The Johnstown Horror!!!: or, Valley of Death, being A Complete and Thrilling Account; of the Awful Floods and Their Appalling RuinWalker, James Herbert
History
The Johnstown Horror!!!: or, Valley of Death, being A Complete and Thrilling Account; of the Awful Floods and Their Appalling Ruin
The flood in the Conemaugh River at this point is the heaviest ever
known here. At this hour the railroad bridge between here and
Blairsville intersection has been swept away, and also the new bridge at
Coketon, half a mile below. It is now feared that the iron bridge at the
lower end of this town will go. A living woman and dead man, supposed to
be her husband, were seen going under the railroad bridge. They were
seen to come from under the bridge safely, but shortly disappeared and
were seen no more.
A great many families lose their household goods. The river is running
full of timber, houses, goods, etc. The loss will be heavy. The
excitement here is very great. The river is still rising. There are some
families below the town in the second story of their houses who cannot
get out. It is feared that if the water goes much higher the loss of
life will be very great. The railroad company had fourteen cars of coal
on their bridge when it went down, and all were swept down the river.
The town bridge has just succumbed to the seething floods, whose roar
can be heard a long distance. The water is still rising and it is
thought that the West Pennsylvania Railroad will be without a single
bridge. It is reported that a man went down with the Blairsville bridge
while he was adjusting a headlight.
Havoc about Altoona.
The highest and most destructive flood that has visited this place for
fifty years occurred yesterday. It has been raining continuously for the
past twenty-four hours. The Juniata river is ten feet above low water
mark and is still rising. The lower streets of Gaysport bordering on the
river bank are submerged, and the water is two feet deep on the first
floors of the houses there. The water rose so rapidly that the people
had to be removed from the houses in boats and wagons. Three railroad
trestles and a number of bridges over the streams have been carried
away, and railroad travel between this place and the surrounding towns
has been interrupted.
Property of all kinds was carried off. The truck gardens and grain
fields along the river were utterly destroyed, and the fences carried
away. The iron furnaces and rolling mills at this place and Duncanville
were compelled to shut down on account of the high water. Keene &
Babcock lost 300,000 brick in the kiln ready to burn, G.W. Rhodes
350,000, and Joseph Hart 15,000. It is estimated that the flood has done
over $50,000 damage in this vicinity. The fences of the Blair County
Agricultural Society were destroyed.
Alarm at York.
Last night was one of great alarm here. It rained steadily all day, some
of the showers being severe. The great flood of 1884 is forcibly
recalled. Many families are moving out. At half-past one A.M. a general
alarm was sounded on the bells of the city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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