Johnstown Flood Book Critique David McCullough’s Johnstown Flood is an unique piece of nonfiction that tells the story of how a normal town in the middle of Pennsylvania encounters a devastating, and life altering event. This event was the Johnstown flood, and fire (that resulted from the flood) leading to the death of 2,209 people. This book starts out with how the town came to be a small, but prosperous home for millionaires such as Andrew Carnegie. Then, McCullough proceeds to let the reader
The Johnstown Flood Stained the history of the United States. Over 2000 victims died and even more injured. The flood has been blamed on many people since it happened. One group individually brought about the flood. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club made selfish changes threatening the effectiveness toward holding back a water overflow. The renovation made to the dam brought about the destruction killing many people and causing millions of dollars in damages. On May 31, 1889 4.8 billion gallons
of the Johnstown Flood of May 31st 1889, which provides arguments for why the disaster was both “the work of man” and “a visitation of providence”. However, it is apparent that McCullough believes that man was more responsible than nature/god for the extent of the catastrophe. In McCullough’s opinion, the storm that caused the flood was no more than the inevitable stimulus of the disaster, whereas the deferred maintenance and poor repairs on the dam were the primary reason that Johnstown was devastated
Johnstown Flood May 31, 1889 was a day that brought terror to the small town of Johnstown Pennsylvania. The small town was established in 1794 as a steel town and had a population on 30,000. The cause of the flood actually starts not at the town but 14 upstream at the South Fork Dam were the Little Conemaugh and Stony Creeks rivers meet as you can see in the image below. At this place is Lake Conemaugh, a 3-mile long lake located up against the side of a mountain, 450 feet higher than Johnstown
water from its reservoir. A wall of water, reaching up to 70 feet high, swept 14 miles down the Little Conemaugh River Valley, carrying away steel mills, houses, livestock and people. At 4:07 p.m., the floodwaters rushed into the industrial city of Johnstown, crushing houses and downtown businesses in a whirlpool that lasted 10 minutes. (New York Times, 1889). Everything the Case family owned was swept away with the raging water, and they were left with the little clothing and possessions they had
With all his businesses, investments, and accomplishments, Carnegie still struggle with some of his partners and managers, especially after his brother Tom dies. He hires Henry C. Frick and names him chairman in 1889, pleased with his choice as Frick increases profits from $2 million to $5.4 million by 1890. However, times become difficult during a four-year depression and strike, damaging Carnegie’s reputation. He comes to lose trust in Frick, and their relationship suffers as they disagree on managerial
floods Thousands of years ago before people built towns and planted crops, rivers cut deep canyons and molded the continents. Often these rivers overflowed their banks and flooded the surrounding areas, depositing mineral rich silt and soil in the surrounding plains and valleys. Because of the way floods enrich soil some of the first cities were built along rivers. The most important ones grew along the Indus River in Pakistan; the Nile in Egypt; the Yellow River in China; and the Tigris and Euphrates
A flood can be a very destructive disaster not many people think about it as a huge problem for in the United States but it is for places that have dams or places that get the after effect of hurricanes and tsunami`s. The Johnstown Flood happened May 31, 1889 in Johnstown P.A a little town outside of Pittsburgh. Floods can damage houses, trees, cars, and whole towns bring fear to the nearby citizens. To begin with a flood is a destructive natural disaster that happens during large amounts of rainfall
Few disasters in history were able to be as easily prevented and had such a large causality figures as the Johnstone Flood which occurred in 1889. In is an incident that few people know about but has had a significant impact on how we look at preparedness and mitigation in the Emergency Management field. The City of Johnstone, located in Pennsylvania was established in 1800 near the Conemaugh River and had in consequent years attracted many Welsh and German immigrants who worked for the Pennsylvanian
Like Thunder” explained how Johnstown was leveled taking 2200 lives. The only thing slightly comical about this was that they called it a natural disaster, but there is nothing natural about creating a wall to stop the flow of a river. In 1902, the promotion of the West began to take over the United
