Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1889-06-12

A Man who Saw the Catastrophe
Tells How the Fatal Dam
Broke and DESTROYED
Thousands OF Lives
A Special from YOUNGSTOWN.

tion OF "A sewer and water works on
the club grounds. This gentlemen,
Mr.. John q. Parke, jr., saw the ca
tastrophe from first to last. Here is
his account of il as taken from his
own lips:
"On Thursday night the dam
was in perfect condition, and the
water was not within seven feet of
the top. AT that stage the lake is
nearly three miles long. 1t rained
very hard Thursday night, am told,
for slept too soundly myself to
hear it, but when | got up Friday
morning i could see there was a
flood, for the water was over the
drive in front OF the club house,
and the level of the water in the
lake had risen until it was only four
feet below the top Of the dam.
rode up TO the head Of the lake and
saw that the woods were boiling
full of water. This was about =
o'clock. When l returned Colonel
Unger, the President of the club,
hired 81 Italians and number of
farmers joined in to work on the
dam. Altogether thirty men were
at work. a plow 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 possible
to cut, but then we struck bedrock
that it was impossible to get into
without blasting. When we got
the channel opened, the water soon
scourged down to the bedrock, and
a stream twenty feet wide and three
feet deep rushed out on that end of
the dam while the wier was letting
out an enormous quantity on the
other end. Notwithstanding these
outlets the water kept rising at the
rate Of about ten inches an hour.
SENDING OUT WARNING.
"By 1890, l had made up my
mind that it was impossible to save
the dam, and getting on my horse
galloped down the road to South
Fork to warn the people of their
danger. The telegraph tower is a
mile from the town, and sent two
men there to have messages sent to
Johnstown and other points below.
| heard that the lady operator faint
ed when she had sent off the news
and had to be carried off. The peo-
pie at South Fork had ample time
to get 10 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 flood as it rolled by. 1t
was just twelve o'clock when the
telegraph messages were sent out,
so that the people at Jamestown had
over three hours warning.
GAS / rode back to the dam I ex-
pected almost every moment to meet
the lake coming down on me, but
the dam was still intact, although
the water had reached the top. At
about I o'clock | walked over the
dam; ut that time the water was
three inches deep on it and was
gradually eating away the earth on
the outer face. AS the stream rolled
down the outer face it kept wear
ing down the edge OF the embank-
ment and saw it was merely ques-
ton of time. | then went up to the
clubhouse and got dinner, and when
| returned saw that a good deal
more Of the outer edge of the dam
had crumbled away. The dam did
not give away. AT rough guess
/ should say that there were sixty
million tons of water in that lake
and the pressure ofthat mass Of wa.
ter 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 fric.
ton OF the water pouring over the
dam gradually wore it away from
the outer face until the top became
so thin that it gave way.
iub bHEAk COAES.
"The break took place at 3 o clock.
II was about ten feet wide at first,
and shallow, but now that the flood
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 III forty five minutes.
The downfall Of those millions OF
tons was simply irresistible. Stones
from the dam and boulders i'm the
river bed were carried for miles.
Trees went down like you might
cut a mullen stalk with swish Of
your cane. Ii was terrible TO
sec that avalanche Of water 90
down that valley already choked
with floods. Col. Unger was com.
pletely Frustrated by it and was laid
up at the clubhouse sick from his
experiences"
IL a pretty girl doesn't want to be
winked at She ought to keep stead.
tasty away from the soda fountain.
--Somerville Journal.
---------s e-----
Beaver arkins is a man who
always holds fast TO the truth.
Cleverly--Yes; l notice he never
lets 10 escape him.