The dam created a lovely Lake Conemaugh in the hills above Johnstown with the exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club members enjoying their vacation days away from Pittsburgh.  The rich and famous including Andrew W. Mellon and Henry Clay Frick were some of the members.  The Club had purchased the land around the lake including the old leak prone dam and had done little to maintain it.   May 31, 1889 after torrential rains, the dam burst, sweeping devastation down river through all the small towns and finally the thriving city of Johnstown.  Over 2200 perished with over a third never identified.

The National Park Service did a wonderful job pulling together the National Memorial to help explain the tragic story and afterwards we visited the Grandview Cemetery where many of the 2200 are buried.

The people who the flood swept over had to constantly crawl up the debris as it swept down the river to stay above the water.  The enormous wreckage of homes, trains, trees, etc built up in front of the stone 7 arch bridge in Johnstown, and then caught fire.  So many were either drowned or burned to death.  The unmarked graves in the Grandview Cemetery give you a chill as you look upon so many that were not identified.  So many of the marked graves have the date May 31, 1889 noting the fateful day.

For more images of the Johnstown Flood and Grandview Cemetery please visit http://facebook.com/compositionbyjohn or http://compositionbyjohn.com

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