The incredible story behind one of the most devastating disaster America has ever known, 2209 killed mostly at Johnstown. 12/8/22
1889 Memorial Day Thursday May 30. This occurred at the dam of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club in Cambria County, Pennsylvania in the Allegheny Range. This club was owned by the wealthy Steel and Railway magnates to escape the dirt and noise of the cities. This area was settled by Germans and Welsh and those were the most prominent languages spoken, Cambria is another name of Wales.
1794 Washington put down the whiskey rebellion in Pittsburg.
1850 The Pennsylvania Company railroad came through and Cambrian Iron Company founded.
1879 Diphtheria killed 132 children within a few months.
1888 When Golf was first brought to the USA
Johnstown the more this city progressed the more uncomfortable it became to live there.
1838 the work began on the Water Reservoir to have water for dry summers.
1852 This earth dam completed.
1879 Dam property taken over by the Pennsylvania Railway.
Trees were cut down to make space for the expanding town and the river channels were being narrowed, and to make it easier to put bridges across, resulting in more and more flooding. in 1885,87,88.
People got tired of hearing of the disaster that never happened
1856 Henry Bessemer, in Sheffield, England invented a blast furnace process for turning iron into steel that was far quicker and cheaper than what had been done at the time and in the 60s and 70s Johnstown was the most lively in the country. Henry Morrell used only American workers training farm boys to master the technology while others were importing English workers familiar with this process. David Morrell later became a member of Congress, he died in 1885.
Morrel wanted a discharge system put on the dam. The spill way had a grating so that the fish could not escape and this jammed up. Then the dam was lowered so that a 2 lane road could be built on the top.
Heavy rain a logs jammed the bridges arches causing a flood in Johnstown. A message was sent to East Conemaugh marshaling yard that the dam was liable to burst and prepare for the worst, but took no notice, a total of 3 warning messages were sent down the valley. When the dam burst it emptied in 45 .minutes and the workers went into the mud with buckets to collect the fish in the empty dam
.
Every locomotive driver used his whistle giving off his characteristic signal, freight trains used a different tone but a long whistle with no letup indicated something was wrong., and a drivers whistle that was on for 5 minutes was the only warning that East Conemaugh heard . In Woodvale about 1000 people lived where there was a woolen mill build by Cambria Iron. Rosensteel tannery and a streetcar depot she with 96 horses that was left flattened. 345 people died here.
Johnstown was hit at 4.07pm. and it was hit harder than anything along the 14 mile route. The devastation was over in 10 minutes. All the flotsam ended up against the bridge and spread out as this formed a new dam and it caught alight with the oil of a derailed tank car.
The next morning people woke up to a silence as no industry was working and no mill whistles or wagons on cobbles or trains and nearly all Johnstown was destroyed. Dead were being found in large numbers. Many who escaped just left and moved away. Every telephone and telegraph was cut, but farmers from around started bringing food.
Able bodied people crowded the schoolhouse and John Moxham took charge and immediately organized committees. The doctors established a temporary hospital and a police force was sworn in $6000 was recovered from what was left of the bank. Many of the bodies could not be identified as there were a number of travelling men new in the territory
. The flood had killed 1 in 10 of the population. Millions in donation were give from all over the country both money and supplies like blankets etc, including the magnates. Many had family in Pittsburg and poured into the station , including lost or orphaned children.
A Lynch mob went to look for anyone left at the South Forks Club, in a court case criminal negligence was brought up, nobody was there. It was great wealth that was condemned not technology, and people said that every gain the magnates made people were losing something. They were accused of buying legislatures and cutting wages. The fact that the lake was designed purely for pleasure was unacceptable at the time. The South Forks club had a mortgage and not much money to claim against them. There were also suites against the Pennsylvania Railroad, but the jury agreed it was a visitation of providence. Nobody had ever seen such a storm and no provision could have been taken to prevent this. Several small dams build under Daniel J Morell had survived this.
The magnets Pitcairn , Frick and Phipps were named to serve on the Relief committee. Frick never ever made a statement.
1889 Carnegie had been at the Paris World Fair during the disaster, this was the time the Eifel Tower was inaugurated.. Robert Lincoln, Abraham's son was the US Minister in London who he visited. Carnegie later rebuild the library in Johnstown
The dam was a dramatic violation of the natural order. The homes at the dam left high and dry were abandoned and what was left was sold off by Sheriff auction.
1936 American Doctors Odyssey book by Victor Heiser whose parents died and so he left Johnstown became a physician and fought diseases all over the world especially the Philippines
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