Map of the deluged Conemaugh District.
HISTORY
OF
THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD.
INCLUDING
ALL THE FEARFUL RECORD; THE BREAKING OF THE SOUTH FORK DAM;
THE SWEEPING OUT OF THE CONEMAUGH VALLEY; THE OVER-
THROW OF JOHNSTOWN; THE MASSING OF THE WRECK AT
THE RAILROAD BRIDGE; ESCAPES, RESCUES, SEARCHES
FOR SURVIVORS AND THE DEAD; RELIEF
ORGANIZATIONS, STUPENDOUS CHARI-
TIES, ETC., ETC.
WITH FULL ACCOUNTS ALSO OF THE
DESTRUCTION ON THE SUSQUEHANNA AND JUNIATA RIVERS AND THE
BALD EAGLE CREEK.
BY
WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON.
ILLUSTRATED.
EDGEWOOD PUBLISHING CO.,
1889.
Copyright, 1889, by
WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON.
PREFACE.
The summer of 1889 will ever be memorable for its appalling disasters by flood and flame. In that period fell the heaviest blow of the nineteenth century -- a blow scarcely paralleled in the histories of civilized lands. Central Pennsylvania, a centre of industry, thrift and comfort, was desolated by floods unprecedented in the records of the great waters. On both sides of the Alleghenies these ravages were felt in terrific power, but on the western slope their terrors were infinitely multiplied by the bursting of the South Fork Reservoir, letting out millions of tons of water, which, rushing madly down the rapid descent of the Conemaugh Valley, washed out all its busy villages and hurled itself in a deadly torrent on the happy borough of Johnstown. The frightful aggravations which followed the coming of this torrent have waked the deepest sympathies of this nation and of the world, and the history is demanded in permanent form, for those of the present day, and for the generation to come.
CONTENTS.
| Title page -- Preface -- Table of Contents -- List of Illustrations | Title |
| CHAPTER I. | |
| The Conemaugh Valley in Springtime -- Johnstown and its Suburbs -- Founded a Hundred Years ago -- The Cambria Iron Works -- History of a Famous Industry -- American Manufacturing Enterprise Exemplified -- Making Besemer Steel -- Social and Educational Features -- The Busiest City of its Size in the State | 15 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Conemaugh Lake -- Remains of an Old-time Canal System -- Used for the Pleasure of Sportsmen -- The Hunting and Fishing Club -- Popular Distrust Growing into Indifference -- The Old Cry of "Wolf!" -- Building a Dam of Straw and Mud -- Neglect Ripening into Fitness for a Catastrophe | 31 |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Dawning of the Fatal Day -- Darkness and Rain -- Rumors of Evil -- The Warning Voice Unheeded -- A Whirlwind of Watery Death -- Fate of a Faithful Telegrapher -- What an Eye-Witness Saw -- A Solid Wall of Water Rushing Down the Valley | 42 |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| The Pathway of the Torrent -- Human Beings Swept away like Chaff -- The Twilight of Terror -- The Wreck of East Conemaugh -- Annihilation of Woodvale -- Locomotives Tossed about like Cockle-shells by the might Maelstrom | 51 |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| "Johnstown is Annihilated" -- Appearance of the Wreck -- An Awful Sabbath Spectacle -- A Sea of Mud and Corpses -- The City in a Gigantic Whirlpool -- Strange Tokens of the Fury of the Flood -- Scene from the Bridge -- Sixty Acres of Debris -- A Carnival of Slaughter | 66 |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Pictures of the Flood Drawn by Eye-witnesses -- A Score of Locomotives Swallowed up -- Railroad Cars Swept away -- Engineers who would not Abandon their Posts -- Awful Scenes from a Car Window -- A Race for Life -- Victims of the Flood | 81 |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Some Heroes of the Flood -- The Ride of Collins Graves at Williamsburg Recalled -- John G. Parke's Heroic Warning -- Gallant Self-sacrifice of Daniel Peyton -- Mrs. Ogle, the Intrepid Telegraph Operator -- Wholesale Life Saving by Miss Nina