Making the wave even more terrifying was the black pall of smoke and steam that hung over itthe death mist remembered by survivors. The property became South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Built for the super rich of 1800s, the sporting club, catered to a very wealthy clientele from nearby Pittsburgh. The water took its natural course, dropping 450 feet in 14 miles, at times 70 to 75 feet high, and reaching speeds of 40 miles per hour. Although the South Fork Dam was completed in 1988, the reservoir was not completely filled until 1995, making the reservoir the newest one in the state as of this writing. However, the telegraph lines were down and the warning did not reach Johnstown. By 1889, the dam was in dire need of repairs. "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania", "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club Historic District", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=South_Fork_Fishing_and_Hunting_Club&oldid=1109599238. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was a Pennsylvania corporation which operated an exclusive and secretive retreat at a mountain lake near South Fork, Pennsylvania, for more than fifty extremely wealthy men and their families. Warning! Weak Dam | WORLDkids Contributions from the United States and abroad totaled over $3,700,000. The history of the South Fork Dam is a story of an immense . Under Ruffs ownership the area became the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Clubof which elite members included Andrew Carnegie and Henry Frick. 1840-1841-Construction finally began; contractors were James Morehead of Pittsburgh and Hezekiah Packer of Williamsport. (Photo credit: Library of Congress / Getty Images). The residents of Johnstown heard the speeding wall of death, a roar like thunder. [2] Ruff, while he was not a civil engineer, had a background that included being a railroad tunnel contractor and supervised the repairs to the dam, which did not include a successful resolution of the inability to discharge the water and substantially lower the lake for repair purposes. (1)Mills, K. (2013). "The Johnstown Flood", by Robert D. Christie. The failure of the South Fork Dam, which affected Johnstown, is currently regarded as the worst dam failure in U.S history. They determined that contrary to the clubs claims, the dam had been lowered by three feet, not one, and that the changes reduced the dams ability to discharge stormwater by half. Charter of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Simply put, the South Fork Dam had by then become a ticking time bomb, one that would timeout and detonate during the mid-afternoon of Friday, May 31st, 1889. At approximately 3 PM in the afternoon the dam gave way, millions of tons of water poured into the valley and the city. In the list to be disposed of are fifty bedroom suites, many yards of carpet, silverware and table ware with the club monogram engraved thereon and many odd pieces of furniture and bric-a-brac. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). (2013). Residents of Pennsylvania are still paying for it through a tax on alcohol. South Fork Dam (Pennsylvania, 1889) - Lessons Learned The Johnstown Flood would become one of the worst natural disasters ever seen in this country. The Influence of Dam Failures on Dam Safety Laws in Pennsylvania. Lessons Learned From Dam Failures. (1)Mills, K. (2013). 2023 BygonelyPrivacy policyTerms of ServiceContact us. The disaster resulted from incessant and unprecedented rainfall. In 1879 a group of wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists, including such men as Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, formed the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and bought the dam and the reservoiras an exclusive and somewhat secret summer resort.

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