Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-08

Of Woodville for number Of years. is one of
the survivors. While looking for Miss Paulson
of Pittsburg. Of the drowned she came 10 a
coffin which was marked: Mrs. II. l.. Peterson,
Woodvile borough. Pa, age about forty. size
five feet one inch, complexion dark. weight
about 200 pounds"
This was quite an accurate description of
Mrs. Peterson. She tore the card from the
coffin and one of the officers was about TO ar
rest her, but her explanations were satisfac-
tory and she was released In speaking Of the
calamitw afterward she said: 'The people in
Woodville had plenty of time to get out OF the
town If they were so minded We received
word shortly before 2 o'clock that the food
was coming. and Pennsylvania railroad con-
ductor went through the town notifying the
people. / stayed until $50 O'Clock, when the
water commenced TO rise very rapidly. and
thought it was best TO go the hills, but they re-
fused, and the cause Of this refusal was that
their husbands would not go with them, and
they refused to leave alone"
THE DAM ooNDEMSEp.
A. NJ. Wellington, with f. 7. Burt. associate
editor Of the Engineering Ne1os, of New York,
has just completed an examination Of the dam
which caused the great disaster here. Mr.Wel-
lington states that the dam was in every re-
spect OF very poor, inferior construction and
of a kind wholly unwsrranted by good engi-
neering practices of thirty years ago.
Both the original and reconstructed dams
were of earth only. with no heart wall. but only
rlprapped on the slopes. The original dam.
however. was made in rammed and watered
layers, which still show distinctly in the
wrecked dam. The new end greatly added to
its stability but it was to all appearance simply
dumped in like an ordinary railroad fill, or, IL
rammed, shows no evidence of good effect
from it. Much Of the old part is standing in
tact, while adjacent parts Of the new work are
wholly carried off.
her vva af
sorry either in the new or old dam II has
been the invariable practice of engineers for
thirty or forty years TO use one or the other In
building high dams Of earth.
1t is doubtful if there is a single other dam OF
reservoir in any other part of the United States
of over 80 feet high which lacks this central
wall. The reconstructed dam also bears the
mark Of great ignorance or carelessness in hav.
ing been made nearly 2 feet lower in the mid
die than at the ends. 1t should rather have
crowned in the middle, which would have con-
centrated the overflow, if it should occur, at the
ends instead Of in the center
Had the break began at the ends the cut Of
the water would have been so gradual that lit
| tie or no harm might have resulted. Had the
dam been at once cut at the ends when the
water began running over the center, the sud
! den breaking would have been at least greatly
dlmlnlshed-posslDly prolonged so that littls
harm would have resulted
The crest of the old dam had not been raised
| IN tne recOnstructon OF 1851. The old over
| flow channel through the rock still remains
but, owing to the sag of the crest in the mid
die of the dam, only five and half feet o.
water in it, instead OF seven feet. was neces
sarv to run water over the crest. And the rocl
| spill way, narrow at best. had been further
contracted 10y close grating to prevent tn,
escape of fish, capped by good-sized timber
and In some slight degree also by a trestle foo
| bridge.
The original discharge pipes at the foot o
the Cam had been permanently closed wheI
reconstructed, and this. while a minor matte
| compared to the others mentioned, further re
| duced the possible rate of maximum discharge
The net effect Of all these differences of condi
! ton was that the dam, as it stood, was no
much safer against excessive food, apart iron
Its inferior construction, than the original dan
would have been with crest only 80 TO fee
! high above the bottom OF the rock spillway in
stead of feet.
| Mr.. Wellington said that no engineer o
known ability and good standing for such wor
| could possibly have been engaged on it, sine
| In the particulars mentioned it violated tn
most elementary and universally understoo
requirements of good practice.
| A Brighter Future.
| II tho fufura yoIioy Q A. l.