Speck | 97 |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Stories of Suffering -- A Family Swept away at a Stroke -- Beside a Sister's Corpse -- A Bride Driven Mad -- The Unidentified Dead -- Courage in the Face of Death -- Thanking God his Child had not Suffered -- One Saved out of a Household of Thirteen -- Five Saved out of Fifty-Five | 108 |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| Stories of Railroad Men and Travelers who were in the Midst of the Catastrophe -- A Train's Race with the Wave -- Housses Crushed like Eggshells -- Relics of the Dead in the Tree tops -- A Night of Horrors -- Fire and Flood Commingled -- Lives Lost for the Sake of a Pair of Shoes | 119 |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| Scenes in a House of Refuge -- Stealing from the Dead -- A Thousand Bodies seen Passing over the Bridge -- "Kill us, or Rescue us!" -- Thrilling Escapes and Agonizing Losses -- Children Born amid the Flood -- A Night in Alma Hall -- Saved through Fear | 135 |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| The Flight to the Mountains -- Saving a Mother and her Babe -- The Hillsides Black with Refugees -- An Engineer's Story -- How the Dam gave away -- Great Trees Snapped off like Pipe-stems by the Torrent | 147 |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| A Desperate Voyage -- Scenes like those after a Great Battle -- Mother and Babe Dead together -- Praying as they Drifted to Destruction -- Children Telling the Story of Death -- Significant Greetings between Friends -- Prepared for any News | 154 |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| Salutations in the City of the Dead -- Crowds at the Morgues -- Endless Trains of Wagons with Ghastly Freight -- Registering the Survivors -- Minds Unsettled by the Tragedy -- Horrible Fragments of Humanity Scattered through Piles of Rubbish | 161 |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| Recognizing the Dead -- Food and Clothing for Destitute Survivors -- Looking for the Lost -- The Bereaved Burying their Dead -- Drowned Close by a Place of Safety -- A Heroic Editor -- One who would not be Comforted | 171 |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| A Bird'seye View of the Ruined City -- Conspicuous Features of the Disaster -- The Railroad Lines -- Stones and Iron Tossed about like Driftwood -- An Army Officer's Valuable Services in Restoring and Maintaining Order | 179 |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| Clearing a Road up the Creek -- Fantastic Forms of Ruin -- An Abandoned Locomotive with no Rail to Run on -- Iron Beams Bent like Willow Twigs -- Night in the Valley -- Scenes and Sounds of an Inferno | 188 |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| Sights that Greeted Visitors -- Wreckage Along the Valley -- Ruins of the Cambria Iron Works -- A Carnival of Drink -- Violence and Robbery -- Camping on the Hillsides -- Rich and Poor alike Benefit | 198 |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| The First Train Load of Anxious Seekers -- Hoping against Hope -- Many Instances of Heroism -- Victims Seen Drifting down beyond the Reach of Help -- Unavailing Efforts to Rescue the Prey of the Flood | 207 |
| CHAPTER XIX. | |
| Newspaper Correspondents Making their Way In -- The Railroads Helpless -- Hiring a Special Train -- Making Desperate Speed -- First faces of the Flood -- Through to Johnstown at Last | 216 |
| CHAPTER XX. | |
| The Work of the Reporters -- Strange Chronicles of Heroism and of Woe -- Deadly Work of the Telegraph Wires -- A Baby's Strange Voyage -- Prayer wonderfully Answered -- Steam against Torrent | 228 |
| CHAPTER XXI. | |
| Human Ghouls and Vampires on the Scene -- A Short Shrift for Marauders -- Vigilance Committees Enforcing Order -- Plunderers of the Dead Relentlessly Dispatched -- Outbursts of Righteous Indignation | 238 |
| CHAPTER XXII. | |
