19th Century

1889-90, June-May — Croup, 48 States & DC, esp. NY/1.5K, PA/1.4K, IL/957, MO –13,862

lornajarrettblanchard June 1, 1889

— 13,862 U.S. Census Office. Compendium of the Eleventh Census: 1890, Part II. 1894, p. 6.

Alabama ( 368) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 30.

Arizona ( 10) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 38.

Arkansas ( 356) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 46.

California ( 199) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 54.

Colorado ( 88) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 62.

Connecticut ( 123) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 70.

Delaware ( 80) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 78.

District of Columbia ( 47) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 86.

Florida ( 40) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 94.

Georgia ( 401) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 102.

Idaho ( 16) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 110.

Illinois ( 957) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 118.

Indiana ( 305) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 126.

Iowa ( 352) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 142.

Kansas ( 259) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 150.

Kentucky ( 561) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 158.

Louisiana ( 195) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 166.

Maine ( 82) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 174.

Maryland ( 235) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 182.

Massachusetts ( 490) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 190.

Michigan ( 368) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 198.

Minnesota ( 243) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 206.

Mississippi ( 226) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 214.

Missouri ( 669) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 222.

Montana ( 15) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 230.

Nebraska ( 193) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 238.

Nevada ( 6) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 246.

New Hampshire ( 96) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 254.

New Jersey ( 449) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 262.

New Mexico ( 19) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 270.

New York (1,568) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 278.

North Carolina ( 348) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 286.

North Dakota ( 13) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 294.

Ohio ( 695) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 302.

Oklahoma ( 3) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 310.

Oregon ( 62) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 318.

Pennsylvania (1,384) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 326.

Rhode Island ( 80) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 334.

South Carolina ( 170) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 342.

South Dakota ( 35) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 350.

Tennessee ( 598) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 358.

Texas ( 463) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 366.

Utah ( 80) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 374.

Vermont ( 53) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 382.

Virginia ( 293) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 390.

Washington ( 61) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 398.

West Virginia ( 196) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 406.

Wisconsin ( 272) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 414.

Wyoming ( 6) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 422.

Narrative Information

U.S. Census: “The total number of deaths reported as due to diphtheria is 27,815, giving a proportion of 33.06 per 1,000 of all deaths in which the causes are reported, which is decidedly lower than the figures of 1880, which gave a proportion of 52.32 per 1,000. To these figures, however, should be added the greater part of the deaths caused by croup, numbering 13,862, which would make the combined ration of the two diseases 49.54 per 1,000.” (Census Office. Compendium of the Eleventh Census: 1890, Part II: Vital and Social Statistics…, 1894, p. 6.)

Background on Croup

CDC: “Human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) commonly cause upper and lower respiratory illnesses in infants, young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems, but anyone can get infected. After you get infected, it takes about 2 to 7 days before you develop symptoms….Symptoms of lower respiratory illness may include:

Croup (infection of the vocal cords (larynx), windpipe (trachea) and bronchial tubes (bronchi)

“….HPIV-1 and HPIV-2 both cause croup, with HPIV-1 most often identified as the cause in children. Both can also cause upper and lower respiratory illness, and cold-like symptoms.”

“….Human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) usually spread from an infected person to others through

the air by coughing and sneezing
close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands
touching objects or surfaces that have HPIVs on them then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes

KidsHealth: “Croup is a condition that causes an inflammation of the upper airways – the voice box (larynx) and windpipe (trachea). It often leads to a barking cough or hoarseness, especially when a child cries. Most cases of croup are caused by viruses, usually parainfluenza virus and sometimes adenovirus or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Viral croup is most common – and symptoms are most severe – in children 6 months to 3 years old, but can affect older kids too….” (KidsHealth from Nemours. “Infections; Croup.” Accessed 1-7-2015.)

Wikipedia: “….Before the advent of vaccination, croup was frequently caused by diphtheria, and was often fatal. This cause is now a historical one in the Western world due to the success of the diphtheria vaccine and improved hygiene and living standards….The word croup comes from the Early Modern English verb croup, meaning ‘to cry hoarsely’; the name was first applied to the disease in Scotland and popularized in the 18^th century.” (Wikipedia. “Croup.” 12-4-2014 modification.)

Sources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Human Parainfluenza Viruses (HPIVs). 10-31-2019 modification. Accessed 12-16-2019 at: https://www.cdc.gov/parainfluenza/about/symptoms.html

KidsHealth from Nemours. “Infections; Croup.” Accessed 1-7-2015 at: https://kidshealth.org/Nemours/en/parents/az-croup.html

United States Census Division, Department of Interior. Abstract of the Eleventh Census: 1890. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Washington, DC: GPO, 1896. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=1DUPAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

United States Census Office, Department of Interior. Compendium of the Eleventh Census: 1890, Part II: Vital and Social Statistics…. Washington: GPO, 1894. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=T8frAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

United States Census Office, Department of Interior. Report on Vital and Social Statistics in the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890. Part III. – Statistics of Deaths. Washington, DC: GPO, 1894. Google digitized at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=YfZYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

United States Census Office, Department of Interior. Report on Vital and Social Statistics in the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890. Part IV. – Statistics of Deaths. Washington, DC: GPO, 1895. At: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsushistorical/vsush_1890_4.pdf

Wikipedia. “Croup.” 12-4-2014 modification. Accessed 1-7-2015 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup

19th Century

1889-90, June-May, Diphtheria, 48 States & DC, esp. NY/4K, PA/2.9K, IL/2.6K, OH-27,815

lornajarrettblanchard June 1, 1889

— 27,815 U.S. Census Office. Compendium of the Eleventh Census: 1890, Part II. 1894, p. 6.

Alabama ( 80) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 26.

Arizona ( 16) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 34.

Arkansas ( 64) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 42.

California ( 339) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 50.

Colorado ( 294) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 58.

–146 Denver U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census… 1896, p. 271.^[1]

Connecticut ( 574) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 66.

