Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown

Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown PDF Author: Pat Farabaugh
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1439673799
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Johnstown is synonymous with floodwaters and steel. When the city was decimated by a flood of biblical proportions in 1889, it was considered one of the worst natural disasters in American history and gained global attention. Sadly, that deluge was only the first of three major floods to claim lives and wreak havoc in the region. The destruction in the wake of the St. Patrick's Day flood in 1936 was the impetus for groundbreaking federal and local flood control measures. Multiple dam failures, including the Laurel Run Dam in July 1977, left a flooded Johnstown with a failing steel industry in ruins. Author Pat Farabaugh charts the harrowing history of Johnstown's great floods and the effects on its economic lifeblood.

Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown

Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown PDF Author: Pat Farabaugh
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1439673799
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Johnstown is synonymous with floodwaters and steel. When the city was decimated by a flood of biblical proportions in 1889, it was considered one of the worst natural disasters in American history and gained global attention. Sadly, that deluge was only the first of three major floods to claim lives and wreak havoc in the region. The destruction in the wake of the St. Patrick's Day flood in 1936 was the impetus for groundbreaking federal and local flood control measures. Multiple dam failures, including the Laurel Run Dam in July 1977, left a flooded Johnstown with a failing steel industry in ruins. Author Pat Farabaugh charts the harrowing history of Johnstown's great floods and the effects on its economic lifeblood.

Johnstown Flood

Johnstown Flood PDF Author: David McCullough
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416561226
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
The stunning story of one of America’s great disasters, a preventable tragedy of Gilded Age America, brilliantly told by master historian David McCullough. At the end of the nineteenth century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation’s burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite repeated warnings of possible danger, nothing was done about the dam. Then came May 31, 1889, when the dam burst, sending a wall of water thundering down the mountain, smashing through Johnstown, and killing more than 2,000 people. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal. Graced by David McCullough’s remarkable gift for writing richly textured, sympathetic social history, The Johnstown Flood is an absorbing, classic portrait of life in nineteenth-century America, of overweening confidence, of energy, and of tragedy. It also offers a powerful historical lesson for our century and all times: the danger of assuming that because people are in positions of responsibility they are necessarily behaving responsibly.

Official History of the Johnstown Flood

Official History of the Johnstown Flood PDF Author: Frank Connelly
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Floods
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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The Johnstown Flood

The Johnstown Flood PDF Author: Herman Dieck
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271045396
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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The Johnstown Flood

The Johnstown Flood PDF Author: Emma Huddleston
Publisher: ABDO
ISBN: 1532176589
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 51

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Book Description
In 1889, a downpour of rain caused the South Fork Dam to collapse. A huge wave of water rushed into Johnstown, killing thousands of people. The Johnstown Floodexamines the scope of the disaster, its causes, and how people can keep a similar disaster from happening again. Easy-to-read text, vivid images, and helpful back matter give readers a clear look at this subject. Features include a table of contents, infographics, a glossary, additional resources, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Core Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

The Johnstown Horror!!!, Or, Valley of Death

The Johnstown Horror!!!, Or, Valley of Death PDF Author: James Herbert Walker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dam failures
Languages : en
Pages : 542

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The Johnstown Horror!!! Or, Valley of Death, Being a Complete and Thrilling Account of the Awful Floods and Their Appalling Ruin

The Johnstown Horror!!! Or, Valley of Death, Being a Complete and Thrilling Account of the Awful Floods and Their Appalling Ruin PDF Author: James H. Walker
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 027104635X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description
Sensationalized history can be credited with inspiring generations of truth-seeking experts and enthusiasts. The tragedy of the Johnstown Flood was an oft-exploited event as writers and publishers hawked hastily written articles in original form or pirated collections. Where many of the articles lacked fact, they were rife with exaggeration and imagination. James Herbert Walker published one of the very first of these books, The Johnstown Horror, a pamphlet of some 40 pages. Experts cite the book as being sold in New York within a week of the disaster. Though the structure suggests the stories were gathered at rail stations in an apparent journey to the site, there has been debate whether Walker ever traveled to Johnstown. Yet the collection features accounts that do not appear in other publications following the flood. Later, expanded editions swelled to over four hundred pages and included well-crafted woodcuts. As the flood occurred near the end of the nineteenth century, the engraved drawings are often generously labeled as remnants of Victorian art. It is not clear whether the inclusion of the cuts was an aesthetic or monetary decision, considering the period's developments in photography. The final, massive collection of individual stories makes the book memorable, ranging from the accusations levied against wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists to the emergence of the Red Cross. So many unique details and personal chronicles capture the frantic mentality of a town, state, and nation trying to make sense of natural and yet not-so-natural disaster.

Johnstown’s Flood of 1889

Johnstown’s Flood of 1889 PDF Author: Neil M. Coleman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319952161
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Science now reveals the true cause of the dam breach flood that destroyed Johnstown in 1889. The tragic loss of more than 2200 lives was preventable; the initial investigation of the flood was hijacked, delayed, and distorted by powerful members of the industrial elite. This book bridges the gap between history and science, reexamining eyewitness accounts of the flood and historic documents about the investigation, and applying new LiDAR, GPS, and hydraulic studies to solve the mystery – what caused the Great Flood of 1889? The book includes a notable chapter on the “sister” of the South Fork Dam, “The Forgotten Dam” at Hollidaysburg, PA.

The Johnstown Flood of 1889

The Johnstown Flood of 1889 PDF Author: Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781985645578
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the flood written by survivors *Includes a bibliography for further reading "The deluge released by the dam's collapse carried more than 12,000 cubic meters of debris-filled water each second. Flow rates in the Mississippi River typically vary between 7,000 and 20,000 cubic meters per second." - Sid Perkins, Science News, Vol.176 In 2005, the world watched in horror as Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans, and the calamity seemed all the worse because many felt that technology had advanced far enough to prevent such tragedies, whether through advanced warning or engineering. However, the failure of human engineering like that seen in New Orleans was nothing new, and it had previously had even deadlier consequences in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Although floods rarely get as much coverage as other kinds of natural disasters like volcanic explosions, the Johnstown Flood of 1889 has remained an exception due to the sheer destruction and magnitude of the disaster. On May 31, 1889, Johnstown became a casualty of a combination of heavy rains and the failure of the South Fork Dam to stem the rising water levels of Lake Conemaugh about 15 miles away. The dam's inability to contain the water and its subsequent collapse resulted in a catastrophic flood that swept through the town with virtually no warning. With water flowing at a rate equivalent to the Mississippi River, a tide of water and debris 60 feet high and traveling 40 miles per hour in some places surged through Johnstown and swept away people and property alike. The flood ultimately resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 people and destroyed thousands of buildings, wreaking damages estimated to be the equivalent of nearly half a billion dollars today. In 1889, the Johnstown Flood was the deadliest natural disaster in American history, and though it was later surpassed by other events, the unprecedented nature of the flood led to relief efforts never before seen, including by the Red Cross. The Johnstown Flood also led to a change in laws as people tried and failed to recoup damages caused by the collapse of the dam and the subsequent flood. The Johnstown Flood of 1889 chronicles the story America's deadliest natural disaster during the 19th century. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Johnstown Flood like never before, in no time at all.

The Johnstown Flood

The Johnstown Flood PDF Author: Herman Dieck
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Disasters
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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