Thousands of Lives Lost in Johnstown
Flood, May 31, 1889
When an avalanche of water swept down the Conemaugh Valley destroying everything in its descent, including the thriving city of Johnstown, containing thirty thousand souls, many great industrial establishments were nearly wiped from the earth, many thousands were drowned or burned to death, and property worth many millions was destroyed. This disaster was so far beyond all experience that it is difficult for the mind to grasp it.
Johnstown was a community of seven or eight towns with a combined population of quite thirty thousand souls. It is situated in a deep valley where the Little Conemaugh River and Stony Creek unite to form the Conemaugh River.
Early on Friday, May 31, 1889, a freshet in Stony Creek broke away the boom above the town and swept down the mass of logs against the inundated houses.
This was followed in the afternoon by a far worse disaster, when the dam of the South Fork Lake broke and the mass of water swept down the valley, carrying everything before it. The logs and wreckage piled against the bridge, forming a partial dam, that raised the water level still higher, and in a short time the whole town was submerged.
Hundreds were drowned in their houses, others were swept along by the torrent and perished either by water or by fire among the debris. Nothing in the history of the United States in time of peace ever approached this appalling catastrophe.
Conemaugh Lake was a body of water about three and a half miles long, one and a quarter miles in width, and in some places one hundred feet in depth. It was located on the mountain some three or four hundred feet above the level of Johnstown and was, of course, a menace to that city. It was believed to hold more water than any reservoir in America. This lake was the property of some wealthy sportsmen of Pittsburgh and elsewhere, members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club.
Every known precaution had been taken to insure the safety of the reservoir. An inspection was made monthly by competent engineers, and it was believed nothing less than some extraordinary freak of nature could destroy the barrier that held this large body of water in check. These waters were held in bounds by a dam nearly one thousand feet wide, more than one hundred feet high and ninety feet in thickness at the base.
The streams were already unusually swollen, when a heavy downpour of rain fell steadily for forty-eight hours which increased the volume of water in all the mountain streams. In fact, the entire State suffered from floods. The regions along the West Branch of the Susquehanna, the Lehigh, the Juniata and the Conemaugh Rivers were the principal scenes of desolation.