Delaware ( 83) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 74.

District of Columbia ( 147) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 82.

Florida ( 14) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 90.

Georgia ( 152) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 98.

Idaho ( 30) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 106.

Illinois (2,604) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 114.

— 1,124 Chicago U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census… 1896, p. 271.^[2]

Indiana ( 594) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 122.

Iowa (1,212) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 138.

Kansas ( 385) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 146.

Kentucky ( 544) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 154.

Louisiana ( 187) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 162.

–115 New Orleans. U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, 271.^[3]

Maine ( 206) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 170.

Maryland ( 293) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 178.

— 113 Baltimore U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 271.^[4]

Massachusetts (1,774) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 186.

— 545 Boston U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 268.^[5]

— 156 Lawrence U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 268.^[6]

Michigan (1,189) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 194.

— 237 Detroit U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890…. 1896, p. 271.^[7]

Minnesota ( 933) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 202.

–154 Minneapolis U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 271.^[8]

— 94 St. Paul U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 271.^[9]

Mississippi ( 89) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 210.

Missouri ( 708) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 218.

— 44 Kansas City. U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 271.^[10]

–223 St. Louis. U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 271.^[11]

Montana ( 41) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 226.

Nebraska ( 615) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 234.

Nevada ( 10) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 242.

New Hampshire ( 230) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 250.

New Jersey (1,067) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 258.

–255 Newark. U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 269.^[12]

New Mexico ( 773) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 266.

New York (4,085) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 274.

— 100 Albany U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 270.^[13]

— 53 Elmira. U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896p. 270.^[14]

–1,021 Brooklyn U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 269.^[15]

–1,337 New York. U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 269.^[16]

— 22 Rochester U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 270.^[17]

North Carolina ( 309) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 282.

North Dakota ( 133) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 290.

Ohio (1,828) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 298.

–407 Cincinnati U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, 271.^[18]

–327 Toledo U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 271.^[19]

Oklahoma ( 9) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 306.

Oregon ( 97) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 314.

Pennsylvania (2,976) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 322.

— 98 Allegheny U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 271.^[20]

–483 Philadelphia U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 272.^[21]

–315 Pittsburgh U.S. Census. Abstract…Eleventh Census: 1890… 1896, p. 272.^[22]

Rhode Island ( 203) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 330.

South Carolina ( 161) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 338.

South Dakota ( 229) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 346.

Tennessee ( 169) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 354.

Texas ( 165) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 362.

Utah ( 212) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 370.

Vermont ( 224) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 378.

Virginia ( 488) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 386.

Washington ( 129) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 394.

West Virginia ( 118) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 402.

Wisconsin ( 949) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 410.

Wyoming ( 27) U.S. Census. Report on Vital Statistics…Deaths, Part III, p. 418.

Narrative Information

Census: “The total number of deaths reported as due to diphtheria is 27,815, giving a proportion of 33.06 per 1,000 of all deaths in which the causes are reported, which is decidedly lower than the figures of 1880, which gave a proportion of 52.32 per 1,000. To these figures, however, should be added the greater part of the deaths caused by croup, numbering 13,862, which would make the combined ration of the two diseases 49.54 per 1,000.” (p. 6.)

“For some of the states and cities the proportion of deaths from diphtheria per 1,000 of all deaths of known causes was as follows: [We reorder original paragraph into lines raked by death rate.]

Vermont, 42.62;

Connecticut, 39.97;

Massachusetts, 38.66;

New Jersey, 35.38;

New Hampshire, 33.52;

New York, 33.40;

Delaware, 27.72;

Rhode Island, 27.37;

District of Columbia, 24.40;

Alabama, 4.27;

Toledo, Ohio, 197.73;

Dover, New Hampshire, 137.55;

Lawrence, Massachusetts, 121.00;

Elmira, New York, 96.36;

Hartford, Connecticut, 65.97;

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 63.22;

Cincinnati, Ohio, 61.35;

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 60.60;

Denver, Colorado, 56.57;

Detroit, Michigan, 56.53;

Jersey City, New Jersey, 55.03;

New Haven, Connecticut, 50.12;

Brooklyn, New York, 49.58;

Boston, Massachusetts, 49.05;

Chicago, Illinois, 48.67; Newark,

New Jersey, 48.39;

Bridgeport, Connecticut, 47.95;

Allegheny, Pennsylvania, 46.23;

St. Paul, Minnesota, 42.15;

Albany, New York, 41.41;

Providence, Rhode Island, 34.12;

New York city, 30.83;

Indianapolis, Indiana, 30.18;

St. Louis Missouri, 25.86;

Troy, New York, 24.43;

Burlington, Vermont, 22.90;

Trenton, New Jersey, 22.22;

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 20.35;

Kansas City, Missouri, 17.48;

Louisville, Kentucky, 17.43;

New Orleans, Louisiana, 16.73;

Memphis, Tennessee, 14.42;

San Francisco, California, 14.00;

Baltimore, Maryland, 10.54;

Richmond, Virginia, 10.00;

Rochester, New York, 9.51;

San Antonio, Texas, 6.63;

Wilmington, Delaware, 6.37;

Concord, New Hampshire, 5.93;

Chattanooga, Tennessee, 5.18;

Galveston, Texas, 4.32; Mobile, Alabama, 3.86; Atlanta, Georgia, 3.80; Savannah, GA, 3.63; Nashville, Tennessee, 2.97; Charleston, SC, 0.44.”

“As in 1880, therefore, diphtheria is much more prevalent in the northern part of the country than in the south, but its relative prevalence in the cities appears to have greatly increased since the last census, at which time it was slightly more prevalent in the rural districts than in the cities, whereas in 1890 the reverse appears to have been the case.” (US Census Office, Interior Dept. Compendium of the Eleventh Census: 1890, Part II: Vital and Social Statistics…., 1894, 7.)