| The Cry for Help and the Nation's Answer -- President Harrison's Eloquent and Effective Appeal -- Governor Beaver's Message -- A Proclamation by the Governor of New York -- Action of the Commissioner of Pensions -- Help from over the Sea | 249 |
| CHAPTER XXIII. | |
| The American Heart and Purse Opened Wide -- A flood of Gold against the Flood of Water -- Contributions from every Part of the Country, in Sums Large and Small | 265 |
| CHAPTER XXIV. | |
| Benefactions of Philadelphia -- Organization of Charity -- Train loads of Food and Clothing -- Generous spirit of Convicts in the Penitentiary -- Contributions from over the Sea -- Queen Victoria's sympathy -- Letter from Florence Nightingale | 281 |
| CHAPTER XXV. | |
| Raising a Great Relief Fund in New York -- Where the Money came from -- Churches, Theatres and Prisons join in the good work -- More than One Hundred Thousand Dollars a Day -- A few Names from the Great Roll of Honor | 292 |
| CHAPTER XXVI. | |
| Breaking up the Ruins and Burying the Dead -- Innumerable Funerals -- The Use of Dynamite -- The Holocaust at the Bridge -- The Cambria Iron Works -- Pulling out Trees with Locomotives | 299 |
| CHAPTER XXVII. | |
| Caring for the Sufferers -- Noble Work of Miss Clara Barton and the Red Cross Society -- A Peep into a Hospital -- Finding Homes for the Orphans -- Johnstown Generous in its Woe -- A Benevolent Eating House | 309 |
| CHAPTER XXVIII. | |
| Recovering from the Blow -- The Voice of the Locomotive Heard again -- Scenes Day by Day amid the Ruins and at the Morgue -- Strange Salvage from the Flood -- A Family of Little Children | 319 |
| CHAPTER XXIX. | |
| The City Filled with Life Again -- Work and Bustle on Every Hand -- Railroad Trains Coming In -- Pathetic Meetings of Friends -- Persistent Use of Dynamite to Break Up the Masses of Wreckage -- The Daily Record of Work Amid the Dead | 341 |
| CHAPTER XXX. | |
| Scenes at the Relief Stations -- The Grand Army of the Republic in Command -- Imposing Scenes at the Railroad Station -- Cars Loaded with Goods for the Relief of the Destitute | 353 |
| CHAPTER XXXI. | |
| General Hastings' Headquarters -- Duties of the Military Staff -- A Flood of Telegrams of Inquiry Pouring In -- Getting the Post-office to Work Again -- Wholesale Embalming -- The Morgue in the Presbyterian Church -- The Record of the Unknown Dead -- A Commemorative Newspaper Club | 358 |
| CHAPTER XXXII. | |
| A Cross between a Military and a Mining Camp -- Work of the Army Engineers -- Equipping Constables -- Pressure on the Telegraph Lines -- Photographers not Encouraged -- Sight-seers Turned Away -- Strange Uses for Coffins | 370 |
| CHAPTER XXXIII. | |
| Sunday Amid the Ruins -- Services in One Church and in the Open Air -- The Miracle at the Church of the Immaculate Conception -- Few Women and Children Seen -- Disastrous Work of Dynamite -- A Happy Family in the Wreck | 378 |
| CHAPTER XXXIV. | |
| Plans for the Future of Johnstown -- The City to be Rebuilt on a Finer Scale than Ever Before -- A Real Estate Boom Looked For -- Enlarging the Conemaugh -- Views of Capitalists | 387 |
| CHAPTER XXXV. | |
| Well-known People who Narrowly Escaped the Flood -- Mrs. Halford's Experience -- Mrs. Childs Storm bound -- Tales Related by Travelers -- A Theatrical Company's Plight | 392 |
| CHAPTER XXXVI. | |
| The Ubiquitous Reporter Getting There -- Desperate Traveling through a Storm-swept Country -- Special Trains and Special Teams -- Climbing Across the Mountains -- Rest for the Weary in a Hay Mow | 400 |
| CHAPTER XXXVII. | |
| The Reporter's Life at Johnstown -- Nothing to Eat, but Much to Do -- Kindly Remembrances of a Kindly Friend -- Driven from Bed by Rats -- Three Hours of Sleep in Seventy-two -- A Picturesque Group | 410 |
| CHAPTER XXXVIII. | |
| Williamsport's Great Losses -- Flooded with Thirty-four Feet of Water -- Hundreds of Millions of Feet of Lumber Swept Away -- Loss of Life -- Incidents of Rescue and of Death -- The Story of Garret Crouse and his Gray Horse | 421 |
