St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-08-03

| lor, then, seemingly impelled by force he
could not resist, he walked back into the
| room, surveyed the two ladies with the
! greatest interest and suddenly broke out
| with the question =: "'-f
''Say, be you the show ?"-SaIyie joy
| White, in Wide Aoake.
Some Lessons Of the Great Disaster.
There is no need at this time to recount
the terrible story of the flood which has
laid waste most Of the prosperous manu-
featuring city of Johstown ana neighbor-
| ing villages, and destroyed the lives of
thousands of men, women and children !;
our readers are familiar with every horri-
| BILE detail. n
About all that can be now, besides rem
| dering the much needed assistance to the
| afflicted survivors of the terrible disaster,
| is to call attention to the preventable
causes which led to it, and the lessons
! which may be learned from it, A'
1t is difficult to imagine combination of
circumstances which would be any better
calculated to produce just such disaster
than those presented by the situation at
Johnstown. Above the city, on the one
hand, weak and Improperly constructed
dam, holding above the heads of fifty
thousand people vast volume of water,
containing the petentiality of utter de-
struction to all in the valley below it,
while, upon the other hand, below the
town, was firm, substantial stone bridge,
capable of withstanding almost any shock
which might be brought against it, and
well calculated to hold the debris brought
down by the flood, and thus to form sec
ond dam to back up the waters far above
the height to which they would otherwise
have risen, and complete the work of
destruction. # ~ Is. .s~ n
The first thought suggested by the
calamity is that no dam maintained for
the purpose of affording pleasure to a
select few should be allowed to exist
under such conditions that, by it's failure,
the water held back by it could be precip-
itatsd= upon the communities people
below. While it is true that dam could
be constructed which would in all human
probability hold securely such a volume
of water as destroyed the miserable en-
bankment of earth, stone and clay, by
courtesy called the Conemaugh dam, yet
it is not likely that such dam as would
be needed to do this would ever be built
by club whose only desire was to secure
a fishing and boating summer pleasure
resort We do not believe the best of
dams should be maintained in such situa-
tions for such purposes. But there seems
to be ample evidence that this, instead of
being one of the best of dams, was one of
the worst, and that there were plenty of
persons competent to form an intelligent
opinion Regarding it, who for q long time
had considered it a menace to the lives
and property of the people of the valley,
and had declared it to be such.
The failure of this dam does not as
many seem to think, furnish a valid rea-
son for prohibiting the, erection kof real
dams, built under the supervision of dis
interested and competent engineers, espec-
tally for some useful public purpose. We
suppose it can hardly be said to be posi-
BILE to construct dam which no combina-
ton of circumstances or upheava1 of
nature could possibly destroy, but it is
indisputably true that dams have been
built, from the existence of which the
people living below them run far less
risk of injury than by the ordinary con-
tingences of life. Such dams can yet be
built, and will be, but will differ in every
important particular from the Conemaugh
dam they will be of different material,
will be higl est where it was lowest,
strongest where it was weakest, and
instead of utterly inadequate spill-wsys,
obstructed by gratings put in to confne
game fish, will have ample means TOR
allowing unusual quantities Of water to
escape without doing harm.
As to the floods which are to be provided
against in the construction of dam, it is
important to consider that the character of
these floods is in many cases being contin-
IL, \ ha r. f0r
ests and the artificial draining of land, both
of which causes have the direct effect of
increasing the suddenness and violence as
| well as the total volume of water passing
down a natural waterway in times of unus-
ual rainfall The first of these causes at
| least seems to have very materially con-
tributed to the bringing of the fatal strain
upon the Conemaugh dam !; fact which
would indicate either that an allowance
should be made in the construction of a
dam for the cutting away of the forests
above it or the cutting of timber in some
manner restricted, with the preference for
the latter. t7 -r- .sus ~
The clamor which has arisen against the
erection of dams of any kind for any pur-
| pose is as senseless as would be an opposi-
ton to the erection of houses, because some
of them are Improperly constructed and
fall or are burned. Dams can be con-
structed which will be as safe as anything
else on earth can be. There are engineers
| that know how to build such dams, and all
that is required to build them is the will
| to do so and sufficient money. sa
If it be true, as reports say, that the man
in charge of this dam had repeatedly
warned the members of the club which
maintained it, that it was in dangerous
condition, and that he was finally given to
understand that he would lose his place
unless he stopped annoying them about it,
then their responsibility becomes about as
heavy as men can well be called upon to
bear, and we hope they will be made to
feel it's full weight. They can never repair
the damage their ignorance or negligence
has caused; but owners of other dams SO
| situated that their failure would result in
loss of life or of property should be made
to feel the absolute necessity for procuring
competent engineering advice and supervi
sion, and for reducing the risk of disaster
| to the lowest possible limit. -American
| Machinist.
| A good handful of rock salt added to tht
bath is the next best thing after an ''ocear
| Dip" and gargle of week solution is