On Diphtheria

CDC: “Diphtheria is a serious disease caused by a toxin (poison) made by bacteria. It causes a thick coating in the back of the nose or throat that makes it hard to breathe or swallow. It can be deadly. The DTaP vaccine protects against diphtheria…. Diphtheria starts like a cold, with sore throat, mild fever (101 degrees or less), and chills. Next, the diphtheria toxin makes a thick coating on the back of the nose or throat. It may be blue or grayish green. The coating makes it hard to breathe or swallow… The coating on the throat can get so thick that it blocks the airway, so the person can’t breathe.

“The diphtheria toxin can attack the heart, causing abnormal heart rhythms and even heart failure. It can also attack the nerves, which leads to paralysis (unable to move parts of the body).

About 1 out of 10 people who get diphtheria dies. In children younger than 5 years, as many as 1 out of 5 children who get diphtheria dies.

“How does diphtheria spread? Diphtheria spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes. A person can spread the disease for up to 2 weeks after infection.

“What is the DTaP vaccine? The DTaP vaccine is a shot that combines the vaccines for diphtheria and two other serious diseases: tetanus and whooping cough (pertussis). The vaccine helps the body to build up protection against the diphtheria toxin. Most children (about 97 children out of 100) who get all doses of the vaccine will be protected against diphtheria….” (CDC. Vaccines and Immunizations. “Diphtheria – Fact Sheet for Parents.” 7-8-2013 update.)

Guilfoile: “Origin of the Term ‘Diphtheria.’ The French physician Pierre Bretonneau performed autopsies on many people who had died of what we now call diphtheria. He noted that a common feature of these victims was that they all had a growth, called a pseudomembrane, in their upper respiratory tract. In 1826, he first used the term ‘diphtherite,’ after the Greek word meaning ‘leather or hide,’ based on the leather-like appearance of the pseudomembrane. The term was subsequently modified to ‘diphtheria’ in the 1850s.” (p. 11)

“In contrast with nasal diphtheria, respiratory diphtheria is a very serious disease. Prior to the development of effective medical treatments, about half the people who developed symptoms of respiratory diphtheria died. In children who have diphtheria, the bacteria grow primarily in the upper and lower throat.” (p. 14.) (Guilfoile, Patrick G. Diphtheria (Deadly Diseases and Epidemics series). NY: Chelsea House, an imprint of Infobase Publishing, 2009. )

Staples: “The history of diphtheria is not confined to modern times. According to Dr. Greenhow, of London, whose excellent monograph on this disease appeared in 1861, diphtheria prevailed in Spain, Italy, Sicily and other European countries, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It visited England, France, Italy, Sweden, Holland, Germany, and North America, about the middle of the last century. Oertel writes in Ziemssen’s Cyclopedia: ‘Diphtheria is one of the oldest epidemic diseases of the human race. Even Homer and Hippocrates advanced views from which Bretonneau first sought to prove that the disease was known in those times under the name ‘Malum Ægyptiacum,’ as a disease greatly to be feared.’ According to the same author, Aretaeus, writing at the close of the first and the beginning of the second century after Christ, accurately describes the Malum Ægyptiacum, specially emphasizing the fact that in the disease the tonsils are covered with a certain dense white ‘humore’ which spreads over the tongue and gums. Writers in the later centuries give the disease under various names, and evidently confounded it with other malignant affections of the throat; yet the description of the character and situation of the local disease given by the older writers – the white, ashy and putrid exudation, in fatal cases so loathsome that even the patients themselves can not endure it; the disease often extending to the air tubes and causing death by suffocation; the class of persons most liable to the disease, children who have not yet reached the age of puberty; its uncertain attack and advance – all this affords abundant evidence that the disease of the ancients was identical with the diphtheria of our own time..

“The name diphtheria was first given by Bretonneau, of Tours, France, in 1821. This distinguished Frenchman first made accurate investigations into the nature of the disease, and, because of its essential characteristic, the exudation, he gave it the name, in French, diphtherite, from the Greek diphtheria, a pellicle.^[23]

“The investigations and views of Bretonneau were first published in the form of two treatises presented to the French Academy of Medicine. He at first insisted that diphtheria must be considered as wholly a local disease^[24]. He was obliged at a later period to concede that a blood poisoning is one of its essential characteristics – (Oertel.).

“In 1820, Dr. Thomas Brown presented a paper on diphtheria to the Glasgow Medical Society, and in 1825, Dr. McKenzie published two papers in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, in which views were expressed similar to what Bretonneau published the year following. It is true, however, that the medical profession at large, at this time and for many years afterward, had little knowledge and less practical interest in the disease, whose existence and character was known only in a few scientific essays.

“Almost all knowledge of the Malum Ægyptiacum of Aretaeus of the first century, of the Garrotillo or Morbus Suffocans of Villa Real, Foutecha and Herrera of Spain, in the seventeenth century, the sore throat described by Chomel of France, and by Fothergil, Starr and Huxham of England, and by Samuel Bard in North America, in the middle of the eighteenth century, and even the diphtherite of M. Bretonneau, early in the present century, had passed from the memory of man, and the world for several generations had known little of diphtheria, when the great outbreak of the disease occurred at Boulogne in 1855. In this beginning of epidemic diphtheria of our own time, according to Dr. Greenhow, there were in Boulogne in the months of January, February and March, 366 deaths; 341 of which were of children under ten years of age. During the year, the disease appeared in various parts of France.

“The epidemic first appeared in England in the early autumn of 1856. The first cases were in the town of Spaulding, in Lincolnshire. In 1857 the disease was in London. Concerning the method of the progress of the epidemic, Dr. Greenhow remarks: ‘It is at least an important point in the history of the epidemic, to have ascertained that it began, to all appearances, spontaneously in several centers, sufficiently remote from one another to prove their complete independence. Another feature noticeable in the spread of the epidemic n London, as well as in other parts of England and on the continent, that has peculiar interest is, that the epidemic influence often produced its effect in various ways short of causing the complete and malignant forms of the disease. There was for some months previous to the introduction of what was regarded as true diphtheria, a peculiar sore throat prevalent, unattended either by ulceration or exudation, and scarlet fever prevailing about that time had unusual features as regards the character of the throat disease; there was an unusual depression of the vital powers. An epidemic of catarrhal fever^[25] prevailed in the autumn of the same year, almost exclusively limited to children; and this also was attended and followed by an unusual amount of depression….

