| Description |
302 pages : illustrations, maps (part color), portraits ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical referencesp(. 287-292) |
| Contents |
The sky was red -- Sailboats on the mountain -- "There's a man came from the lake." -- Rush of the torrent -- "Run for your lives!" -- A message from Mr. Pitcairn -- In the valley of death -- "No pen can describe..." -- "Our misery is the work of man." |
| Summary |
At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hard-working 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 townspeople. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal. |
| Subject |
Floods -- Pennsylvania -- Johnstown (Cambria County, Pa.) -- History -- 19th century.
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Johnstown (Cambria County, Pa.) -- History -- 19th century.
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| ISBN |
9780671207144 |
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0671207148 |
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