Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-06-07

flood limits which it had taken for its new
banks and poured new river into a new
channel through the heart of the lower
part of the city. The drift piled up against
the dam it had formed at the bridge. House
after house added its wreck TO the heap
until it formed tangled mass from 30 to
60 feet thick, rising high above the water
and stretching back three-fourths Of a mile
above the curve Of the hill.
The most awful elimination of the awful
night was the roasting of a hundred or
more people in mid The ruin Of
houses, old buildings and other structures
swept against the new railroad bridge at
Johnstown, and from an overturned stove
or some such cause the upper part of the
wreckage caught fire There were crowds
of men, women and children on the wreck,
and their screams were soon added TO the
awful chorus of horror They were liter
ally roasted on the flood Soon after the
fire burned itself out others were thrown
against the mass. There were some 80
| people in sight when the mass suddenly
parted, broke up and was swept under the
bridge into pitchy darkness.
The IBcOnceivRble Force Of the Water.
The New York Herald says The valley
of the Conemaugh, in which Johnstown
stood, lies between steep walls of lofty hills.
| The gathering of the rain into torrents in
that region is quick and precipitate. The
river on one side roared out its warning
on the other was the great South Fork dam,
two and half miles up the valley and
looming 100 feet in height from base to top.
IL Noahs neighbors thought it would be
only shower, the people of Johnstown
were yet more foolish. They still perverse-
| ly lulled themselves into false security.
| The blow came, when it did, like flash.
| IL was as if the heavens had fallen in liquid
fury upon the earth. 1t was as if ocean
itself had been precipitated into an abyss.
The South Fork reservoir was the larg
est in the United States, and it contained
/ millions of tons of water. When its fet
ters were loosened, crumbling before it like
| sand, building or even a rock that stood
in its path presented as much resistance as
card house. The dread execution was
| little more than the work of an instant.
| The flood passed over the town as it would
over a pile of shingles, covering over or
carrying with it everything that stood i'll
its way. 1t bounded down the valley,
wreakng destruction and death on each
hand and in its fore Torrents that poured
down out Of the wilds of the mountains
swelled its volume
Another account says: At Freeport
Junction Friday night the river could not
be seen, its surface being thick with de
bris, including even pianos. One Of the
small dwellings that came down was occu
pied by man, who sat at one of the upper
windows When the house struck the piel
of the railroad bridge at the junction the
shock caused the man TO disappear. The
conclusion soon shattered the house, and
| the man was seen no more. A woman and
two children were seen floating past Leech
burg at 3 o'clock Saturday morning on toI
of some wreckage. They we're alive, anC
their pitfu cries for help drew the atten
ton Of the people on the shore. Some mel
got a boat and endeavored to reach tn,
sufferers as they rowed out in the stream
The woman could be heard calling to then
to save the children first. The men made
gallant effort 1t was all without avail, a
the strong current and floating masses o
drift prevented them from reeching the vic
tins. They were finally rescued IA mile
down the stream, having floated the entir
length of the Conemaugh and Kiskimineta
rivers, and reached a point on the ALE
gheny river within % miles of Pittsburg.
Such incidents as these indicate NOR
clearly than columns of description tn
overpowering rush of the wave.
The Course of the Flood.
The course of the torrent from the brok
en- dam at the foot of the lake to Johnstowl
is almost Is miles, and, with the exception
of at one point the water passed throug
narrow Vshaped valley. Four miles be
low the dam lay the town of South Fork
where the South Fork itself empties into tn
Conemaugh river. The town containe'
about 2000 inhabitants.
Four miles further down the Conemaugl
river, which runs parallel with the mai
line of the Pennsylvania railroad, was tn
town of Mineral Point. 1t had 800 inhabi
tants, 80 per cent. of the houses being on
fiat and close to the river. 1t seems impos
sible to hope that any of them have escaped
Six miles further down was the town o
Conemaugh, and here alone was there a tC
biographical possibility of the spreading o
the flood and breaking of its force. 1t con
tained 2500 inhabitants, and must be almos
wholly devastated.
Woodvale, with 1000 people, lay a mil
below Conemaugh in the fiat and one mil
further down were Johnstown and its clus
ter of sister towns.-Cambria City an
| Conemaughborough-w a total popula