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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)

"The fast line trains that leave Chicago at quarter past three and
Cincinnati at seven P.M. constitute the day-express eastward from
Pittsburg, which runs in two sections. This train left Pittsburg on time
Friday morning, but was stopped for an hour at Johnstown by reports of a
wash-out ahead. It had been raining hard for over sixteen hours, and the
sides of the mountains were covered with water descending into the
valleys. The Conemaugh River, whose bank is followed by the Pennsylvania
Railroad for many miles, looked an angry flood nearly bankfull.
Passengers were interested in seeing hundreds of saw-logs and an
enormous amount of driftwood shoot rapidly by, and the train pursued its
way eastward. At Johnstown there was a long wait, as before stated. The
lower stories of many houses were submerged by the slack-water, and the
inhabitants were looking out of the second-story windows. Horses were
standing up to their knees in water in the streets; a side-track of the
railroad had been washed out; loaded cars were on the bridge to keep it
steady, and the huge poles of the Western Union Telegraph Company,
carrying fifteen wires, swayed badly, and several soon went down. The
two sections ran to Conemaugh, about two miles eastward of Johnstown,
and lay there about three hours, when they were moved on to the highest
ground and placed side by side. The mail train was placed in the rear of
the first section, and a freight train was run onto a side track on the
bank of the Conemaugh. The report was that a bridge had been washed out,
carrying away one track and that the other track was unsafe. There was a
rumor also that the reservoir at South Fork might break. This made most
of the passengers uneasy, and they kept a pretty good look-out for
information. The porters of the Pullman cars remained at their posts,
and comforted the passengers with the assurance that the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company always took care of its patrons. A few gentlemen and
some ladies and children quietly seated themselves, apparently
contented. One gentleman, who was ill, had his berth made up and
retired, although advised not to do so.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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