Dan Martt and Rick Barringer attended the Pittsburgh Geological Society field trip entitled, “The Johnstown Flood, May 31, 1889.” The trip was created to acquaint the attendant of the geology and history of the catastrophic flood that almost wiped out the city of Johnstown on the date above. In addition to visiting the Johnstown Flood National Memorial near St. Michaels, Pennsylvania, the attendants were given a talk by Drs. Uldis Katkins, Carrie Davis Todd and Neil Coleman, all of University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown (UPJ) (Dr. Katkins is an emeritus professor) on their research, “Influence of Modifications to the South Fork Dam on the Johnstown Flood of 1889” at the actual dam site. The talk, carried out in a driving rainstorm, emphasized the problems caused by the modifications to the original dam (built for the Pennsylvania Canal system almost 40 years earlier) by the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club. In addition to determining the volume of water in the dam and the amount discharging at the time of failure, they are interested in determining if the dam would have survived had the design modifications not taken place. The American Society of Civil Engineering published a report in Engineering Record in 1891 stating the modifications did not cause the dam to fail and the flood would have happened anyway. The group from UPJ hopes to publish their results later this year. One interesting feature of the old dam observed were the old foundation stones for the inlet tower, still in place after more than 140 years. The UPJ group is using the stones as a GIS benchmark for mapping, from which further research could be carried out.

Further field trip stops dealt with the history of Johnstown, including the times of boat building, canal port and coal and iron mining center, including the steel making which was pioneered in Johnstown. We had an eagle eye view of the city from the top of the world’s steepest inclined railway, which also carried our vehicles to the top. The stops included a viewing of the Plot of the Unknowns at Grandview Cemetery, where unidentified bodies found after the flood were buried in rows; a sobering sight for anyone involved in works involving the safety of the public. We also viewed flood control walls constructed in the 1930’s at the “Point” (confluence of the South Conemaugh and Stony Creek rivers).

Dr. Chuck Shultz, retired geology professor from Slippery Rock University, gave interesting geological background for the field trip, and Frank Benacquista supplied copies of the old Johnstown U.S.G.S. Folio as part of the background.

View videos of our trip at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oKcUYBbsoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnBntarV9DI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1quuoRgSoww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyjaz7-o-so

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rdwYGtnJdM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olHv3iXBPHs

Related links with more information about the Johnstown Flood are at: http://www.jaha.org/FloodMuseum/oklahoma.html , http://www.nps.gov/jofl/index.htm.