What does the Great Flood of 1889 and the Red Cross have in Common? See with a Day in Johnstown, PA

On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam broke and 20 million tons of water raced fourteen miles towards Johnstown traveling forty miles per hour. Flooding every small town that it hit on the way. When the flood was done, at over 2,200 people where know to be killed.

It was a tragedy that ripped across America’s headlines. The town rebuilt itself. But the tragic history also created one of the most helpful organizations in the world.

The American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton during the Civil War for battlefield relief turned to peacetime disasters arriving at Johnstown just five days after the flood occurred. (More about it later.)

With every bad thing that happens, I try to look for the Rainbow at the end. This town is all about the disaster of a badly build playground for the very rich destroying a town but the town rebuilding itself and creating a disaster relief group that helps people across the country.

I only spent one day here and there is so much more to see!!!! Between the Museums being closed, I did not get to see enough of it and hope to go back. Start at the Memorial and work your way back to Johnstown. As this is where the dam was and the start of the flood.

Johnstown is only about 1 1/2 hours outside Pittsburgh and about 30 minutes from Fort Ligonier and 40 minute from the Flight 93 Memorial.

Johnstown Flood National Memorial-Visitor Center, Dam, & South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club

The Johnstown Flood National Memorial is about 14 miles outside of Johnstown but this is the first place you want to go. It is were the Dam broke and let out the lake that drowned a town.

Start at the Lake View Visitor Center with exhibits and a film. The film, “Black Friday”, start every hour at 15 minutes past the hours but will be adjusted for school or other large groups.

It also has the Unger House, Colonel Elias J. Unger was the 2nd and last president of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the Springhouse, and the Visitor Center.

If you have a few days here during the spring to fall, you can walk on a trail that the water took or a four hour van tour. They have two trails and one van tour lead by park Rangers (Check for dates). One that is 8 miles with a shuttle to Ehrenfeld and back from Franklin. The other is 4.5 miles from Franklin to the Stone Bridge.

For those that don’t like to hike, there is a four hour Flood Van Tour. Tours are only offered from June to September and reservations are required.

After stopping at the Lake View Visitor Center, exit to the left, drive down to a parking area a short distance away and walk over the path and wooden walk way to see where the dam was before it broke.

When you get to the end of the walk way, look straight across….Then realize as I did, this is one side of the dam and across is the other side. Then look back into the valley are realize that was the lake and the train tracks were once under water. The place where you parked is where the lake shoreline once was.

It is heart stopping to think this was a full lake that took out a town. It is worst that this could have been prevented had the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club had repaired the Dam when it first had issues.

After leaving the Dam area, go to the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Clubhouse. Check with Scheduling because the Clubhouse is only open three different ways: Ranger guided tour (limited), Journey Around the Lake Conemaugh Van Tour, and/or a path of the Floor Van Tour.

The Clubhouse could care for at least 200 guest with several cottages around it. But these cottages are the size of large houses. The Clubhouse and six cottages remain and are now under the National Register of Historic Places since 1986.

As you leave the Clubhouse and travel down to the main road take a left and see the other side of the dam about a half mile or mile on the right. When you park, you can see the other side from an outlook.

If you have time, go to the left stairs and hike the short distance down to the where the dam was and it circles back around to the parking area.

The hike takes less then 30 minutes unless your like me and read all the signs and enjoy the area. You can also hike in the valley where the lake was and enjoy different areas as the water is more of a stream with paths.

But when you visit Jamestown it is mainly closed during the winter so spring to fall is the best time to be here. In the Summer, the heat can be a bit much depending on the weather if you want to do a lot of hiking.

Brief History

The South Fork Dam was built around the 1850’s by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as part of a canal system to be used as a reservoir for the canal basin in Johnstown. But at some point it was abandoned and sold of to a few different companies and private investors.

During the years that the dam was passed from one investor to another investor, three cast iron discharge pipes that released water had been sold for scrap and concerns about the dams integrity had been raised and sprang leaks with patches made as it did.

In 1881, the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was formed as in exclusive club and retreat in the mountain with 61 wealthy Pittsburgh men and their families.

Members included Congressmen, attorneys, bankers, leaders in the steel and rail road industry, doctors, a senator, and other major heads of companies.

The names included Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, Philander Chase Knox (U.S. Senator and Secretary of State), Andrew W. Mellon, Ducan Clinch Phillips, and Henry Phipps.

The dam held a Lake Conemaugh which was 2 miles long and about a mile wide and up to 60 feet deep with held over 14 million tons of water.

The members of the club used the area to get away from the city and form bonds with each other, invite political leaders, other major business people, and to introduce the younger generation for marriage opportunities. It was planned to be come the Hampton or the Palm Beach of its day but even more private as only club member and their guest could visit.

But on May 31, 1889, only eight years later, the dam broke and raced 14 miles down stream to Johnstown were it killed over 2,200 people and left $17 million dollars in damage. Johnstown was not the only town destroyed as the “Great Flood” took out several other small towns as it made its way downstream.

