Bismarck weekly tribune., 1889-06-07
The Conemaugh River Rises Thirty
Four Feet in Five Minutes
at Bolivar.
No Communication Can be Had With
the Flooded Towns and Re-
49,. ports are Meagre.
Pennsylvania Railroad Officials Say
That 200 Dead Bodies Have
FlOated Down Stream.
The Latest Reports Estimate the
Loss of Life to be 1.5O0
People.
Floods in Pennsylvania.


Floods in Pennsylvania.
PITTsBURG, May 3l.-A sudden freshet
is reported in the Allegheny mountains on
the north fork of the river east of Johns
town, Pa. which resulted in an awful
catastrophe. 1t is said the reservoir above
the town broke about O'clock this morn
ing and an immense volume of water
rushed down to the city, carrying with it
death and destruction. Houses with their
occupants were swept away, and scores,
probably hundreds, of people were
drowned. There is no communication
with Johnstown, but the telegraph oper-
ator in the Pennsylvania railroad tower at
Saug Hollow, twelve miles this side of
Johnstown, says at least seventy-fve dead
bodies f1oated past The wires are all
down, and no trains are running east of
Blairsville, which is about twenty-five
miles west of Johnstown. There is no
way to get to the scene of the disaster, and
full particulars can hardly be obtained to-
night, although every effort is being made
to do so. There will be no trains through
at least before tomorrow.
The course of the torrent from the
broken dam at the foot OF the lake to
Johnstown is almost eighteen miles, and
with the exception of one point the water
passed through narrow V shaped valley.
Four miles below the dam lay the town of
South Fork where the South Fork itself
empties into the Conemaugh river. The
town contained about 1000 inhabitants. 1t
has not been heard from, but it is said that
four.fifths of it has been swept away.
Four miles further down on the Cone
maugh river, which runs parallel with the
main line of the Pennsylvania railroad,
was the town OF Mineral Point. 1t had 800
Inhabitants, 80 per cent. OF the houses
being on fiat and close to the
river. 1t seems impossible at this
time to hope that any of them have
escaped. Six miles further down was the
town of Conemaugh and here alone was
there any Typographical possibility of the
spreading of the flood, and the breaking of
its force. 1t contained $500 inhabitants
and must be almost wholly devastated.
Woodvale, with 1000 people, lay a mile be-
low Conemaugh in the fiat, and one mile
further down were Johnstown and its
cluster of sister towns, Combria City,
Conemaugh borough with population Of
5000. At II p.m.railroad men say the loss of
life will reach hundreds, and probably over
a thousand. The report of the loss of these
towns above cannot yet be confirmed.
The latest reliable information received
from Johnstown comes through the PENN
sylvania railroad officials, who aver that
over 200 dead bodies have been counted
floating down stream at Johnstown alone,
while along the line many additional lives
have been lost. 1t is asserted there are but
two houses in Johnstown proper entirely
above the water line. A special train
bearing Pennsylvania railroad officials and
a large number of newspaper men left this
city for the scene. Telegraphic communi-
cation is entirely cut off and until tele-
graph repairmen and operators with
the. necessary instruments open up the
nearest point, but little reliable informa.
ton can be obtained.
In order to understand the nature of this
it is necessary to describe the
location of the reservoir at
JOhnst0wn. The reservoir lies about
eighteen miles northeast of Johnstown
and is the site of the old reservoir, which
was one of the feeders of the Pennsylvania
canal. 1t is the property of number OF
wealthy gentlemen from Pittsburg who
formed themselves into corporation, the
title of which is the South Fork Fishing
and Hunting club. This sheet of water
was formerly known:as Conemaugh lake.
It is from 200 to 800 feet
above the level of Johnstown, being
in the mountains. 1t is about three and
one-half miles long and from mile to
mile and a quarter in width, and in some
places it is 100 feet in depth. 1t holds more
water than any other reservoir. natural or
artificial, in the United States. The lake
has been quadrupled in size by artificial
means and was held in check by dam
700 to 1000 feet wide. 1t is 90 feet in thick
ness at the base and tie height is ITO feet.
The top has aIbreadth of over 20 feet lRecog-
nizing the menace which the lake had to
the region below, the South Fork club had
the dam inspected once month by the
Pennsylvania Railroad engineers, and
their investigation showed that nothing
less than some convulsion of nature would
tear the barrier away and loosen the wea-
pom of death. The steady rains Of the past
hours increased the volume of
water in all of the mountain streams,
which were already svUallad nv lesser raino