General Information
Welcome
The Dam
The Club
Colonel Unger
Details
Dam Building
Start of Club
Club Members
Bibliography
The Victims
Eye Witnesses
US Disasters
Last Updated:
November 27, 1998
http://www.nps.gov/jofl
Park eMail:
Johnstown Flood NM
Author:
Jason Earnest
Editor:
Diane Garcia
General Information
Welcome
The Dam
The Club
Colonel Unger
Details
Dam Building
Start of Club
Club Members
Bibliography
The Victims
Eye Witnesses
US Disasters
Last Updated:
November 27, 1998
http://www.nps.gov/jofl
Park eMail:
Johnstown Flood NM
Author:
Jason Earnest
Editor:
Diane Garcia
General Information
Welcome
The Dam
The Club
Colonel Unger
Details
Dam Building
Start of Club
Club Members
Bibliography
The Victims
Eye Witnesses
US Disasters
D. W. C. Bidw ell [sic]
Q. I wish you would state in your own way w hether [sic] you w ere [sic] up at South Fork dam at the time of the big flood, what time you went there, and what you saw.
A. I left here on Wednesday, May 29th, andwent [sic] to South Fork, and went to the Club House of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club . Thursday, it commenced to rain---Thursday [sic] evening i t [sic] rained very hard. I noticed on the way up from the station at South Fork to the dam that the roads were very bad, and showed there had been a great deal of rain falling. The roads were unusually bad. On Thursday evening, itrained [sic] veryhard; [sic] Thursday night, the rain appeared to come down i torrents; it seemed as if a cataract had broken loose. I got up in my room, fearful that some damage would occur to the building, opened the windows to see if I could see anything outside to note the extent of the rainstorm. On Friday morning, we left the Club House at 8 o'clock and passed over the dam about half-past eight, at which time the water was rising at the rate of ten inches an hour. The water was then, as near as I could estimate, within four feet of the top of the dam. The weste weir was running out its full capacity---a large volume of water---
Q. Do you know what the size of that waste weir was?
A. 75 feet wide, and I think it was nearly 15 feet in depth from the bottom of the weir to the top of the dam.
Q. Which side of the dam was it on?
A. On the east side; it was cut through the rock.
Q. Mr. Bidwell, how many years had you been in the habit of going up to South Fork before this flood?
A. Only two years.
Q. Had you seen a flood or floods in the Conemaugh before this last one?
A. Last August we had a very heavy rain, and the water was up within about four feet of the crest of the dam.
Q. Did the dam hold secure in every way?
A. The dam held the water securely.
Q. After you left the dam that morning, where did you go?
A. I went down to the station at South Fork. The rain continued that day. It rained all that day Friday. I got down to South Fork at nine o'clock, and I watched the rising of the Conemaugh creek in the rear of the station house from nine until twelve o'clock. The creek rose seven feet.
Q. Could you tell that by marks?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What were they?
A. We had marks on the trees and fences. We would go out from time to time, and used to note the rise of the water during that time. The road bridge just above the station was carried out by the flood. The creek rose to the foot of the embankment at the station house; by that time, it had flooded the bottom between the opposite bank and the station house.
Q. Had it driven the people out of their houses?
A. Well, there are not very many houses along the creek; there were some outbuildings, and they were flooded out.
Q. What do you know of any notice being sent down there by Mr. Unger?
A. I saw Mr. Parke, the engineer in charge of the work at the Club grounds; I saw him come down there on horseback,and [sic] stop in front of the Supply Company's store and make a statement to the people standing about that the water was then running over the top of the dam, and there was very great danger of it giving was. There w as [sic] also a messenger sent up from South Fork on horseback,leaving [sic] about11 [sic] o'clock, who returned about 12, and made the same statement to us; that the water was then running over the crest of the dam.
Q. What time was it that Mr. Parke made that announcement in front of the store?
A. Mr. Parke was there, I think, about half-past 12. This other man I speak of, got down first, and Parke about 12.30.
Q. Where were you when the dam broke?
A. I was standing up near the station at South Fork?
Q. Did you see it coming?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did it look like?
A. Well, it came in a large volume with a good deal of debris. All this time it was raining, and I was standing at the station house, watching the creek, and going outside with my umbrella and standing in the rain to see what was going on outside, and about half-past 2 o'clock, I had a conversation with Mr. Dougherty about the passenger train standing in the bend of the road at the tower. The New York and Chicago Limited came there with a train of six cars in the morning, and Mr. Dougherty got the engineer to run his train up past the station; and as that train went up above the station, a freight train standing in at the left on the switch near the Supply Company store, started up also and got up out of the way. There was a freight train standing on the right hand siding down at the coal works that started, and had very little steam on the engine, and the locomotive just got over the iron bridge when the flood struck it, and carried off the train. There was nothing left there but the locomotive.
Q. And all the tracks where the trains had been standing, were washed over, were they?
A. Yes, sir, and the iron bridge was carried out; and the tower house was taken out.
Q. You think Mr. Dougherty was entitled to the credit of sending the Limited over the bridge?
A. I can't see that he was any more than I was. I spoke to him about it, and we concluded it was more safe to bring them ov er [sic] than where they were standing. I spoke to Mr. Dougherty as I considered he would have more influence with the enginer [sic] than I would. I thought afterwards it was a very (g)ood thing to get that train out of the way. That was a very remarkable circumstance, Mr. Hampton. I was up in the tower house not more than half an hour before the dam broke, trying to get information about the trains, as I w as trying to get away from there; I wanted to come in to Pittsburgh. Fortunately, the windows around the tower house gave the operator an opportunity to see up the creek, and she saw the water coming and had time to get out. It came very quickly, and there was very little time for escape.
Return to the List of Witnesses