PA -- Johnstown -- Stone Bridge:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- STBRID_050601_27.JPG: The Little Conemaugh River is the one that came from the South Fork Dam. Note the color. They say this is from mining run off which has essentially killed the river.
- STBRID_050601_34.JPG: The smaller river is the Stonycreek River. Notice that it's much cleaner water.
- STBRID_050601_35.JPG: The Little Conemaugh on the left, Stonycreek on the right. In the middle is a concrete structure with an eternal flame.
- STBRID_050601_45.JPG: This picture of the dam is taken from the Stonycreek side. The flood waters smashed into the embankment to the left of the bridge and cut their way through, thus preserving the dam.
- Description of Subject Matter: The two main rivers into Johnstown, the Little Conemaugh and Stony Creek rivers, merge just above a five-arch Pennsylvania Railroad stone bridge at a place known as "The Point."
On May 31, 1889, when the South Fork Dam broke, the water coming down the Little Conemaugh was at times 60 feet high and moving 40 miles per hour. When the town was leveled, structures and people were swept away, down the river, to the Stone Bridge. The river smashed into the hillside just before the dam, sparing it from the full impact of the water. So, unlike other bridges along the path, this bridge held, trapping victims in trees and debris. The water cut a channel through the railroad embankment, leaving the bridge to collect wreckage extending 30 acres.
Freed of the bridge, the water went on to destroy half the house and kill 115 people in Millvale and another 350 people in Cambria City, further downriver.
The debris on the bridge was 40 feet high, being piled 15 feet higher than the bridge itself. Then it caught fire and burned for three days -- 300 bodies were incinerated here. Crews dynamited the debris to clear it out and help avoid the threat of pestilence.
After the Johnstown flood, there were other floods in the area. Under the federal Flood Control Act of 1936, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moved in with the Johnstown Local Flood Protection Program (JLFPP). Built between 1938 and 1943, it was designed to handle river flows equivalent to those experienced in Johnstown during the 1936 St. Patrick's Day flood. The channels were widened and deepened in the Conemaugh, Little Conemaugh, and Stonycreek rivers and then concrete side slopes and floodwalls were built. It is the longest paved channelization project in Pennsylvania and one of the largest in the United States.
Since its construction, it failed only once, during the exceptional "500-year flood" of 1977.
- Wikipedia Description: Stone Bridge (Johnstown, Pennsylvania)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Stone Bridge spans the Conemaugh River in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The bridge is a seven-arch stone railroad bridge located on the Norfolk Southern Railway mainline, built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1887-88. Its upstream face was reinforced with concrete in 1929. This bridge survived the Johnstown Flood of 1889, but the bridge blocked debris, which subsequently caught fire and created an inferno covering 30 acres (120,000 m2). The bridge is visible from Point Park in downtown Johnstown.
Stone Bridge project
The Stone Bridge, located on the edge of Johnstown’s downtown, is an arched bridge built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1887. On May 31, 1889, its seven arches blocked tons of debris, including miles of barbed wire twisted through it from the destruction of a plant; all were carried by the waters of the Johnstown Flood, but the bridge withstood its force. An enormous fire broke out in the debris at the bridge, killing scores of people trapped within it, and burning for three days.
A Johnstown landmark, the three-track bridge is still used by the railroad. Now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway, the bridge is located near Route 56, the most heavily traveled road in the region. It is highly visible from Route 56, downtown, the Johnstown Area Heritage Association's (JAHA) newly established Festival Park, and the restaurant and visitors center above the city at the Inclined Plane. The bridge needed restoration, as its stone façade had long since been covered with concrete, added when the bridge was expanded with a third track, and its general appearance was poor.
A bridge restoration project was developed by community leaders, to include cleaning and physical and aesthetic improvements, resurfacing of the south side, and new lighting with energy-efficient LED lighting adjustable to different colors and intensities. Estimated to cost $1.2 million, the project was initiated in 2008 as part of flood commemorative activities.
Michael Brosig, co-chair of the Stone Bridge Committee, said,
"The significance of the Stone Bridge is that it stood its ground against the flood waters and altered the future of Johnstown completely and forever. It created the backdrop for the event that put Johnstown on the map. Restoring the South facade of that structure and casting LED lighting on it will certainly showcase the triumph of the human spirit in a spectacular style for all to see, enjoy and be proud of their heritage. Based on its strategic location, it is the lynchpin of the historic district of our city."
Consultants on the bridge restoration project included Shadowstone, Inc., of Clifton, New Jersey, for the lighting. For the bridge restoration and rehabilitation, the group worked with Pawlowski & Haman Architects, P.C., and H. F. Lenz Co., both of Johnstown.
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