Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-06-06
THE DEVASTATED VALLEY.

THE DEVASTATED VALLEY.
Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, June 3.
The Conemaugh River, along whose
valley such fearful havoc has been
wrought, traverses a large portion of
Cambria county, and, after crossing the
line on the west, divides the adjacent
counties of Westmoreland and Indiana.
After its union with LOyalhanna Creek,
in Indiana county, it takes the name of
the Kiskiminetas, which falls into the
Allegheny River at Freeport, thirty miles
above Pittsburgh, at which point the
four counties of Allegheny, Westmore-
land, Armstrong and Butler corner. The
Conemaugh is mountain stream, and is
rapid and destructive when swollen by
rains or the sudden melting of snow and
ice. Johnstown is situated in a pocket
or basin near where the tracks of the
PENNSYLVANIA Railroad Company cross
the Conemaugh, and from that point on
to where the South Fork joins the main
branch of the river the valley is very
narrow. The distance from JohnStown
to South Fork is about six and half
miles, and the terrible rush of waters
from the artificial lake on South Fork
had no room to spread until it reached
the circumscribed basin in which the
doomed city was situated.
This accounts for the terrible destruc-
ton of life and property which followed.
The disaster came upon the town like a
cloud burst. 1t was irresistible in vol
ume and force, and death and ruin
marked its path. All the railway bridges
and embankments from JohnStown to
South Fork, some seven miles, save the
one at JohnstOWn, are reported gone.
Among these were two fine iron bridges
and one immense stone bridge built
by the State for the old Portage road
The masonry in this structure was con-
sidered wonderful in its day, and has
never failed to excite the admiration of
all engineers who have had occasion to
examine it. Like the dam at South
Fork Lake, it was deemed indestructible
by any element force which it was likely
to encounter But even it went down
under the fearful pressure of the over
torrent.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company |
has been noted for the strength and du- |
rability of the bridges and culverts
erected by it of late years. The new
stone bridge at JohnstOwn is a fine spec
linen of architecture. 1t was built for |
four tracks and rests on succession of
seven arches spanning the COnemaugh.
1t withstoOd the assault of the deluge,
but, unfortunately, its very stability |
helped to augment the work of death |
and devastation in the town. The flood |
hurled the wrecked houses against the |
with terrible Suddenness, |
up the arches and retarding the
flow. Broken buildings were piled up
in a dense mass, and in this situation
fire broke out and added a new horror to
the scene, scores of persons who wereyet
safe from the waves having been slowly
by the flames,
This obstruction threw such an i'm
menSe pressure upon the embankment
that new channel was cut through near
the Cambria Iron Works, and left that
immense concern in partial ruins. The
towns below were swept as with the
besom of destruction, and the fair valley
Of the Conemaugh, bedecked with all
the beauties of spring, never before wit
messed such cruel and pitiless devasta-
ton. The maddened waters carried in
heir embrace millions of dollars worth
Of propery, thousands of precious lives,
and left legacy of perpetual sorrow to
tens of thousands who were linked to
he departed by the most tender ties of
The almost resistless force of the tor
'ent may be inferred from the fact that
he round-house at Conemaugh station,
with sixteen of the largest freight en-
yines in the service of the company, was
swept away. These engines weigh about
I14,000 pounds each, or iifty-seven tons,
md yet they were showed from the rails
IN which they stood at rest, forced into
he angry current, and tumbled about
md left in various positions along the
ALLEY after the fury of the waters had
,eased.
No idea can yet be formed of the
mount ofdestruction done in the valley
,elow Johnstown. 1t will unquestion-
Ibly be very great, as the manufactur-
ng interests are very considerable, to say
lOthing of the agricultural. The prod
lets are coal, coke, lime, salt, lumber,
ron, eto., and many large concerns are
ituated along the Conemaugh and the
The probability is that
of bodies are still afloat, and
Notwithstanding the high water will be
licked up for days to come in the Ohio,
S well as in the Allegheny, the Kiski-
ninetas and the Conemaugh.