The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1889-06-08

waters OF COnemaugh Lake, III the val
ley of the same name, as returns con-
tlnue to come in, proves to have been
the most horrible in the number OF
lives lost and the amount of property
destroyed which this country has ever
known, and can only be compared with
the great floods in China last year. Six
towns in the valley, filed with manu-
featuring establishments in which iron
mills predominated, and peopled With
the families of those who depended
upon them for their bread, were swept
out of existence before Johnstown, the
scene Of the most appalling destruction,
was reached.
1t Is now believed that first reports of
the disaster were entirely too low in
their estimates of the number of lives
lost. Dispatches ofthe lst inst. estimate
the number of drowned at from 5000 to
$1,000.
1t tappears that ample warming of the
danger which threatened tbs valley had
been given. For more than year past
the great dam, 100 feet high, holding
back the immense lake, was known to
be unsafe, and many leaks have been
reported from tine TO time. The mere
repetition of the warnings caused them
to be disregarded by the people, who
paid the penalty of their carelessness
with their lives.
When the flood came it struck the
villages of South Fork, Mineral Point,
NOOdvale and Couemaugh, sweeping
everything before it. Then came Cam
bria City aud Johnstown. From that
moment till the next afternoon no news
could be got from the latter place.
which was largest of those destroyed.
An Associated Press reporter was final
ly able by means of basket swung on q
cable such ss is used by the ocean life
saving crews, to reach the site Of Johns
town. and for the first time the awful
extent of the catastrophe was made
known.
The Hotel Hubert, a brick structure,
had sixty-tye guests and sixty-three oi
these were killed by the falling in oi
the floors and walls. The Morell l.
brary, the schOolhOuse, Alma Hall, gen
eral stores and offices OF the iron com
pany and one other brick building. are
all of probably 1900 buildings that have
not been tiOated from their foundations
Or Cayed in.
1t Is now known. at l A. NJ, that two
passenger trains, two sections OF the day
express on the Pennsylvania railroad
have been thrown into the maddened
torrent and passengers drowned. These
trains We're held at JOhnstown from
Friday at II a. NJ, and were laying on
siding between the Johnstown and
Conemaugh stations. The awful torrent
came down the narrow defile bet8 cen
the mountains, a distance of nine miles
and with a fall OF 500 feet in that dis
tance, sweeping away the villages
Of South Fork, Mineral Point.
Woodyille and Conemaugh, leaving but
one building standing, a WOOlen mill,
here but an hour before had STOOD
hundreds, and dashing on with the roar
Of q cataract and the speed OF the wind
upon the fair city at the foothills.
The plain in which but yesterday sat
Johnstown, sits II the mountains ike a
jewel IN a queens diade.l The great
Gautier steel works sat ii this plain and
the city below it, the railroad tracks
bounding it at the b.. : Of the mountains
on the north.
Here Is Wnere the trains were stand
ing when the tide o. water ike a cata-
pult came down upon them with such
resistless force that the heayy trains,
locomotives, Pullmaus and all. were
overturned and swept down the torrent
ard were lodged against the great stone
from the JOhnstoWn rOunG house. the
heavy machinery and pOnderous frame
work of the GaUtier mil, the accu-
muIated debris of more than LOCO
houses, furniture, bridges, lumber. drift
and human beings. The low arches of
the stone viaduct closed up immediate
~ and the water backed over the entire
valley where the city stood 10 the depth
OF what from the water works indicated
about 5S feet. In the great sea thus
formed hundreds, perhaps thousands OF
people were struggling for life. The
scene Is one of the most narrowing pos
sIbe for the Imagination OF man to con-
CeIve. The accumulated drift gorged up
at the vtsduct to a height of forty ieet.
and then took fire from the upsettinc OF
stoves or lamps.
Some idea Of the force of the flood
may be had from the statement made
by Mr.. Foley when he said freight cars
loaded and empty, had been lifted
from the track and carried a distance
of several blocks and deposited in a
graveyard in the outskirts of the town.
where they were lying in a mass. mixed
up with tOmbstones and monuments.
The most awful elimination of the
awful night was the roasting OF 100 OF
of houses, out-buldings and other struc-
tuFas swept against the new railroad
bridge a. Johnstown. and from an over
turned stove or come such cause the
upper part of the wreckage caught
FIRE. There were crowds Of men,
women and children on the wreck, and
their screams were soon added Ia
the awful chorus of horror. They were
literally roasted alive on the flood.
soon stter the fire burned itself out
others were thrown against the mass.
There were some fifty pe0p.e in sight
when the ruins suddenly parted, broke
up and were swept under the bridge in
to pItChy darkness. Sixtv-five RATS
broSH loose from their moorings near
Nrightsyile and we're clrried
down the Susguehanna, inyolv-
ing loss oi over Sj1GaN
IHc damage Is as yet Iuestimable, re-
CsrG.ess Of the great loss Of life. The
Pennsylvania Railroad loss will he
enormous. Fully half a mile Of the
trsCS bctmeeD sang EollOw snd Johns.
town hiss been washed out, and much o
the tracks. rails and ties sFe carried
away. The fire st the bridge at Johns
town has done great damage. The facin.
and keEstones are damaged. Consider
ahia track Is destroyed above Johns
town.
\ Jobustown dispatch of the p inst
says, When Supt. Pitcairn tele.raphet
to llttsbnrg Friday uizht that Johns
town had been suuihi,ated he came
very close to the facts Of the case, al
though he had not seen tie i'll f.fec
city. To say that J1Hustown is q xrecl
IS but stating the iacts of the
case. Nothing Ike It was ever see
in this country. Where lCng rows o
dwelling-houses and business block
stood forty-eiEht hours ago, ruin an,
desolatiOn now reign supreme. Prob
ably 500 houses have been swept from
the fgCe Of the earth a. completely a. ]
they had never been erected. Mail
Street from end TO end Is pI.eI
fifteen and twenty feet high Wit!
the debris, and IN some in