The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1902-05-16

agonies of. fear, sufferiE "A death,
was comparable to the devastation
wrought in Galveston on September s,
1900, when a tidal wave, driven by a
hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico and
dashed into incredible fury by tor
nado racing at the speed of eighty miles
an hour, firstN obliterated the city OF
Galveston and then drowned more
than 5000 of it's people.
1t was $40 in the afternoon of that
Hateful Saturday when the last hint OF
an impending catastrophe was sent tic
the outside from threatened Galveston.
The wind was then blowing off the gull
at the rate of forty miles an hour. A
cloudhurst had prevailed for nearly two
hours. The streets We're hip highNwith
water the sea was laundering shore
ward, and the sky was livid green.
Next came the story of a hurricane
the like of which has never been
equaled in the worlds history of hor-
rors. 1t was nearly 5 o'clock in the
evening when the storm rose to it's su-
preme fury. Mountainous waves rose
in the offing, and, hurled forward by
the fierce rushes of wind, swept down
upon the low-lying city till stanch
buildings Of steel and stone We're
leveled and the Inhabitants, driven
from their frail homes, went adrift in
the dark, clinging to floating debris,
Ships Driven Inland for Miles.
Proud ships that had ridden many a
storm at anchor were driven inland for
more than three miles on the crests OF
tremendous pillows. Trains loaded with
heavy freight We're swept miles from
their stations, and for radius of 100
miles, north, south and west of the
doomed city, the driving sea and the
irresistible wind had leveled or DROWNED
everything.
1t was days before the full details of
this calamity reached the outside
world. Relief trains that started for
Galveston from the interior were met
in the plains by waves from the sea
and driven back two days after the tor
nado had spent it's greatest fury. Day
by day, as newspaper correspondents
reached the scene Of the disaster, and
the wretched survivors regained cour-
age, the list of dead and the count of
losses increased. 1t was one of the few
instances in which the first guesses of
death and devastation had not been ex-
aggerated. From first estimates of
1000 dead the death roll grew to 1000,
5000, 1900, 5000. and the estimates of
property lost reached into the scores of
millions.
YOUNGSTOWN Horror
The great flood which swept away
Johnstown, Pa, May 81, 1885, was the
most disastrous to life that ever oc-
Cured in the United States up to that
time. In the rush of waters 2,142 lives
We're lost of these Ills We're found and
identified but 636 bodies that We're
found went to the grave unidentified.
Added TO the agony Of the disaster no
traces We're ever found by relatives and
friends of 319 persons that were known
to have been in the track Of the waters
and are supposed to have been carried
down the valley and buried under the
debris or to have persisted in the fear
full fire which broke out.
Ninety-nine entire families were lost,
IA women were made widows and 965
children orphans or half orphans. The
loss of property was estimated at 49,
6741O5.
The breaking of an immense dam
which held in check the waters of
| Conemaugh Lake, two and half miles
long by mile and half wide, en-
| quilted the city without warning.
| This enormous reservoir was eighteen
miles distant from Johnstown up the
Conemaugh river valley at an altitude
| Of 275 feet above the city. The river
had been rising for several days under
incessant rains, until the lake poured
over the dam, in threatening volume
and word had been repeatedly sent to
|, the people in the valley below that the
-dam might break at any moment and
| tney We're warned TO seek Satety III
| fight.
Came Without Warning.
/ Disaster had passed them by often
before however, when the waters had
i been high, and the people had been
lulled into such sense of security that
| they paid little heed to the warnings.
JohnstoWn was a prosperous city of
| $4,000 Inhabitants on the Pennsylvania
railroad, thirty-nine miles from AL
! OF ,tzyn al 1,t ,s,iIn f,,nro
| Pittsburg. 1t was giving attention to
business and pleasure on the fateful
i day without a thought of the impend-
/ ing catastrophe.
1t was in the middle of the afternoon
| that the pent-up waters tore away the
\ barrier and leaped into the valley be-
i low. In just seven minutes the adj
!! vancing column of water, mountain
1 high trayersed the eighteen miles to
| JohnstoWn ard submerged the city.
j When it struck the Pennsylvania rail-,
4 road bridge, Immediately below the
/ city. thewaters We're damned back in
such manner as to add greatly to the
1 loss of life The huge mass of debris
] swept along by the waters was piled
high at this bridge and soon took fire.
/ The flames increased the desolation and
4 terror which the ravages of the flood
4 had brought.
Aid was sent to the Johnstown ssuf-
4 United States and from many countries
\ and cities of Europe. The flood relief
commission appointed by the governor
i of Pennsylvania reported that contri-
! buttons amounting to $3,000,000 had
been sent in. Some of this money was
A used, after the work of relief had been
4 carried out, to care for tn widows and
i orphans who had been left homeless.
WILL BE BROUGHT BACK