Many blamed the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club for the flood but when member found out about the flood, attorneys and club members, Philander Knox and James H. Reed, fend off lawsuits arguing that the flood was a natural disaster and an act of God. They also gathered the Club members together to assist victims and swear never to publicly speak about the Club or the Flood.

The investigation launched by the American Society of Civil Engineers was delayed and whitewashed. It was released two years after the flood but if you have enough money….. Nothing happened to the members of the club.

Johnstown Flood Museum

The Johnstown Flood Museum is in the Old Carnegie Library, one of the first of Carnegie Library in the United States which was donated just after the flood destroyed the original library in town.

The place is lovely on the outside but inside it has been redone so it is just a building with a few items from the past library.

The Museum as a deal that you can buy a ticket for it and the Frank & Sylvia Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center which includes the Johnstown Children’s Museum for a special price. I was there on a day that it was closed so I did not get to go to the other museums.

The Johnstown Flood Museum has an interactive map as you walk in. It starts at the Dam and goes down to Johnstown. It lights up as you read the time and the place that it was hitting. This really give you an overview of the disaster.

If you go to the right corner as you walk in, The Oklahoma House is open for you to review. The Oklahoma House is a temporary house erected to shelter the people left homeless by the flood.

An early example of a prefabricated home, it was originally manufactured of homesteaders in the Oklahoma Territory. The one on the property was found on a lot with a larger house as well. It was donated by the Habitat of Humanity and moved to this area for the Johnstown Area Heritage Association.

On the second floor, there are a few more items to look at but look out the windows as well. You can see a bit of the town. They have a great movie by Charles Guggenheim called “The Johnstown Flood”. It tell the complete history of the flood and recover of Johnstown in under 30 minutes. It won the Academy Award and it is incredibly detailed and full of information.

Brief History

In 1863, Henry Dunant, a Swiss Business man, helped form what was to become the International Red Cross. The goal was to help wounded soldiers with with relief assistance and medical aid plus get international treaties for the protection of the medical staff in the field.

Prior to the Red Cross, many soldiers were left dying from wounds were they fell until the sides could come to term about body and wondered soldier recovery. Or the victories would just kill the wounded.

In 1869, Clara Barton was involved with the International Red Cross during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1881, she founded the American Red Cross during the Civil War with John D Rockefeller and four others donating money to create a national headquarters near the White House.

Clara Barton saw the Red Cross become bigger then just for wars and soldiers. Her first major relief effort was in September 1881, during the Thumb Fire in Michigan which left 5,000 people homeless.

The Johnstown Flood killed over 2,200 with thousands more injured and was of the worst disasters in United States history at the time. Clara and five of her workers arrived five days after the flood.

Under her direction, approximately 25,000 people were helped with a distribution of supplies valued at $211,000 (over $6 million in 2020). In addition, “Red Cross Hotels” were built to help those left homeless by the flood.

The American Red Cross was not the only charter of the Red Cross in the United States at the time. The Philadelphia Red Cross also rushed to Johnstown. They specialized in medical relief but most victims need supplies after the initial flood.

Clara stayed in Johnstown until October. She used the exhaustive news coverage to establish the American Red Cross as the major disaster relief agency in the United States. Johnstown gave her a gold pin and a locket with diamonds and amethysts as a goodbye present. Three years later, Johnstown donated $2,596 (about $73,000 in 2020) to the American Red Cross for efforts to relieve the Russian famine.

Johnstown Inclined Plane

The Johnstown Inclined Plane is a wonderful ride up to the top of Yoder Hill. Yes, it is named Yoder Hill. It feels like your climbing to the top of the world and looking down on all the ants running around town. You can see the whole valley as you raise up to the top of the hill.

The ride is a bit bumpy to start up but smooths as you leave the dock. The incline can take cars and people up the hill with a slope of a 71.9% grade.

The ride is only 90 seconds so kept your eyes open as you ride the “world’s steepest vehicular inclined plane” of you might miss the view.

The incline is both on the National Register of Historic Places and a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

To the right of the incline, as you exit, is a great little platform to view the city and to the left, you can go into the gift shop and ice cream shop to purchase gifts or a snack.

A few doors down you can see the inter workings of the incline and/or have a great meal at Asiagos Tuscan Italian Restaurant. It was a lovely restaurant with great service and has windows to look down on the city.

At the top of the incline is also the city of Westmont which has several walking tours and Powell Stackhouse Park. Check them out. Bring your day hiking gear or your bike as there is a lot of trails you can take.

Brief History

The Johnstown Inclined Plane was build in 1891, after the catastrophic flood of 1889 to serve as an escape route and as mode of transport for residents of the new community above the valley called Westmont.

The Inclined was designed by Samuel Diescher who also designed the Duquesne and Fort Pitt inclines in Pittsburgh. The incline original was a steam engine but in 1912, it was replaced by an electric motor.

