Devastation of the Johnstown Flood (1889)
A house toppled, pierced by a tree in its second story. The house next to it tilted and broke, as if someone shoved it over, and debris laying all about. This image from the Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood of 1889 shows the extensive damage the flood wrought. The devastation was caused by the failure of the South Fork Dam/. The owners of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club purchased the dam in 1875, patching some problem areas and lowering the dam to widen it for carriages.
The dam, after years of malfunction and patchwork solutions, gave way on May 31, 1889, after days of heavy rains. 20,000,000 raged across the city, killing 2,209 people, 1,600 homes, and destroying the town sitting in the valley below. Despite the devastation to the house, all six of its occupants, the Schultz family, survived.
