Johnstown Pennsylvania and the 1899 Flood Disaster

Some time ago we read a book entitled "The Johnstown Flood of 1889...The Story of the Deadliest Flood in American History" by the Charles River Editors.  We became curious about Johnstown Pennsylvania and the area around it.  As a consequence, I chose Johnstown as an overnight stop on our multi-state road trip.  The history of the flood is one of privilege and neglect.   

                   

Our first stop when we arrived in Johnstown was the Johnstown Flood Museum.  It's located in the former Johnstown Public Library Building.  The Johnstown Library was originally built in 1879 by the Cambria Iron Works, a large iron and steel producer that continued to operate, (as part of a larger company), in the Johnstown area until the early 1990s.

Cambria had 5 different manufacturing sites in and around Johnstown.  All of them were located along either the Conemaugh or Little Conemaugh Rivers.  Each of these former sites represents a different phase of development and growth of the steel industry.  All 5 areas now comprise a National Historic Landmark District.

In any case the original library was destroyed in the horrific Johnstown flood that occurred on May 31, 1889.  It was rebuilt in the French Gothic Revival style by the Andrew Carnegie Fund in 1891.  The fund provided funds covering maintenance and other costs until 1930.  It is an impressive structure...

A bit of background for those unfamiliar with the Johnstown Flood of 1889.  This devastating disaster happened on May 31st, following the collapse of the South Fork Dam which was located 14 miles upstream from the city.  Heavy rainfall had trailed over the area for several days and the dam's failure released 20,000,000 tons of water down the valley and into Johnstown.

This steel railing from a bridge over Paint Creek was found wrapped around a tree a flood in July of 1977.  So why is it in the Johnstown Flood Museum?  It is meant to show visitors what power fast flowing flood water has...  In actuality, little actual debris from the flood remains 135 years after the deadly flood took place.

This bottle of dirty water is an artifact from the flood...sort of.  The bottle contains Johnstown floodwater taken as a souvenir just one day after the disaster.  A couple who collected the water came to Johnstown the day after the flood on a sightseeing excursion that had been organized in Altoona Pennsylvania.  People never seek to amaze me...and disappoint me...   

So just how bad was the devastation caused by the Johnstown Flood of 1877?  Over 2,200 people were killed, including 99 families and almost 400 children.  Tens of thousands were left homeless and without jobs.  Four square miles of the city including much of the Cambria Iron Works was completely destroyed.  What a 'great' tourist attraction... Sad!

Most of the exhibits at the Johnstown Flood Museum consists of mindboggling photos.  Note the destroyed locomotive and train in the first photo.  The home shown above with the tree driven through it belonged to the Schultz family.  The home came to rest a half mile from its foundation.  Somehow, all 6 people who lived here survived the flood.

As I mentioned earlier, many of the items that survived the flood or were recovered from it are small 'relics' from the disaster.  The pitcher came from the severely damages home of the Wesner family.  The small items in the middle were recovered from one of the flood victim's pockets.  The items include a change purse, a newspaper clipping and a notebook from the family store.  I didn't identify the large item on the right.

The South Fork Dam was originally built by Pennsylvania between on the Little Conemaugh River between 1838 and 1853 as part of a cross-state canal system.  With the growth of the railroads, the State sold the canal and dam to the Pennsylvania Railroad...and then the railroad sold it to private interests.  A group of wealthy investors/speculators, including Henry Clay Frick, purchased the reservoir, modified it and converted it into a private resort lake for wealthy business men.

Downtown Johnstown after the flood...

The investment group lowered the dam so it was wide enough for a road.  They also put a fish screen in the spillway.  A system of relief pipes and valves had been previously sold off for scrap and they weren't replace.  There was no way to safely lower the lake's water level in case of an emergency.

The investors built cottages and a clubhouse, creating the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.  It was an exclusive and private mountain retreat.  Membership included more than 50 wealthy steel, coal and railroad industrialists.

Relief workers removing a body from the chaotic flood debris.

Lake Conemaugh at the club's site was 450 feet above Johnstown.  Like the terrain involved in the recent flooding disaster that hammered North Carolina and northeastern Tennessee, the area is a series of hills, low mountains and narrow river valleys.  It's been estimated that up to 10 inches of rain fell in the area in just 24 hours.  Small creeks became roaring torrents, telegraph lines were downed and rail lines were washed away.  At the Club, the water was almost cresting the dam.

