Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Flood!
In 1889, a big rainfall, a private club, a lake, and a weak dam caused a terrible flood. The flood killed thousands of people. The western Pennsylvania town of Johnstown was changed forever.
The trouble started when rich investors from nearby Pittsburgh bought Lake Conemaugh. They turned the land into a private club. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club lowered the dam to put a road on top of it. This and other changes to the dam weakened it. It set the stage for a failure of the dam.
On May 28, a storm moved across the Midwest and into western Pennsylvania. It was a huge storm that dumped a record amount of rain on the area around Johnstown. Some club members saw that the lake was flowing over the dam. They also saw that the dam was going to fail. A few started to work to keep the dam from failing. They weren't able to save it.
