The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-06-19
The Coming of the Flood.

For fOrty-elght hours steady and heavy
rain had been falling oil along the valley Of
| the South Fork and Conemaugh Rivers, and
at 5 o'clock the people Of the valley had been
! warned Of impending danger.
At 5 o'clock there was water-spout and
then the dam gave way. With q rush and a
roar the food went pouring down the valley
carrying everything before it. Sturdy elms
and stanch old oaks were wrenched out of the
| ground and tossed and tumbled like straws
| by the irresistible torrent
-Four miles below the dam was the town Of
South Fork, where the South Fork empties
| into the Conemaugh. 1t had 500 houses and
1000 inhabitants. The warning had been re-
ceived by the people Of this devoted town and
many Of them had clamored up the noun
tain sides to await the subsidence of the
storm, taking with them only a few belong
ings wherewith to stock improvised camps.
From their places Of security in an incredibly
short time after o'clock they saw their
homes swept away and the town completely
DESTROYED.
Down through the ''Pack-saddle" came the
rushing waters, already freighted with the
trees and timbers Of the valley above. The
trunks and boughs of the trees, its first vic
Tins, were used by the angry torrent as
weapons wherewith to strike destruction in
its further course.
Many people were still in their houses and
movements that many of these were caught
at their avocations and drowned at their
posts Others rushed to the upper floors only
TO be overtaken there, while some succeeded
In reaching the roofs, and these were carried
away with the tide and were seen tossing
hither and thither on the upper wave, then
submerged or dashed against some obstacle
In the pathway of the vengeful torrent.
Gathering fresh impetus and fresh strength
as it went, the flood rushed on and caught the
little village Of Mineral Point, four miles be-
low. The Point had 500 inhabitants and was
on fiat at the very bottom of the green-clad
valley. 1t was completely overwhelmed in
the terrible wall Of waters that surged on
ward and must have been forty feet high.
slx miles further down the river, which
runs alongside the tracks of the Pennsylvania
road, was the beautiful little town of Cone
maugh. Here the valley widened and the vii
lage sat on little eminence, though in the
centre of the valley, and it was hoped that in a
case of flood the torrent would be stopped here.
Indeed, the people below Conemaugh had
50 much faith in this idea that they had made
little or no preparation for the food, even
after the warning was sent out. But the de-
voted little Conemaugh was wrested from
its foundations, and its homes and business
houses were ruthlessly tossed and torn by the
maddened waters, and her $500 people were
made homeless, while many of them were
swept away by the tidal wave to destruction.
Woodvale, village of 1000 inhabitants,
mile below, and the city Of Johnstown, an
other mile down the valley, with her suburbs,
Cambria City and Conemaugh Borough,
were next caught in the food.
The torrent had Travelled eighteen miles,
anu it was forty feet deep when it washed
over Johnstown.
Johnstown with her suburbs had a popu-
lation of more than 25, 600. The Cambria
Iron and Steel Company employed 1900 men
in their big factory and had S. 600, 900 worth
Of buildings machinery and stock. All this
was reduced to ruin. and the devoted city
was literally wiped out and thousands of lives
were lost.
From places far up the mountain side
fugitives from the food watched the course
Of the destroyer as it did its ghastly work
among their homes. After two hours but
two roofs in the city could be seen above the
water, and during those awful two hours
those in safety had witnessed scenes such as
have turned dark hair to gray snd furrowed
up smooth young faces with the seams and
wrinkles like those of old age, while many a
heart was torn and bleeding with anguish
unspeakable.
In the flood as it came down the valley
were hundreds of people clinging, with the
grip Of drowning ones, to trees to which they
had taken at the first warning of the ap-
preaching food. The trees had been torn up
by the roots and carried away with their
human freight.
Here and there one or two or three persons
foated swiftly past on the roof of their homes
or on some bulky article of furniture, the
thing nearest to them when the tide reached
them up the valley. And then there were
almost countless dead bodies rolled and tossed
by the ruthless water, some of them still
clinging, with the grasp Of death, to some
from their holdings and ghastly in death.
All along the route of the flood people
rushed to the bridges to give aid to those
who might float down on the maddened sea,
but as the terrific food approached they saw
how fruitless would be their efforts and how
dangerous their attempt, and rushing from
the bridges would reach the shore just in
time to see the structure rent and torn as
sunder, their ruins added to the floating
debris.