The Johnstown Flood became emblematic of what many Americans thought was going wrong with America. 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. Our misery is the work of man. A New York Times headline read, An Engineering Crime The Dam of Inferior Construction, According to the Experts, A New York World headline on June 7 declared The Club Is Guilty. However, most news articles did not mention club members by name. The public was very frustrated with the delayed release (Coleman 2019). The Red Cross' efforts were covered heavily in the media of the time, instantly elevating the organization to iconic status in the United States. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press), This photo from May 31, 1889, released by the Johnstown Flood Museum shows the destruction along Main Street in Johnstown, Pa., following the collapse of the South Fork Dam that killed 2,209 people. A 30-foot (9-metre) wall of water smashed into Johnstown at 4:07 pm, killing 2,209 people. was loosely based on the Eric Monte-penned film Cooley High. The Pennsylvania Railroad was closely tied to the other industries in Johnstown and many club members worked for the railroad. It was immediately apparent to everyone that thousands of people were dead and that many of the bodies were buried under the wreckage. 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. Beginning on May 28, 1988, President Ronald Reagan met Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev for a four-day summit in Russia. The Cambria Iron Works was completely destroyed. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. By the time it reached Johnstown the flood didn't even look like water The clubs activities were beautifully documented by member Louis Semple Clarke, a talented amateur photographer (as seen in the shot below more of Clarkes work can be seen on the Historic Pittsburgh website, thanks to a collaboration between JAHA and Pitt-Johnstown). But in Johnstown and other communities above the bridge, the devastation The dam was about 15 miles upstream from. Pryor, Elizabeth. Approximately 57 minutes after the dam collapsed, the water had traveled almost 15 miles, obliterating most of downtown Johnstown. 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. McCullough, David G. The Johnstown Flood. Many businessmen seemed more concerned with repairing their damaged property rather than aiding Johnstown. The Philadelphia Inquirer stated, While the work of digging out the remains of the dead and clearing away the ruins is going on in the valley below, members of the club are having photos of their ruined pleasure resort taken. The South Fork Fishing Club shut down shortly after the event, largely due to negative publicity. In fact, asABC Newsreports, it's suspected that some of the modifications the club made to the dam contributed to its failure. It crashed into the barrier and went hurtling back toward Johnstown like a boomerang. Mar. Even in 1889, many called the old dam and water the "Old Reservoir," as is had been built many decades before. Not much is known about Benjamin Ruff's life. 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. Residents of Johnstown, and Americans in general, began to turn their wrath toward the members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. As a result, those pipes became clogged with debris. These victims were buried in a mass grave called the Plot of the Unknown at Grandview Cemetery. Daily weather map for 8 am May 30, 1889, the day before the big flood in Johnstown. 400 children under the age of ten were killed. People all over the nation, even the world, responded with donations of clothing, food, and shelter. Locating the bodies was a challenge. However, whirlpools brought down many of these taller buildings. As theJohnstown Area Historical Associationnotes, the town had been built in a river valley. I have an old stereoview of the disasteris it worth anything? 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. 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. However, people usually only turned to lawsuits as a last resort, since it was nearly impossible to win against the industry titans. In November 1932, he joined the Nazis elite SS read more, After two years of exploratory visits and friendly negotiations, Ford Motor Company signs a landmark agreement to produce cars in the Soviet Union on May 30, 1929. With rebuilding also came questions: How and why did the flood happen? 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. The club owners made small donations to Johnstown relief funds but were never held responsible for the disaster. or redistributed. For the people downriver from the South Fork Dam, the flood came without warning and was unprecedented in its force and speed. Beach Haven, NJ: The Attic, 1972. definitions. The flood was the first major natural disaster in which the American Red Cross played a major role. For most, The club boasted some of the richest and most powerful men in the country as founding members, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick, and Andrew Mellon. 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. 