Joe Holtan
Geography 361
J. Hupy
12/10/10
Review of “The Johnstown Flood” written by David McCullough
When it comes to current and/or recent events of the last 20 years, I would say that I am pretty knowledgeable. Everyone knows of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as the attacks on Pearl Harbor. When I say the words “Johnstown Flood”, what comes to mind? Before reading the book, “The Johnstown Flood” by David McCullough, I knew nothing of it. Not only was it the worst inland flood in US history, but a disaster that deserves the awareness and respect just as much as current disasters such as hurricane Katrina in 2004. This flood was a devastating event not only for the state of Pennsylvania, but the whole United States.
In 1889, the city of Johnstown had a population of 30,000 inhabitants. This area was growing rapidly due to its industry and quality of steel. McCullough goes into great detail to help you dive into the environment. Excitement was abundant throughout the city as it began to thrive. There was however a divide among wealth. The rich tended to own land on the high ground while the lower class were left to low ground. Johnstown is near the Conemaugh Valley and the Alleghany Mountain range. Up on top of this terrain is the Conemaugh Lake. Within this lake was a dam called the South Fork Dam. It began construction in 1838 and was finished in 1853 as a canal system between the states. As trains became more useful and popular, the canal system seemed more or less useless and was abandoned. There it rested until a group of men made history.
The book continues into chapter 2 and begins talking about Benjamin Ruff and Henry Clay Frick. Ruff was a businessman of many trades from being a coke salesman to a real estate broker. He bought the South Fork Dam and the lake as well. Ruff and Frick joined forces and, “A charter was drawn up stating that the name of the organization was to be the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of Pittsburgh.” (McCullough, 1987). Ruff became the president of the club. The club was created as a sort of vacation spot for the elite of the Pittsburgh area. The dam however was old and needed repair. They did do minor fixes to the dam but it still lacked true stability.
The city of Johnstown was not ignorant to floods due to its location near the Stony Creek and Little Conemaugh River. These tended to flood now and again because of man made restrictions to the river near the city. With these previous experiences of floods, Johnstown may have thought they were ready. One thing is for sure; they did not foresee what was coming for them.
Storms from near Kentucky were headed towards Johnstown and Conemaugh Lake. McCullough pulls you into the experiences through different characters thoughout the book. One character is that of Elias Unger. The morning of the disaster, Unger had checked on the dam after the long rainfall, which had still continued. Noticing that it was close to cresting over the dam he tried with friends to do what he could. They tried notifying South Fork to contact Johnstown of the more than likely disaster. South Fork however did not take the warning very seriously. After much work and exhausting effort, they decided to halt at 1:30 P.M. The dam eventually did break at about 3:10 and all hell broke loose. Unger describes the scene stating, “Oh, it seemed to me as if all the destructive elements of the Creator had been turned lose at once in that awful current of water.” (McCullough, 1987).
The flood released a mind blowing 20 million tons of water! This is about 4.8 billion gallons of water stampeding down the hill headed straight for Johnstown. Smaller cities along the way were hit from this flood rushing down but no major quantity of deaths occurred due to a preemptive warning and use of evacuating to higher ground. As the flood got closer to Johnstown, it began creating more damage with the debris carried along through the water. McCullough does a great job by interpreting real life stories of this catastrophe and placing them in throughout the book.
The flood finally hits Johnstown and it completely tramples all over it. The pain and suffering it almost overwhelming as McCullough goes through vivid reenactments of the event. The reason why the death and devastation was so great in Johnstown was because there was no warning. The wall of water came at speeds of 40 mph and some areas reached over 60 feet high. With no warning there was almost nothing that the people could do. I was very pleased to see the use of great photography within the book. The middle of the book dedicates about 15 pages to these historical photos and illustrations. These helped visualize the situation and the total devastation. The total death toll for the flood was 2, 209.
The following days were the only thing that was in the news. “Newspaper circulations broke all records. For days on end, one edition after another sold out almost as soon as it hit the streets.” (McCullough, 1987). Blame soon was the word on the streets as the people began to point fingers. Unger was a name that was soon under fire, “The reporters later called it a lynch mob and said they were bent on killing Unger.” (McCullough, 1987). Frick came to become and is still known as one of Americans most hated men. Frick’s negligence of the dam was the reason for these accusations among the people. The book wraps up with mitigation efforts and what had happened to the town after the event. The end has a great quote that I had to highlight by Robert Pattison which goes, “We who have to do with the concentrated forces of nature, the powers of air, electricity, water, steam, by careful forethought must leave nothing undone for the preservation and protection of the lives of our brother men.” (McCullough, 1987)
I thought the book was very well written. The difference between this flood and something like 9/11 is staggering. With 9/11, it brought our nation together in a sort of rally. This even on the other hand leaves you with a sense of hopelessness and devastation. It is pain of suffering and embarrassment of specific humans making such errors that cost many lives. McCullough truly pulls on your emotions throughout the book. His intense research and interviewing with people who lived through this comes out in his work wonderfully.
Something that I did notice with this book was that it read like a textbook. I was a little annoyed with this while I was reading but the topic and writing was so good I pretty much forgot about it. He also tended to jump around chronologically a bit and through in some almost irrelevant information, which I found unnecessary.
If you want to find a book that is very intriguing and almost like a fiction yet really happened, I think “The Johnstown Flood” is the book for you. I am very pleased with my selection. I found it entertaining and crucial in understanding about our history. We can learn a lot about ourselves though the past and I think this story is a great tool.
Sources:
McCullough, David G. The Johnstown Flood. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. Print.
