One comment published in the Philadelphia Inquirer captures the publics attitude towards the club members. The Clubs great wealth rather than the dams engineering came to be condemned. Not much is known about Benjamin Ruff's life. The majority of the public attributed the disaster to the South Fork Fishing Club. 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. No other disaster prior to 1900 was so fully described. 99 entire families were wiped out, 396 of them, children. Over 1600 homes were destroyed. The Terrible Wave. Five thousand homes had been destroyed, so many families lived in tents. 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. Niagara Falls. Until the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, it was the United States' largest loss of civilian life in a single day. However, there was not enough substantial evidence to hold the club legally responsible. after that incident. Doctors, nurses and Clara Barton and the American Red Cross arrived to provide medical assistance and emergency shelter and supplies. The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough | Goodreads 15956, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. Regardless if they were to blame or not, the public resented that the club members provided little relief relative to their respective wealth. The Chicago Heralds editorial on the responsibility of the South Fork Club was entitled Manslaughter or Murder? On June 9, the Herald carried a cartoon that showed the members of the club drinking champagne on the porch of the clubhouse while, in the valley beneath them, the Flood is destroying Johnstown. A branch of the American Red Cross from Philadelphia, not associated with Barton, arrived as well. The "terrible The reservoir would service the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal in times of low water. A thorough 2014 computer simulation of the disaster confirmed this supposition (Yetter, Bishop, 2014). A 47-room clubhouse, featuring a huge dining room that could seat 150, was the main building on the clubs land. It took them seven months to finish the report and they did not publish it until 1891. And asTribLIVEreports, the flood did $17 million in damage, which would be over $480 millionin today's dollars. It contained a lake that was over two miles long, a mile wide and 60 feet deep. 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. New York: Penguin, Puffin, 1991. 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). Others 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.. (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. The viaduct was a 78-foot-high railroad bridge, originally built in 1833. Through the Johnstown Flood: By A Survivor by Rev. They left immediately following the disaster, and the club members were largely silent about the tragedy. Barton's branch of the American Red Cross is remembered for providing shelter to many survivors in large buildings simply known as "Red Cross Hotels," some of which stood into early 1890. The Flood Museum's film is available for purchase. Pryor, Elizabeth. anymore. It was too little, too late. 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. 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. 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 been raining heavily in the two days before the flood. The National Park Service and the local Heritage Association are holding a number of free events Saturday and Sunday to mark the 125th anniversary: http://1.usa.gov/1tirLQd, Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. According to Johnstown citizen Victor Heiser, It is impossible to imagine how these [club] people were feared (PA Inquirer, August 23, 1889). Whose idea was the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club? Supplies of donated food arrived as soon as trains could get close to the town. Ruff was a chief stockholder and served, we believe, as president of the club until his death from cancer in March of 1887. Johnstown Flood. The Cambria Iron Works was completely destroyed. people had already moved their belongings to the second floors of their The Pennsylvania Railroad had no use for the dam or the lake, so it sold the property to John Reilly, a congressman from Altoona. It appears that the club was the idea of Benjamin F. Ruff, a tunnel contractor and sometime-real estate salesman from the Pittsburgh area. (Click here for a complete list of club members). How could future flood disasters be avoided? Warnings about the safety of the dam had been ignored. The public was bitter that these wealthy businessmen took so little action and seemed unconcerned by the tragedy. The South Fork Fishing Club comprised primarily of wealthy industrialists, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick, and Andrew Mellon (Coleman 2019). Buildings, livestock, barbed wire, vehicles all were carried with terrifying force downriver. The death toll stood at 2,209. Entire buildings were pulled along by the current, while others collapsed. Johnstown: Johnstown Area Heritage Association and the National Park Service, 1997. 733 Lake Road Even more tragic was the loss of life. Johnstown, PA . Difficult to find. The viaduct was completely destroyed in the disaster. However, the telegraph lines were down and the warning did not reach Johnstown. It returned as a weekly series from November 1976 until its April 1979 conclusion. 20 million tons of water rushed down the narrow Conemaugh Valley like This debris caught against the viaduct, forming an ersatz dam that held the water back temporarily. 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. Few of them would be considered reliable histories, although all of them are fascinating, and copies of almost all of them survive to this day. But one of the greatest challenges was identifying the bodies that were recovered. By the end of 1889 there were more than a dozen, mostly histories but a few novels as well. The world, in short, wants to kill us. The death toll of the Johnstown Flood was worse because the town was already flooded. 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. Johnstown Flood Book Summary, by David McCullough Four square miles of Johnstown were obliterated. The dam was about 15 miles upstream from Johnstown, Pa., a steel mill town of more than 10,000 people. 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. The Johnstown Flood Museum is located in downtown Johnstown inside the city's former Carnegie Library. LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS: The Gilded Age Apocalypse. The Johnstown Train Station is owned by JAHA and is being redeveloped into a community asset. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1987. The Johnstown Flood of 1889: A Preventable Disaster What was the official death toll from the 1889 Johnstown Flood? Until the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, it was the United States' largest loss of civilian life in a single day. They donated the bare minimum to preserve their reputations, but they cared little for the people whom they harmed in the first place. 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. The South Fork Dam inPennsylvaniacollapses on May 31, 1889, causing the Johnstown Flood, killing more than 2,200 people. Do you remember him? Must-see vintage photos of the devastating and fatal flood of 1889 Once the dam failed at 3:10-3:15, however, such communications were impossible. The Johnstown, Pennsylvania Flood of 1889 - Legends of America 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. antonyms. The flood caused 17 million dollars in damages. It is located on a floodplain that has been subject to frequent disasters. But as theJohnstown Area Historical Associationnotes, the survivors first focused on the living people who were trapped in collapsed buildings and other spaces spared by the water. 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). The public was very frustrated with the delayed release (Coleman 2019). There were also many suspicious circumstances surrounding the report. Their pleasure and fishing boats destroyed (Harrisburg, 1889). In 1879 he ended up selling the land to the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club at a loss. after what has happened. This antagonism was to break out into violence during the 1892 Homestead steel strike in Pittsburgh. best swimmers couldn't swim in that mess. The famous tower clock known as Big Ben, located at the top of the 320-foot-high Elizabeth Tower, rings out over the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, for the first time on May 31, 1859. 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. Ten years after being finished, while under the possession of the railroad system, the dam suffered a major break. 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. A total of 314 of the 1100 Woodvale residents died when this happened. Johnstown and Its Flood. There were two primary conjectures about who was to blame: former Congressman John Reilly and the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. 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. It was a quiet, sleepy town. The Club's great wealth rather than the dam's engineering came to be condemned. Clara Barton, Founder, American Red Cross. There was a census done in 1890, but little of it survivesnot enough to help us at all. At 3:10 p.m., the dam collapsed, causing a roar that could be heard for miles. He wrote, What is the fishing club doing? The Club was never held legally responsible for the Johnstown Flood, although the Club was held responsible in public opinion. Libby Hipp was carrying Gertrude and her and Aunt Abbie tuned back to go to the house. Sadly, the Flood has proved to be a stumbling block for many genealogists. 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. The dam was part of an extensive canal system that became obsolete as the railroads replaced the canal as a means of transporting goods. 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. 700 of the victims could not be identified. In 1936 another severe flood finally produced some action with the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1936. sentences. after what went down. All of the water from Lake Conemaugh rushed forward at 40 miles per hour, sweeping away everything in its path. In Harrisburg, the . 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. Doctors worried especially about diseases that might breed in the unclean water and decaying bodies of humans and animals. Flooding happened 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. 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. No further evidence beyond a few other unreliable testimonies corroborated the supposition that Reilly gave the instructions to remove the pipes. The Johnstown Dam Disaster and Flood 1889 | A Plainly Difficult You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Work began on the dam in 1838. 99 whole families The Tragic Story Of The Johnstown Flood - Grunge.com The deadly flow of water didn't just stop and go calm at Stone Bridge. 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. What's Happening!! Through the Johnstown Flood. What exactly happened at the dam that day? 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. That happened 88 years after America's deadliest flash flood, also in Johnstown, prompted the construction of the Laurel Run Dam. (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. 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). Richard Burkert, president of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, says the research suggests that the dam "was in much poorer shape" than previously known. The floating houses and barns caused a tide of debris to back up at a downtown stone bridge, creating a 30-acre pile. New York Public Library/Wikimedia Commons, Francis Schell, Thomas Hogan/Wikimedia Commons. It crashed into the barrier and went hurtling back toward Johnstown like a boomerang. The tragedy of the Johnstown Flood of 1889 resulted from a combination of nature and human indifference and neglect. The Club members also had many connections, allowing them to insert court-appointed experts that happened to favor their positions. As theJohnstown Area Historical Associationnotes, the town had been built in a river valley. "The Johnstown flood was not an act of God or nature. Learn the story through sights of what happened when 20 million tons of water destroyed the area and the effort to rebuild it . However, their vast influence over Americas judicial system allowed club members to escape any liability. was loosely based on the Eric Monte-penned film Cooley High. Some people moved away from Johnstown, but a surprising number never even considered that option. 11 Best Small Towns in Pennsylvania For A Weekend Escape let up just long enough for Johnstown to have its Memorial Day parade, This new standard prevented negligent businessmen from escaping liability in future lawsuits. A few of the club members, most notably Robert Pitcairn, served on relief committees. 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. 