“In closing this outline sketch of the history of diphtheria, I desire to quote briefly from a lecture by Dr. Alonzo Clark in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, published in 1861, giving the opinion of the author concerning the future of the disease. Dr. Clark says: “I must now add that diphtheria, though an epidemic affection, is not, like cholera or yellow fever, a disease of a single season, at least so far as relates to a state or country. It often has a limited duration in villages and among a scattered population, but in large towns, and in the country at large, there is much reason to apprehend that, once established, it will continue for years.” (Staples. “Report on Diphtheria,” pp. 27-29 in Minnesota State Board of Health. Seventh Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Minnesota, January 1879. Minneapolis: Johnson, Smith & Harrison, 1879.)

University of Illinois at Chicago: “Diphtheria is a highly contagious disease caused by a bacillus (Corynebacterium diphtheriae). The disease is spread from person to person by coughing, breathing, direct contact, or through contaminated food. Upon infection, the ailment normally breaks out after a brief incubation period of two to four days. Symptoms of the illness include a sore throat, fever, hoarseness, swollen neck glands causing a “bull-neck” appearance, and difficulty in swallowing and breathing. A grayish membrane often forms in the throat and, if it continues to grow, can interfere with swallowing. If it extends to the windpipe, it can block air and cause suffocation.

“If untreated, the diphtheria bacteria produces a powerful poison, or toxin, that spreads throughout the body and can cause pneumonia, paralysis and heart failure. Treatment consists of immediate administration of diphtheria antitoxin and antibiotics. Antibiotic treatment usually renders the patient non-infectious within 24 hours. Even with treatment, however, the disease can be fatal, killing 5 percent to 10 percent of diphtheria patients. Untreated, the disease claims even more lives — 25 percent to 50 percent. Untreated patients are infectious for two to three weeks. Unless, immunized, children and adults may repeatedly be infected with the disease.

“Diphtheria is undoubtedly an old malady. In historical accounts, however, it is very difficult to separate the disease from other throat conditions, such as scarlet fever, which also had serious consequences. One of the earliest accounts of diphtheria is found in the Hippocratic work Epidemics III, which was written 2,500 years ago. Another early description of the disease was recorded about 1,900 years ago by Arateus of Cappadocia, a Greek physician, who practiced medicine in Rome. Arateus called the ailment ulcers of the tonsils. He observed that if the ulcers spread to the windpipe it resulted in suffocation. Arateus accurately observed, ‘the manner of death is most piteous; pain sharp and hot as from a carbuncle; respiration bad, for their breath smells strongly of putrefaction, as they inhale the same again into their chest; fever acute, thirst as if from fire, and yet they do not desire drink for fear of the pain it would occasion…’ During the Middle Ages, there was little written about the disease.

“The first recorded epidemic of diphtheria in America occurred in colonial New England in 1735. It lasted almost five years and caused the deaths of 5,000 persons, or 2.5 percent of the total population. In towns across western Massachusetts and New Hampshire many families lost all their children to this terrible sickness….

“Although diphtheria was primarily a disease of children, adults also suffered and died from it. The most famous adult of the 18th century to die from diphtheria was George Washington. The former president died at his Mount Vernon home in 1799 from asphyxia from a severely swollen

throat caused by the ailment….

“Between 1850 and 1860, for the first time in recorded history, there was a severe worldwide

epidemic, or pandemic, of diphtheria….

“Much of the confusion over the cause of the disease occurred because no one at the time [up to 1880s] recognized the existence of healthy diphtheria carriers, individuals who are apparently well but harbor the diphtheria bacillus in their nose and throat. These diphtheria carriers were a major source of the illness, accounting for as much as 75 percent of the cases of the disease.” (University of Illinois at Chicago. “4. Diphtheria,” pp. 49-60.)

Sources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccines and Immunizations. “Diphtheria – Fact Sheet for Parents.” 7-8-2013 update. Accessed 8-27-2013 at: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/diphtheria/fs-parents.html

Guilfoile, Patrick G. Diphtheria (Deadly Diseases and Epidemics series). NY: Chelsea House, an imprint of Infobase Publishing, 2009. Google digital preview at: http://books.google.com/books?id=tzVqM-JUnW8C&dq=diphtheria&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Staples, Franklin, M.D. “Report on Diphtheria,” pp. 27-29 in Minnesota State Board of Health. Seventh Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Minnesota, January 1879. Minneapolis: Johnson, Smith & Harrison, 1879. Google digitized at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=10VNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false )

http://books.google.com/books?id=YfZYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

University of Illinois at Chicago. “4. Diphtheria,” pp. 49-60.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ALEJFHVbhcoJ:www.uic.edu/sph/prepare/courses/ph500/resources/diphtheria.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[1] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 56.57 per 1,000 deaths and 2,584 Denver, CO deaths.

[2] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 48.67 per 1,000 deaths and 23,102 Chicago, IL deaths.

[3] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 16.73 per 1,000 deaths and 8,875 New Orleans, LA deaths.

[4] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 10.54 per 1,000 deaths and 10,752 Baltimore, MD deaths.

[5] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 49.05 per 1,000 deaths and 11,117 Boston, MA deaths.

[6] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 121.00 per 1,000 deaths and 1,297 Lawrence, MA deaths.

[7] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 56.53 per 1,000 deaths and 4,203 Detroit, MI deaths.

[8] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 63.22 per 1,000 deaths and 2,440 Minneapolis, MN deaths.

[9] Our calculations is based on diphtheria death rate of 42.15 per 1,000 deaths and 2,240 St. Paul, MN deaths.

