Johnstown Flood National Memorial

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The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, a summer resort clubhouse that
flourished in the decade preceding the Johnstown Flood. The South Fork Club owned
the dam and reservoir that collapsed in May 1889 causing the catastrophic flood.
Photo courtesy of the Friends of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial.

Johnstown Flood National Memorial

733 Lake Road

South Fork, PA

Website:  Johnstown Flood National Memorial

Friends of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial

The Treasure:  Located on the shore of a giant reservoir called Lake Conemaugh, the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was witness to unimaginable tragedy on May 31, 1889, when the dam broke unleashing a catastrophic flood.

Accessibility:  The park grounds of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial are open daily from sunrise to sunset, and the Visitor Center is open from 9 to 5. During current restabilization work, the interior of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club will only be accessible on special tours.

A scene of the flood's aftermath.
From the Robert N. Dennis Collection
of Stereoscopic Views at the
New York Public Library.
Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Background:  As with modern instances of catastrophic tragedy, like the September 11 terrorist attacks, the large story of the Johnstown Flood encompasses thousands of smaller stories, each grounded in individual lives that were instantly and irrevocably changed. When the dam collapsed, it unleashed 20 million tons of water that burst through a series of small towns before smashing into the City of Johnstown. In just under an hour, the water swept down a narrow 14-mile path, picking up trees, remnants of buildings, debris of all sorts, animals, and people, sometimes rising to a height of 60 feet. In the words of one witness, it looked like “a huge hill rolling over and over.”

The death toll exceeded 2,200.  Photographs taken later, during the rescue operations, depict the small villages of South Fork, Mineral Point, East Conemaugh, and Woodvale and the city of Johnstown smashed to pieces.

Stereoscopic view showing the desolation in front of Johnstown's Stone Bridge.
From the Robert N. Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views at the
New York Public Library.  Source:  Wikimedia Commons.

Debris on Main Street in Johnstown.
From the Robert N. Dennis Collection
of Stereoscopic Views at the
New York Public Library.
Source:  Wikimedia Commons

The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club played a controversial role in the flood. Unlike the working class environment of Johnstown, the South Fork Club was a rustic getaway location for some of the country’s wealthiest industrialists. Andrew Mellon, Henry Frick, and Andrew Carnegie were among the members who enjoyed waterfront access to the giant reservoir called Lake Conemaugh, up in a mountain summer resort 450 feet above Johnstown. The Club owned the dam and, notoriously, did little to maintain it.

To their credit, leaders at the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club saw potential disaster unfolding in the torrential rain that preceded the dam collapse. In the hours before the dam gave way, Club president Elias Unger and resident engineer John Parke strove to save the dam and warn people in danger’s way. But it was too little too late. Parke saw the water break through:  “(T)he fearful rushing waters opened the gap with such increasing rapidity that soon after the entire lake leaped out… It took but forty minutes to drain that three miles of water.”

Stereoscopic view of the nearly-emptied reservoir following the flood.
From the Robert N. Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views at the
New York Public Library.  Source:  Wikimedia Commons.

Other Recommended Sites:  Another site connected with profound national trauma is located less than an hour’s drive from the Johnstown Flood National Memorial. Flight 93 National Memorial is located 37 miles south of the park. The site commemorates the heroic actions of the passengers and crew that brought down United Airlines Flight 93, crashing it into an empty field two miles north of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in order to foil the plans of terrorists on board.

Wealthy members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club would vacation in cottages along
Lake Conemaugh.  This cottage has been restored to reflect its appearance in the days before the flood.
Photo courtesy of the Friends of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial.

Stabilization work in progress at the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club.
Photo courtesy of the Friends of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial.

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