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. Legal Statement. 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. Although the Flood of 1889 was by far the worst, Johnstown had not seen the last of its floods. Frick was wounded in the neck and two stories exist about what happened next: 1.) About 4 square miles of downtown Johnstown were destroyed. No umps when Orioles and Pirates play unneeded bottom of 9th Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood At 4:07 p.m., Johnstown inhabitants heard a low rumble that grew to a "roar like thunder." Some knew immediately what had happened: after a night of heavy rains, South Fork Dam had finally broken, sending 20 million tons of water crashing down the narrow valley. Winter opening hours have begun for the Johnstown Flood Museum and Heritage Discovery Center/Johnstown Childrens Museum: we are CLOSED Tuesdays and Wednesdays; OPEN Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays from 10:00 am-5:00 pm; and OPEN Sundays from noon-5:00 pm. What's Happening!! - Wikipedia Songs told the stories of real and imagined heroes. Explore Johnstown's legacy and the 1889 flood that changed Pennsylvania Bodies filled morgues in Johnstown and river towns downstream until relatives came to identify them. The Red Cross also provided warm meals, provisions for daily needs, and medical care. a moving mountain of water at an average speed of 40 miles per hour. The terrible stories from the Johnstown Flood of 1889 are still part of lore because of the gruesome nature of many of the deaths and the key role it played in the rise of the American Red Cross. The dam was originally built with discharge pipes, so the only question that remained was who removed them. As a result, it flooded at least once or twice every year. but now many of Johnstown's streets were under 2 - 7 feet of water. As theJohnstown Area Historical Associationnotes,the international Red Cross had been founded in 1863, and Barton launched the American Red Cross in 1881. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Several of the club members, including Carnegie and Frick, supported the relief and rebuilding efforts with large donations. The club had very few assets aside from the clubhouse, but a few lawsuits were brought against the club anyway. Frequently Asked Questions - Johnstown Flood National Memorial (U.S However, people usually only turned to lawsuits as a last resort, since it was nearly impossible to win against the industry titans. 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. Immediately, the flood became the news event of the decade. The impressive dam made of packed-down earth stood 72 feet high and 900 feet wide. 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. 777 bodies were never identified, buried in unmarked graves. #Documentary #History #TrueStories Learn With Plainly Difficult The Johnstown Flood happened on Friday 31 May, 1889, after the catastrophic fail. Writing for the masses, journalists exaggerated, repeated unfounded myths, and denounced the South Fork Club. The Red Cross' efforts were covered heavily in the media of the time, instantly elevating the organization to iconic status in the United States. They soon discovered that the absence of discharge pipes was the primary cause of the breach (Coleman 2019). . When it did come out, it favored the club. By June 5th, the newly organized Red Cross, led by Clara Barton, arrived in Johnstown. The small town of Mineral Point, Pennsylvania, was the first populated town hit by the flood and it was totally and completely destroyed. Some people who had survived by floating on top of debris were burned to death in the fire. McLaurin, J.J. All Rights Reserved. The Johnstown Flood was so damaging in part due to a confluence of events that augmented its power at every point. It's accepted that the flood struck Johnstown proper at 4:07 PM. How Americas Most Powerful Men Caused Americas Deadliest Flood, The Deadliest Natural Disasters in US History. In 1889, they were just a year away from a census, the last being done in 1880. The club renamed the reservoir, calling it Lake Conemaugh. They took measurements at the site and interviewed many residents. Six dams in the area failed, resulting in incredibly traumatic flooding for much of the town. Hounded by the media, members of the club donated to the relief effort. 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. Fourteen miles up the Conemaugh River stood the South Fork Dam holding back the waters of Conemaugh Lake. In an old Carnegie Library in Johnstown is the Johnstown Flood Museum, owned by the Johnstown Area Heritage Association. Wilkes-Barre, 1936. The Johnstown Flood of 1889 - Heritage Discovery Center After years of disuse, John Reilly purchased the dam from the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1875 and operated it for four years. By 1943, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the Johnstown Local Flood Protection Program (JLFPP), a series of channel improvements to increase the amount of water the rivers could carry. A dam was built in 1840 on the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles upstream from Johnstown. She was a mother of eight and sought compensation for the loss of her 43-year-old husband. Testimony Taken by the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1889-1891. 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? New books come out almost yearly about the disaster. wave" picked up houses, trees, and even trains on its way down the 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. This natural disaster caused many families and homes to come crashing down, all the townspeople shed tears that day as they watched their homes and loved ones float away with the . PA AsABC Newsnotes,the litigation chiefly took place in Pittsburgh courts, where the owners of the club had tremendous influence. They made various attempts to shore up the dam in the midst of a howling storm all of which failed. In fact, asABC Newsreports, it's suspected that some of the modifications the club made to the dam contributed to its failure. Work began in August 1938 with extensive dredging and flood control measures. They captured their readers' attention with their wrenching stories (some more accurate than others), photographs, and illustrations. With his father, Eastwood wandered the read more, On May 31, 2005, W. Mark Felts family ends 30 years of speculation, identifying Felt, the former FBI assistant director, as Deep Throat, the secret source who helped unravel the Watergate scandal.