15956, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. read more, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres is narrowly defeated in national elections by Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Entire buildings were pulled along by the current, while others collapsed. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. In fact, one owner removed the drainage pipes beneath the dam to sell them for scrap, which meant there was no way to drain the reservoir for repairs. The reprieve lasted less than ten minutes. black mountain of junk. The members of the new club were all prominent and wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists, like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. The Pennsylvania Railroad had repaired it, but did not build it back up to its original height. Upon his election in 1980, Reagan read more, May 31, 1819 is the birthday of poet Walt Whitman, born in West Hills, Long Island, and raised in Brooklyn. Fishing and boating were popular activities, and the club members also enjoyed picnicking by the reservoirs spillway. 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. In 1879 he ended up selling the land to the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club at a loss. The Cambria Iron Works was completely destroyed. 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. 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. 9:00 PM. That all combined to make finding the bodies of victims a real challenge. Johnstown: Benshoff, 1964, 1993. aired in first . The Johnstown Flood is considered the first major civilian disaster relief effort for the American Red Cross, which was less than ten years old in 1889. Who built the dam? 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. All Rights Reserved. Just when it seemed like it couldn't get worse, it did. The work to find survivors and rebuild began almost immediately after the waters subsided. Clara Barton: Professional Angel. The two squadrons opened fire on each other read more. A dam was built in 1840 on the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles upstream from Johnstown. He was such a nice guy. Even very deep floods might not seem so scary if you assume they're moving slowly so it's important to know that the flood that hit Johnstown in 1889 wasn't moving slowly. Although the 1977 flood was brutal within a seven-county disaster area, the JLFPP flood control efforts kept the flood level about 11 feet lower than it would have been without it. What's Happening!! And this wasn't knee-high water. How Americas Most Powerful Men Caused Americas Deadliest Flood, The Deadliest Natural Disasters in US History. One of the American Red Crosss first major relief efforts took place in the aftermath of the Johnstown flood. The small town of Mineral Point, Pennsylvania, was the first populated town hit by the flood and it was totally and completely destroyed. After five years, rebuilding was so complete that the city showed no signs of the disaster. Learn the story through sights of what happened when 20 million tons of water destroyed the area and the effort to rebuild it . 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. The only cases successful from the Johnstown Flood were against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. What might have been worth a fortune 20 years ago may be worth significantly less today. That bit of mercy came at a terrible price for the people of Johnstown, however. Clara Barton arrived five days later to lead the relief. For more, visit the section about the 1889 flood in the Archives & Research section of this site. Pittsburgh, unpublished dissertation, 1940. 19 They took measurements at the site and interviewed many residents. Whatever happened to (someone or something)? The most powerful case against Reilly was provided by Robert Pitcairn, the executive of the Pittsburgh division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 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. Since discharge pipes regulate the water level of the lake behind a dam, some experts speculated that the South Fork Dam would not have succumbed to the heavy rainfall if these pipes were installed. The water was temporarily stopped when debris piled up at the Conemaugh Viaduct which made it even more deadly when it finally burst through. This antagonism was to break out into violence during the 1892 Homestead steel strike in Pittsburgh. 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 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. The public was very frustrated with the delayed release (Coleman 2019). turned out to be one of the heaviest rainfalls of the 1800s. In an old Carnegie Library in Johnstown is the Johnstown Flood Museum, owned by the Johnstown Area Heritage Association. However, the canal system became obsolete almost immediately after the reservoir was completed in 1852. Five days after the flood, the American Society of Civil Engineers, or the ASCE, met to form an official record of the event. They made various attempts to shore up the dam in the midst of a howling storm all of which failed. Looking back over the course of human experience, peace and stability are rare, after all. At 3:10 p.m., the dam collapsed, causing a roar that could be heard for miles. While that number was carefully derived, for a variety of reasons, some of the victims of the flood were never included in that count, and so, the actual death toll was probably well over 3,000. Johnstown is 60 miles east of Pittsburgh in a valley near the Allegheny, Little Conemaugh and Stony Creek Rivers. 