[10] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 17.48 per 1,000 deaths and 2,553 Kansas City, MO deaths.

[11] Our calculation is based on diphtheria death rate of 25.86 per 1,000 deaths and 8,645St. Louis, MO deaths.

[12] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 48.39 per 1,000 deaths and 5,280 Newark, NJ deaths.

[13] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 41.41 per 1,000 deaths and 2,421 Albany, NY deaths.

[14] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 96.36 per 1,000 deaths and 551 Elmira, NY deaths.

[15] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 49.58 per 1,000 deaths and 20,593Brooklyn, NY deaths.

[16] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 30.83 per 1,000 deaths and 43,378 NY, New York deaths.

[17] Our calculation is based on diphtheria death rate of 9.51 per 1,000 deaths and 2,323 Rochester, NY deaths.

[18] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 61.35 per 1,000 deaths and 6,640 Cincinnati, OH deaths.

[19] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 197.73 per 1,000 deaths and 1,656 Toledo, OH deaths.

[20] Our calculation based on diphtheria death rate of 46.23 per 1,000 deaths and 2,122 Allegheny, PA deaths.

[21] Our calculation is based on diphtheria death rate of 20.35 per 1,000 deaths and 23,738 Philadelphia, PA deaths.

[22] Our calculation is based on diphtheria death rate of 60.60 per 1,000 deaths and 5,206 Pittsburgh, PA deaths.

[23] “A thin skin or film on the surface of a liquid.” (American Heritage Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2004; quoted in TheFreeDictionary.com.

[24] Local, in the sense, we believe, of localized at a location in the body.

[25] “Old term for the group of respiratory tract diseases including common cold, influenza, and lobular and lobar pneumonia.” Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary, 2012; quoted in TheFreeDictionary.com.

19th Century

1889 — May 31-June 2, Flooding, District of Columbia; MD (lives lost) –8-11

lornajarrettblanchard May 31, 1889

— 19 Cumberland Daily Times, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2.
–9-11 Blanchard tally.*

Maryland (11)
–12 Johnson, Willis Fletcher. History of The Johnstown Flood. 1889, p. 447.
–11 Cumberland Daily Times, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2.
— 8 Blanchard tally based on locality breakouts below.
— 1 Leitersburg area. Drowning; Jos. Creager, 80, fell into creek at Crums mill.
— 1 Monrovia, just east of Frederick. Drowning; man named Lawson.
— 1 Orange Grove, Patapsco River. Drowning when log took out bridge with Wm. H. Hudson.
–>2 Point of Rocks. “…it is fortunate that few lives were lost.”
— 2 Salisbury area. Drownings; sloop capsized during the storm, two men.
— 2 Taneytown area. Drowned crossing flooded stream in carriage; Mrs. McFadden; Miss Maggie Moore.
— 1 “ Drowned crossing flooded Pipe Creek in carriage; John W. McFadden.
— 1 Trevanion Mills, Pipe Creek, Carroll County. Drowning; George Derrick.
— 1 Williamsport. Drowning; fell from skiff, catching drift wood in flood water, Theo Wolf, 18.

West Virginia ( 8)
–8 Cumberland Daily Times, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2.

* Though we have seen sources noting 11, 12 and even 19 fatalities (including WV), we have only been able to identify eight of those with some level of confidence. Johnson, for example, notes the drowning death of a Mr. Lawson in Monrovia, as did early press reporting. However the Frederick Daily News of June 3, which had earlier reported his death as well, ran a note that this report was inaccurate and that no one drowned in Monrovia. Similarly Johnson reports two drowning deaths in the Taneytown area, as did the early press, but it appears from later reporting that there was but one. If one subtracts these two reported deaths, his total would be ten. However, since the Cumberland, MD, Daily Times reports eleven deaths we use that number as the high-end of our tally though we think the actual number was 8-10.

Narrative Information

Johnson on DC & MD: “The opening of the month of June will long be remembered with sadness and dismay by thousands of people in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the two Virginias. In the District of Columbia, too, it was a time of losses and of terror. The northwestern and more fashionable part of Washington, D.C., never looked more lovely than it did on Sunday, but along a good part of the principal business thoroughfare, Pennsylvania avenue, and in the adjacent streets to the southward, there was a dreary waste of turbid, muddy water, that washed five and six feet deep the sides of the houses, filling cellars and basements and causing great inconvenience and considerable loss of property. Boats plied along the avenue near the Pennsylvania Railroad station and through the streets of South Washington. A carp two feet long was caught in the ladies’ waiting-room at the Baltimore and Potomac station, and several others were caught in the streets by boys. These fish came from the Government Fish Pond, the waters of the Potomac having covered the pond and allowed them to escape.

“Along the river front the usually calm Potomac was a wide, roaring, turbulent stream of dirty water, rushing madly onward, and bearing on its swift-moving surface logs, telegraph poles, portions of houses and all kinds of rubbish. The stream was nearly twice its normal width, and flowed six feet and more deep through the streets along the river front, submerging wharves, small manufacturing establishments, and lapping the second stories of mills, boat-houses and fertilizing works in Georgetown. It completely flooded the Potomac Flats, which the Government had raised at great expense to a height in most part of four and five feet, and inundated the abodes of poor negro squatters, who had built their frame shanties along the river’s edge. The rising of the waters has eclipsed the high-water mark of 1877. The loss was enormous.

“The river began rising early on Saturday morning [June 1], and from that time continued to rise steadily until five o’clock Sunday afternoon, when the flood began to abate, having reached a higher mark than ever before known. The flood grew worse and worse on Saturday, and before noon the river had become so high and strong that it overflowed the banks just above the Washington Monument, and backing the water into the sewer which empties itself at this point, began to flow along the streets on the lower levels.

