Johnstown Flood Analysis
Mariah Wolford
History 202
“The Johnstown Flood”
Johnstown Flood
Having taken classes about Pennsylvania history in high school and being familiar with this horrible flood, I was very happy with this book. The author, David McCullough, does a masterful job setting the scene, the politics surrounding the dam and the subsequent failure of that dam. Johnstown was a typical American town for that day and time. People worked hard and earned little. The environment was polluted to some extent, but no one considered it a major issue. Nearly everyone considered the dam a threat, but only a few moved to improve the conditions. Huge disparities existed between the rich, the middle class and the poor. These disparities were more than money, but …show more content…
Legal action against individual club members was difficult if not impossible, as it would have been necessary to prove personal negligence - and the power and influence of the club members is hard to overestimate. In the end, no lawsuit against the club was successful.
The Johnstown Flood resulted in the first expression of outrage at power of the great trusts and giant corporations that had formed in the post-Civil War period. This antagonism was to break out into violence during the 1892 Homestead steel strike in Pittsburgh. The Club's great wealth rather than the dam's engineering came to be condemned. The Johnstown Flood became emblematic of what many Americans thought was going wrong with America. In simple terms, many saw the Club members as "robber barons" who had gotten away with murder.
Looking at what is known today about the club and the conditions of the dam, I can't say that the members of the club caused the disaster, but they sure could have prevented it from happening. By taking certain precautions, such as getting rid of drainage pipes, putting up fish screens across the spillway, and lowering the levels of the dam so more carriages could pass over it, they made …show more content…
The town's citizens were the ones who had lost their families, their homes, and most of their possessions. The club's members, however, were in Pittsburgh, for the most part, and did not have to deal with the tragedy like Johnstown residents had to. When people are placed in a tragic situation, they often feel the need to blame someone. In this case, I can completely understand why fingers were pointed at the club. These members didn't take care of the dam the way they needed to; instead, they made unnecessary modifications in order to better their fishing. I wouldn't go as far as to call the members “murderers” like many residents of the surrounding areas did, but I definitely believe that if anyone was to blame, it was them because of their lack of initiative and
History 202
“The Johnstown Flood”
Johnstown Flood
Having taken classes about Pennsylvania history in high school and being familiar with this horrible flood, I was very happy with this book. The author, David McCullough, does a masterful job setting the scene, the politics surrounding the dam and the subsequent failure of that dam. Johnstown was a typical American town for that day and time. People worked hard and earned little. The environment was polluted to some extent, but no one considered it a major issue. Nearly everyone considered the dam a threat, but only a few moved to improve the conditions. Huge disparities existed between the rich, the middle class and the poor. These disparities were more than money, but …show more content…
Legal action against individual club members was difficult if not impossible, as it would have been necessary to prove personal negligence - and the power and influence of the club members is hard to overestimate. In the end, no lawsuit against the club was successful.
The Johnstown Flood resulted in the first expression of outrage at power of the great trusts and giant corporations that had formed in the post-Civil War period. This antagonism was to break out into violence during the 1892 Homestead steel strike in Pittsburgh. The Club's great wealth rather than the dam's engineering came to be condemned. The Johnstown Flood became emblematic of what many Americans thought was going wrong with America. In simple terms, many saw the Club members as "robber barons" who had gotten away with murder.
Looking at what is known today about the club and the conditions of the dam, I can't say that the members of the club caused the disaster, but they sure could have prevented it from happening. By taking certain precautions, such as getting rid of drainage pipes, putting up fish screens across the spillway, and lowering the levels of the dam so more carriages could pass over it, they made …show more content…
The town's citizens were the ones who had lost their families, their homes, and most of their possessions. The club's members, however, were in Pittsburgh, for the most part, and did not have to deal with the tragedy like Johnstown residents had to. When people are placed in a tragic situation, they often feel the need to blame someone. In this case, I can completely understand why fingers were pointed at the club. These members didn't take care of the dam the way they needed to; instead, they made unnecessary modifications in order to better their fishing. I wouldn't go as far as to call the members “murderers” like many residents of the surrounding areas did, but I definitely believe that if anyone was to blame, it was them because of their lack of initiative and