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. AsTribLIVE.comnotes, when the dam's failure became certain, attempts were made to warn the towns in the floodway via telegram. 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. 777 bodies were never identified, buried in unmarked graves. 99 whole families On the morning of May 20, some 3,000 members of Germanys Division landed on Crete, which was patrolled read more, On May 30, 1988, three U.S. presidents in three different years take significant steps toward ending the Cold War. As law professor Jed Handelsman Shugerman notes, the South Fork Dam held about 20 million tons of water behind it. who weren't killed instantly, were swept down the valley to their deaths. At least three warnings went out from South Fork that day, the last believed to have reached Johnstown at just about 3:00 PM. Legal action against individual club members was difficult if not impossible, as it would have been necessary to prove personal negligence and the power and influence of the club members is hard to overestimate. Four square miles of Johnstown were obliterated. 286 other terms for what happened - words and phrases with similar meaning. 99 entire families were wiped out, 396 of them, children. New York: Penguin, Puffin, 1991. The Club bought the dam from Reilly in 1879 and created a vacation spot to escape the summer heat and clouds of soot in Pittsburg. the only warning was a thunderous rumble before the water hit. 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. Johnstown: Johnstown Area Heritage Association and the National Park Service, 1997. after that incident. But the city needed more immediate help, and this help arrived in the form of Clara Barton and the American Red Cross. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club wanted to build the lake up to its original height, so they could go boating and fishing. The dam was about 15 miles upstream from Johnstown, Pa., a steel mill town of more than 10,000 people. 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. It may have surged to speeds as high as 90 miles per hour. Until the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, it was the United States' largest loss of civilian life in a single day. Here's some of what's known about the flood, one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history. However, the telegraph lines were down and the warning did not reach Johnstown. The outrage over that legal outcome actually changed the law, however. AsThe Vintage Newsreports, when the flood hit the Stone Bridge about 11 miles past Johnstown, that debris piled up and formed a dam of sorts. Although suits were filed against the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, no legal actions or compensation resulted. What's Happening!! Doctors, nurses and Clara Barton and the American Red Cross arrived to provide medical assistance and emergency shelter and supplies. The Pennsylvania Railroad had no use for the dam or the lake, so it sold the property to John Reilly, a congressman from Altoona. That means that if the Johnstown Flood happened today, the lawsuits against the South Fork Hunting & Fishing Club would probably be successful. Beale, Reverend David. He claimed that Reilly was responsible for the removal of the pipes (Coleman 2019). After years of disuse, John Reilly purchased the dam from the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1875 and operated it for four years. (AP Photo/File), In this historical photo from May 31, 1889, survivors stand by homes destroyed when the South Fork Dam collapsed in Johnstown, Pa. As officials prepare to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the enormous Johnstown Flood of 1889 that killed 2,209 people, new research has helped explain why the deluge was so deadly. The Tribune-Democratreportsthat many people believe this spared communities downriver from Johnstown from a similarly horrifying fate. Whatever happened to Bill Collins? As a result, it flooded at least once or twice every year. Over 1600 homes were destroyed. it made its way to the city of Johnstown. Eastern Acorn Press, 1984. The library represented the shallowness of the club members actions. Although the Flood of 1889 was by far the worst, Johnstown had not seen the last of its floods. 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. 1JOHNSTOWN, Pa. The house will be rocking at this year's AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival. 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. As reported by the Delaware County Daily Times, bodies were eventually found as far away as Cincinnati, Ohio, (which is 367 miles away) and as late as 1911, more than two decades after the event. 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. 2,209 The fire continued to burn for three days. Following its closing, few would admit to its membership and therefore their role in the disaster. And you'd be right. Several of the club members, including Carnegie and Frick, supported the relief and rebuilding efforts with large donations. 