fork had ample time to get to high
grounds and they were able to move
their furniture too. In fact only one
person was drowned at South Fork
and he while attempting to fish some.
thing from the flood as it rolled by.
1t was just twelve O'Clock when the
telegraph messages were sent out, so
that the people at JohnstoWn had
over three hours warning.
"As | rode back to the dam 1 ex-
pected s.lmOst every moment to meet
the lake coming down ON me, but
the dam was still intact, although
the water had reached the top. At
about 1 o'clock l walked over the
dam at that time the water was
three inches deep on it and was grad
ually eating away the earth on the
outer face. AS the stream rolled
down the outer face it kept wearing
down the edge of the embankment
and l saw it was merely question
of time. l then went up to the club
house and got dinner, and when l
returned l saw that good deal more
of the outer edge of the dam had
crumbled away. The dam did not
give away. At a rough guess 1
should say that there were sixty mil
lion tons of water in that lake and
the pressure of that mass of water
was increased by floods from two
streams pouring into it, but the dam
would have stood it could the level
of the lake have been kept below the
top of the dam. But the friction of