A group of men tried to save the face of the dam by working to unclog the spillway where an iron grate and the broken fish trap had been obstructed with debris from the flooding.  Attempts to warn Johnstown of the flood risk were disregarded as there had been many alerts before and nothing had happened.  Just before 3 PM in the afternoon, the dam failed.

Another souvenir from the disaster...Mainstreet in Johnstown.  Survivors or sightseers?

As the flood waters churned on downstream toward Johnstown, it picked up debris...trees, houses and animals.  The flood was momentarily slowed when debris jammed against a stone railroad bridge.  Seven minutes later, the bridge collapsed.  Because of the water's delay at the bridge, the flood gained renewed hydraulic pressure.  This resulted in a stronger and more violent wave of water hitting places downstream

The small town of Mineral Point, one mile below that railroad bridge, was the first populated place that was hit with this accelerated force.  About 30 families lived along the village's single street.  Following the flood, no structures, no topsoil and no subsoil remained at Mineral Point...only the bedrock remained.

East Conemaugh was the next populated area hit by the flood.  As per witnesses, the water was described as almost obscured by the debris, looking more like a "huge hill rolling over and over".  An engineer in the town's railyard in his locomotive heard and felt the approaching flood.  He threw his locomotive in reverse and raced back toward the village, his whistle blowing constantly.  His warning saved many people who raced to high ground.

When the flood hit, it picked up the still moving locomotive and floated it aside.  The engineer survived but at least 50 people in the village died...including roughly 25 passengers stranded on trains along the way.

The Stone Pennsylvania Railway Bridge, shown in the photo above, was as very substantial structure.  In the picture, it shows debris from the flood stacked up against the bridge.  It included twisted steel rails, boxcars, entire buildings and the bodies of many of the flood's victims.  The surge backed up another small river and it resulted in a second wave of flood water and debris that hit the city from a different direction.

The debris then caught fire and it burned for 3 days.  At least 80 people died in the debris.  When the water receded the pile of debris covered 30 acres and it reached up to 70 feet deep.  It took workers 3 months to remove the accumulated mass, partly due to the huge quantity of barbed wire from the Ironworks.

Before and After Pictures of Johnstown.  Different angles where the rivers come together.

Fifty-seven minutes after the dam collapsed, the flood hit Johnstown.  Residents were trapped as the wall of debris and water bore down on them.  The flood surge hit speeds of 40 miles an hour (64 km/h) and reached a height of 60 feet (18 m) in places.  Many tried to escape by running toward high ground.  However many were crushed by pieces of debris or became entangled in the barbed wire from the wire factory upstream.  Of the known dead, 777 people were never identified.

After the flood, The American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton with 50 volunteers, initiated its first major disaster relief effort.  The growing Red Cross team built shelters for survivors in large buildings known as "Red Cross Hotels".  They provided free lodging, meals and other necessities.  The large 2-story hotel had 34 rooms, laundry, kitchen, bathrooms with hot and cold water and a dining hall.  Barton stayed in Johnstown for more that 5 months.  Support for the victims came from all over the USA as well as 18 other countries.  Donations totaled $3,742,818...the equivalent of $128,251,000 in today's dollars.

Many survivors blamed the members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club for the modifications that weakened the dam as well as for improper maintenance.  Lawsuits were initiated but the Club's attorneys, (also club members), successfully argued that the dam failure was a natural disaster...an act of God.  No legal compensation was ever paid to the survivors or the families of those who died.  This legal 'failure' led to changes redefining liability.  About half of the club members donated thousands of dollars to the relief efforts...and of course Carnegie built the library.

For information about the Johnstown Flood Museum, you can go to https://www.jaha.org/attractions/johnstown-flood-museum/.  We didn't visit the other Flood memorial, The Johnstown National Flood Memorial at the site of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.  Operated by the National Park Service, visitors can view the remaining portions of the dam, the guest cottages, the clubhouse and related exhibits at the Visitors Center.  Check it out at https://www.nps.gov/jofl/index.htm.  

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Note: Many of the photos came from the photos on-line and a Red Cross Site.  Wikipedia was the source of much of the information and in some cases, the wording was as well.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave