Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-06-05
A TERRIBLE FLOOD.
Day. OF Heavy Rain in Pennsyl-
yania and Maryland Cause
Untold Losses.
Eight Thousand Reckoned Dead
and Millions of Dollars Worth
Of Propert' Swept Away.
A RESERVOIR BURSTS ITS BANKS.

A Body of Water Three and "a Half Miles
Lsng, One'Mile Wide ard n Hundred Feet
Deep Breaks Loose Upon the TowasThree
Hundred feet Below.
The most disastrous food which
ever occurred in American history
has just visited various districts Of
Pennsylvania and Maryland.
The most terrible part OF it besieged
the Conemaugh valley in the Allie.
ghany mountains and swept away the
( the town of Johnstown aud the towns
of Camptown and B.airsville.
! The great food in the Conemaugh
was caused by the breaking of the dam
+ of reservoir which had become
swollen bey ond the power of reten
| tion.
In order 10 understand the nature
ufthis calamity il is necessary to des-
cribe the respective locations OF the
reservoirs. The Johnstown reservoir
lies about eighteen miles northeast OF
Isnnstown, ant il the ste of an old
reservoir which was one VI the feed
ers Of the Pennsylvania canal. This
sheet OF water WAS formerly known As
Conemaugh lake. Ii j. from $50 10
800 feet above the level Of JObnstown,
bein, in the mountains. II is three
and half miles long and from one
mile to one and quarter in width. In
some places il is a hundred feet in
depth. 1t holds more water than any
other reservoir, natural or artificial, In
| the United States. The lake has been
luadrupled in size by artificial means
and IL was held in check by dam 700
to 900 feet wide. 1t is so feeti in thick
ness at the base and the height is ITO
feet. The top has u breadth of over 70
feet. Recognizing the menace which
the lake presented TO the region be-
low, the south Fork club, which owns
the reservoir, bad the dam inspected
once . month by Pennsylvania rail-
road engineer and their investigation
showed that nothing less than some
convulsion of nature would tear the
barrier away and loosen the weapon OF
death. The steady rains OF the past
forty-eight hours increased the vol
ume Of water In all the small noun
tain streams, which were already
swelled by lesser rains earlier in the
week. From the information OBJ
taiued at this time IL is evident some-
thing in tue nature OF q cloud burst
must have been the elimination of
the struggle of the water against the
embapkment.
The course of the torrent from the
broken dam at the foot of the lake u
Johnston s almost eighteen miles
and With the exception Of ore poin
the water passed through a narrow
V-shaped valley. Four miles below
the dam lay the town OF South Fork
where the South Fork itself eniptie'
into the Conemaugh river. The towI
contained about 1900 inhabitants, i
has not been heard from, but IL is said
-fifths Of IL has been swept away
Four miles further down on the Cone
maugh riveI, which runs parallel will
the main line Of the PenDsylvani
railway, was the town of Miners
point. Ii had SOC inhabitants, so pc
cent of the houses being on flat AN
close TO the river. 1t seems impossibl
! at this time TO hope that any of ther
: Esve escaped. Six miles further dow
the stream was the town OF Con,
maugh, and here alone there was
Typographical possibility of the sprea'
ing Of the flood and the breaking OF /
force. IL contained $500 inhsbltan
|, and must be wholly devastate'
Woodvale, with 1000 people. lay
mile below Conemaugh In 6at aI
A ohe hiiiS Aui ititt uoWh Wttc Jouh
town aud It's cluster OF sister town
Cambria City and Connaugb. with
total population OF 10000. On ma
ground and stretched along the riv
were the immense iron works Of Il
r Cambria Iron and Steel Co., who hs'
s5,000,000 invested In their plant b
sides this there are many other lar
. industrial establishments on the banl
" Of the river, all Of which were con
y pletsly swept away.
. SCENE OF THE DISASTER AT JOHN
TOWN.
The awful torrents came down q
narrow defils between. a distance
nine miles. and with a fall OF 800 fe'
d In that distance, sweeping away q
a villages OF South Fork, Mineral Pcin
woodvale and Conemsugh, ieayln
but one building standing. woode
mill, where but An hour before hi