The Johnstown Flood: A 19th Century American Nightmare

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  • Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
  • Discover the story of the Johnstown Flood, a man-made disaster that shocked America. The South Fork Dam, once built for irrigation, caused the deadliest flood in US history. Learn about Steel City and how nature and human error led to the deaths of over 2,000 people.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 397

  • @alexisalidis9037
    @alexisalidis9037 Рік тому +285

    Can we just say for a moment congratulations to Geographics for reaching 1M subs and for managing to give us good content weekly?

    • @pakde8002
      @pakde8002 Рік тому +5

      Yes! Congratulations 👏👏👏

    • @TrineDaely
      @TrineDaely Рік тому +4

      Absolutely! Congrats Simon & team!

    • @IrishMike22
      @IrishMike22 Рік тому +5

      Yes...but just for a moment...they're busy knocking out phenomenal content

    • @howhigh0521
      @howhigh0521 Рік тому +4

      I remember when he started this channel. I think he’s started 50,000 more sense then

    • @Alof83
      @Alof83 Рік тому +2

      I actually just came here to make fun of them for ending on the words "instead of us instead"

  • @CJShifty
    @CJShifty Рік тому +183

    Cool to see something local on one of Simon’s channels. Interestingly, about a year and a half ago they evacuated a lot of the small towns around the area, including South Fork, because heavy rains had caused a different dam (Wilmore Dam) to be over capacity. But given the history in the area a lot of people got spooked and it pretty quickly turned into "they’re worried the dam might break". Seems like a good lesson about settlement placement.

    • @sagethelemur
      @sagethelemur Рік тому +12

      Western PA folks checkin in (i know johnstown is in central ish PA tho)

    • @MandiKS1020
      @MandiKS1020 Рік тому +6

      I’m from Hershey

    • @noth1ng5id
      @noth1ng5id Рік тому +9

      Pittsburgh here. I took a field trip to the flood museum in elementary school. It's definitely weird and cool to hear Simon talk about western Pennsylvania lol

    • @saltandprepper5024
      @saltandprepper5024 Рік тому +12

      Fayette county here, strange how when they taught about local history in school I wasn't taught about how all these industrialists that they did put in high esteem were responsible for thousands of deaths. Almost like the rich today don't want us learning history

    • @_.Tsavo._
      @_.Tsavo._ Рік тому +3

      Came as a bit of a shock I wont lie

  • @shearwhopper1627
    @shearwhopper1627 Рік тому +108

    I’m from Johnstown and you hit it right on the head. Just like I was talking to a local historian, greed of the club members and a collapsing Dam what did Johnstown in. And no one went to jail for the deaths, you should make a video about Johnstown flood we still have the dam the south fork hunting club and water marks 30ft high in Johnstown buildings left to remind everyone of what happened keep up the great videos and research you do.

    • @michaelgregorich3774
      @michaelgregorich3774 Рік тому +4

      I work in Johnstown, lived just outside of town my whole life.

    • @DollarGeneral_Is_a_Plague
      @DollarGeneral_Is_a_Plague Рік тому +5

      All my ex's live in j town.

    • @cameronkaminsky8075
      @cameronkaminsky8075 Рік тому +5

      Jtown born and raised, cool to see this channel tell our story!

    • @imwrongbutlisten
      @imwrongbutlisten Рік тому +3

      I grew up hearing the story that my grandmothers moms mom. Watched the flood from a hill with her cow. Someone warned her.

    • @1982jeepcj8
      @1982jeepcj8 Рік тому +1

      Lived in the Johnstown area growing up, my fiancee is from South Fork. Glad you mentioned the 1977 flood. It just never fully recovered from it.

  • @jessejoyce1295
    @jessejoyce1295 Рік тому +28

    I’m glad you covered this. Some of my family came from Johnstown before moving to Pittsburgh, and these poor German, British and Irish immigrants who came to work in the steel mills were devastated by the flood. Those responsible were never held to account, which makes it even worse.

    • @NGCS-ej4lz
      @NGCS-ej4lz Рік тому +1

      Sad what state Johnstown is in today since 2005 its basically a major victim of extreme poverty and the opiate crisis etc.

  • @KnightAlephz
    @KnightAlephz Рік тому +40

    Hello from Johnstown pa!!!!!! Holy crap! Its so cool to have a video done about this flood. Johnstown is known for its floods. Around every 40 years we have a big one, the last one was 1977. We over due for one. My great great aunt Audrey died due to the lack of good water. She wasnt even 1. Thanks for doing this video, wonderfully done.

  • @durikas7519
    @durikas7519 Рік тому +24

    Born, raised, and still living here in Johnstown. It's so cool to see you covering our history. It is sad, though we never recovered from the collapse of the American Steel industry like other cities. Still love my town

    • @lonelysdomain
      @lonelysdomain Рік тому

      lived there when i was younger and frequently went to johnstown throughout the years. my daughter was born there almost 6yrs ago.

    • @NGCS-ej4lz
      @NGCS-ej4lz Рік тому

      @@lonelysdomain If the Flood didn't destroy Johnstown, and the lack of jobs, then the subsequent Opiate Crisis followed by Heroin/Fentanyl Crisis finished it off starting in 2005.

  • @ashlynrobertson1406
    @ashlynrobertson1406 Рік тому +2

    My parent were born and lived in Johnstown until 1979 and relocated. This really neat to learn about! My father father and family work at Bethlehem Steel!

  • @curiousworld7912
    @curiousworld7912 Рік тому +20

    PBS's 'American Experience' showed an excellent documentary on this terrible flood, and all that came before and after. Allowing industry, finance, or corporate entities, to hold responsibility for public or worker safety, with little to no government regulation or independent oversight, rarely ends well.

    • @kerryrovan945
      @kerryrovan945 26 днів тому

      We still need all new industry here in Johnstown, Pennsylvania...like computer chip manufacturing plants...1,000 better than our now closed 20 plus very long steel mill buildings.

  • @daltonrice7333
    @daltonrice7333 Рік тому +3

    If you’re looking for another story to tell, look about 30 miles south to Somerset County and the Quecreek Mine Rescue from 2002. This was only a few miles from where I grew up.

  • @DollarGeneral_Is_a_Plague
    @DollarGeneral_Is_a_Plague Рік тому +16

    Im a local. I own a one of a kind piece.
    1889 diary of a Johnstown resident.
    It contains some really neat stuff. Hard to read. On the day after the flood they begin listing names of people who died from their church. It's probably priceless idk what I'd sell it for.

    • @Matthew-kg8nl
      @Matthew-kg8nl Рік тому +12

      If anything, I’d suggest looking into donating it to one of the museums, either the one in town or the National Park Service museum at the Dam.

    • @LeoDomitrix
      @LeoDomitrix Рік тому +2

      Plsd donate it to the museum at the dam. Please?

  • @veronicaferguson8548
    @veronicaferguson8548 Рік тому +13

    Here in Dayton Ohio we learned our lesson in 1913 after The Great Flood.Everyone got together and made sure that it would never happen again.Thank you to them and to Mr.Arthur Morgan who was hired to design our dam system.
    We also don't completely rely on the government to maintain our system of 7 dams.There is the Miami Conservancy who regularly keeps an eye on it.

    • @DrQuagmire1
      @DrQuagmire1 Рік тому

      and the funny thing, is that the South Fork Dam was actually built quite well, but when the asshole Pittsburgh Elites purchased the land, those same South Fork Club members had the cast iron pipes removed (possibly for scrap money), which originally helped control the water levels and prevent any overflow issues. and of course, once those pipes got removed, that's what slowly led to the eventual collapse of the Dam.

  • @brianlaney7596
    @brianlaney7596 10 місяців тому +1

    Thank you for taking the time to tell the story. I grew up a few miles from the dam. Johnstown was a good place to grow up. The 77 flood was the summer before my senior year in high school. Between cheap imported steel and the flood , the city never had a chance. The coal mines shut down soon after. Then Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about it.

  • @kathyastrom1315
    @kathyastrom1315 Рік тому +62

    For a very expensive flood that didn’t kill anyone, you could cover the Great Chicago Flood of 1992, caused by a construction crew piercing a hole through the riverbed of the Chicago River to the nearly-forgotten network of tunnels that run throughout the Loop. Lots of great geographical details in that story!

    • @derwolf3006
      @derwolf3006 Рік тому +2

      Yeah that was kinda funny, got a got laugh out of the story. Still cant really believe no one died though.

    • @SkunkApe407
      @SkunkApe407 Рік тому +5

      I joined the Navy in 2002 and went to basic training in Great Lakes. I used to go into the city on weekends and even then, a decade later, people were still talking about that flood. I was also at the Dave Matthews Band concert when they got in trouble for dumping their tour bus's septic tank into the river. Talk about a shifty situation. 😂

    • @powerlocalmedia5130
      @powerlocalmedia5130 Рік тому

      Nah

  • @schmeckiez4540
    @schmeckiez4540 Рік тому +12

    As someone who lives very very close to Johnstown, we would go to the flood museum every year for a field trip, that place always gave me the creeps. It's sad to see the state of that city today :(

    • @NGCS-ej4lz
      @NGCS-ej4lz Рік тому

      Extreme poverty, Opiate crisis followed by Heroin/Fentanyl Crisis starting in 2005 finished that town off.

  • @waffles4322
    @waffles4322 Рік тому +2

    I'm from Johnstown, you can still see marks on the buildings today, and the museum is pretty cool too!

  • @frankcintulajr7917
    @frankcintulajr7917 Рік тому +2

    Great post. I was born in Johnstown and was 7yrs old in ‘77 when the town was flooded once again.
    It’s also famous for where the movie Slap Shot was filmed.

    • @DrQuagmire1
      @DrQuagmire1 9 місяців тому +2

      one of the Hanson Brothers (actor Steve Carlson) actually lives there

  • @ferretyluv
    @ferretyluv Рік тому +4

    I went to Johnstown last year. I had heard about the flood back in college and hadn’t thought about it since. Then I was in the town and noticed some places called things like “flood city cafe” and thought it was weird. It was only when I saw the sign that I remembered wait a minute, this is THAT Johnstown? For some reason, I had been under the impression that the town had been one of those that had been completely wiped off the map. I was shocked that the town still existed and they even still had a working mill. You can see how the town would go underwater. It’s basically in a bowl surrounded by mountains. The dam was aaaaallll the way up the mountains farther away than I could see. So it was A LOT of water.

    • @DrQuagmire1
      @DrQuagmire1 9 місяців тому +3

      same here!!! had taken Amtrak and visited Johnstown last May during a vacation to visit a close friend of mine who lives there, and toured some of the sites in the downtown area (as I don't have a car) and saw some of the buildings that was affected by the 1889 Flood, and even visited the Johnstown Flood Museum as well. the reason for me going back this time, other than visiting my friend again, is that I wanna ride on the Inclined Plane in town, as it provides the most direct route to the Grandview Cemetery and also wanted to pay my respects to the "Unknown Plot", as I was unable to do so last year due to the inclined railcar being shutdown for restoration work.

    • @ferretyluv
      @ferretyluv 9 місяців тому +2

      @@DrQuagmire1 You can ride the inclined plane?! I saw it there and thought it was cool! I didn’t know you could ride it!

    • @kerryrovan945
      @kerryrovan945 26 днів тому +1

      Been here as a town since 1800. 225 years now here on January 11, 2025. We had two A-list movies made here...made in the spring of 1976...1977s "Slap Slot" and made in the spring of 1983 and released for that fall in 1983 "All The Right Moves." So yes...we are still here 225 years after we became a town. And we will be great again. Amen.

    • @kerryrovan945
      @kerryrovan945 26 днів тому

      ​@@ferretyluvYes you can ride it after it reopens this year in 2025. It takes cars up the hillside along with people. And it is the world's steepest. It opened in 1891. It took horse drawn buggies up the hillside back then.

  • @hph9614
    @hph9614 10 місяців тому +1

    Makes me appreciate the lack of bad weather and situations like this I never had to go through living in Memphis tn my whole life...just isnt fair you never know what somebody else is dealing with at this very moment. Sad but true

  • @bethanywicker8990
    @bethanywicker8990 Рік тому +64

    My two great grandfather was one of the 2209 victims of the 1889 flood. My great grandmother was 8 months old. They only identify his body by his company grocery book in his pocket. Other wise he would be with the other unknowns buried in Grandview cemetery. Clara Barton came to help with the red cross. My dad was caught at the powerplant during the '77 flood. He had to wait before he came home.

    • @bethanywicker8990
      @bethanywicker8990 Рік тому +6

      There is an awesome museum, the Johnstown Flood Memorial

    • @rattyratstuff7125
      @rattyratstuff7125 Рік тому +6

      I'm sorry to hear that but I'm very glad he was able to be identified and buried where your family can mourn.

    • @derwolf3006
      @derwolf3006 Рік тому +1

      Sorry what? I dont want to offend you but I didnt understood the First Part at all, could you please clarify?

    • @bethanywicker8990
      @bethanywicker8990 Рік тому

      @@derwolf3006 Are you talking to me or the one who replied? And if me, What didn't understand?

    • @toddmccarter45
      @toddmccarter45 Рік тому

      ​​@@derwolf3006 i think he is talking about either his mother or father's great grandfather

  • @loadedfun4764
    @loadedfun4764 Рік тому +3

    I went to school in Johnstown. Crazy to think they would continue to keep homes and businesses on a floodplain. In the center of town there’s a building (bank possibly) that has record marks of all the floods they have had over the years. It’s neat to watch the documentaries about Johnstown and then trekking around town.

    • @DrQuagmire1
      @DrQuagmire1 9 місяців тому +2

      that's actually the City Hall Administration building, as it's one of the buildings I visited

  • @peppermintmoon7354
    @peppermintmoon7354 Рік тому +5

    Thanks, Simon. I live an hour outside Johnstown, and this is a horrible part of local history.
    You also might want to check out the history of the Horseshoe Curve, another hour east of Johnstown in Altoona, PA. It was considered so critical to them war supply line that the Nazis actually sent saboteurs in an attempt to destroy it.

  • @zackseverns4326
    @zackseverns4326 Рік тому +10

    I live in Johnstown, we've had 3 floods in a little over 100 years and they are taught about til today

  • @Cookingwithstoners
    @Cookingwithstoners Рік тому +3

    My mothers side of the family is from Johnstown PA! The cemetery has a very very large plot for the unknown dead after the floods. I always thought it was eerie to visit that side of the cemetery. And there are two great museums that are dedicated to the floods that have made Johnstown flood city USA!

  • @cjohns410
    @cjohns410 Рік тому +6

    I've been waiting and hoping for this one , for a long time. Thank you!

  • @MeketaMusic
    @MeketaMusic Рік тому +4

    Wild to see my hometown here. Thanks Simon!

  • @stevenfaber3896
    @stevenfaber3896 Рік тому +2

    From an area downstream of the flood. We still have a high water mark that was at the second level of the building, roughly 30 miles away from the epicenter. Thank you for continuing to bring this and other "man's lack of effort" issues to bear.

  • @Shaheen164
    @Shaheen164 Рік тому +3

    This has always fascinated me since Ask a Mortician covered this. Justa complete break down on every level

    • @brecuethemusic03
      @brecuethemusic03 3 місяці тому

      Do you have a link for ask a mortician cuz I can't find it

  • @calegirl2469
    @calegirl2469 Рік тому +1

    The Oroville, California Spillway incident in 2017 is super interesting! I think it would make a great video!

  • @BrenaMagdalena
    @BrenaMagdalena Рік тому +4

    Im from here, still live here. It's always a devastating story to tell new folks.

  • @ballinlikestalin878
    @ballinlikestalin878 Рік тому +4

    Any possibility of more videos from this era of American history? Perhaps a warographics video about the battle of Blair mountain, in which striking miners armed themselves and fought a very real battle against the west Virginia national guard and the u.s army? It was the largest labor uprising in u.s. history, yet it's largely forgotten

  • @sisenor4091
    @sisenor4091 Рік тому +7

    I spent a few days in Johnstown back in the 90’s. Very nice looking town/small city? The thing that I remember the most is how nice the people were to the point that it was freaking me out. I was used to city life and that didn’t match with what I knew.

  • @kylinmcdevitt1181
    @kylinmcdevitt1181 Рік тому +3

    Thank you Simon. I grew up in this area. You hit every point perfectly! Always watched your content, but the amount of detail you put into this is incredible. Also the 77 flood wiped out a town called robindale there's a power plant there. The power plant is still there with the town. Was wiped clean. There's a sign that tells the story at the location

  • @Eric_Hutton.1980
    @Eric_Hutton.1980 Рік тому +17

    David McCullough's first book was about the Johnstown Flood.

    • @LadyOrpheus
      @LadyOrpheus Рік тому +2

      It's a great read for anyone who wants to learn more!

  • @annaschwirian7548
    @annaschwirian7548 Рік тому +2

    Another interesting site of sad accidents is Dravo Cemetery just an hour west of Johnstown. It was a small town that's cemetery is all that's left after sparks from the local railroad kept catching the buildings on fire.

  • @stuartgreen4512
    @stuartgreen4512 Рік тому +8

    Great video again. Thanks Simon and team! Forever expanding my interests and knowledge! The greatest gift I could have received.

  • @bradlevantis913
    @bradlevantis913 Рік тому +2

    I’m from Canada but last summer went to PA for a road trip. We stopped at the south fork dam site. It’s interesting to see the scale of it. Worth stopping by if you’re in the area

  • @taironus
    @taironus Рік тому +12

    Couple things to note: the cambria iron works is awesome. still on my shortlist of places to visit. i had to do a report on this event in middleschool, being from pennsylvania. earthen dams are risky in general. one of the other dambreaks that happened in the 70s was the toccoa creek dam broke and wiped out a chunk of toccoa falls college. a book dambreak in GA details the account.

    • @DrQuagmire1
      @DrQuagmire1 Рік тому

      wasn't there a conspiracy about the South Fork Dam being secretly blown up with dynamite, on suggestions/orders from the wealthy members of the South Fork Club?
      I only ask this question, is because while watching another documentary on the Johnstown Flood, a viewer thinks there was a conspiracy involving members of the South Fork Club using dynamite to blow up the Dam, making it look like it collapsed on its own.

  • @toklat1967
    @toklat1967 Рік тому +2

    I grew up in nearby Altoona and witnessed the havoc of the 1977 flood as a kid as well. Very strange how we grew up knowing about it and younger people ask what was all the flood stuff about?

  • @chadmorral1326
    @chadmorral1326 Рік тому +4

    Heyo!!! I live 45min away from Johnstown. Awesome video.

  • @thegitago7823
    @thegitago7823 Рік тому +1

    Johnstown is my home city. Very neat to hear this story fully and from Simon of all people makes it even better

  • @jamiillynn
    @jamiillynn Рік тому +1

    really nice to see a video on my hometown, keep it up simon!

  • @SuperEasy1337
    @SuperEasy1337 Рік тому +3

    Charming town. Thunder in the Valley the motorcycle rally is held here. Get to see a lot of other stuff aside from just the motorcycles. Lots of history.

  • @Mistaking03
    @Mistaking03 Рік тому

    Love this channel. Can't stop watching his videos.

  • @EllenCFarmGirl
    @EllenCFarmGirl Рік тому

    WOW. I thought I had watched all the Sutton Hoo Documentaries….until yours. You covered more information! Especially the Queen and Warrior! More on that please! ❤. Thank you!

  • @aprilrichards762
    @aprilrichards762 Рік тому +19

    I'm near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and May 31st has a history of being the day that you need to watch out for severe weather. Examples include: the 1985 tornado outbreak that spawned Pennsylvania's only F-5 tornado and the 2002 Kennywood Park micro down burst that killed a woman in the park.

    • @sagethelemur
      @sagethelemur Рік тому +5

      the 2002 microburst killed someone?! damn, i was 12, it was nuts but i didn't remember that, thats sad 🥺

    • @Matthew-kg8nl
      @Matthew-kg8nl Рік тому +2

      I remember the 2002 microburst-didn’t realize it was the same date.

    • @LeoDomitrix
      @LeoDomitrix Рік тому +3

      . Survived an EF-4 in 1985 outbreak, btw, and nobody told us we had a tornado coming but our dogs. NWS total fail. Thousands narrowly dodged death that day. May 31 is just a rotten day, IMO. Between that, and Johnstown memories... nobody needed the Kennywood downburst. I honestly dread May 31 every year, tho' I live very far away from PA now.

    • @brandanmckenzie
      @brandanmckenzie Рік тому +2

      i remember being in first grade we had a field trip up to heinz field the day the downburst happened we had just gotten back on 376 and through the squirrel hill tunnels when it had happened only only heard what actually happened the next day

    • @aprilrichards762
      @aprilrichards762 Рік тому +1

      @@LeoDomitrix I'm terrified of May 31st too! I never leave the house and I'm prepared to run to the basement. I'm a storm spotter so I'd keep an eye out but make sure my parents are safe. May 31st - June 2nd was a sustained multiday outbreak.

  • @northstarbos
    @northstarbos Рік тому +2

    I live in a small town very close to Johnstown and go to work in downtown Johnstown every day in an old steel mill building right next to one of the city's rivers. A lot of my ancestors were around during all the of floods, my dad and grandfather are even old enough for the most recent one but it wasn't as bad as the original. To my knowledge he explains everything very well.

  • @SR-sb2fw
    @SR-sb2fw Рік тому

    I grew up near Johnstown and have been to the flood museum. Great video.

  • @midgy
    @midgy Рік тому

    Thank you so much for making this video! I was born and raised here and I’ve always been fascinated by our history

  • @davidmclaughlin2454
    @davidmclaughlin2454 Рік тому +1

    Excellent video, I’m from the area and it is good to see such a thorough video.
    Just a quick note: the image of a tree through a building is, I believe, from the 1977 Johnstown flood.

    • @JPMadden
      @JPMadden Рік тому

      It is from the catastrophic 1889 flood. David McCullough wrote about it in his 1968 book "The Johnstown Flood." The house belonged to a family by the name of Schultz. All six people inside the house survived.

  • @ignitionfrn2223
    @ignitionfrn2223 Рік тому +15

    1:30 - Chapter 1 - City of steel
    3:40 - Chapter 2 - Sword of dam ocles
    5:40 - Chapter 3 - The storm of the century
    8:30 - Chapter 4 - A wall of death
    11:10 - Chapter 5 - Disaster response
    14:00 - Chapter 6 - Aftermath
    16:15 - Chapter 7 - The legacy of johnson

  • @DGeffel15
    @DGeffel15 Рік тому +1

    Being from Pittsburgh, learning about the Johnstown and St Patrick’s day flood are right up there with French and Indian War and the Homestead Massacre. You can still see the high water marks all over downtown Pittsburgh from the St Patrick’s Day flood.

  • @kyscody1297
    @kyscody1297 Рік тому

    Congratulations on 1m subscribers! You quickly became my favorite channel, and you deserve all the growth!

  • @christopherseivard8925
    @christopherseivard8925 Рік тому

    I am a fan. The book is excellent. I am desperate to add, yet this is SO well told, I have nearly nothing to add. Thanks.

  • @jacobcorona2022
    @jacobcorona2022 Рік тому +3

    Oh shit. I live in Johnstown. Can’t believe this was a topic!

  • @jamielandis4308
    @jamielandis4308 Рік тому +10

    I was just thinking yesterday that this should be on your channel. I’ve driven past the damn remnants hundreds of times.
    The Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania is a beautiful area. While there is the chance of some rugged winter weather, generally it’s quiet here.

  • @shruggzdastr8-facedclown
    @shruggzdastr8-facedclown Рік тому +7

    Wow, I've known since childhood (am in my early 50s now) that the Johnstown flood was a horrifying disaster, but until watching this video, I'd never truly known to what degree that it was so horrifying!
    The Southfork Hunting & Fishing Club escaped accountability for the negligent actions that they undertook which contributed to the inevitability of this disaster!

    • @jmiller9972
      @jmiller9972 Рік тому +1

      Same here, I live in Latrobe and while I always heard about it I had know idea how big of a disaster this was.

    • @shruggzdastr8-facedclown
      @shruggzdastr8-facedclown Рік тому

      @@jmiller9972: Latrobe is the headquarters of Rolling Rock beer, right?

    • @jmiller9972
      @jmiller9972 Рік тому +1

      @@shruggzdastr8-facedclown yes

  • @prussianhill
    @prussianhill Рік тому +2

    This hit home. I'm one of many victims of the Sanford-Edenville dam failures. There were no deaths, thanks to people like my inlaws (firemen) that both monitored the dams as well as spearheading the evacuation warnings. Afterwards we remarked that the village of Sanford was "the warzone" on account of the destruction.

  • @JSJSpeaks
    @JSJSpeaks Рік тому

    My family lived through the Johnstown flood! Thank you for covering this Mister Whistler

  • @klockwerked1673
    @klockwerked1673 Рік тому

    Great video Factboy 👍🏻

  • @jaleesagreene6800
    @jaleesagreene6800 Рік тому +1

    Freaking finally!!!! I've been asking for this for months

  • @thomasmeyer6407
    @thomasmeyer6407 Рік тому +3

    When I hear of things like how people survived first flood just to get burned alive when the debris got set on fire, that's just cruel twist of fate I couldn't even imagine what's going through their minds for the few that realize what was going on before they got either burned alive or died of smoke inhalation. Truly sad.

  • @rickfalcon5572
    @rickfalcon5572 Рік тому +1

    “All the horrors that Hell could wish, such a price was paid for fish.”

  • @jillianmyerly1818
    @jillianmyerly1818 Рік тому +2

    I've visited the Johnstown Flood Memorial, and honestly it's kind of startling. Looking at the former site of the dam and the lake, you would never guess that this place tucked up in the mountains was home to one of the deadliest floods in American history. Apart from the embankments and Unger's house, there's barely any trace of what happened.
    One thing to note though, and this is a pretty minor detail... the official death toll was 2,208, not 2,209. There was a man who managed to get out of the debris at the bridge, walked out of the valley, and moved to Massachusetts before returning 11 years later to Johnstown. Like I said, minor detail, but a strange story from the disaster none the less.

    • @DrQuagmire1
      @DrQuagmire1 9 місяців тому +1

      they really need to make a movie about not only the Johnstown Flood itself, but also the court cases that soon followed, since the residents did file lawsuits against the South Fork Club

  • @cynicaloptimist970
    @cynicaloptimist970 Рік тому +2

    Please make a video about the Great Hinckley Fire.
    My class once visited Minnesota and one of our destinations was their museum, it was very interesting.

    • @LeoDomitrix
      @LeoDomitrix Рік тому +1

      There's a great book 'Under a Flaming Sky" on that fire.

  • @NPFAC
    @NPFAC Рік тому

    I remember going to the flood museum as a kid, My family is from the area but that museum really left an impression as a kid that always stuck with me

  • @Piterdeveirs333
    @Piterdeveirs333 Рік тому

    Back in the late 90s my family was in that part of PA for a vacation and we stumbled upon Johnstown. We had no idea the history but we saw a sign for the flood museum and wanted to know what that was all about. It was really interesting to learn about. After we went down to the dam and to look at the club house. We also took the funicular up the mountain later that night. Now when ever I see a video about Johnstown I watch it immediately

  • @cathyramer945
    @cathyramer945 Рік тому +1

    really liked this video. would like to see you do a similar one on the Peshtigo Fire. from flood to draught

  • @dustinsensenig9798
    @dustinsensenig9798 Рік тому +1

    I went to trade school in Johnstown from '09 to '10. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has an axle from one of the trains that got bent during that event

  • @jillianope
    @jillianope Рік тому

    omg yes i’ve been waiting for yall to do this one for years

  • @kaltaron1284
    @kaltaron1284 Рік тому +3

    It's a bit baffling and frightening how much we have messed around with water without understanding it properly. And I don't mean only dams but also things like river straightenings or deepenings ro the drainage of swamps. And then there's all the stuff we dump into it.

  • @ryanswaynow
    @ryanswaynow 5 місяців тому

    My dad was born in Johnstown, and my mother was born in South Fork. My granddad was actually the caretaker at the south Fork hunting and fishing club. my family is currently in possession of a few of their guest registry books, one of which we keep in the foyer of their house.

  • @JustMeKCLive
    @JustMeKCLive Рік тому

    Love you, Simon, and thank you for covering Johnstown's Flood, but it is Guh-Tear for Gautier

  • @daglizzy8031
    @daglizzy8031 8 місяців тому +1

    Nov 18th, 2014 I took an Amtrak train to Philadelphia. I had no idea about the history of this town but I can tell the people are very nice because I actually fell asleep and a gentleman was kind enough to wake me up and get me on train. I was on my way to my Daughter Alailah's birth in Doylestown, PA. Johnstown is a beautiful city.

  • @dabandgeek06
    @dabandgeek06 Рік тому

    Hey, Simon, this is my current city. I grew up in the area, everyone went fishing at South Fork Dam in school.
    During classes it was always stressed how big city steel magnates destroyed the area at the turn of the century. Now we have the Inclined Plane as a means of rescue if flooding happens again, and there is a plaque at the Inclined Plane's lookout describing what happened that day. It was truly horrific.
    I drive past the remnants of the steel factories mentioned almost every day.
    Last summer there was concern over the dam breaking again due to severe storms and flooding. Fortunately it just cracked and did not actually fail.

  • @christopherseivard8925
    @christopherseivard8925 Рік тому +1

    Thought of one! The film’ Slapshot’ starring Paul Newman was filmed there, (1977) and still hosts a hockey tournament. High water mark memorials still visit some of the few buildings that remain. The David McCullough Book ” The Johnstown Flood’ is both thorough & insightful.

  • @allisonmarlow184
    @allisonmarlow184 Рік тому +2

    It's hard to believe that we didn't have a system in place for dams until the 1970's despite the repeated proof that one was needed. I was 10-19 in the '70s and had believed that things like this had been long figured out and handled. Glad I didn't grow up near a dam.

  • @npgitarful
    @npgitarful Рік тому +1

    Should do a piece on the Malley Brickyard disaster in Haverstraw N.Y. Basically gross negligence and over mining cost the town a portion of itself to the Hudson River

  • @rastaweasz1951
    @rastaweasz1951 Рік тому

    I love your videos Simone they get me through my shift every night

  • @elocher4
    @elocher4 Рік тому +2

    Shout out from Johnstown, and great video! The flood is something that is so deeply engrained in the people of Johnstown that it's almost a legend/myth to us at this point.
    Also, if you're interested in hearing a song about this tragedy, give a listen to the song "1889" by my band, The Rusty Shackles.

  • @MR2Davjohn
    @MR2Davjohn Рік тому

    I met some friends from Toccoa, GA. while stationed in the former Naval Station in Orlando, FL in 1977. I was invited to stay in one of the their homes while transiting to my next duty station in May of 1978. While there, I toured what was left of the Toccoa Falls College where they were students.
    Upstream of the Toccoa Falls College was the Kelly Barnes Dam. From USGS website, the Kelly Barnes Dam was first built as a rock crib dam, and then with subsequent stages as an earth dam. Like the dam in this episode, it was an earth dam built over a rock crib dam with a spillway and a secondary or backup low point to serve in case of high flows. The dam failed about 1:30 a.m., on November 6, 1977 for many of the same reason the dam in Johnstown failed. Neglect, poor management and cost cutting compromised the foundations of the structure.
    I think the USGS article said that 36 people were killed, most of them were in the temporary housing down from the dorms. The whole first floor of the dorms was wiped out. When I saw toured through they were still cleaning out several feet of mud and debris. I went to the base of the falls where I was shown the rocks that came down from the dam. There was one that was quite an attraction. People were having their picture taken on the rock because it was so big. I remember that it was about 12-15ft. tall. Consider the power of water.

  • @joyfrazier8260
    @joyfrazier8260 Рік тому

    I was born in Johnstown. Thank you Simon! You did a wonderful job on this!

