The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1892-06-15
ORIGIN OF PENNsYLvANfA's
FLOOD AND HOLOCAUST.
Another Fish Dam Held TO bs Rssponsi-
bis for the Awful Calamity.

bic Tor the awful Caiamtty'
Trrsvtttr June s-As in the case of
Johnstown. II was another fish dam that
caused the awful calamity at Titusvillc, Oil
City aud the cutirc valley of Oil Creek.
Over the divide. other dams have spread
devastation even worse but with no loss of
life To-day ! visited Spartansburg dam
the primary cause Of this tremendous loss
OF life Like the South Fork body of water,
which scattered death In Johustown the
Spartansburg dam was famous fishing
ground II was well stocked with bass and
was resort for sportsmcn from Cory, Erie,
Titusvillc and Wcstc,n New York. Heavy
wire netting with small meshcs had been
put up over the water wcirs to prevent the
bass from escaping, and this, more than
ANYTHING else, cn,ised, HE increased BODY of
water t0 give way With the rising Hood
the drift caught on the wire, clogeing 1t ~
that the water was backed mp sufficient To
tear away new course mt the side oi the
real dam which still stands. Thus II II the
second great calamity inside of three years
that has been caused simply because few
people wanted a place 90 idle away their
summer hours.
Spartansburg dam was built originally to
furnish power for their grst mill II ~
greater in extent than the South Fork dam.
II IL shaped like the bottom Ot u iintirOu. At
the breast the real dam Is scarcely over 100
feet wide and is still standing. This part
was built on wet dam, but at the sides u
was after the style of The South Fork pond.
II was not intended 10 overflow II was
above the wet dam and over the water wcirs
that the netting WAS stretched. This caught
| the DRIFT and forced the water back until u
| oycrtlowcd the dry ends aud they melted
| like 80 much snow. The residents there de-
clare that when II broke the water was six
| feet above the real dam.
| There was no clOuiburst there. D.N.Colc-
| grove editor of the Spartansburg paper, thus
| describes the growth of the flood
| "It had been raining heavily for several
| iays At 2:3O Saturday the heaviest rain
| storm ever known here visited us II almost
| fell in sheets The dam was already swollen.
| From then until ~ o clock IL rained steadily.
| At II o'clock we could see II was eating away
the walls at the side of the ilumc. The water
was then over - feet deep all over the area
while below the creek was full Ia the banks.
| Then the crash came The booms let go
and the hundreds of thousands of logs
! washed down against the trcStle Oi the
Western New York and Pennsylvania road.
| By ll:3O all the water had gone aud below
we could hear II tearing away the bounds III
its course to Iitusvillc.'
The Hood swept everything below. The
dams on the west branch of Oil Creek. ~
| we'll IA on Shirley creek, gave way, and the
| united forces of all these streams poured
down on ritusvillc. On the way IL carried
of eight bridges in oil creek valued nt over
$50 900 while on the smaller creeks dozens
of small wooden bridges were caught up anu
SIMPLY torn TO pieces, When the flood lett
Sparausburg dam 1t tore away the main
street of the town. and a pile OF bol'dS
crashed through NJ Bclmcr' = tanncry. The
hide house was swept away and iO) skins
were trkcn clear from there to Titllsyille.
The ground waS literally eaten away from
under the W, y y. x L. tracks and he ties
and rails were left hanging high ~ the ar;
Solid rocks were torn from the hillside ana
carried down the stream. Every vestlge
growth was cut oil Below was a beautiful
meadow but from IL everything had diSap
penrcd and now it is but n honeycombecd
waste The damage at Spartansburg VIII
possibly reach SlO,OoD The nooi nex'
caught Lamb dam and wooden mill about
a mile below. IL il gone. Added 10 thi'
flood, was that from Shirley creek and Five
Mile Run, where a dozen dams were washed
away. J. NJ. kerns' mill il damaged and
the bridge wrecked Bridges and dams were
also swept away at iiydetown ~ fatcn
Hollow, where Shirley creek and Five MIC
run and the Triplct, as the third stream +
known all join the water was spread on
over a path 500 feet wide. To-day IL was
stream that scarcely measured 10 feet. Her'
Goodrichs dam broke and 2D,UD ieet o.
has charge of Shcmadne Mineral Sprln!
there, had his house and barn ilOated OF. bu
escaped with his life.
The loss in Oil Creek valley can hardly b
estimated At least $4,000 worth o
bridges have been swept away, some, II
many instances, being completely ruined D!
the flood In Spartansburg IL was reporte,
that at Riceyille ON the west branch of Oi
creek, dam had burst and that two mel
had been drowned while trying o save logs
| They were Canadians and brothers. Thei
names are given as John {. and Fran
Faauar. This is the first loss of life reporte
above Titusyille