Originally the Incline used double decker cars with cars, wagons, and large animals on the top deck and passengers on the bottom. But in 1921, they redid them into single decker with cars on one side and people on the other.

On March 17, 1936, the incline final did what it was built for which was shuttle over 4,000 people from Johnstown to the top of Yonder Hill and only stop when the waters rose to high for the Incline to continue to operate.

The Saint Patrick’s Day Flood, as the locals called it, once again flooded the Johnstown. But the cause was different the then 1889 flood. It started raining on March 9th and did not stop until March 22nd. In addition, warmer then normal weather melted the snow in the mountains.

The Saint Patrick’s Day Flood would cost $43 million dollars in damages and 25 peoples lives. But it would also recreate legislation in both state and national government to be created.

In 1936, Pennsylvania in acted a temporary 10% tax on alcohol to assist with the city’s recovery. Six years later, the tax paid $42 million in recovery cost.

But in 1951, the tax was made permanent and the funds went to the state budget. Today, the alcohol tax is 18% in Pennsylvania but the state depends on the “sin taxes” which are tobacco, alcohol, and gambling to balance its budget. In 2015, the “sin taxes” accounted of 7.3% of the state’s revenues.

The Saint Patrick Day Flood also created a letter campaign to President Franklin D. Roosevelt asking for help for the flood victims. The President received over 15,000 letters. The Flood Control Act of 1936 and the Flood Control Act of 1937 started the most extensive flood control policies and improvements in America history.

In 1943, Johnstown began to promote the city as “Flood Free” after the Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported that flood issues were effectively solved.

Of course, calling a place “Flood Free” is just asking for problems. Mother nature always wants to show someone up for that kind of statement.

In 1977, the second greatest flood of Johnstown happened. On the evening of July 19, a thunder storm stalled over the area and almost 12 inches of rain fell in 24 hours and caused not just one dam to fail but six.

The largest was the Laurel Run Dam with 101 million gallons of water which killed 41 people in the village of Tanneryville. Tanneryville lost almost half over their population that evening as their was only 85 people living in the village the night of the flood.

The other five dams would release another 27 million gallons of water. Johnstown was flooded by 6 feet of water before the sun came up. The damages were $117 million in Johnstown and $213 million in the surrounding areas. A total of 84 persons died.

The Johnstown Incline Plane would again provide service to the town shuttling people up the hill and on the return trips carrying boats, emergency personnel, and equipment to aid in the rescue operations for Johnstown and the other valley area towns and villages.

A special note, in 1974 the Corps of Engineers issued a report, “The Potential for Future Flooding in Johnstown Area”. The towns leaders either ignored it or could not afford to do anything about the items issued forth in this report.

Johnstown Stone Bridge

Brief History

In 1888, the Pennsylvania Railroad built a seven arch stone railroad bridge in Johnstown to span the Conemaugh River. The bridge survived the 1889 flood but created even another danger as it blocked tons of debris that was floating down the flooded river.

The debris caught fire and created a fire covering 30 acres. The debris included miles of barbed wire from a destruction of a plant higher up on the river.

Many people had gone to the Johnstown Stone Bridge which looked like a safe place to be for the flood only to be killed by fire. The fire burned for three days. The bridge has been expanded and repaired through the years but it is still standing after all the floods and is still being used by the railroad.

Other Things to do in Johnstown

Since I was only in Johnstown for a day, actually half of a day. I did not get to do a few things or they where closed because it was mid week and September. Those include Heritage Discovery Center, the Sandyvale Memorial Gardens, the Rosedale Coke Facilities, Stackhouse Park, the Roxbury Bandshell, Staple Bend Tunnel, Grandview Cemetery, Wagner-Ritter House & Garden, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Johnstown, and endless trails for hiking and biking including Joseph P Whipey Trail.

Johnstown and the surrounding areas have lots of trails, waterfalls, dams, and other things to see.

Brief History

Johnstown was a budding town along the highway of progress but has slowly died down over the years as several flood have moved people to new areas.

But Johnstown host several events every year including “Thunder in the Valley” (a motorcycle rally), AAABA amateur baseball tournament, The Flood City Music Festival, Sunnehanna Amateur golf tournament, and more.

Johnstown also was the home of several football coaches Tom Bradley and Frank Solich; football players Artrell Hawkins, LaRod Stephens-Holing, John Stofa, Jack Ham, Pete Duranko, and Andrew Hawkins; D.C. Cooper (singer); Count Grog (pro wrestling); Tim Kazurinsky (SNL comedian); Joe Pass (Jazz guitarist); Ray Scott (sportscaster); Steven Diko (Co-creater of Spider-Man); and so many other authors, actors, actresses, journalist, baseball players including Pat Cummings, Generals, Joy Covington (Jefferson Starship drummer), scientist, and others.

The most important in my thoughts is Michael Strank who is one of the six U.S. Marines pictured in the Iwo Jima flag raising during World War II. He died during the battle of of Iwo Jima.