    • @My_Cart
      @My_Cart Рік тому

      Another local 👍

  • @sagethelemur
    @sagethelemur Рік тому +1

    its so odd to be chilling in Pittsburgh at work and listening to fact boy talk about my towns region, carnegie, and Johnstown lol.
    usually hearing him talk about "and thats how gobekli tepe was discovered and upended the way we see megalithic people" 😂

  • @LordCrush
    @LordCrush Рік тому

    I grew up not far from Johnstown. It’s hard to believe it was almost obliterated in the first flood. The local museum dedicated to the flood does a good job of showing you the devastation.

  • @whyjnot420
    @whyjnot420 Рік тому +3

    If anyone wants to learn about a pair of floods that do not have a hundred videos about them already, I would suggest looking at the floods of 1955 that occurred in the northeast of the US.
    There is extensive documentation on them in places like actual physical archives in the area as well as online. Yet you never really see people talk about them even though the damage was extensive across multiple states.

  • @mtvdvm4940
    @mtvdvm4940 Рік тому +4

    Honestly can’t remember if you’ve done one on it Simon, but the 1900 Galveston Hurricane would be a good addition to this style of Geographics video.

  • @Ruckusdrummer840
    @Ruckusdrummer840 Рік тому +1

    i live there.. it's a very wild event in us history & more specifically for this town. Thank you simon, for featuring this on your channel
    P.S. Didn't know this happened on my b-day... -_-

  • @polarisnorth
    @polarisnorth Рік тому

    I literally started reading the McCullough book about this earlier in the week!

  • @ikonic_artworks
    @ikonic_artworks Рік тому

    Im from PA ( near Pittsburgh) and had an older brother that lived in Johnstown and still was unfamiliar with this event. Granted it did happen 100+ yrs ago

  • @annekeener4119
    @annekeener4119 Рік тому

    The canal system that was briefly mentioned was also really cool. It was mostly canals, but by Johnstown it switched to a railroad, so the boats were built to be both boats and train cars. The Pennsylvania railroad basically followed the canal/railroad path through the Allegheny mountains.

  • @Magdalenasfears
    @Magdalenasfears Рік тому

    I read a book about this in elementary school and it's stuck with me forever. I remember one line in particular. Detroit asked "what do you need?", and they were sent back the message "send coffins" and they did. Detroit sent thousands in different sizes. (I'm from Detroit. That's why this stuck with me)

  • @matthewbowen9117
    @matthewbowen9117 Рік тому

    I would love for you to cover the Buffalo Creek Flood of West Virginia. Since you mentioned the coal barons of Southern West Virginia, you might be interested. This video was great, though. My wife grew up about 30 minutes away from Johnstown, and we drive through it often when we visit family. The legacy of that flood still remains strong there, as well as my home town where the Buffalo Creek flood happened. Many lives lost because of greed and indifference!

  • @b1646717
    @b1646717 Рік тому +3

    "The Men Who Built America" covered this really well also.

    • @TheLeikaShadow
      @TheLeikaShadow Рік тому

      That was my first exposure to this story, that was an awesome series.

    • @Kodakcompactdisc
      @Kodakcompactdisc Рік тому

      They did, that was a great show.

  • @s.ironhart
    @s.ironhart Рік тому +1

    Pueblo Colorado had a huge flood similar to this one in 1921. That would be an interesting disaster to cover if it hasn’t been already

  • @whalehands
    @whalehands Рік тому

    Just imagine living back in the day driving the old backroads of West Virginia in a early model vehicle. It feels different than anywhere else. Like the rockies, when you get into the mountains, especially on the backroads, it feels almost like a different world.

  • @MandiKS1020
    @MandiKS1020 Рік тому +1

    Oh a PA story! Interesting! Could you do Centralia!!??

  • @kalwiggy
    @kalwiggy Рік тому +1

    My mom was there for the 3rd flood. She has the only newspaper from that day. She said the local clothing manufacturer had all the cloth streamed on along the tree tops. Pepsi was handing out water in cans.

  • @calebgrace4184
    @calebgrace4184 Рік тому

    Coming from someone who lives an hour away from johnstown and went to college there; I can’t imagine anyone wanting to make that place a tourist destination

  • @JEEPSTR78
    @JEEPSTR78 6 місяців тому

    Great video! I live here.

  • @antoinettebush1574
    @antoinettebush1574 Рік тому

    Well hello Sir, I live here in Johnstown Pa exactly where the flood took place. There were 3 floods here 1889, 1936, and 1977. Where it started is not far from where it ended in Johnstown. The Stone Bridge is still in good shape. 😊😮😊😮

  • @grapeshot
    @grapeshot Рік тому +3

    Yeah I'm sure the scene at that bridge where all the wreckage piled up and destroyed tanker rail cars caught fire had to be a horrific scene. Considering dozens if not hundreds of people trapped in the wreckage. Now had to face the possibility if not drowning but being burned alive.