Learn

Check out this story of one of the worst floods in United States history. Did it happen because of nature or man? You decide.

By the late 1800’s, Johnstown was a flourishing town built at the fork of the Little Conemaugh and the Stony Creek Rivers in Pennsylvania. As the town grew into a city, the riverbanks became narrower so that more buildings could go up. This narrowing of the riverbanks caused flooding during the rainy season. This flooding was never to severe, it usually just left people’s homes a bit damp.

Further upstream on the Little Conemaugh River, there was an old dam that was holding a small lake. This dam had been in badly damaged years before but in 1879, the promise of reconstruction became a reality. Benjamin Ruff bought the property that the old dam lived on and he decided to create a summer resort on a lake. In order to create a bigger lake, he had to build the dam back up to its original height. Keep in mind that this dam was built in the 1800’s. The materials used to build it were mud, hay, tree stumps and rocks.

By the summer of 1881, the reconstructed dam was complete, the lake was stocked with fish and the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was officially opened. However, all was not well. The dam showed signs of weakness and would leak over the next 8 years. Because of the way the dam was reconstructed, the water level could not be lowered and the leaks could not be repaired.

Because the dam was poorly maintained, every spring people would talk that the dam wouldn’t hold. But every year it did and it became a local joke around town. But by May 31, 1889, the joke stopped. Two days earlier a major rainstorm began pouring down on the land and in the rivers. The lake level was rising closer and closer to the top of the dam. Telegraph warnings were sent out to the people of Johnstown telling them that the dam might break. But most people of the town were used to floods and did what they always did in the rainy season; they went upstairs to wait out the storm.

By late afternoon, people described hearing a low rumble that kept getting louder. A little after 3:00 pm, people working to fix the dam said that the damn “simply moved away.” 20 million tons of water emptied out of the lake within 45 minutes and rushed towards Johnstown. People who saw the water coming described it as a “rolling hill of debris about 40 feet high.” People, houses, animals, barns and anything else in the path of the water were swept away.

In 10 minutes the flash flood was over, but it left thousands of people without homes and it took 5 years for Johnstown to fully recover. Though there was an investigation, the owners of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club were never held accountable for the devastation to Johnstown, PA. People who survived the flood felt that if the dam hadn’t been rebuilt this never would have happened. What do you think?