Spraktes 1

Faith Spraktes

Patrick Lewis

English 1010

7/29/16

Causes of the Johnstown Flood

On May 31, 1889 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania 2,209 people were killed, 1,600 homes

lost, four square miles of Johnstown completely destroyed, [and] $17 million in property

damage. (Kreiser) The cause was the collapse of the South Fork Dam, releasing over 20 million

tons 3.6 billion gallons of water from Lake Conemaugh, the lake took less than an hour to

drain. The dam was built in the early 1850s on the Little Conemaugh River

to provide reserve water for the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal.[later] the canal was

abandoned and its properties and appurtenances sold to private interests. Eventually, the

Little Conemaugh property came into the hands of a consortium of wealthy Pittsburgh

industrialists calling themselves the "South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club." They

repaired the dam, which had been breached during its years of neglect, and built palatial

lake side cottages and a 40-room clubhouse. Unfortunately, the dam repairs were not

enough to hold back waters from the record rains of May 29 to 31, 1889. (Winkelsein)

The area of Johnstown not only had frequent storms but it was also prone to flooding. The city

of Johnstown was known for producing steel and coal, so as the water ran the fifteen miles to

Johnstown it swept the earth completely clean leaving only rock and mud behind. The wave

of water hurled entire trees, buildings, factories, and locomotives down the valley. When the

water hit the hot steel furnaces, there were tremendous explosions. People, houses, animals,

factories, trees, and trains crashed into the Pennsylvania Railroad's sturdily-built stone bridge,
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forming a second sort of dam. (Godbey) The force of the water on the bridge collapsed causing

the second wave to have greater force, matching that of the Mississippi River. Because of the

explosions, the mountains of debris caught fire, which took days to put out. People who didnt

drown were killed in the fire or by debris. Survivors were left homeless. Because of extreme

weather and neglect of the dam, this unnatural disaster devastated the United States.

One of the most significant contributing causes was the weather. The dam was seventy-

two feet high and more than 900 feet wide. The lake at its deepest was about sixty feet. Then on

May 30 and 31 torrential rains fell across the valley. Meanwhile the reservoir steadily rose up to

the crest of the dam. As the rain continued to fall, water levels kept rising and by noon water was

spilling over the crest of the dam. At dawn on May 31, Colonel Elias Unger noticed the level of

Lake Conemaugh had risen measurably during the night. He made a quick calculation and

estimated the lake was rising four to six inches per hour. (Lounsberry) If the lake was rising

four to six inches per hour, it would only take the lake about twenty to thirty hours to reach the

crest of the dam. For a lake of that size, thats a fast rate for the water to rise. Its common sense

that the faster and more rain falls, the faster water levels rise and there is more of a chance for a

flood. With the dam only being twelve feet higher than the deepest part of the lake, it didnt take

long for the lake to fill up. Not only are the water levels increasing, but so is the pressure on the

dam. It was calculated that 20 million tons of water drained from the lake. Thats also 20

million tons of pressure on the dam. The dam had to have been able to support that much

weight, which is why it failed. Because of the storm, the lake became too full and there was too

much pressure on the dam

Now the most significant cause was the neglect. The mass neglect of the dam was the

most influential cause of the collapse. After the [Pennsylvania Main Line] canal went out of
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business, there was little incentive to maintain the dam, and in 1875 the cast-iron sluice pipes at

its base were removed and sold for scrap. With no way to drain the reservoir for much-needed

repairs, a few make-do patches were made. (Kreiser) These make-do repairs were made with

straw, mud, and manure. When the dam was purchased by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting

Club after the canal shut down, they attempted to repair the dam since it had been breached

during years of neglect. The Club inadequately patched the holes from the 1862 break; never

replaced the sluice pipes; lowered the top of the dam to make it wider for carriages; and put fish

screens over the spillway. (United) Without a way to control the flow over water, there was no

way to drain the lake to make the repairs needed. Every dam made must have some way for

water to safely escape to make repairs and release pressure on the wall. Since most of these

important parts were removed there wasnt really anyway to drain the lake, even in emergencies.

Because of how neglected the dam and lake was, some of the fish screens were clogged with

trash, others were broken and ended up clogging the pipes that were left, meaning that as more

rain fell the only way for water to escape was over the top of the dam. Dams should be kept

clean, safe, and functional in case of heavy rain or a natural disaster. As the club owners

neglected to upkeep the lake and dam, it resulted in 2,209 deaths.

Others may say that erosion of the dam was a main cause and that the dam was bound the

collapse anyways. Using modern-day surveys of the area and archival photos, Davis Todd and

her colleagues estimate that the 1.6-square kilometer reservoir behind the dam held about 15

million cubic meters of water. The pressure of accumulated waters and erosion from water

spilling over the top of the dam triggered a sudden, catastrophic failure (Perkins). Yes, erosion

is a contributing factor, but its one that can be fixed. Had the storm not been as strong as it was

the lake wouldnt have filled so quickly. If the owners had taken proper care of the dam and
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made actual repairs, cleaned, and replace the vital parts that control the flow of the water, the

flood could have been avoided. With sluice pipes, workers could have safely lowered the lake

and made repairs to damages from erosion. Weather and neglect were the two cause of the

collapse of the dam, not erosion.

The collapse of the South Fork Dam is one of the biggest unnatural disasters in the

history of the United States. Because of the extreme weather and neglect of the dam over two

thousand people were killed and the damaged in Pennsylvania and clean up took five years. The

dam failure was traced to shoddy repairs by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Its

members were never held liable. More than a century later, the flood remains the deadliest US

flood, and one of the dozen most lethal floods in human history. (Winkelstein) While there are

many small factors to the flood, the weather and neglect were the most prominent. Had the storm

been less severe and the dam properly taken care of by its owner, this disaster could have been

avoided.
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Works Cited

Godbey, Emily. Disaster Tourism and the Melodrama of Authenticity: Revisiting the 1889

Johnstown Flood. Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. 3.3

(SUMMER 2006): 275-277. JSTOR. Web. 27, July 2016.

<http://www.jstor.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/stable/pdf/27778741.pdf>

Kreiser, Christine M. Wave of Destruction. American History. 50.4 (Oct. 2015): 38-41.

MasterFILE Complete. Web. 27, July 2016.

<http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/eds/detail/detail?sid=a63cec41-5d2d-4d9c-

90e455a26960ee5c%40sessionmgr105&vid=0&hid=104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWx

pdmU%3d#AN=108277740&db=f6h>

Lounsberry, Barbara. Past Perfect: Calling Clara Barton. The North American Review. 290.6

(Nov. Dec. 2005): 50. JSTOR. Web. 27, July 2016.

<http://www.jstor.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/stable/pdf/25127494.pdf>

Perkins, Sid. Deadly Johnstown Flood Matched Torrential Force of Mississippi River: New

York Determines Flow Rate after Catastrophic Dam Failure. Science News. 176.11

(Nov. 21, 2009): 10. JSTOR. Web. 27, July 2016.

<http://www.jstor.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/stable/pdf/25594057.pdf>

United States. National Park Service. "South Fork Dam." National Parks Service. U.S.

Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 27, July 2016.

<https://www.nps.gov/jofl/learn/historyculture/south-fork-dam.htm>

Winkelstein, Warren. The Johnstown Flood: An Unnatural Disaster. Epidemiology. 19.1

(2008): 163. JSTOR. Web. 27, July 2016.

<http://www.jstor.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/stable/pdf/20486508.pdf>