| CHAPTER XXXIX. | |
| The Juniata Valley Ravaged by the Storm -- Losses at Tyrone, Huntingdon and Lewistown -- Destruction at Lock Haven -- A Baby's Voyage Down Stream -- Romantic Story of a Wedding | 435 |
| CHAPTER XL. | |
| The Floods along the Potomac -- The National Capital Submerged -- A Terrible Record in Maryland -- Gettysburg a Sufferer -- Tidings of Devastation from Many Points in Several States | 444 |
| CHAPTER XLI. | |
| Fire following the Flood -- Ghastly sacrifices at the Railroad Bridge -- Burning Wreckage -- Many Houses Destroyed by a Conflagration | 460 |
| CHAPTER XLII. | |
| The Record of Restoration -- Beginning work again at the Mills -- Erecting Portable Houses -- Clearing away the Debris | 463 |
| CHAPTER XLIII. | |
| Dynamite to the Rescue -- Efficient work of the Explosive -- The Populace Panic-stricken by the heavy charges -- Force of the Explosions | 471 |
| CHAPTER XLIV. | |
| The Work Performed by General Hastings -- Bidding him farewell at Johnstown and welcoming him home again at Bellefonte | 475 |
| CHAPTER XLV. | |
| Work of the Telegraph Operators -- Improvised offices and apparatus -- How the great newspaper dispatches were sent | 483 |
| CHAPTER XLVI. | |
| Impossibility of determining the exact loss of life -- Reckoning the loss of property by millions -- Confusion for the Savings Banks | 492 |
| CHAPTER XLVII. | |
| Unfounded dissatisfaction over the management of the relief fund -- Judicious course pursued by Governor Beaver and his associates | 496 |
| CHAPTER XLVIII. | |
| Parceling out the funds -- Opening a free bank -- Talking of National Aid -- Dishonest benefit-seekers -- The money going out slowly | 503 |
| CHAPTER XLIX. | |
| Adventures of a newsboy -- Timing the Flood -- Life-saving by a dog -- Noble exertions of a noble brute | 507 |
| CHAPTER L. | |
| Letters from the President, the Vice-President, and Ex-Secretary Cameron -- Theatrical benefits -- The Babe of the Flood | 513 |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| Map of the Deluged Conemaugh District | 1 |
| Panoramic View of Johnstown Before the Flood | 15 |
| Johnstown as Left by the Flood | 19 |
| Ruins of Johnstown, Viewed from Prospect Hill, | 37 |
| General View of the Ruins, Looking up Stony Creek | 55 |
| Ruins, Showing the Path of the Flood | 73 |
| Typical Scene in Johnstown | 91 |
| Johnstown -- View Corner of Main and Clinton Streets | 109 |
| View on Clinton Street, Johnstown | 127 |
| Main and Clinton Streets, Looking Southwest | 145 |
| Ruins, corner of Clinton and Main Streets | 163 |
| Ruins, from Site of the Hulburt House | 181 |
| The Debris above the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge | 199 |
| Ruins of the Cambria Iron Works | 217 |
| Ruins of the Cambria Iron Company's Store | 235 |
| Third Street, Williamsport, Pa., During the Flood | 253 |
| Wreck of the Iron Bridge at Williamsport, Pa. | 271 |
| Wreck of the Lumber Yards at Williamsport, Pa. | 289 |
| 250,000,000 Feet of Logs Afloat in the Susquehanna | 307 |
| Last Trains in and out of Harrisburg | 325 |
| Columbia, Pa., Under the Flood | 343 |
| Pennsylvania Avenue at Sixth Street, Washington, D.C. | 361 |
| Seventh Street, Washington, D.C., in the Flood | 379 |
| Fourteenth Street, Washington, D.C. in the Flood | 397 |
| The Flood in Washington, D.C. Opposite Harris's Theatre | 415 |
| Repairing Damages on the Pennsylvania Railroad | 465 |
| Clearing the Railroad Tracks | 481 |
| The Burned Roman Catholic Church of St. John | 497 |
| Interior of the Roman Catholic Church in Cambria City | 512 |
| Adjutant-General Hastings | 513 |
Panoramic View of Johnstown Before the Flood.
This book was transcribed by Lynne Canterbury, Clark Creery, Martha Humenik,
Betty Mirovich and Diann Olsen for the county web site in 2001.
Archives version created in 2004.
There is a transcription, with images of each book page at the Cambria County web site at:
http://www.camgenpa.com/books/jofl/