Below the bridge the floodwaters reached the first floor, but it did not have the force of all that debris trapped in the jam. Eastern Acorn Press, 1984. 2.) Barton had worked in relief efforts during the Civil War, and she was eager to demonstrate to the world that the Red Cross had a role to play in peacetime as well. What type of story is "The Johnstown Flood"? They installed fish screens across the spillway to keep the expensive game fish from escaping, which had the unfortunate effect of capturing debris and keeping the spillway from draining the lakes overflow. Johnstown: Benshoff, 1964, 1993. These men had been warned of the danger time and again, but they feasted and enjoyed themselves on the lake while the very lives of the people in the valley below were in danger.. It did nothing to sway sentiments. General Hastings took charge for several months, making sure relief supplies went to survivors who needed them and keeping the press from taking over the town. No other disaster prior to 1900 was so fully described. Strict liability maintains that a person can be held legally accountable for consequences that result from their actions, even in the absence of fault or criminal intent. Berkman was apprehended by the local sheriff. Organized in 1879, the purpose of the club was to provide the members and their families an opportunity to get away from the noise, heat and dirt of Pittsburgh. Newspapers all across the country denounced the sportsmens lake. For most, Although Whitman loved music and books, he left school at the age of 14 to become a journeyman printer. the only warning was a thunderous rumble before the water hit. New York: Penguin, Puffin, 1991. The town named after the city in Israel is a charming escape, . Inside, on a local news page, the paper ran a review of "Johnstown and Its Flood," a book about the firsthand memories of author Gertrude Q. Slattery, also known as Mrs. Frank P. Slattery, during the 1889 Johnstown Flood that killed more than 2,200 people. after what just happened. But there was one small blessing on the day: Because so many had already fled, only 16 people from Mineral Point died. The report admitted that the club removed the pipes, but maintained that in our opinion they cannot be deemed to be the cause of the late disaster, as we find that the embankment would have been overflowed and the breach formed if the changes had not been made (ASCE Report, 1891) As discussed in the Blurring the Lines section, the club was able to avoid liability by portraying the disaster as an act of God beyond human control. Many members did contribute, but their offerings were minuscule compared to the overall contributions. Niagara Falls. Since the Johnstown Flood took place in the United States of America, you might guess there were a lot of lawsuits flying around in its aftermath. The waters hadn't even receded yet when hundreds of journalists arrived to document the disaster for the world. after the occurrence. Following its closing, few would admit to its membership and therefore their role in the disaster. The fear of big floods remains. The State of Pennsylvania built the dam originally to supply water for the Pennsylvania canal. sentences. Approximately 57 minutes after the dam collapsed, the water had traveled almost 15 miles, obliterating most of downtown Johnstown. NEW! Were the people below the dam warned? However, whirlpools brought down many of these taller buildings. (AP Photo/Johnstown Flood Museum) (The Associated Press). What time did the dam fail? It's not clear, although there is a suspicion that much was lost when the law firm of Reed, Smith, Shaw and McClay (formerly Knox and Reed, which represented the Club in court, it seems) threw out a bunch of papers in 1917 when moving to a newer building. The operators of the dam tried to warn everyone The Johnstown Flood Museum is located in downtown Johnstown inside the city's former Carnegie Library. For several days in late May of 1889 in Pennsylvania it rained and rained and rained resulting in tremendous flooding and a dam break that killed thousands in Johnstown. Beach Haven, NJ: The Attic, 1972. And you'd be right. The viaduct was completely destroyed in the disaster. And obstacles on the ground would stop it for brief moments, which meant that people who survived an initial wave would be hit by subsequent waves of equal force at random increments. The most powerful case against Reilly was provided by Robert Pitcairn, the executive of the Pittsburgh division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. However, Pitcairns position meant that he had a commercial interest in defending the club. 11 The following year, in 1863, a canal between Johnstown and Blairsville was closed. PITTSBURGH A privately owned dam collapsed in western Pennsylvania 125 years ago on May 31, 1889, unleashing a flood that killed 2,209 people. As the raging waters tore down the river valley moving at speeds as fast as 100 miles per hour at times, everything in its path was torn up and carried along. After the flood, the public was eager to determine exactly what caused the dam to fail. All of the water from Lake Conemaugh rushed forward at 40 miles per hour, sweeping away everything in its path. That a company carpenter struck Berkman in the back with a hammer. Some people in Johnstown were able to make it to the top floors of the few tall buildings in town. The Day it Rained Forever: A Story of the Johnstown Flood. The Pennsylvania Railroad was closely tied to the other industries in Johnstown and many club members worked for the railroad. Although suits were filed against the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, no legal actions or compensation resulted. University of Pittsburgh scientists have used