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. Was someone to blame? AsBarton herselfwrites, she stayed in Johnstown for five months and estimated that the Red Cross spent half a million dollars on their relief efforts, which would be more than $10 million in today's money. anymore. It was brought by human failure, human shortsightedness and selfishness," he said in a 2003 interview. This new standard prevented negligent businessmen from escaping liability in future lawsuits. (AP Photo/Johnstown Flood Museum) (The Associated Press). At the end of the day, per History, 2,209 people were killed, many swept away by the sheer force of the water and that includes 99 entire families and nearly 400 children. Later investigations like the 2014 computer simulation refuted this claim. Devastation, then response About 66,000 people. News of the disaster prompted an incredible outpouring of assistance from neighboring communities. Wasn't there an old book on the Flood? is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from August 5, 1976, until April 28, 1979, premiering as a summer series. to roofs, debris, and the few buildings that remained standing. Testimonies from the dam construction workers reveal that they removed the discharge pipes during this period of limbo. Legal Statement. It was dark and the house was tossing every way. 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. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the club contributed 1,000 blankets to the relief effort. They had set the club up as a limited liability company, which meant they couldn't be held personally accountable and that their vast personal fortunes were never in danger. Most members donated nothing. Survivors clung The total population was about 200 people, most of whom worked at the sawmill or the furniture factory. The flood had cut everything down to the bedrock. Over the club's ten years in existence, it grew from 16 members to, it is believed, 61 in 1889. It's accepted that the flood struck Johnstown proper at 4:07 PM. Through the Johnstown Flood. That when Berkman's next shot did not go off, the wounded Frick and Leishman went after Berkman. 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. 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. The residents were very used to moving their possessions to the second floor of their homes and businesses and waiting a few hours for the water to recede. The "Johnstown Flood" was a chaotic result for a small middle class family, natural disasters happen so much in one's lifetime and can be emotionally crippling. Clara Barton, after confirming the news, brought a team with her from near Washington D.C. and arrived on Wednesday, June 5, 1889. Undertakers volunteered for the gruesome task of preparing over 2,000 bodies for burial. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, After the flood, the public was eager to determine exactly what caused the dam to fail. When the South Fork Dam burst on May 31, 1889, the population of Johnstown had already spent their day dealing with floodwaters. The repaired dam would hold for ten years. The Day it Rained Forever: A Story of the Johnstown Flood. 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. People tried to flee to high ground but most were caught in the fast water, a lot were crushed by debris. PITTSBURGH A privately owned dam collapsed in western Pennsylvania 125 years ago on May 31, 1889, unleashing a flood that killed 2,209 people. Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany, in 1906. The dam was envisioned by the state of Pennsylvania, and Sylvester Welch (Welsh), the principal engineer of the old Allegheny Portage Railroad, as a canal reservoir. 2023 Johnstown Area Heritage Association "The water rose and floated us until our heads nearly touched the ceiling. The ownership of the dam shifted various times throughout its history, so this was no trivial question. In minutes, most of downtown Johnstown was destroyed. Except, there wasn't. 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. A branch of the American Red Cross from Philadelphia, not associated with Barton, arrived as well. 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). Work began on the dam in 1838. It was clear that club members instructed the workers to carry out the fatal renovations. By the time it was finished in 1853, the railroad had already made the canal system obsolete, so the state sold the dam to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Hydraulic experts and engineers flocked to Johnstown to analyze the situation. It appears that the club was the idea of Benjamin F. Ruff, a tunnel contractor and sometime-real estate salesman from the Pittsburgh area. 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. Make sure youre always up-to-date by subscribing to our online newsletter. Once the dam failed at 3:10-3:15, however, such communications were impossible. Parke talked to people in South Fork and sent somebody to the telegraph tower at South Fork so that messages could be sent down the valley. People who saw it coming said it looked like a moving, boiling Fourteen miles up the Conemaugh River stood the South Fork Dam holding back the waters of Conemaugh Lake.