Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-30
,FRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT

JoHNSrowN, June CIT seems to be
the general opinion among the people of
Johnstown that the South Fork reservoir
dam was a weak structure, liable to give
way at any time; that it leaked badly, etc.
All are aware of the fact that it was simply
an earthen embankment, faced on both sides
with riprap stone; but regarding its merits
as an engineering structure few are qualified
to speak. That the dam broke and con-
tributei vastly to the destructive power of
the floods which existed at the time in the
Conemaugh and South Fork Valley there
can be no possible question.
Hence the inquiry is reasonable and ma
tural. What was the cause of the dams
failure? If the dam was badly constructed
the opinion is held that somebody should be
held responsible. THE DISPATCH has
already published the proceedings of
Coroner Evans Investigations on this point,
so far as they have gone, and 1t was In
furtherance of their investigation that your
correspondent visited the South Fork dam
to-day.
PROMINENT ENGINEERS VIEW THE DAM.
The Coroner had requested the attendance
of Colonel 7. P. Roberts, civil engineer, of
Pittsburg, and that gentleman others, in
cluding Lieutenant Reese, of the United
corps of engineers detailed at Johnstown,
from Willetspoint; Colonel Norman NJ.
Smith, Eighteenth Regiment, n. G. P;
John G. Park, Jr., civil engineer, met at
South Fork station and took conveyance to
the ruptured dam. But as Coroner Evans
and his jury failed to put in an appearance
the party returned without any official action
being taken.
In conversation this afternoon Mr. Rob-
erts stated that he had little to add to what
he had already stated before the Coroner's
jury last "Wednesday. 1t was not far to
seek, be said, the cause of the failure of the
South Fork dam. 1t was simply the INSULT
eient capacity of the waste channel to dis
charge the food waters. There was some
thing, he SAYS, simply phenomenal in the
amount of rain which fell in the watershed
the night preceding the disaster. How else,
he urged, can one account for the filling of
the reservoir of fully so acres with 81 feet
of water in the space of about 15 hours with
the waste weir discharging during the time
to the utmost of its capacity?
EARTH DAMS PRONOUNCED UNSAFE.
There are elements, he said, for calcu-
lating the amount of the rain fall, after the
size of the lake and the watershed are de-
termined, but these cannot be considered
water was still rising at the time the dam
broke, and that there was powerful stream
discharging long after the lake was drSined
out.
In answer to pointed question whether
he regarded the stream as an engineering
structure we'll designed, he said he was al
ready on record as to that. 1.-THE facts are,
he continued, 81 know of no earthen reser-
voir dam in the United States or Europe
- l. i r
an overflow. l could point you to authori-
ties like James McAlpine, Prof Greene
and others who would fully corroborate me
on this point. The fault at South Fork is
to be regarded as one of original construc-
tion. The waste weir was not of sufficient
capacity 10 dischar ge the flood waters which
came with this storm. 1t is simply this and
nothing more"
''But, would not the pipes in the bottom,
originally built in the reservoir, assist in
the discharge of the food waters?" was
asked.
NO ONE TO BLAME.
''Yes, undoubtedly, but no calculations
which have been able to make, based
upon the rapidity of the rise of the lake as
have heard the facts stated under oath,
would give them capacity sufficient to have
kept the dam from overfowing. This being
the case. L cannot see that any person is
responsible for the accident save the orig
inal designer, and concerning HMM
William E. Morris, who died about II wears
ago-I have every reason to believe was
thoroughly competent engineer especially
educated on the canal service of the State"
Lieutenant Reese, of the United States
Army, as soon as he saw the dam, expressed
the opinion that the slopes were too steep
for a reservoir of that size. He stated they
were the minimum allowed by law. The
top of the dam in the narrowest place is Is
feet wide, and height about so feet. The
rule is, according to Lieutenant Reese, that
the top should be one-third as wide as the
height Engineers provide
WASTE wEIRs LARGE ENOUGH
to carry off ten times The maximum amount
of discharge, or a rainfall of eight inches in
a hours, but Lieutenant Reese, not know
ing the rainfall of the country and the
maximum discharge of the dam, would not
say whether he thought the waste weir
sufficiently large to relieve the pressure or
not. He realized that the rainfall had been
phenomenal, and it was the overflow that
produced the break.
Coroner Evans and his jury will visit the
dam on Monday, and they expect to finish
their work in the evening. The bottom and
sides of the reservoir have dried out, and
to-day a number of people were walking
over the bed. There is a strong odor of fish
in the great basin, but the game has skipped.
Just below the dam is pool that must be
very deep. The food washed out large
portions of earth, and when Colonel Rob
erts threw stone into the water, it sank as
1t 1t dropped distance of 80 feet or more.
Upon the hillside is the beautiful farm of
Colonel Unger, but the Colonel is sick of
South Fork. ISRAEL.