Johnstown Flood

David McCullough

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780671207144
• eBook ISBN: 9781416561224
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

The stunning story of one of America’s great disasters, a preventable tragedy of Gilded Age America, brilliantly told by master historian David McCullough.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation’s burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite repeated warnings of possible danger, nothing was done about the dam. Then came May 31, 1889, when the dam burst, sending a wall of water thundering down the mountain, smashing through Johnstown, and killing more than 2,000 people. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal.

Graced by David McCullough’s remarkable gift for writing richly textured, sympathetic social history, The Johnstown Flood is an absorbing, classic portrait of life in nineteenth-century America, of overweening confidence, of energy, and of tragedy. It also offers a powerful historical lesson for our century and all times: the danger of assuming that because people are in positions of responsibility they are necessarily behaving responsibly.

List of Victims

Total Number Lost, 2,209

This list, dated July 31, 1890, is the one printed in the Johnstown Tribune fourteen months after the Flood.

GRAND VIEW CEMETERY.

[Buried in private lots in Grand View.]

Alexander, Arailia K., Broad street.

Andrews, John, Sr., 57, John street.

Arther, Mrs. Alice, 29, Water street.

Bantley, William G., 36, Third Ward.

Bantley, Mrs. Ella, 30, Third Ward.

Bantley, George L., 6 months, Third Ward.

Barbour, Mrs. Mary, 25, Woodvale.

Barbour, Florence, 4, Woodvale.

Barley, Mrs. Barbara, 56, Woodvale.

Barley, Nancy, 29, Woodvale.

Barley, Viola, 9, Woodvale.

Beam, Dr. Lemon T., 55, Market street.

Beam, Charles C., 4, Market street.

Beam, Dr. W. C., 35, Locust street.

Beam, Mrs. Clara, 32, Locust street.

Beckley, E. E., 23, Main street.

Bending, Mrs. Elizabeth, 48, Locust street.

Bending, Jessie, 24, Locust street.

Bending, Katie, 15, Locust street.

Beneigh, John C., 65, Cambria.

Benford, Mrs. E. E., 63, Hulbert House.

Benford, Maria, 34, Hulbert House.

Benford, May, 26, Hulbert House.

Benford, Louis, 30, Hulbert House.

Benshoff, J. Q. A., 62, Somerset street.

Benshoff, Arthur, 27, Somerset street.

Bowman, Nellie, 9, Haynes street.

Bowman, Charles H., 7, Haynes street.

Bowman, Frank P., 33, Woodvale.

Bowman, Emma, 28, Woodvale.

Brinkey, Dr. J. C., 28, Franklin street.

Brinkey, Elmer, 26, Hulbert House.

Buchanan, John S., 69, Locust street.

Buchanan, Mrs. Kate J., 63, Locust street.

Buchanan, Robert L., 20, Locust street.

Connelly, Maud, 6, Franklin.

Constable, Philip E., 60, Broad street.

Cope, Mrs. Margaret, 65, Conemaugh.

Cope, Ella B., 28, Conemaugh.

Cooney, Mrs. Elizabeth.

Davis, Mary Ann, 40, Woodvale.

Davis, Thomas S., 59, Locust street.

Davis, Mrs. Elizabeth.

Davis, Mrs. Susan, 27, Millville.

Davis, Clara, 8, Millville.

Davis, Willie, 3, Millville.

Davis, Eliza M.

Davis, Margaret, E.

Davis, Mrs. Cora B., 25, Water street.

Davis, William L.

Davis, Willard G.

Davis, Mary G.

Delaney, Mrs. Jessie, 29, Vine street.

Delaney, Mrs. Ella A.

Dibert, John, 56, Main street.

Dibert, Blanche, 9, Main street.

Dixon, David, 40, Millville.

Diller, Rev. Alonzo P., Locust street.

Diller, Mrs. Marion, Locust street.

Diller, Isaac, Locust street.

Dinant, Lola, Locust street.

Dorris, August.

Drew, Mrs. Mark, 62, Millville.

Drew, Mollie, 8, Conemaugh street.

Duncan, Mrs. Sarah A., 23, Woodvale.

Dyer, Mrs. Nathan, 64, Somerset street.

Eck, Mary Ellen.

Edwards, Mrs. Annie R.

Eldridge, Samuel B., Apple Alley.

Eldridge, Abram S., 34, Merchants’ Hotel.

Etchison, John, 44, Napoleon street.

Evans, Mrs. William F., 63, Union street.

Evans, Maggie, 11, Lewis Alley.

Evans, Kate, 5, Lewis Alley.

Evans, Mrs. Josiah, 36, Vine street.

Evans, Maggie, 16, Vine street.

Evans, Lake, 6, Vine street.

Evans, Ira, 6 months, Vine street.

Evans, Mrs. Maggie, 37, Vine street.

Evans, Mrs. Ann.

Evans, Sadie, 8, Vine street.

Evans, Herbert, 3, Vine street.

Evans, Pearl, 1, Vine street.

Evans, Lizzie.

Fails, Francis.

Fenn, John, 35, Locust street.

Fenn, Genevieve, 9, Locust street.

Fenn, Bismarck S., 3, Locust street.

Findlay, Lulu, 16. Woodvale.

Fisher, John H., 55, Main street.

Fisher, Mary J., 46, Main street.

Fisher, Emma K., 23, Main street.

Fisher, Ida, 19, Main street.

Fisher, Madge, 10, Main street.

Fisher Minnie, 21, Main street.

Fisher, George, 12, Main street.

Fisher, Frank, 9 months.

Fleck, Leroy Webster.

Fox, Martin, 51, Conemaugh.

Frank, John, Sr., 58, Washington street.

Frank, Mrs. Eliza, 44, Washington street.

Frank, Katie, 19, Washington street.

Frank, Emma, 17, Washington street.

Frank, Laura, 12, Washington street.

Fredericks, Mrs. A. G., 45, Millville

Fredericks, Mrs. Sar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• The Path of the Flood - Map
• Pennsylvania - Map
• Acknowledgments
• List of Illustrations
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• I. The sky was red
• II. Sailboats on the mountain
• III. “There’s a man came from the lake.”
• IV. Rush of the torrent
• V. “Run for your lives!”
• VI. A message from Mr. Pitcairn
• VII. In the valley of death
• VIII. “No pen can describe . . .”
• IX. “Our misery is the work of man.”
• Photographs
• About David McCullough
• List of Victims
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright