Pennsylvania History: a Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies Volume 80
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Pennsylvania History a journal of mid-atlantic studies PHvolume 80, number 3 · summer 2013 articles Revisiting the Timing and Events Leading to and Causing the Johnstown Flood of 1889 Uldis Kaktins, Carrie Davis Todd, Stephanie Wojno, and Neil Coleman 335 Revealing Division: The Philadelphia Shirtwaist Strike, the Jewish Community, and Republican Machine Politics, 1909–1910 Julianne Kornacki 364 “It’s the Union Man That Holds the Winning Hand”: Gambling in Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Region Karol K. Weaver 401 Creating a Living Historiography: Tracing the Outlines of Philadelphia’s Antebellum African American Women and Mapping Memory onto the Body Valerie M. Joyce 420 Being Prometheus in 1943: Bringing Penicillin to the Working Man Anthony Julius Scibilia 442 Obituary Charles H. Glatfelter (1924–2013) Michael J. Birkner 451 This content downloaded from 128.118.152.205 on Tue, 06 Aug 2019 13:24:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms PAH 80.3_FM.indd 1 08/06/13 6:54 PM bOOk reviews Wendy Bellion. Citizen Spectator: Art, Illusion, and Visual Perception in Early National America. Reviewed by Amy Hudson Henderson 455 Philip D. Zimmerman. Harmony in Wood: Furniture of the Harmony Society. Reviewed by Kyle Roberts 458 Alan C. Braddock. Thomas Eakins and the Cultures of Modernity. Reviewed by Anna O. Marley 460 Karen M. Johnson-Weiner. New York Amish: Life in the Plain Communities of the Empire State. Reviewed by Joseph F. Donnermeyer 463 James McClelland. The Martinos: A Legacy of Art. Reviewed by Irwin Richman 465 William S. Dietrich II. Eminent Pittsburghers: Profiles of the City’s Founding Industrialists. Reviewed by Thomas R. Winpenny 467 Matthew F. Delmont. The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand, Rock ’n’ Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950s Philadelphia. Reviewed by Nicole Maurantonio 470 Edgar Sandoval. The New Face of Small-Town America: Snapshots of Latino Life in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Reviewed by René Luis Alvarez 472 bOOks received 475 cOntributOrs 477 PAH 80.3_FM.indd 2 17/06/13 3:22 PM This content downloaded from 128.118.152.205 on Tue, 06 Aug 2019 13:24:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms submission information Pennsylvania History publishes documents previously unpublished and of interest to scholars of the Middle Atlantic region. The Journal also reviews books, exhibits, and other media dealing primarily with Pennsylvania history or that shed significant light on the state’s past. The editors invite the submission of articles dealing with the history of Pennsylvania and the Middle Atlantic region, regardless of their specialty. Prospective authors should review past issues of Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, where they will note articles in social, intellectual, economic, environmental, political, and cultural history, from the distant and recent past. Articles may investigate new areas of research or they may reflect on past scholarship. Material that is primarily of an antiquarian or genealogical nature will not be considered. Please conform to the Chicago Manual of Style in preparing your manuscript. Send article submissions and suggestions for special issues to Editor William Pencak, by email [email protected] (preferred) or by mail, P.O. Box 132, Coburn, PA 16832. Send books for review and announcements to Christopher Fritsch, 5108 Calmont Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76107. important notices Pennsylvania History (ISSN 0031-4528; E-ISSN 2153-2109) is the official journal of the Pennsylvania Historical Association and is published quarterly by the Pennsylvania Historical Association and the Pennsylvania State University Press. Annual member subscription rates: $30 for students, and $40 for individuals ($55 if outside U.S.). Payments should be directed to Business Secretary Karen Guenther, 216 Pinecrest Hall, Mansfield University, Mansfield, PA 16933. Address changes should also be directed to Karen Guenther. Periodicals postage paid at Mansfield, and additional mailing offices. Claims for missing or damaged issues should be directed to Karen Guenther. PAH 80.3_FM.indd 3 17/06/13 3:22 PM This content downloaded from 128.118.152.205 on Tue, 06 Aug 2019 13:24:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms editor William Pencak, Emeritus, The Pennsylvania State University and University of South Alabama associate editor Christopher N. Fritsch editorial board Andrew Arnold, Kutztown University Susan Branson, Syracuse Peter Carmichael, Gettysburg College Ileen DeVault, Cornell University Aaron Fogelman, Northern Illinois University Carolyn Kitch, Temple University Jane Merritt, Old Dominion University Simon