“By nightfall the water in the streets had increased to such an extent as to make them impassable by foot passengers, and boats were ferrying people from the business part of the town to the high grounds in South Washington. The street cars also continued running and did a thriving business conveying pleasure-seekers, who sat in the windows and bantered one another as the deepening waters hid the floor. On Louisiana avenue the produce and commission houses are located, and the proprietors bustled eagerly about securing their more perishable property, and wading knee-deep outside after floating chicken coops. The grocery merchants, hotel men and others hastily cleared out their cellars and worked until the water was waist-deep removing their effects to higher floors.

“Meanwhile the Potomac, at the Point of Rocks, had overflowed into the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and the two became one. It broke open the canal in a great many places, and lifting the barges up, shot them down stream at a rapid rate. Trunks of trees and small houses were town from their places and swept onward.

“The water continued rising throughout the night, and about noon of Sunday reached its maximum, three feet six inches above high-water mark of 1877, which was the highest on record. At that time the city presented a strange spectacle. Pennsylvania avenue, from the Peace monument, at the foot of the Capital, to Ninth street, was flooded with water, and in some places it was up to the thighs of horses. The cellars of stores along the avenue were flooded, and so were some of the main floors. In the side streets south of the avenue there was six to eight feet of water, and yawls, skiffs and canoes were everywhere to be seen. Communication except by boat was totally interrupted between North and South Washington. At the Pennsylvania Railroad station the water was up to the waiting-room.

“Through the Smithsonian and Agricultural Department grounds a deep stream was running, and the Washington Monument was surrounded on all sides by water.

“A dozen lives lost, a hundred poor families homeless, and over $2,000,000 worth of property destroyed, is the brief but terrible record of the havoc caused by the floods in Maryland. Every river and mountain stream in the western half of the State has overflowed its banks, inundating villages and manufactories and laying waste thousands of acres of farm lands. The losses by wrecked bridges, washed-out roadbeds and land-slides along the western division of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, from Baltimore to Johnstown, reach half a million dollars or more. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the political bone of contention and burden to Maryland, which has cost the State many millions, is a total wreck. The Potomac river, by the side of which the canal runs, from Williamsport, Md., to Georgetown, D.C., has swept away the locks, towpaths, bridges, and, in fact, everything connected with the canal. The probability is that the canal will not be restored, but that the canal bed will be sold to one of the railroad that have been trying to secure if for several years. The concern has never paid, and annually has increased its enormous debt to the State.

“The Western Maryland Railroad Company and their connecting lines, the Baltimore and Harrisburg, and the Cumberland Valley roads, lose heavily. On the mountain grades of the Blue Ridge there are tremendous washouts, and in some sections the tracks are town up and the road-bed destroyed. Several bridges were washed away. Dispatches from Shippensburg, Hagerstown and points in the Cumberland Valley state that the damage to that fertile farming region is incalculable. Miles of farm lands were submerged by the torrents that rushed down from the mountains. Several lives were lost and many head of cattle drowned. At the mountain town of Frederick, Md., the Monocacy ricer, Carroll creek and other streams combined in the work of destruction.

“Friday night was one of terror to the people of that section. The Monocacy river rose rapidly from the time the rain ceased until last night, when the waters began to fall. The back-water of the river extended to the eastern limit of the city, flooding everything in its path and riding over the fields with a fierce current that meant destruction to crops, fences and everything in its path. At the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge the river rose thirty feet above low-water mark. It submerged the floor of the bridge and at one time threatened it with destruction, but the breaking away of 300 feet of embankment on the north side of the bridge saved the structure. With the 300 feet of embankment went 300 feet of track. The heavy steel rails were twisted gy the waters as if they had been wrenched in the jaws of a mammoth vise. The river at this point and for many miles along its course overflowed its banks to the width of a thousand feet, submerging the corn and wheat fields on either side and carrying everything before it. Just below the railroad bridge a large wooden turnpike bridge was snapped in two and carried down the tide. In this way a half-dozen turnpike bridges at various points along the river were carried away. The loss to the counties through the destruction of these bridges will foot up many thousand dollars.

“Mrs. Charles McFadden and Miss Maggie Moore, of Taneytown, were drowned in their carriage while attempting to cross a swollen stream. The horse and vehicle were swept down the stream, and when found were lodged against a tree. Miss Moore was lying half-way out of the carriage, as though she had died in trying to extricate herself. Mrs. McFadden’s body was found near the carriage.

“At Knoxville considerable damage was done, and at Point of Rocks people were compelled to seek the roofs of their houses and other places of safety. A family living on an island in the middle of the river, opposite the Point, fired off a gun as a signal of distress. They were with difficulty rescued. In Frederick county, Md., the losses aggregate $300,000.

“The heaviest damage in Maryland was in the vicinity of Williamsport, Washington county. The railroads at Hagerstown and Williamsport were washed out. The greatest loser in the Cumberland Valley Railroad. Its new iron bridge across the Potomac river went down, nothing being left of the structure except the span across the canal. The original cost of the bridge was $70,000. All along the Potomac the destruction was great. At and near Williamsport, where the Conococheague [creek] empties into the Potomac the destruction was very heavy.

“At Falling Waters, where only a few days before a cyclone caused death and destruction, two houses went down in the angry water, and the little town was almost entirely submerged. In Carroll County, Md., the losses reached several hundred thousand dollars. George Derrick was drowned at Trevanion Mills on Pipe creek. Along the Patapsco river in Howard county great damage was done to mills and private property. Near Sykesville the water undermined the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad track and a freight train was turned over an embankment. William Hudson was standing on the Suspension Bridge, at Orange Gove, when the structure was swept away, and he was never seen again.

“Fort Deposit, near the mouth of the Susquehanna river, went under water. Residents along the river front left their homes and took refuge on the hills back of the town. The river was filled with thousands of logs from the broken booms up in the timber regions. From the eastern and southern sections of the State came reports of entire fruit farms swept away. Two men were drowned in the storm by the capsizing of a sloop near Salisbury.