“The Only Waunakee In The World” Is what they say about the small unknown town. Everytime someone asks where we live all we say is just outside of Madison, but not many people know all of the history this town holds. Trains and Farming, If you dig below the surface you can really find some interesting facts about this wonderful town. Railroads According to waunakeechamber.com two early settlers, Louis Baker and George C. Fish are two people that are not known by many, but these people were the
If you have ever watched a John Wayne western, read a Mark Twain novel, or had a ride on a Ferris wheel, you are sure to enjoy your adventure along the Kit Carson Blue Line Trail. This 2.5 mile-long blue line (painted on the sidewalk) directs visitors through Carson City’s historic district on the west side of town. A walk along the trail takes you past beautiful examples of early Victorian architecture and some of the city’s first government buildings. Often referred to as The Blue Line Trail
Flooding is when large amounts of water suddenly invade an area which had been normally dry (Oxford Advanced learners Dictionary). Floods are one of those disasters which are still a major thread to the world despite the so many efforts to combat it. These are natural hazards because though they are brought about by a natural phenomenon, they often cause lots of damage. The immediate impact on survivors is likely to be injury and death of relatives, damage to crops, housing and infrastructure can
Levees, dams, and urbanization can all protect people from the dangerous impacts of flooding, however, they can also increase the impacts that floods can have in such areas. Levees are used to protect property or to create usable land. Many cities are protected by levees such as New Orleans and St. Louis. However, because a levee is usually narrow it can restrict the volume of water within its channel, thus flooding can occur up-stream. For example, if it rains a lot up-stream from the levee the
actually have a job, his time was spent wooing Alisoun and studying astrology. Since Nicholas did not work, he lived off the charity of friends. John and Alisoun let him live with them. 2. Nicholas’s told John that God was going to cause another flood, however, John, Alisoun and Nicholas would be spared, they just had to spend the night sleeping in separate troughs suspended from the rafters. After John had fallen asleep, Alisoun and Nicholas were able to sneak out of their troughs and spend the
Rising floods were left by Hurricane Harvey. It was the fiercest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than 10 years. The huge storm hit southern Texas on Friday night. In the days after, it continued to rain down on cities across Texas. The rain and rise of the sea from Hurricane Harvey caused many floods. The floods chased thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground on Sunday in Houston, Texas. Countless Calls For Help Rescuers like firefighters and EMTs were left trying to respond to countless
It all started with the Spartan Project, without it The Spartan-II project never would have been born, it was to make a special forces team that would be better than a large army filled with foot soldiers. Large scale armies were too costly the damage was becoming too great from the losses. This new idea was cheeped saved the lives of soldiers and well over all would be able to getting the job done better. At this point combating with the insurgents was becoming too much for the UNSC to manage. But
Creation, Flood and the Hero in Gilgamesh and the Bible The Epic of Gilgamesh compares to the Bible in many different ways. The epic has a different perspective than the Bible does. This paper is a contrast and comparison between the two books. The three main points of this paper will be the Creation, Flood and the Hero. The way these two books start out is creation. This is the first similarity that we can state. God created man out of the earth, “In the beginning God created the Heaven
Many people have already dammed a small stream using sticks and mud by the time they become adults. Humans have used dams since early civilization, because four-thousand years ago they became aware that floods and droughts affected their well-being and so they began to build dams to protect themselves from these effects.1 The basic principles of dams still apply today as they did before; a dam must prevent water from being passed. Since then, people have been continuing to build and perfect these
The City of Ur The dessert is a terrifically uninhabitable place. There is little or no water, there is no vegetation, there is little wildlife, and the wildlife available is not particularly appetizing. There is no useful wood or stone as building materials, and so to live in the desert is completely dependant on the importation of all good from far away lands. Why then are cities built in desserts. In my mind these were cities build by people exiled to the desert with no other possible place