ground-penetrating radar and computers to analyze the dam site and the volume and speed of floodwaters that hit Johnstown at 4:07 p.m., an hour after the break. Anna Fenn Maxwell's husband was washed away by the flood; she was trapped in the family home with seven children as the water rose. A wrecked freight car next to twisted railroad tracks, after the Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood of 1889. Five thousand homes had been destroyed, so many families lived in tents. In simple terms, many saw the Club members as robber barons who had gotten away with murder. What's Happening!! Pittsburgh, unpublished dissertation, 1940. AsThe Tribune-Democratreports, when the water from the failed dam smashed into the viaduct, it brought with it an enormous amount of debris trees and rocks and anything else in its path, even livestock and other animals. The club was legally created as a nonprofit corporation in 1879. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. In our visitor center, we show a National Park Service-produced film, nicknamed "Black Friday," that tries to recreate the Flood. Many had been grievously damaged in the incredible violence of the flood, making it all but impossible to tell who was who in this time before forensic science had been developed. The AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival has announced its headliners, Los Lobos and Keller Williams Grateful Grass feat. A: "Whatever happened to fanny packs?" B: "Oh, you'll start seeing them againthey're back in style apparently." July 20 1977 July 20 Great great flood hits Johnstown A flash flood hits Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on July 20, 1977, killing 84 people and causing millions of dollars in damages. Princeton has made the title available in its online archive, and it is downloadable in a variety of formats suitable for e-readers and tablets. The process of locating the bodies of the victims wasn't easy. Slattery, Gertrude Quinn. Testimonies from the dam construction workers reveal that they removed the discharge pipes during this period of limbo. A spillway at the dam became clogged with debris that could not be dislodged. Learn the story through sights of what happened when 20 million tons of water destroyed the area and the effort to rebuild it . 10 This break resulted in a minor flood in Johnstown, where water only rose about two feet and did not cause much damage. Johnstown, PA . The Story of Johnstown. Some people moved away from Johnstown, but a surprising number never even considered that option. Gertrude Quinn Slattery, 6, floated through the wreckage on a roof, and when it came close to the shore a man tossed her through the air to others on land, who caught her. For instance, William Shinn became the president of the ASCE just five months after the flood and was one of the primary figures who advocated to keep the report sealed for as long as possible (Coleman 2019). Though 80 lives were lost in the 1977 flood, it was far less than it would have been if the waters had risen another 11 feet. The library represented the shallowness of the club members actions. For more, visit the section about the 1889 flood in the Archives & Research section of this site. Hindsight always makes things seem very clear and obvious, but at several points as the tragedy unfolded, different decisions or a simple change of luck might have averted the worst. FILE - In this 1889 file photograph, people stand atop houses among ruins after disastrous flooding in Johnstown, Pa. Facts, figures and anecdotes about the Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania, which killed 2,209 people 125 years ago, gave the Red Cross its first international response effort and helped set a precedent for American liability law. When the dam burst, sending 20 million gallons of deadly water hurtling toward Johnstown, this resignation doomed them. The tragedy of the Johnstown Flood of 1889 resulted from a combination of nature and human indifference and neglect. Doctors worried especially about diseases that might breed in the unclean water and decaying bodies of humans and animals. Nine hundred feet by 72 feet, it was the largest earth dam (made of dirt and rock, rather than steel and concrete) in the United States and it created the largest man-made lake of the time, Lake Conemaugh. Do you remember him? When the dam broke on May 31, 1889, only about a half-dozen members were on the premises, as it was early in the summer season. It had No announcement has yet been observed of the millionaires who constitute the South Fork Fishing Club doing anything remarkable toward bearing the expense of caring for the sufferers and clearing away the debris at Johnstown. Workers toiled for the most part of the day, first trying to raise the height of the dam, then digging spillways and removing screens that kept fish in the lake from escaping. The clubs boat fleet included a pair of steam yachts, many sailboats and canoes, and boathouses to store them in. They had survived the worst flood in recent history and the total destruction of their homes, only to die in one of the most horrible ways imaginable. about 1600 homes, 280 businesses, and much of the Cambria Iron Company. The death toll stood at 2,209. The public was bitter that these wealthy businessmen took so little action and seemed unconcerned by the tragedy. after what has happened. Supplies of donated food arrived as soon as trains could get close to the town. It may have surged to speeds as high as 90 miles per hour. The members of the new club were all prominent and wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists, like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. Through the Johnstown Flood. How could future flood disasters be avoided? Buildings, livestock, barbed wire, vehicles all were carried with terrifying force downriver. Bodies filled morgues in Johnstown and river towns downstream until relatives came to identify them. The deadly flow of water didn't just stop and go calm at Stone Bridge. Writing for the masses, journalists exaggerated, repeated unfounded myths, and denounced the South Fork Club. aired in first . The community was essentially wiped out by the historic Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889, along with six other villages in the Conemaugh River Valley. A 30-foot (9-metre) wall of water smashed into Johnstown at 4:07 pm, killing 2,209 people. However, the legal ambiguity allowed the club to argue that Reilly was to blame. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. Perhaps the best reference book ever written on the story. best swimmers couldn't swim in that mess. What makes the tragic story of the Johnstown Flood so haunting isn't just the scale of the damage and the loss of life more than 2,200 people ultimately died it's the chain of events leading up to it. Clara Barton and five workers arrived in Johnstown on June 5, less than a week after the flood. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. YA, Hamilton, Leni. More than 2,200 people died, making the Johnstown Flood the worst . Hydraulic experts and engineers flocked to Johnstown to analyze the situation. The Johnstown Flood was so damaging in part due to a confluence of events that augmented its power at every point. Six dams in the area failed, resulting in incredibly traumatic flooding for much of the town. The only time the rivers have flooded the downtown since then was in July 1977, when 11 inches of rain fell over two days, causing six dams to fail. Was someone to blame? The Pennsylvania Railroad had no use for the dam or the lake, so it sold the property to John Reilly, a congressman from Altoona. A strong surface low pressure of around 1000 mb is centered over Kentucky at this hour and heavy rain is falling . Felt's admission, made in an article in Vanity Fair magazine, took legendary read more, Fifteen-year-old Alleen Rowe is killed by Charles Schmid in the desert outside Tucson, Arizona. Designed to protect Johnstown from ever experiencing floods of the level of 1889 and 1936, the JLFPP protected the city from further major flooding until 1977. The reprieve lasted less than ten minutes. Even the Frick and Pitcairn donated $5000, Carnegie $10,000. Wasn't Clara Barton involved somehow? Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1940. In its path, were Johnstown and the surrounding communities. University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown professor Paul Douglas Newman describes the city as a giant drain that sits at the bottom of several watersheds, all prone to flooding. It is located on a floodplain that has been subject to frequent disasters. There was a census done in 1890, but little of it survivesnot enough to help us at all. Scholars suggest the if the flood happened today, the club would have almost certainly been held responsible (Coleman 2019). What was the official death toll from the 1889 Johnstown Flood? When the dam failed, it released all of that water in a torrent initially going as fast as 100 miles per hour briefly matching the flow rate of the Mississippi River at its delta. Attempting to prove that a particular owner acted negligently was often futile and the members designed the financial structure of the club so that their personal assets were separate from it (PA Inquirer, June 27, 1889). 15956, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. During recovery and relief efforts the state of Pennsylvania put Johnstown under martial (military) law, since many of the towns leaders had perished in the flood. This antagonism was to break out into violence during the 1892 Homestead steel strike in Pittsburgh. who weren't killed instantly, were swept down the valley to their deaths. The result, as reported byThe Seattle Times, was around 750 bodies that were never identified. For copyright reasons our film is not available for purchase. Carnegie donated a library to Johnstown, but besides that, he tried to distance himself from the situation as much as possible (Harrisburg, 1889). Over 1600 homes were destroyed. What's Happening!! It was also well-known by the time of this testimony that removing the discharge pipes was the primary cause of the breach, so Pitcairn would have known to lie about the subject. a moving mountain of water at an average speed of 40 miles per hour. The public wanted the club members to face the same type of destruction that they did. The Red Cross' efforts were covered heavily in the media of the time, instantly elevating the organization to iconic status in the United States. after the event. They left immediately following the disaster, and the club members were largely silent about the tragedy. Johnstown and Its Flood. About 4 square miles of downtown Johnstown were destroyed. As authorDavid McCulloughwrites, Mineral Point was home to about 30 families who lived in neat houses lining the town's only street, Front Street. The report admitted that the club removed the pipes, but maintained that in our opinion they cannot be deemed to be the cause of the late disaster, as we find that the embankment would have been overflowed and the breach formed if the changes had not been made (ASCE Report, 1891) As discussed in the, Regardless if they were to blame or not, the public resented that the club members provided little relief relative to their respective wealth. A small crowd of angry flood survivors went up to the club and broke into some of the buildings, breaking windows and destroying