“A number of houses on the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers near Harper’s Ferry were destroyed by the raging waters which came thundering down from the mountains, thirty to forty feet higher than low-water mark. John Brown’s fort was nearly swept away. The old building has withstood a number of floods. There is only a rickety portion of it standing, anyhow, and that is now covered with mud and rubbish. While the crowds on the heights near Harper’s Ferry were watching the terrible work of destruction, a house was seen coming down the Potomac. Upon its roof were three men wildly shouting to the people on the hills to save them. Just as the structure struck the railroad bridge, the men tried to catch hold of the flooring and iron work, but the swift torrent swept them all under, and they were seen no more. What appeared to be a babe in a cradle came floating down behind them, and a few moments later the body of a woman, supposed to be the mother of the child, swept by. Robert Connell, a farmer living upon a large island in the Potomac, known as Herter Island, lost all his wheat crop and his cattle. His family was rescued by Clarence Stedman and E. A. Keyser, an artist from Washington, at the risk of their lives. The fine railroad bridge across the Shenandoah, near Harper’s Ferry, was destroyed. The Ferry Mill Company sustained heavy losses.

“Along the South Mountains, in Washington and Alleghany counties, Md., the destruction was terrible. Whole farms, including the houses and barns, were swept away and hundreds of live stock killed. Between Williamsport, Md., and Dam No. 6 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal twenty-sis houses were destroyed, and it is reported that several persons were drowned. The homeless families are camping out on the hills, being supplied with food and clothing by the citizens of Williamsport.

“Joseph Shifter and family made a narrow escape. They were driven to the roof of their house by the rising waters, and just a minute before the structure collapsed the father caught a rowboat passing by, and saved his wife and little ones.

“The town of Point of Rocks, on the Potomac river, twelve miles eastward of Harper’s Ferry, was half-submerged. Nearly $100,000 worth of property in the town and vicinity was swept away. The Catholic Church there is 500 feet from the river. The extent of the flood here may be imagined when it is stated that the water was up to the eaves of the church.

“The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal has been utterly lost, and what formerly was the bed of the canal is now part of the Potomac river. There were but few houses in Point of Rocks that were not under water. The Methodist Church had water in its second story. The two hotels of which the place boasts, the American and the St. Charles, were full of water, and any stranger in town had to hunt for something to eat.

“Every bridge in Frederick county, Md., was washed away. Some of these bridges were built as long ago as 1834, and were burned by thee Confederate and Union forces at various times in 1864, afterward being rebuilt. At Martinsburg, W. Va., a number of houses were destroyed. Little Georgetown, a village on the Upper Potomac, near Williamsport, Md., was entirely swept away….” (Johnson, Willis Fletcher. History of The Johnstown Flood. Chapter XL, pp. 444-454, 1889.)

District of Columbia

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media: On June 2, 1889, heavy rains caused massive flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and overwhelmed the South Fork Dam. The storm also hit the Washington, DC, area. As a result, the Potomac River flooded and areas around Pennsylvania Avenue were under several feet of water. The flooding was made worse by sewers that became clogged with dirt from unpaved roads and began overflowing, causing the water to rise. The only access between the east and west of the city was by boat.” (Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Histories of the National Mall. “Flood of 1889.”)

Weather Bureau: “Potomac River Floods. Four floods have been selected for discussion. Besides those mentioned here notable floods took place in October 1896, April 1937, and March 1924.

“The flood of May 31-June 1, 1889. – The following note about this flood and the weather accompanying it are copied from the Daily Journal:

May 30, 1889: Cloudy, dense fog in morning. Fresh and brisk southeast winds. Thunderstorm 3:20 to 6:45 p.m. moving from southeast to northwest….Rain excessive (1.42 inches) from 3:20 to 6:45 p.m.

May 31, 1889: Cloudy. Excessive rain from midnight to midnight amounting to 2.98 inches; cool. Great damage to the farming interests from heavy rains during the month in the vicinity of Washington.

June 1, 1889: Heavy rain during the night. Potomac River rising rapidly; great danger of high water. People preparing for it. Cleared away in the morning. Fresh northwest wind.

June 3, 1889: Cloudless. The river reached its highest point about the middle of the day. The water was about as high as ever before. Great damage along the river front and lower part of the city. A span out of the Long Bridge.”

(Weather Bureau. The Climatic Handbook for Washington, D.C. 1949, p. 21.)

Maryland

USGS: “Table 1. Chronology of major and other memorable floods and droughts in Maryland and the District of Columbia, 1889-1988.

“Flood…June 1889. Potomac River basin…50 to >100 [Recurrence interval, years]. Largest flood on record prior to the flood of 1936.” (USGS. National Water Summary 1988-89 – Hydrologic Events and Floods and Droughts. 1991, p. 321.)

Weather.gov: “Date of Flood: 6/2/1889 [No. 3]. Crest (ft): 40.2. A mesoscale convective complex caused 9 inches of rain to fall in 36 hours with 4 inches of rain occurring in 8 hours. Most of Williamsport, Lock Haven, Muncy, Jersey Shore and Montgomery were submerged.” (Weather.gov. Top 10 Highest Historical Crests: Potomac River at Point of Rocks, MD. 1-14-2020.)

Newspapers:

May 31: “The complete inundation of Cumberland and its surrounding county today, has, so far, been accompanied by no loss of life but the event is none the less a serious and terrible catastrophe.” (Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “After the Flood…” 5-31-1880, p. 2.)

June 1, Cumberland: “The flood noted in yesterday’s Times [Cumberland, MD] as raging when this paper went to press became more and more serious as the day wore on. At five p.m. the entire city between Centre street and Will’s creek on the one hand, between Bedford and Will’s creek on another, and in South Cumberland as far down as the canal wharves, was under water to a depth varying from 6 inches to 8 feet. The water rose steadily until about 9 p.m. when it began to fall rapidly subsiding, until by morning the city, which had last night been a veritable Venice, resumed its almost wonted aspect and the avocations of its citizens were resumed.

