The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-06-08
THE GREAT FLOOD.
All Previous Records of Freshet Dis
asters Surpassed.
JOHNSTOWN'S HORROR.
A GRAPHIC RECITAL OF THE GREAT
DISASTER.


The appa ling disaster in the Cone
naugh Valley in Pennsylvania on Friday
last stands without parallel in the History |
IF modern times. The food swept like a |
Bosom of destruction over the city of
utterly annih!lating it, and
through the towns of Conemaugh, Cam.
bra City, Mineral Point and half score
Of small villages, causing loss OF life
and property almost beyond estimate and
belief.
Conemaugh lake and reservoir were
fourteen miles above Jamestown. IL was
the property of number of wealthy gen
tlemen in Pittsburg, who constituted a
called the S ruth Fork Fish |
ing and Hunting Club. The sheet Of
water was situated in the mountains from
200 to 800 feet above the level of Johns
town, was three miles in length, from
one to one aud quarter miles in width
and in some places said to be 100 feet
deep The original lake had been quad
rupled in size by artificial means, aud
was held in check by a dam from TOO to
1000 feet wide. The dam was 80 feet in
thickness at the base, with height OF
ITO feet and a breadth of over 20 feet at
the top. The great body of water in the
lake had been swollen by the continuous
rains, and finally swept away the i'm
meuse dam which had been built to re-
strain it and rushed in a mighty and ir-
resistible flood upon the country below
it, growing in volume and strength as it
joined the Conemaugh creek and the al
ready swollen streams along which it
poured. The course of the flood led it
most of the way through narrow "
shaped valley. -Four miles below the
dam and ten miles above Johnstown lay
the town of South Fork, aG the junction
of small stream with Conemaugb creek.
1t had population of about one thousand
four hundred. Three miles below South
Fork was Mineral Point, cluster of
workingmen's houses about half the size.
Neither of these towns was part of Johns
town. Conemaugh, ten miles below the
lake and four miles above Johnstown,
was the largest village on the creek be-
tween the reservoir aud Johnstown. 1t
is often spoken of as part of Johnstown,
though its railroad station is two or three
miles up the creek from the Johnstown
Station. The streets of the Two towns
ran Into each other, and the space be-
tween the two stations was we'll built up
along the creek. Part of the Cambria
Iron and Steel Company's works were at
Conemaugh, and five OF six thousand of
the workiugmen and their families lived
there.
AN ORDINARY STORM DID IT ALL.
1t was not to any CONFUSION of nature
nor any extraordinary meteorological dis
turbance that the great flood was due,
but TO a peculiar combination of circum-
stances, which, had they occurred in less
mountainous region, would have caused
no extensive damage nor would it have
attracted unusual attention. The direct
cause of the calamity was the meeting OF
two storm waves of opposite extremes of
temperature right over the deep and mar
row valleys of Western Pennsylvania.
Commencing about ten o'clock on Thurs
day morning the wind blew strongly from
the southeast, increasing in veioclty until
it became gale, travelling at the rate of
forty-two to forty eight miles an hour.
This gale blowing off the ocean was warm
and heavily laden with moisture. During
the same period there was an unusual
fall in the temperature in the West, cen
trail about Southern Michigan, which
moved slowly eastward. The cold wave
and the warm, moist gale met over
Western Pennsylvania on Friday, and
the stow-hanging rain clouds burst over
the Allegheny Mountains. swelling every
mountain rivulet to mountain torrent.
The unusually heavy rains of several pre-
cediDg weeks had filled every brook and
river, and when the great downpour of
rain came on Friday the swollen streams
swept everything before them.
THE STORMS BRIEF BUT TERRIBLE WORK
Throughout Friday and until Saturday
noon the storm ragged, and then it dis
persed so completely that the Signal Ser.
vice officers could not find sufficient traces
of it to locate storm centre. During
the twelve hours when the storm was at
its height on Friday the rainfall at Har
rlsburg was 4. "a inches, and these figures
will fairly represent the fall throughout
the region where the storm was central
To the east, the west and the south the
swollen rivers carried destruction, and
the force of the food was felt throughout
the course of the Allegheny, Ohio and
Monongahela Rivers, the Susquehanna
and Juniata, and even the Potomac aud
Patapsco Rivers.
The point at which the tempest reached
its greatest fury and wrought the great
est loss of life and property was in the
narrow valley of the Conemaugh River,
At the foot of the western slope of the |
Mountains, in Cam bria county
about forty miles north OF the MARYLAND |
g. ate line and ninety two miles east of
Pittsburg. The South Fork Greek rises |
among the Allegheny Mountains, and a |
few miles above the scene of disaster it |
broadens over little basin. where it was |
formed into a big reservoir by huge |
lam. This reservoir was built in 1910 as |
, feeder of the old South Pennsylvania
Canal. which fell into disuse when the
Railroad was built. In 1860 |
be old dam broke and let out all the
water, and the property remained idle
Ihtil it was bought IN 1880 by the South
Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of Pitts
,urg. The club built new dam at a
,ost of $50, 900, erected score of private
cottages and magnificent club-h house,
orming a charming summer resort for
he members of the club, among whom
we're Calvin Wells. Jesse Lippiucott,
colonel E. j. Unger, and about $50 other
Pittsburgers.
WHERE THE FLOOD WAS SPENT
The basin which has since been known
S Conemaugh Lake was the largest arii-
cial body of water in the country, held
y dam 700 to 1000 feet wide, 80 feet
hick at the base and 100 feet high. The
AXE was about three and half miles
,ng and from a mile to a mile and a
uarter wide. To insure safety the great
am was inspected once month by the
Railroad engineers, who
it secure against anything
ut a CONFUSION of nature.
A chain of thriving little villages ness-
ID in the Conemaugh Valley before the
God swept down. beginning with South
'urk, town of 1000 Inhabitants, which
'as four miles below the dam. There
ne South Fork Greek changes it's name ,
} Conemaugh River. Three miles below
outh Fork was Mineral Point, a
mining village of 800 in abitants.
hen came Conemaugh, four miles down 8
lie stream, borough of 1000 inhabitants
it'll several iron mills and manufacture :
~ establishments. A mile below was :
oodvale, a suburb of Jamestown. con .
aiming about 1000 inhabitants and many :,
andsome residences. Cambria City ad. 9
lined it with population of about $500 !
I'd then came Johnstown, lying upon a ,
oping plateau between the Conemaugh ;
liver and Stony Creek, which met there. =
THE DOOMED CITY OF JoHNsTowN. a