Vacation Day 3: Johnstown

Saturday, September 23, 2017

My road trip had been planned for a few months when I watched The Men Who Built America on the History Channel.  While watching the hours long documentary, I learned about Johnstown, PA or I should say the Johnstown Flood.  I could not research this topic fast enough.  Through the research I found, I decided that a stop in Johnstown was doable on my upcoming road trip.

The Johnstown Flood took place in 1889 after a dam break along the Conemaugh River.  The dam was built in the 1830s-1850s.  The property, including the dam, was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad.  Henry Frick (remember this guy?), along with some of his high dollar buddies decided to purchase what was at this time abandoned property.  The dam was in desperate need of maintenance!  To drive home the dam's need for maintenance, the town was often put on notice that the dam situation was hairy.  Well when the big wigs decided to purchase the property to build a fancy club house, they made several changes to the dam area one of them being to lower the dam in order to widen the road ALL because they needed the road wide enough to get their carriages across...sure that makes perfect sense (insert eye roll here).  'Band aids' were placed on the dam repairs.  A club house, along with several houses, were constructed for Henry Frick and his friends.  On a morning in May 1889 a rainstorm had developed and the expected rainfall was 6+ inches that day.  The rain of course caused an increase in rivers, rivers became congested with fallen debris, power lines were downed and the railroad (in some areas) was completely washed away.  All of this is now in the Conemaugh River and heading straight for the weakened dam at Johnstown.  A individual employed by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, who lived in a house overlooking the Conemaugh River, noticed that the river was swollen and that the dam was in danger (ummm pretty sure that dam had been in 'danger' for months/years).  He ordered a group of men to attempt to 'help' the weaken dam.  After hours of working, they realized their efforts were not helping and the inevitable (flooding) was going to happen.  They had a wire issued to the town of Johnstown that the dam was in danger of potentially breaking.  However, the wire didn't reach the town in time.

The pressure on the already weakened dam was too much and the dam broke.   2,200+ individuals died as a result of the flood.  Bodies continued to be found years later...

 Names of the victims.


The 3 above photos are from the museum showing damage from the flood.
Looking down on where the river had originally been dammed
Unger's House (he was the president of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club)
The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club House.

This area has a lot of history and a lot more to see in regards to the Johnstown Flood.  I purchased a couple of books from the museum so I could learn even more about this historical event (you know me...always ready to learn learn learn!).

After leaving Johnstown, PA, I hit the road to Buffalo, NY.  Good news is that I was still able to take some back roads!  Those back roads led to me finding the bridge that was used in the filming of The Mothman Prophecies.  If you haven't seen this film you should...Richard Gere is in the movie which is reason alone to watch it, am I right?!

I arrived in Buffalo, NY around 4p.  I headed over to my friends, Lindsey and Brian's house to enjoy time hanging out and eating pizza and wings.  They then introduced me to Tim Horton's.  Tim Horton's has all kinds of coffee drinks (I had a complete sugar overload on a pumpkin spice drink!) and donuts.  It is so good and I completely understand why the line will be wrapped around the building and into the streets in the mornings!  I met Lindsey a few years ago on a archaeological dig at James Madison's Montpelier.  We became fast friends and have been friends since that trip.  It was great getting to hang out with friends and many thanks to them for introducing me to Buffalo.

Has anyone visited the Johnstown Memorial Flood Memorial?  Thoughts about what/who caused the flood?  Stay tuned for Vacation Day 4 as I adventured to Niagara Falls  and one of the prettiest cemeteries I've ever explored.

Happy Travels,
Amber

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