The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-06-12

feeder % the Pennsvlvaua Canal but lRtterly
Che properly of u club a Pittsburg and used
Cor hunting aud fishing was unsafe and might
oreak This made most OF the passengers
uneasy. aud they kept a pretty good
lookout for information. The porters
Of the Pullman cars remained at their
posts md cOmforted the passengers with the as
surance that he Pennsylvania Railroad Com.
yHny always took care of its patrons A few
gentlemen and some ladies and children quietly
seated IN msc!yCs, apparently contentCd one
gentleman. Who WAS i'll. had his berth made up
and retired although advised not 10 do so
Soon the cry came that the water in the reser-
voir had broken down the barrier and was
gweoIing down the valley Instantly there was
e panic. and rush FOR the mountain side
Children were carried and women assisted
by few who kept cool heads. 1t
was a race for life. There was seen the
black head of the Hood. now the
was high raised in she air and with this in view
even the weak found wings for their feet. No
words can adequately describe the terror that
dlled every breast, or the awful power mani
tested by the food The round-house had stalls
for twenty-three locomotives. There were eight
cen or twenty Of these standing there at this
time. There was al ominous crash, aud the
round house aud locomotives disappeared
Everything in the main track OF the flood was
drst lifted in The air and then swallowed up by
the waters. hundred houses were swept away
in a few minutes; these included the hotel
stores, and saloons on the front street, and resi-
dences adjacent.
As the fugitives on the mountain side wit
messed the awful devastation, they We're moved
ms never before in their lives. They Were power
less TO help hose seized upon by the waters tho
despair of those who had lost everything except
life and the wailing of those whose relatives
or friends missing filed their breasts with
unutterable sorrow The rain continued to fall
steadily, but shelter not thought of. Very
few passengers saved anything from the train
go sudden was the cry Run for your lives the
reservoir has broken Many were without
hats and. as their baggage was left on the trains
they were without the means OF relieving their
unhappy condition. The occupants OF the
houses stil standing on the high ground threw
them open 10 those who had lost oil and 10
the passengers Of tho train. During the height
OF the Hood the specta ors were startled by the
sound OF two locomotive whistles from the very
midst Of the waters. The engineers, with char
acteristic courage, bad remained at their posts
and while there was destruction on every hand
and apparently no escape for them, they sound
I'd their whistles. This they repeated az inter-
vals-the last time with Triumphant vigor n
Che waters were rcceding from the sides OF their
locomotives. BY 30 the force OF the reservoir
.TNters had been spent on the village OF Cone
traugb, and the Pullman cars and locomotive OF
the second section remained unmoved. This
was because they were on the highest and hard
set ground.
The destructive current OF the reservoir flood
had passed between that and the mountain,
while tho current Of the river did not cat 10
away. But the other trains had been destroyed
sUhtnry locomotive vas seen imbedded IL the
mud whore the round-house had stood.
AS the greatest danger had passed. the people
OF Conemaugh gave their thoughts TO their
neiglibors Of the city OF Johnstown. Here was
ccnteyed the great steel aud iron industries. the
pride Of Western Pennsylvania, the Cambria
Iron Works being known everywhere Here
were churches, daily newspapers. banks dry
goods houses, warehouses; and the comfort
able and well-built homes of 1900 people
What was their fate? In the contemplation OF
the irresistible force Of that awful food eal her
ing additional momentum as it swept or toward
the Gulf, 1t became clear that the city must DO
destroyed. aud that unless the inhabitants had
telegraphio notice OF the breaking OF tho reser-
voir they must perish. cry Of horror went up
from tho hundreds On the mount ain-side and
few instinctively turned their steps toward
Johnstown. The city was destroyed. All
the mills, furnaces manufactures; the many
and varied industries, the banks, the residences
all.
All were swallowed up before the shadows OF
night bal settled down upon the earth. What
OF the inhabitants2 Who can tell with any GER
feanty2 Those who came hack by daybr, ak said
Chat from 5000 20 5000 had been drowned. Our
hope Is that this is an cXaggCTatiou, and when
the roll is called most will respond In the light
q this calamity the destruction ut Concmaugh
= aka into insignihcauce. In this Inter place
thsy were already bringing In the dead on
Stre-chers. How many had been lost here at
Mineral Point and a. South Fork could not be
told and may never be known. There were some
passengers and perhaps forty or fifty inha'-
itants The loss OF property is enormous The
track OF the railroad comIany Ia certainly de-
atroyed for n. least ton miles below South Fork
and all other property Of the conf any ON the
line. The destruction OF Johnstown's industries
viii alone reach many millions. Then TO this
great sum add the value OF the houses and public
buildings In that city aud OF the villages above
and below IT, and some idea can be formed of the
wealth obliterated by the flood created by the
breaking of the reservoir.
And this reservoir was maintained for the
pleasure OF Pittsburgh club. Upon the noun
tain was suspended "a body OF water three miles
long, one mile wide. and seventy feet deep for
tbe recreation Of few picasure-seekers. What
would happen II there should be n break must
have been imperfectly apprehended, since II ~
said that bond Of only ihroe millions had been
sxacted fro = 'Ie club. What are three MILLIONS