Newman, University of Glasgow Linda Ries, Pennsylvania State Archives Steve Rosswurm, Lake Forest College John Smolenski, University of California Davis Thomas Sugrue, University of Pennsylvania Joe Trotter, Carnegie-Mellon University Julie Winch, University of Massachusetts, Boston Christopher Young, Indiana University Northwest PAH 80.3_FM.indd 4 17/06/13 3:22 PM This content downloaded from 128.118.152.205 on Tue, 06 Aug 2019 13:24:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Publication of Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies is made possible by deeply appreciated support from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Department of History, the Pennsylvania State University. We thank Karen Guenther for keeping our membership lists in order. officers of the pennsylvania historical association President, Kenneth C. Wolensky [email protected] Immediate Past President, Janet Moore Lindman, Rowan University [email protected] Vice-President, Michael Birkner, Gettysburg College [email protected] Business Secretary, Karen Guenther, Mansfield University [email protected] Treasurer, Tina Hyduke, Penn State Federal Credit Union [email protected] Secretary, Rachel Batch, Widener University [email protected] Editor, William Pencak, Emeritus, The Pennsylvania State University and Ohio State University [email protected] the pennsylvania historical association The Pennsylvania Historical Association endeavors to stimulate scholarly activity and arouse popular interest in the Commonwealth’s history. It sponsors Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, a publication series, and annual meetings held successively throughout the state. www.pa-history.org On the cover: View of Lake Conemaugh with the Fisher House. Courtesy of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association. PAH 80.3_FM.indd 5 17/06/13 3:22 PM This content downloaded from 128.118.152.205 on Tue, 06 Aug 2019 13:24:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revisiting the timing and events Leading to and Causing the Johnstown FLood oF 1889 Uldis Kaktins, Carrie Davis Todd, Stephanie Wojno, and Neil Coleman he Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889, was responsible for more recorded deaths than any other disaster in the United States T 1 until the Galveston hurricane of 1900. An important difference between the two is that the Johnstown flood was not a natural disaster. Although the Johnstown region was in the midst of a particularly wet spring and the former boroughs that now form the city of Johnstown were already experiencing low-level flood- ing on May 31, the ultimate reason for the high death toll was the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located fourteen miles upstream from the outskirts of Johnstown on the South Fork of the Little Conemaugh River (see fig. 1). The millions of tons of water released by the failure of the dam caused devastation along the Little Conemaugh River drainage. As the water moved downstream it was temporarily impounded by debris dams behind two Pennsylvania Railroad bridges (Viaduct and Bridge no. 6), which caused “refor- mation of the lake” at these points. When Bridge no. 6 failed, the rejuvenated flood wave sped toward Johnstown. Most structures pennsylpennsylvvaniaania history: a journjournalal of mid-amid-atlantictlantic studies, vol. 80, nono.. 3, 2013. Copyright © 2013 The Pennsylvania Historical AssociationAssociation This content downloaded from 128.118.152.205 on Tue, 06 Aug 2019 13:25:37 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms PAH 80.3_01_Kaktins_Todd_Wojno_Coleman.indd 335 17/06/13 2:48 PM pennsylvania history were no match for the violent floodwaters, which carried debris from the dam itself, trees, houses, bridges, railroad cars, barbed wire; even livestock and people were caught in the torrent. By the time the flood wave reached the Stone Bridge in Johnstown, it had traveled about sixteen miles. At this point most of its energy was spent and a huge debris jam formed at the bridge. The debris jam subsequently caught fire, claiming additional victims who had been trapped among the debris. In the end, over 2,200 people lost their lives. Despite the infamy of the Johnstown Flood of 1889 (or perhaps because of it), there is much conflicting, and sometimes inaccurate, information surrounding the factors contributing to the flood and the flood itself. This article reviews the events leading up to the flood and provides new insights as to the cause of the dam’s failure, with respect to the fill material used in its reconstruction, the rainfall amounts and intensity, the rate of floodwater runoff into Lake Conemaugh (previously known as the South Fork Reservoir), and the travel time of the flood wave to Johnstown. Special attention is given to resolving the conflicting accounts as to the time of failure for the South Fork Dam, the volume