In 1853, engineers for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania finished the South Fork Dam. This massive earthwork structure stood 72 feet high and stretched 931 feet long, designed to hold back a reservoir for the state’s canal basin in Johnstown, 14 miles downstream. But technology had already outpaced the project. By the time the dam opened, the newly established railroad system had rendered the cross-state canal network commercially obsolete. The reservoir, perched 450 feet higher than Johnstown, spanned 450 acres and was 70 feet deep near the dam wall. Within four years, in 1857, the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the entire canal system, including its now-useless dam. The structure had been built for a purpose that no longer existed, a monument of earth holding back a vast body of water above an unsuspecting city. Its future was now in the hands of a company that had no use for it.
The Johnstown Flood
In 1889, a poorly maintained dam unleashed a 60-foot wall of water, leveling the industrial city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
An Obsolete Giant
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was the South Fork Dam originally built?
The dam was completed in 1853 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to create a water reservoir for the state's canal basin in Johnstown. However, by the time it opened, the railroad system had made the canal network commercially obsolete.
What was the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club?
It was an exclusive, private summer retreat established in 1879 for Pittsburgh's wealthiest industrialists, including Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. The club purchased the neglected South Fork Dam and reservoir property for their recreational use.
How many people died in the Johnstown Flood?
The final confirmed death toll reached 2,209 people. The victims included 99 entire families and nearly 400 children under the age of ten. An additional 40 people died from a subsequent outbreak of typhoid fever.
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