A phrase used to ask about someone or something that one has not seen or spoken to recently. The flood was the first major natural disaster in which the American Red Cross played a major role. It was a quiet, sleepy town. 2,209 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. People who managed to survive so far became trapped in the huge pile of debris, all wrapped in a tangle of barbed wire from destroyed Gautier Wire Works. Even the PITTSBURGH A privately owned dam collapsed in western Pennsylvania 125 years ago on May 31, 1889, unleashing a flood that killed 2,209 people. The Johnstown Flood was the first major disaster served by the recently formed Red Cross. Mar. The flood was temporarily stopped behind debris at the Conemaugh Viaduct, but when the viaduct collapsed, the water was released with renewed force and hit Mineral Point so hard it literally scraped the entire town away. A total of 314 of the 1100 Woodvale residents died when this happened. When the fire broke out, these poor people were not able to escape. The Tribune-Democratreportsthat many people believe this spared communities downriver from Johnstown from a similarly horrifying fate. But in Johnstown and other communities above the bridge, the devastation Four square miles of Johnstown were obliterated. From design to finish, the dam took well over a decade to finish and was finished in 1852, at a time when canals were well on their way into the history books. Floods: 1889, 1936, 1977. Our park, Johnstown Flood National Memorial, preserves the ruins of the South Fork Dam, part of the old lakebed, and some of the buildings of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. It was immediately apparent to everyone that thousands of people were dead and that many of the bodies were buried under the wreckage. The water was temporarily stopped when debris piled up at the Conemaugh Viaduct which made it even more deadly when it finally burst through. fairly often in southwestern Pennsylvania, so most people didn't think There were two primary conjectures about who was to blame: former Congressman John Reilly and the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Others Even though the club members were able to avoid legal consequences, the public indignation regarding these lawsuits helped push the American legal system to shift from a fault-based system to one based on strict liability (Coleman 2019). Entertainments included an annual regatta, theatricals and musical performances. Many members did contribute, but their offerings were minuscule compared to the overall contributions. The process of locating the bodies of the victims wasn't easy. It took them seven months to finish the report and they did not publish it until 1891. after the occurrence. Recovering the bodies took weeks and cleaning up debris took months. Francis P. Sempa is the author of Geopolitics: From the Cold War to the 21st Century and America's Global Role: Essays and Reviews on National Security, Geopolitics, and War. There are two Johnstown Flood-related sites in the area. 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. The reservoir would service the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal in times of low water. At 3:10 p.m., the dam collapsed, causing a roar that could be heard for miles. Many businessmen seemed more concerned with repairing their damaged property rather than aiding Johnstown. 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. 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. 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. By June 5th, the newly organized Red Cross, led by Clara Barton, arrived in Johnstown. The Boers, also known as Afrikaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of southern Africa. Niagara Falls. The reservoir and dam passed through several hands before the South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club bought it in 1879. He was a prominent businessman in the railroad and steel industries and therefore had an interest in protecting Carnegie and numerous other club members. New York Public Library/Wikimedia Commons, Francis Schell, Thomas Hogan/Wikimedia Commons. A branch of the American Red Cross from Philadelphia, not associated with Barton, arrived as well. Undertakers volunteered for the gruesome task of preparing over 2,000 bodies for burial. It also suggests that the dam had been designed with two spillways to handle periods of heavy rain, but only one was in use. Degen, Paula and Carl. By most accounts, it failed after 3:00 PM, most say either 3:10 or 3:15. The ownership of the dam shifted various times throughout its history, so this was no trivial question. 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. The South Fork Dam was owned by the South Fork Hunting & Fishing Club. They also lowered the dam by a few feet in order to make it possible for two carriages to pass at the same time, so the dam was only about four feet higher than the spillway. The viaduct was a 78-foot-high railroad bridge, originally built in 1833. What's Happening!! Dahlstedt, Marden. 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. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. Johnstown: Benshoff, 1988. Several of the club members, including Carnegie and Frick, supported the relief and rebuilding efforts with large donations. The South Fork Fishing Club comprised primarily of wealthy industrialists, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick, and Andrew Mellon (Coleman 2019). Wasn't Clara Barton involved somehow? Carnegie donated a library to Johnstown, but besides that, he tried to distance himself from the situation as much as possible (Harrisburg, 1889). A thorough 2014 computer simulation of the disaster confirmed this supposition (Yetter, Bishop, 2014). It was dark and the house was tossing every way. Crete is now Axis-occupied territory. As it is, for the people of Johnstown and the surrounding area, May 31, 1889, remains a memory of loss. After the flood, the public was eager to determine exactly what caused the dam to fail. The Johnstown Flood (locally, the Great Flood of 1889) occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. By the time it reached Johnstown the flood didn't even look like water There were also 16 privately-owned cottages, actually houses of a generous size, along the lakes shores. According toHistory, when the water finally reached Johnstown, it was going 40 miles per hour and as authorDavid McCulloughnotes, it may have been going much faster than that if the incline is taken into account. What was the official death toll from the 1889 Johnstown Flood? Not much is known about Benjamin Ruff's life. 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. After the Johnstown flood of 1936, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook a study with the aim of redesigning Johnstown's infrastructure to permanently remove any future threat of serious flooding. The damage would have been less if the water had been able to slip through the viaduct unimpeded. Daily weather map for 8 am May 30, 1889, the day before the big flood in Johnstown. In the first edition following the disaster, the Tribunes editor George Swank placed blame for the disaster clearly on the Club: We think we know what struck us, and it was not the work of Providence. The water had brought an incredible mass of trees, animals, structures, and other stuff to the bridge, leading to a pile of debris estimated to cover about 30 acres and be as high as 70 feet. black mountain of junk. Locating the bodies was a challenge. What happened to the papers of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club? The Historic Flood of May 31, 1889 First let's look at circumstantial evidence on the 1889 flood (2,209 killed, $17m damage). It is a true museum, and features an Academy-Award-winning film by Charles Guggenheim called "the Johnstown Flood." The townsfolk who had just survived a terrifyingly powerful flood were just emerging from the wreckage when the water came flooding back from the other direction. Netanyahu, who promised read more, Near Tel Aviv, Israel, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer who organized Adolf Hitlers final solution of the Jewish question, was executed for his crimes against humanity. after the event. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the club contributed 1,000 blankets to the relief effort. Andrew Carnegie was a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the group . McCullough, David G. The Johnstown Flood. How could future flood disasters be avoided? The public wanted the club members to face the same type of destruction that they did. Four square miles of Johnstown were obliterated. What exactly happened at the dam that day? best swimmers couldn't swim in that mess. Pittsburgh, unpublished dissertation, 1940. Floods have been a frequent occurrence in Johnstown as long as history has been recorded there, floods have been part of those records. In 1889, they were just a year away from a census, the last being done in 1880. This new standard prevented negligent businessmen from escaping liability in future lawsuits. Market data provided by Factset. She was met by Knox and Reed, and the jury was overwhelmingly comprised of railroad and steel workers whose jobs and livelihoods would be threatened if the industrialists were found guilty (Coleman 2019). In 1879 he ended up selling the land to the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club at a loss. Ruff was a chief stockholder and served, we believe, as president of the club until his death from cancer in March of 1887. 733 Lake Road They made various attempts to shore up the dam in the midst of a howling storm all of which failed. She oversaw a massive relief effort that established the reputation of the Red Cross, which included building temporary shelters and providing food. It's accepted that the flood struck Johnstown proper at 4:07 PM. However, the legal ambiguity allowed the club to argue that Reilly was to blame. was unimaginable. The three remembered most happened on May 31, 1889, when at least 2,209 people died, the St. Patrick's Day flood of 1936, in which almost two dozen people died, and a third devastating flood on July 19-20, 1977 . Values of Johnstown Flood related items have varied greatly in this age of internet auction sites. As theJohnstown Area Historical Associationnotes, the town had been built in a river valley. Littles case was dismissed almost immediately. There are stories of homes floating past with people trapped on the roofs, screaming for help. The clubs boat fleet included a pair of steam yachts, many sailboats and canoes, and boathouses to store them in. Berkman was apprehended by the local sheriff. A spillway at the dam became clogged with debris that could not be dislodged. 