The Johnstown Flood

Title: The Johnstown Flood

Author: David McCullough

Pages: 304

Genre: Non-fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: In May of 1889, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania a wall of water came rushing down the mountain and wiped out most of the town and killed more than 2,000 people (exact death tolls are difficult to nail down). The flood came during a fierce storm that overwhelmed a dam upriver from the town.  The scandal of the tragedy was that the dam was part of a luxury resort frequented by magnates such as Andrrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon and they had been warned of deficiencies in the earth dam.  The book covers the engineering and design of the dam and subsequent modifications and the importance of the railway in these areas and how both impacted the mortality rate.

My Review: This was another fantastic McCullough book.  When I picked up the book, I was surprised that I was not familiar with this tragedy, especially considering the scope and death toll from the flood.  There is a National Memorial at the site now that I would love to visit someday.