Johnstown Flood National Memorial ⓘ

The Club House was the center of activity for members and guests of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club at Lake Conemaugh. The club's first summer season at Lake Conemaugh was 1881. The structure was built in two sections. The original portion of the club house contained seventeen bedrooms and opened in 1881. It contained a kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms. An addition was completed around 1887. David Knox Miller, nephew of member Philander Knox, was the architect for the addition. It was three stories and had forty eight rooms. Sixteen cottages lined the shore of Lake Conemaugh. On March 5, 1886, The Altoona Times published an article providing a summary of a South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club meeting. In included a description of what the building would be like. The article said, in part: "It will be furnished handsomely and will be arranged with all modern conveniences. It will be ready for occupancy early the coming season, and it is generally supposed it will be made one of the most fashionable resorts in the country." With a membership to the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, members were entitled to a two week stay per season at the Club House. Fees for room and board at the Club House were $1.60 per day for members and $2.50 for guests. According to the Rules and Regulations that were posted at the club, "No family, whether guests' or members', shall occupy more than one front room in the Club House, unless occupying four or more rooms in all, when they shall be entitled to two front rooms." Whether members or guests were staying at the Club House, or their cottage, everyone took their meals together in the dining room at the Club House that could accommodate 150 people.

In 1889, indoor plumbing was in the process of being installed at the clubhouse and cottages. A $36,000 mortgage was taken out on the Club House in May 1889, possibly to pay for the scheduled upgrades that summer. After the flood, the Club House and cottages were known as the "Johnstown Colony." People in need of shelter occupied the structures. A public auction was held on February 25, 1904. After the auction, the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club’s holdings in Cambria County ceased. The Johnstown Tribune said: “In the list of things to be disposed of are fifty-bedroom suites, many yards of carpet, silverware and tableware with the club monogram engraved there on, many odd pieces of furniture and bric-a-brac. At the time of the Great Flood, the clubhouse remained open, but has been since occupied only by a caretaker, and now the real estate and clubhouse, together with a number of cottages, having been sold to a syndicate of Cambria County persons, the club’s Trustee, E. B. Alsop, of Pittsburg has ordered all the personal effects disposed of.”

In 2006, the National Park Service acquired several cottages and the Club House. They were donated by the 1889 South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club Historical Preservation Society.

Statement of F. N. George of Lilly I have been a Justice of the Peace, and have lived here at Lilly for sixty years. On Decoration Day about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, it commenced to rain moderately, but during the night, it poured down hard. Bear Rock Creek was very high. It was never so high for the last fifty years. It joins Laurel Creek right below toward the mill of Simon. Conard, and they both then form the Little Conemaugh River, which runs down the mountain. There were four bridges carried away, and the Borough loss will be about two thousand dollars. This rain was something unprecedented. It rained all day the 31st. The water went rushing down the stream. Statement of N. R. George of South Fork I am a merchant and have lived here for 30 years. On the night of May 30th, 1889, I awoke up and heard it rain very hard. In the morning when I got up itwas [sic] still raining and it rained continually all forenoon. At 12 o'clock a. m. the 31st, the banks of both rivers were overflowing. I cannot say what the height of the water was. I saw Little Conemaugh river once before as high. It was either in 1853 or 1859. I never saw South Fork stream so high before. I think the dam broke before 3 p. m. on May 31st, 1889. Statement of Christ Greiss Adams Township, Cambria Co. I am a farmer and have lived here in Adams Township all my life and have never seen so much hard rain as it was on the night of May 30th, 1889; it commen ced [sic] to rain soon after dark and it rained hard all night and all the next day. It stopped raining about 9 o'clock on the night of May 31st. The rain washed my farm very badly. I live half a mile from South Fork Creek and about three miles from the head of the reservoir. This was the biggest flood we have ever had here on our farm; the little springs turned into big creeks.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Took Statements of its employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and others in reference to the disaster to the passenger trains at Johnstown, taken by John H. Hampton, at his office in Pittsburgh, by request of Superintendent Robert Pitcarin; beginning July 15th, 1889.

The object of this investigation is to determine whether the Company is liable in law for the loss of the lives, or property of passengers, and put into proper form a defence to any actions that may be brought against the Company for damages.

A: B: C: Engineer William Adams Conductor S. E. Bell S.A. Cherry -Conemaugh Tower Flagman S.H. Allshouse Engineer H.M. Bennett Pittsburgh Chief Train Dispatcher Chas. W. Culp Brakeman D.T. Brady Freight Conductor Fred Brantlinger Engineer A.H. Butler

D: E: G: Johnstown Freight Agent F.S. Deckert Conductor Levi P. Easton Brakeman Frank Galbraith Engineer P. Doran South Fork Telegraph Operator Emma Ehrenfeld Engineer J.S. Gettemy South Fork Agent C.P. Dougherty Track Laborer Fred Ehrenfeld Fireman Geo. Gray Baggage Master J.W. Grove

H: K: L: Conemaugh Telegraph Operator Charles V. Haak Conductor S.W. Keltz Conductor R.C. Liggett Flagman D.H. Hare Fireman Harry Kinney Division Foreman A.H. Lytle Division Supervisor W.M. Hays Engineer N.B. Henry Conemaugh Telegraph Operator R. M. Hersh Engineer J.C. Hess Lineman E.C. Hollister Engineman John Hoy

M: N: P: Fireman James McCallin Emma North Tower Worker W.H. Pickerill Brakeman C.H. McGuigan Train Master Pitcairn Fireman Isaac Miller Fireman J.B. Plummer Brakeman J.G. Miller Brakeman Samuel S. Miller Division Supervisor A.G. Mitchell Engineer T.J. Monahan Conemaugh Telegraph Operator D.M. Montgomery Johnstown Assistant Ticket Agent Charles J. Moore Engineer J.E. Meyers

R: S: T: Flagger W. Reichard Tower Operator R.F. Shade Assistant Superintendent Pittsburgh Division M. Trump Division Foreman L.L. Rusher Division Operator C.M. Sheaffer Assistant Train Master W.C. Snyder Section Foreman Wesley Spires Conemaugh Agent E.R. Stewart Mineral Point Divison Foreman Scott Stoner Conductor Jerry Stormer Track Foreman John F. Stormer Division Foreman Charles Studt

V: W: Conductor George E. Vance Conductor C.A. Warthen Johnstown Ticket Agent T.H. Watt East Conemaugh Yard Master J.C. Walkinshaw Assistant Engineer Victor Wierman

Johnstown Flood National Memorial commemorates the nation's deadliest flood in history. On May 31, 1889, the dam at Lake Conemaugh, which provided fishing, hunting, and boating opportunities for the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club members, burst. The 450-acre lake emptied, sending water rushing toward the city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, causing death and destruction. Over 2,000 men, women and children were killed.

Today, visitors can stand on either of the remaining dam abutments and look out over the empty lakebed to get a visual idea of how much water converged on the city of Johnstown. Managed as a wet meadow, the lakebed now supports a variety of plant, tree and shrub species on both sides of the meandering South Fork of the Little Conemaugh River. Birds, butterflies and insects thrive on the abundant flower and fruit sources, and an occasional deer can be seen grazing. Click the highlighted links to learn about: Natural Resource Monitoring at Johnstown Flood National Memorial . Forest Health Monitoring in Johnstown Flood National Memorial .