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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 Charities, etc., etc., With Full Accounts also of the Destruction on the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers, and the Bald Eagle Creek.Johnson, Willis Fletcher

History

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 Charities, etc., etc., With Full Accounts also of the Destruction on the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers, and the Bald Eagle Creek.

Name: 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 Charities, etc., etc., With Full Accounts also of the Destruction on the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers, and the Bald Eagle Creek.
Author: Johnson, Willis Fletcher

Johnson, Willis Fletcher

Floods -- Pennsylvania -- Johnstown (Cambria County)

Croton Lake Dam was first built with ninety feet of masonry overfall,
the rest being earth embankment. On January 7th, 1841, a freshet carried
away this earth embankment, and when rebuilt the overfall of the dam was
made two hundred and seventy feet long. The foundation is two lines of
cribs, filled with dry stone, and ten feet of concrete between. Upon
this broken range stone masonry was laid, the down-stream side being
curved and faced with granite, the whole being backed with a packing of
earth. The dam is forty feet high, its top is one hundred and sixty-six
feet above tidewater, and it controls a reservoir area of four hundred
acres and five hundred million gallons of water. The Boyd's Corner Dam
holds two million seven hundred and twenty-seven thousand gallons, and
was built during the years 1866 and 1872. It stands twenty-three miles
from Croton dam, and has cut-stone faces filled between with concrete.
The extreme height is seventy-eight feet, and it is six hundred and
seventy feet long. Although this dam holds a body of water five times
greater than that at Croton Lake, it is claimed by engineers that
should it give way the deluge of water which would follow would cause
very little loss of life and only destroy farming lands, as below it the
country is comparatively level and open. Middle Branch Dam holds four
billion four hundred thousand gallons, and was built during 1874 and
1878. It is composed of earth, with a centre of rubble masonry carried
down to the rock bottom. It is also considered to be in no danger of
causing destruction by sudden breakage, as the downpour of water would
spread out over a large area of level land. Besides these there are
other Croton water storage basins formed by dams as follows: East
Branch, with a capacity of 4,500,000,000 gallons; Lake Mahopac,
575,000,000 gallons; Lake Kirk, 565,000,000 gallons; Lake Gleneida,
165,000,000 gallons; Lake Gilead, 380,000,000 gallons; Lake Waccabec,
200,000,000 gallons; Lake Lonetta, 50,000,000 gallons; Barrett's ponds,
170,000,000 gallons; China pond, 105,000,000 gallons; White pond,
100,000,000 gallons; Pines pond, 75,000,000 gallons; Long pond,
60,000,000 gallons; Peach pond, 230,000,000 gallons; Cross pond,
110,000,000 gallons, and Haines pond, 125,000,000 gallons, thus
completing the storage capacity of the Croton water system of
14,000,000,000 gallons. The engineers claim that none of these
last-named could cause loss of life or any great damage to property,
because there exist abundant natural outlets.

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