2.) On July 19th, 1977, an unusual event occurred, resulting in pure chaos: a thunderstorm stalled over the Johnstown area, dumping 12 inches or more of rain in 24 hours. They built cottages and a clubhouse along the lake. On the day of the flood, the town woke up to find water already rising in the streets from the torrential rains, and everyone moved to the upper floors in order to wait it out. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. A bridge downstream from the town caught much of the debris and then proceeded to catch fire. In 1879, they made repairs and improvements to the dam to bring up the water level. valley. The Johnstown Flood would become one of the worst natural disasters ever seen in this country. The three remembered most happened on May 31, 1889, when at least 2,209 people died, the St. Patrick's Day flood of 1936, in which almost two dozen people died, and a third devastating flood on July 19-20, 1977, when at least 85 people died. However, people usually only turned to lawsuits as a last resort, since it was nearly impossible to win against the industry titans. 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. Weren't there other floods in Johnstown? Below the bridge the floodwaters reached the first floor, but it did not have the force of all that debris trapped in the jam. The dam collapsed around 3 p.m. after heavy rains and runoff from hillsides that had been clear cut of timber raised the lake level. Following its closing, few would admit to its membership and therefore their role in the disaster. For five months, food, clothing and temporary shelter was provided to survivors. They donated the bare minimum to preserve their reputations, but they cared little for the people whom they harmed in the first place. after what went down. The dam was about 15 miles upstream from Johnstown, Pa., a steel mill town of more than 10,000 people. Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1940. 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. Philander Knox and James Reed were two powerful attorneys and club members who often defended other members in their lawsuits. The small town of Mineral Point, Pennsylvania, was the first populated town hit by the flood and it was totally and completely destroyed. Slattery, Gertrude Quinn. 700 of the victims could not be identified. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Clara Barton, after confirming the news, brought a team with her from near Washington D.C. and arrived on Wednesday, June 5, 1889. The tragedy of the Johnstown Flood of 1889 resulted from a combination of nature and human indifference and neglect. The South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club counted many of Pittsburghs leading industrialists and financiers among its 61 members, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Mellon, and Philander Knox. In The Johnstown Flood, David McCullough gives you all as well as the heart and soul of this heinous catastrophe. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club wanted to build the lake up to its original height, so they could go boating and fishing. YA, Hamilton, Leni. It was brought by human failure, human shortsightedness and selfishness," he said in a 2003 interview. Survivors clung The Johnstown Flood was so damaging in part due to a confluence of events that augmented its power at every point. All Rights Reserved. Tragically, as The Tribune-Democrat reports, many people had been carried by the flood to the bridge, and some had survived the journey only to find themselves trapped in the wreckage. Johnstown is 60 miles east of Pittsburgh in a valley near the Allegheny, Little Conemaugh and Stony Creek Rivers. Six dams in the area failed, resulting in incredibly traumatic flooding for much of the town. Frick and Pitcairn donated $5000, Carnegie $10,000. All that wreckage piled up behind the Pennsylvania Railroads Stone Bridge. Beginning on May 28, 1988, President Ronald Reagan met Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev for a four-day summit in Russia. From 1985 until 1988, a sequel series titled What's Happening Now!! Richard Burkert, president of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, says the research suggests that the dam "was in much poorer shape" than previously known. Contributing to the problem was the fact that 99 entire families had been wiped out and 1,600 homes were completely destroyed in the disaster leaving no one able to identify the remains that were recovered. It appears that the club was the idea of Benjamin F. Ruff, a tunnel contractor and sometime-real estate salesman from the Pittsburgh area. 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. homes as the rising water gradually flooded the valley. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The Johnstown Flood resulted in the first expression of outrage at power of the great trusts and giant corporations that had formed in the post-Civil War period. Libby Hipp was carrying Gertrude and her and Aunt Abbie tuned back to go to the house. The dam was originally built with discharge pipes, so the only question that remained was who removed them. At your site, do you show a film? However, there was not enough substantial evidence to hold the club legally responsible. YA, Gross, Virginia. In fact, asABC Newsreports, it's suspected that some of the modifications the club made to the dam contributed to its failure. Train service in and out of Johnstown stopped. They were buried together in a new cemetery built high above the town. Head for the Hills! It took them seven months to finish the report and they did not publish it until 1891. 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. 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. And they argued successfully that the flood was an act of God, and thus, they couldn't be held responsible. Regardless if they were to blame or not, the public resented that the club members provided little relief relative to their respective wealth. What might have been worth a fortune 20 years ago may be worth significantly less today. was loosely based on the Eric Monte-penned film Cooley High. At 3:10 pm on May 31, the South Fork Dam, a poorly maintained earthfill dam holding a major upstream reservoir, collapsed after heavy rains, sending a wall of water rushing down the Conemaugh valley at speeds of 20-40 mph (32-64 kph). sentences. 9:00 PM. 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. Many people drowned. The Soviet Union, which in 1928 had only 20,000 cars and a single truck factory, was eager to join the ranks of read more. At least three warnings went out from South Fork that day, the last believed to have reached Johnstown at just about 3:00 PM. The dam was part of an extensive canal system that became obsolete as the railroads replaced the canal as a means of transporting goods. , Cambria County Transit Authority. 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. In fact, the delay made the destruction even worse, because the dammed up water got back much of the energy it had lost in its initial flow. wave" picked up houses, trees, and even trains on its way down the 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. After the flood, the public was eager to determine exactly what caused the dam to fail. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, READ MORE:The Deadliest Natural Disasters in US History, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-johnstown-flood. An engineer at the dam saw warning signs of an impending disaster and rode a horse to the village of South Fork to warn the residents. The club owners made small donations to Johnstown relief funds but were never held responsible for the disaster. However, Pitcairns position meant that he had a commercial interest in defending the club. Do you have information about my relative who survived/died in the Flood? Whatever happened to (someone or something)? This antagonism was to break out into violence during the 1892 Homestead steel strike in Pittsburgh. or redistributed. The reprieve lasted less than ten minutes. AsThe Vintage Newsnotes, after tearing through the town and causing incredible destruction, the water was again stopped by debris at Stone Bridge. 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. The town named after the city in Israel is a charming escape, . Create your own unique website with customizable templates. Then the debris caught fire, burning some of the flood survivors there to death. For most, People who saw it coming said it looked like a moving, boiling The world, in short, wants to kill us. Beginning on the night of May 31, 1921, thousands of white citizens in Tulsa, Oklahoma descended on the citys predominantly Black Greenwood District, burning homes and businesses to the ground and killing hundreds of people. Wasn't there an old book on the Flood? The two squadrons opened fire on each other read more. Hydraulic experts and engineers flocked to Johnstown to analyze the situation. Johnstown: Benshoff, 1964, 1993. 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. They left immediately following the disaster, and the club members were largely silent about the tragedy. The South Fork Dam, located 22 km (14 miles) upstream of the town . Beach Haven, NJ: The Attic, 1972. In its path, were Johnstown and the surrounding communities. Something inflammable must have been carried along in the debris, because it soon burst into flame, engulfing the bridge in fire. (AP Photo/Johnstown Flood Museum). In the end, no lawsuit against the club was successful. Whatever happened to Bill Collins? They soon discovered that the absence of discharge pipes was the primary cause of the breach (Coleman 2019). Philadelphia: Hubbard Brothers, 1890. Viewed one way, history is a series of tragedies. 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. At approximately 3:00 pm on May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam gave way, unleashing 20 million tons of water into the valley below. According to Johnstown citizen Victor Heiser, It is impossible to imagine how these [club] people were feared (PA Inquirer, August 23, 1889). 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 library represented the shallowness of the club members actions. Part of the bridge collapsed, but most of the structure held, again forming a makeshift dam. The majority of the public attributed the disaster to the South Fork Fishing Club. 19 The HillBenders, along with a varied underbill of touring artists and local and regional talent. 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. They took measurements at the site and interviewed many residents. The Pennsylvania Railroad had repaired it, but did not build it back up to its original height. The fear of big floods remains. It swept whole towns away as Until the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, it was the United States' largest loss of civilian life in a single day. This antagonism was to break out into violence during the 1892 Homestead steel strike in Pittsburgh. As a result, those pipes became clogged with debris. 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.