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.
When day dawned on June 1st, the water was still rising at a rapid rate.
The city was then completely inundated, or at least all that portion
lying east of the high lands in the Third and Fourth Wards. It was
nearly three o'clock Saturday afternoon before the water reached the
highest mark. It then was about three feet above the high-water mark of
1885.
At four o'clock Saturday evening the flood began to subside, slowly at
first, and it was nearly night on Sunday before the river was again
within its banks. Six persons are reported missing at Salona, and the
dead bodies of Mrs. Alexander Whiting and Mrs. William Emenheisen were
recovered at Mill Hall and that of a six-year old child near by. The
loss there is terrible, and the community is in mourning over the loss
of life.
G. W. Dunkle and wife had a miraculous escape from drowning early
Saturday A. M. They were both carried away on the top of their house
from Salona to Mill Hall, where they were both rescued in a remarkable
manner. A window in the house of John Stearn was kicked out, and Mr. and
Mrs. Dunkle taken in the aperture, both thus being rescued from a watery
grave.
Near by a baby was saved, tied in a cradle. It was a pretty,
light-haired light cherub, and seemed all unconscious of the peril
through which it passed on its way down the stream. The town of Mill
Hall was completely gutted by the flood, entailing heavy loss upon the
inhabitants.
The town of Renovo was completely wrecked. Two spans of the river bridge
and the opera-house were swept away. Houses and business places were
carried off or damaged and there was some loss of life. At Hamburg seven
persons were drowned by the flood, which carried away almost everything
in its path.
Bellefonte escaped the flood's ravages, and lies high and dry. Some
parts of Centre County were not so fortunate, however, especially in
Coburn and Miles Townships, where great destruction is reported. Several
persons were drowned at Coburn, Mrs. Roust and three children among the
number. The bodies of the mother and one child were recovered.
James Corss, a well-known resident of Lock Haven, and Miss Emma Pollock,
a daughter of ex-Governor Pollock of Philadelphia, were married at the
fashionable Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, at noon of
Wednesday, June 5th. The cards were sent out three weeks before, but
when it was learned that the freshet had cut off Lock Haven from
communication with the rest of the world, and several telegrams to the
groom had failed to bring any response, it was purposed to postpone the
wedding. The question of postponement was being considered on Tuesday
evening, when a dispatch was brought in saying that the groom was on his
way overland. Nothing further was heard from him, and the bride was
dressed and the bridal party waiting when the groom dashed up to the
door in a carriage at almost noon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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