Johnstown flood fire - Johnstown, PA - Famous Fires on Waymarking.com

From sign:

The Stone Bridge - The Johnstown Flood of 1889

The PRR faced some criticism after the bridge was completed. Some residents felt the bridge could exacerbate future flood damage. The city is situated on a flood plain and was prone to frequent flooding, especially in the 1880's. The city's iron and steel makers continued to encroach on the riverbeds. On May 31, 1889, a 30-foot wave of water from the South Fork Dam (roughly 14 miles upstream) smashed into the hillside to your left, sparing the Stone Bridge from its full impact. Though the bridge held, some 100,000 tons of debris piled against it. The debris then caught fire and burned for three days. There are conflicting reports as to the number of people who died there, trapped by the wreckage, but others were saved from being swept further. It also helped to lessen the destruction downstream. It was later discovered that the Flood had caused a large crack in the bridge and damage to one of the piers. A dynamite crew from Pittsburgh later cleared the debris. Pictures of the bridge have conveyed the Flood's dramatic devastation for more than a century. Those images are some of the most iconic representations of the Johnstown Flood.


This site includes a drawing of the fire:
(visit link)


From Wikipedia (visit link) :

At Johnstown, the Stone Bridge, which was a substantial arched structure, carried the Pennsylvania Railroad across the Conemaugh River. The debris carried by the flood formed a temporary dam at the bridge, resulting in the flood surge rolling upstream along the Stoney Creek River. Eventually, gravity caused the surge to return to the dam, resulting in a second wave that hit the city from a different direction. Some people who had been washed downstream became trapped in an inferno as the debris that had piled up against the bridge caught fire; at least eighty people died there. The fire burned for three days. After floodwaters receded, the pile of debris at the bridge was seen to cover 30 acres, and reached 70 feet in height. It took workers three months to remove the mass of debris, the delay owing in part to the huge quantity of barbed wire from the ironworks entangled with the wreckage. Dynamite was eventually used

Type of Structure: other Other: River Fire Date: 05/30/1889 Structure status: Plaque Cause of Fire: Debris was gathered due to flooding. Something ignited the debris. Documentation of the fire: [Web Link] Construction Date: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Give a narrative of your experience. Did you learn anything after reading about the fire in the waymark? Photos are always welcome too. Please no virtual visits.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   12/17/2022 ted28285 visited it