Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1889-06-21
How the Dam Broke.

| The Pittsburg Commercial prints the fol-
| lowing account of the breaking of the dam,
from the lips of John G. Parke, Jr, a civil en-
| gineer who was engaged on the grounds or
the South Fork Club
''On Thursday night the dam was in per-
| feet condition, and the water was not within
| seven feet of the top. At that stage the lake
| is nearly three miles long. It rained very
| hard Thursday night I am told, for I slept
! too soundly myself to hear it, but when got
| up Friday morning [ could see there was
| food, for the water was over the drive In
! front of the clubhouse, and the level of the
Ter in the lake had risen until 1t was only
| four feet below the top of the dam. l
| rode up to the head of lake and saw that the
woods were boiling full of water. South Fork
and Muddy Run, which emptled into the lake
| We're fetching down trees, logs, cut timber,
| and stuff from a saw-min that was up in the
woods in that direction. This was about
| 7:3O o'clock When [ returned, Colonel I'm
| ger the President of the club, hired twenty
| two Italians and number Of farmers joined
in to work on the dam. Altogether thirty
men were at work. A pillow was run along
the top Of the dam, and earth was thrown in
the face of the dam to strengthen it. At
the same time a channel was dug on
the west end of the dam to make
a Sluice way there. There was about three
feet of shale rock through which it was pos
sible to cut but then we struck bed rock that
it was impossible to get into without blast
ing. When we got the channel opened, the
water soon secured down to the bed rock, and
stream twenty feet wide and three deep
rushed out on that end of the dam, while the
weir was letting III an enormous quantity on
the other end. Notwithstanding these outlets,
the water kept rising at the rate of about ten
inches an hour.
by II 80 / had made up my mind that it
was impossible to save the dam, and getting
on my horse | galoped down the road to
South Fork to warn the people of their
danger. The telegraph tower is mile
from the town. and | sent two men there
to have messages sent to Johnstown and
other points below l heard that the lady
operator tainted when she had sent off the
news and had to be carried off. The people
at South Fork had ample time to get to the
high grounds and they were able to move
their furniture too. In fact only one person
was drowned at South Fork and he while
attempting to fish something from the food
as it rolled by. It was Just twelve o'clock
when the telegraph messages were sent out,
SO that the people of YOUNGSTOWN had over
three hours warning.
''As | rode back to the dam l expected al
most every moment to meet the lake coming
down on me, but the dam was still intact, al
though the water had reached the top. At
about | O'Clock [ walked over the dam: at
that time the water was three inches deep on
II, and was gradually eating away the earth
on the outer face As the stream rolled
down the outer face it kept wearing down
the edge of the embankment, and L saw 1t
up TO the clubhouse and got dinner and when
| I returned I saw that good deal more of the
outer edge of the dam had crumbled away.
The dam did not give way. At rough
guess [ should say that there were sixty mill
ions tons of water in that lake and the pres
sure of that mass of water was increased by
floods from two streams pouring into it, but
the dam would have stood it could the level
Of the lake have been kept below the top of
the dam But the friction of the water pour
ing over the dam gradually wore it away
from the outer face until the top became SO
thin that it gave way.
The break took place at three o'clock It
was about ten feet wide at first and shallow
but now that the food had made a gap, it
grew wider with increasing rapidity, and the
lake went roaring down the valley. That
three miles of water was drained out in forty
five minutes. The downfall of those millions
of tons was simply irresistible. Stones from
the dam and boulders in the river bed were
carried for miles. Trees went down like you
might cut a mullen stalk with swish of
your cane. 1t was terrible sight TO see that
avalanche of water go down that valley al
ready choked with foods. Colonel Unger
was completely Frustrated by it and was laid
up at the club house sick from his experiences"