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
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
Col. E. J. Unger
Q. (Col.) Unger, I wish you would state whether you were up at the South Fork dam in the latter part of May, and I wish you would state about what time it commenced to rain, and what was the character of therein?
A. I was there on Thursday evening; there w as [sic] no rain then, but it was cloudy, and thewater [sic] was very low, but on Firday [sic] morning, when I got up at six o'clock, the valley below me seemed to be all under water, and I couldn't understand what all that meant.
Q. You slept in a house near the dam, did you?
A. Yes, sir, 200 yards off. I got my gum coat and gum boots on and went down, and found it was rising at the rate of about ten inches an hour in the dam, and was pretty well up then; within four or five feet of the top of thebreast [sic] of the dam. I saw the way it was rising, it wouldn't be very long until it would get full. I couldn't tell how much water was coming; I came to the conclusion that I would cut an extra waste way, and sent for the Italians and the tools and went right to work.
Q. How many Italians had you up there?
A. About 20, but I only put about 13 on this work; they were all I could use. They were up there engaged in building a sewer. I sent for them and soon got them to work.
Q. Which side of the dam?
A. The west side. The face of the embankment there was solid ground, and I knew it couldn't wash that out right away. The people there protested against it; they said "If you cut that waste weir there, you will ruin the whole business"; and I said, "It won't matter much; it will be ruined anyhow if I can't get rid of this water." I got that cut---
Q. How deep a ditch was it and how wide?
A. About six or eight feet wide; and I couldn't just say how deep it was; it got deeper you know when the water commenced to run through. It left out a big volume of water. About 8 o'clock our\ [sic] stage went down or half-past eight, and some of them looked at me and asked me how things were, and I told them "Serious", and I just staid right there from that time until a quarter past one, doing what I could to relieve the water, but the waste way was full up, and the little waste w% [sic] was also full, and it was running over the top of the embankment for nearly three hours. I don't know exactly how deep, but it went over the top. And about a quarter, as near as I can remember, of three, it went out.
Q. Did it go out all at once, with a burst?
A. No, sir, just little by little, until it got a headway, and when it got cut through, it just went like a flash.
Q. How long was it until the dam was emptied?
A. Inside of an hour. That man Parke, as near as I can remember, came up about 11 o'clock to see how we were getting along.
Q. Who was Parke?
A. He was our engineer on the water works. And I told him to go down to South Fork and notify them that there was great danger.
Q. What time did you send him?
A. Between 11 and 12 o'clock. I had my watch in (my) pocket, but didn't look at it.
Q. He went down, didhe? [sic]
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What time did he get back?
A. In the course of an hour. He reported that he had notifies them.
Q. Did he say who he had notified?
A. He didn't mention any names?
Q. Now, Mr. Unger, was there verything [sic] done that possibly could be done to prevent that dam going ou t? [sic]
A. Yes, sir, there was.
Q. Did you think that dam, except for this extraordinary flood, and three hours of water running over it, would have gone at all?
A. It would not have.
Q. How high did you ever see the water there before? The biggest flood you\ever [sic] saw?
A. Four feet of the top.
Q. When the water got up, after it had run between two and three hours, could you give us an idea of the thickness of the volume of water that went over the dam?
A. No, I couldn't.
Q. Was it one, two, or three feet?
A. I can't tell. I didn't measure it and didn't go near, because it was very dangerous to go in there.
Q. Do you recollect the flood of last August that flooded Johnstown?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How deep was the water in the dam then?
A. It was up within four feet of the top.
Q. Was there any evidence of insecurity about the dam then?
A. Nothing at all; not in the slightest.
Q. In all your observation of that dam, did you ever see anything to lead you or any other members of the club to the belief that there was anything unsafe?
A. Nothing at all; it was considered very safe. When the bonds were issued for the building of new water works, there was only a few got them, because they were picked right up so soon, and if they hadn't considered the dam safe, they wouldn't have taken them; and another thing, there was an investment of one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, and if the people considered the dam unsafe, they wouldn't have b een [sic] foolish enough to put their money in there. The dam was tighter and less water went through than when it was first built.
Q. How large was this waste weir to take the water off?
A. 75 feet wide.
Q. On which side was it?
A. On the east side.
Q. And how much lower was that weir than the breast of the dam ?
A. About eight feet as near as I can tell.
Q. So that there was ----- [sic] a passage way 75 feet wife [sic] and eight feet deep for a waste wier.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How high did the water ever get up with reference to that weir. Did you ever see it run out of that waste weir?
A. Yes, sir, it did that time when it flooded Johnstown before, and it discharged all the water.
Q. So that the time of this last flood, it filled that w aste [sic] weir up to eight feet of the top of the dam, and then for three hours it flowed over the top?
A. Yes, sir, over the top and this new waste way besides, which did great execution as regards relieving the water.
Q. Do you know whether the dam was ever repaired from time to time by anybody?
A. It was.
Q. By whom?
A. The Club; and Mr. Pitcairn had men up there looking after it.
Q. Do you know Mr. Ehrenfeld?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was he there?
A. Yes, sir, he did some repairing; he had some men there to do some work below the dam; of course, it pertained to the whole business; and the engineer was there; I don't remember his name; I gave a dinner to the engineer when he was there.
Q. What time did Col. Ruff die , do you recollect?
A. I don't remember the time exactly.
Q. Had he been around there considerably?
A. Yes, sir, on the day of his death, there was a wagon load of fruit trees came up for his cottage at the lake.
Q. Did he die suddenly?
A. He did.
Q. Col. Ruff was a contractor and engineer, I believe?
A. I don't know in regard to his engineering qualities; he was a contractor.
Q. What was the character of his work?
A. It was considered good.
Q. What kind, I mean.
A. He built embankments, and did much work as that dam was; and/ [sic] he built part of the West Penn Railroad.
Q. Who was it built the dam after it broke away? Who had charge of the work?
A. Col. Ruff, and Nathan McDowell. He assisted Col. Ruff in building it.
Q. So that you had the benefit of the experience of Col. Ruff as a contractor, and Nathan McDowell as an engineer.
A. Yes, sir, Nathan was considered the engineer.
Q. That was after the South Fork Club was organized?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And who work was done and paid for by them?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And the work was done and paid for by the [sic]
And I on many occasions went around there to see about the leakage, and I found it was less as the dam got older. When the dam was originally built, they built it without stopping the water; they put in immense rocks, and the water went through those rocks; your see, as near as I can remember, the embankment was 250 or 300 yards at the bottom, so that they could put in an immense quantity of rocks there, and when they were ready to stop the water, they put hay and spruce boughs in front of it, and that stopped the water right away; I don't know how high it was then, but not very high, and then they went down there with carts, and clay was put in parts of it and ground in other parts; and the water was stopped by this hay and spruce boughs; that made it tight; that w as [sic] away down at the bottom, and it had a big surface of ground at the bottom. I don't know how many carts were engaged there, but there were 30 or 40 carts. The breadth of the breast of the bottom was 300 feet.
Q. From one side of the valley to the other, what was the distance?
A. Nearly 900 feet.
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