furniture, but no major damage was done. Every year, the town honors the dead with a reading of a list of names of those who died in this tragic event. Ironically, the resort was built for the industrial giants to flee from the pollution that their companies were responsible for in the city. The Cambria Iron Works was completely destroyed. The two squadrons opened fire on each other read more. The Pennsylvania Railroad had repaired it, but did not build it back up to its original height. In 1936 another severe flood finally produced some action with the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1936. No further evidence beyond a few other unreliable testimonies corroborated the supposition that Reilly gave the instructions to remove the pipes. Work began on the dam in 1838. In 1879 he ended up selling the land to the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club at a loss. As the men were working on the dam that morning, John Parke, an engineer who worked for a Pittsburgh firm of Wilkins and Powell on a sewer system at the Club, went to South Fork about 11:00 AM to start spreading the word about the dam's condition. One of the most horrifying details of the Johnstown Flood is the fact that not all of the 2,209 people who perished that day died in the flood itself. These victims were buried in a mass grave called the Plot of the Unknown at Grandview Cemetery. it made its way to the city of Johnstown. What might have been worth a fortune 20 years ago may be worth significantly less today. After all, water, like everything else, moves faster downhill. Four About 80 people actually burned to death. As law professor Jed Handelsman Shugerman notes, in response, courts began adopting a legal precedent that held property owners liable even for "acts of God" if the changes they'd made to the property were directly linked to those acts. Some people who had survived by floating on top of debris were burned to death in the fire. Philander Knox and James Reed were two powerful attorneys and club members who often defended other members in their lawsuits. The Club members also had many connections, allowing them to insert court-appointed experts that happened to favor their positions. Values of Johnstown Flood related items have varied greatly in this age of internet auction sites. The dam and the large lake behind it were the private property of an exclusive vacation retreat made up of 19th-century industrial barons including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon. This made it one of the largest reservoirs in the country at the time. After a fire destroyed much of the Palace of Westminsterthe headquarters of the read more, On May 31, 1941, the last of the Allies evacuate after 11 days of battling a successful German parachute invasion of the island of Crete. Until the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, it was the United States' largest loss of civilian life in a single day. Daily weather map for 8 am May 30, 1889, the day before the big flood in Johnstown. Many members did contribute, but their offerings were minuscule compared to the overall contributions. However, no club member ever expressed a sense of personal responsibility for the disaster. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 99 entire families were wiped out, 396 of them, children. It was moving fast very fast. Pryor, Elizabeth. The impressive dam made of packed-down earth stood 72 feet high and 900 feet wide. This new standard prevented negligent businessmen from escaping liability in future lawsuits. What is the fishing club doing? The umpires were done with their day's work after Baltimore's Josh Lester grounded out to end the top of the ninth inning with the Orioles trailing 7-4, officially ending the . The South Fork Fishing Club comprised primarily of wealthy industrialists, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick, and Andrew Mellon (Coleman 2019). One of the American Red Crosss first major relief efforts took place in the aftermath of the Johnstown flood. One comment published in the Philadelphia Inquirer captures the publics attitude towards the club members. There were also 16 privately-owned cottages, actually houses of a generous size, along the lakes shores. And they argued successfully that the flood was an act of God, and thus, they couldn't be held responsible. The club renamed the reservoir, calling it Lake Conemaugh. Hounded by the media, members of the club donated to the relief effort. That bit of mercy came at a terrible price for the people of Johnstown, however. When we tell the story of what happened at the dam May 31, 1889, we draw from first-person accounts from Colonel Elias Unger, the President of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club in 1889, John Parke, a young engineer who had recently arrived to supervise the installation of a sewer system, William Y. Boyer, whose title was Superintendent of Lake and Grounds at the South Fork Club, and several others. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service, Membership, archives, facility rentals & more, Johnstown Flood Museum/Heritage Discovery Center/Cultural Programming, Johnstown Children's Museum/Children's Programming, Los Lobos to headline AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival 2023, collaboration between JAHA and Pitt-Johnstown. While the water continued to rise, he sent a messenger to the nearest town to telegraph a warning to Johnstown that the dam was close to overflowing. The people of Johnstown sued the South Fork Hunting & Fishing Club over its negligence in maintaining the dam, and since the club was owned by some of the richest men in America, including Andrew Carnegie, you might assume there was a lavish settlement.
