Johnstown - Incline Plane
After Philly we headed to Western Pennsylvania for a little Railroad history.
Our first stop was Johnstown - home of the Johstown flood. We headed up to the location of the headwaters that flooded the area in the 1800's. There we did some learning about how not to construct an earthen dam and that we have come a long way in understanding the needs/wants of some and how they affect the needs of many.
The National Park is on the grounds of the old manager's house from the dam that was part of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. We did some learning about how the flood started and how quickly the water progressed down the valley.
We headed down the valley to Johnstown that in the flood of 1889 lost over 2000 people. In response the community built an incline plane to be able to quickly evacuate as many people as possible.
The cars remain horizontal over the course of the incline so you are able to drive cars or horse and cart aboard. The town has flooded 4 times since including as recently as 1977.
We left Dill at the bottom to catch a photo of the rest of us on the way up. You can almost see us above the sign.
View back over the city of Johnstown and the Conemaugh River.
Our first stop was Johnstown - home of the Johstown flood. We headed up to the location of the headwaters that flooded the area in the 1800's. There we did some learning about how not to construct an earthen dam and that we have come a long way in understanding the needs/wants of some and how they affect the needs of many.
 |
| Overview of the dam |
Comments