On May 31, 1889, The main main [sic] thrust of the 30-foot wave from the broken South Fork Dam smashed into the hillside to your left, sparing the PRR stone bridge from its full impact. The bridge held, its arches clogged with debris. The raging waters then cut a channel through the railroad embankment on the bridge's east side leaving wreckage spread over 30 acres behind it. Escaped, the waters went on to destroy half the houses and 115 people in Millvale on the Conemaugh River's east side, and to wipe out 148 homes and 350 lives in Cambria City on the west side.

Piled 15 feet higher than the bridge the debris caught fire and burned for three days - a funeral pyre for the 300 bodies later found there. A dynamite crew from Pittsburgh was needed to clear the impacted jam to help avoid the threat of pestilence.

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Show me all markers in:  Johnstown, PA  |  Cambria County  |  15901  |  Pennsylvania  |  United States of America

Flood Prevention
Johnstown Local Flood Protection Project
A Success Story
Johnstown Flood
American Red Cross
Johns Street Bridge
Walnut Street Bridge
Oklahoma House
Cambria Library
Cambria Iron Company Office

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