“The scene presented by Cumberland from the mountains near and on the housetops was a strange and never to be forgotten one. A city lighted by electric lamps and gas lay half under water and upon one side surged a raging torrent ordinarily the pacific Potomac river, while separating much of its residence portion from the business centers a maddened stream swollen by mountain brooks had burst its confines and rushed forth over its banks as the ocean over the Dykes of Holland….” (Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “The Flood!” 6-1-1889, p. 3.)

June 1, Frederick: “Once more in the annals of history has Frederick been threatened with a disastrous flood. The heavy rains of this week have caused old Monocacy to get out of bank and at present writing it is higher than ever before. Yesterday’s storm is reported severe from all parts of the county. At noon heavy showers were accompanied by distant thunder and vivid flashes of lightning. A slight cessation of rain made one hope for a final clearing up. But at four o’clock the clouds discharged again and the downpour was steady for eight consecutive hours. The wind blew with a cyclonic force, uprooting trees, leveling fences to the ground and washing out the early vegetables. Wind and rain seemed to leap from peak to peak of the Blue Ridge, sweeping down into the valleys, leaving dark clouds piled up in the West. Market street as usual was a raging canal and all the low lying fields along Carroll Creek were submerged. An eyewitness shortly after eleven o’clock last night saw coming down from the mountain inky clouds, looking as if they would fall right on the ground. The sound was like that of great army wagons rumbling along the road, in a few moments the clouds burst, and such a shower has not been known here for many years. The vapor against the window panes was so thick that it seemed as if all the street was a river. Looking west the rain came in sheets and soon the sewers overflowed, the creek roared with all the force of ocean. The rain beat against the front doors, under the sills, and many persons had to take up their carpets. Water dripped down the chimneys, through the ceilings, and completely filled many cellars.

“At 11:30 o’clock the United fire bell rang out the alarm, the water in that locality backing up until it ran into the front doors. Also through C. E. Mealey’s stable, threatening the washing away of vehicles and horses. Soon the other fire bells responded, the whistles of the locomotives and our manufactories took up the alarm, and the sleeping inhabitants sprang from their beds knowing that danger was nigh….

“This morning dawned showing great devastation, bridges down, fields submerged and gardens completely drenched. It is impossible to tell the amount of damage done, as communication has been shut off, wires being knocked down by the storm. The Monocacy is backing up in Burger’s field East Patrick street, fences were washed away and for a time only the tops of the trees were visible. About 5 feet of water was in Attick’s basin this morning…

“The dam at Riehl’s Mils…was washed away. The water reached the second story of Gambrill’s Mill at Araby, and this morning the bridge on the Georgetown pike went down. It was one of the oldest bridges in the County, built about 1834, burned during the battle of Monocacy in 1864, and afterwards rebuilt. Other bridges that have gone down are Miller’s above Creagerstown, Delaplaine’s near that town, Devilbiss’ at Carzendafner’s mill, one on Frederick and Liberty turnpike, and many others not yet recorded…

“Mr. McClintock Young, who keeps an account of the rainfall in this city, states that from 8 p.m. Thursday to 8 p.m. Friday three inches of rain fell, and from 8 o’clock last night to midnight 2¼ inches, making a total of 5¼ inches in 23 hours. This record surpasses that of 1885, when on the night of Sunday, August 3d, this town was visited by a flood.

(The Daily News, Frederick, MD. “Disastrous Floods.” 6-1-1889, p. 3.)

June 1: “Washington, June 1. – The Chesapeake and Ohio, Norfolk and Western and the roads between Washington and Richmond have serious washouts. No trains can go south. The Baltimore and Ohio is said to have lost seven miles of track by a washout near Martinsburg, W. Va.” (Evening Capital, Annapolis, MD. “B. & O.’s Big Washout.” 6-1-1889, p. 1.)

June 3: “Baltimore, June 3. – Eight lives are reported lost at Harper’s Ferry [WV]. Many bridges in that valley are gone. Port Deposit is flooded. The Chesapeake and Ohio canal is so badly damaged that it will never be used again. Eleven lives are known to have been lost in Maryland.” (Cumberland Daily Times, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2.)

June 3: “The great flood of 1889 will go down to history as one unprecedented in its terrible devastation. It will leave its imprint upon many places, upon large cities and even upon this beautiful county. It will long be remembered by the people of Frederick who while they were spared the loss of life cannot help but feel distressed over the calamities that befell the neighboring counties. No pen can adequately describe the might force of water, and no tongue can convey the feelings of those who were eye witnesses to the effects of the terrible calamity….

“Catoctin creek overflowed at 2 p.m. Friday and continued to rise until Saturday morning when it was one foot higher than in 1868, water running across the pike to the depth of five feet. Buildings and bridges were washed away and crops utterly ruined. Many farmers will have to replant their entire crops. Six iron bridges were reported swept away but afterwards found to be incorrect. The iron bridge at Remsburg is completely washed away, and the one at Captain Bolus’s badly damaged….Phleger’s mill dam and the dam at Mentzer’s saw mill were destroyed….The old covered bridge near Wolfsville was washed away, and the iron bridge near the Dunker church was badly twisted. Josiah Harp’s mill dam was carried off….

“Pt. of Rocks. The Potomac river rose higher than ever in the memory of the oldest inhabitants, passing the highest water marks of 1852, 1870 and 1877 by from 6 to 8 feet, though it is fortunate that few lives were lost. The village however was completely under water, men rowed around in boats as high as the second stories. The scene from the hills was sublime but distressing. The water completely hid the tow path, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is a total ruin, and near the tunnels were several landslides. The railroad tracks were completely lost to sight under water above ten feet, while an engine with a snow plow moved up and down all day Saturday and Sunday. Church spires could be seen peeping out above the wat43r, while small houses were floating down in the current. The homeless gathered together in the school house only too thankful that their lives were saved….Many people have lost their all and for a time suffered for the necessaries of life. But a carload of provisions was sent from here and individuals carried with them on the trains yesterday baskets of bread and meat….

“The new iron bridge at the Point to connect Loudoun [VA] with Frederick county seems doomed. On Saturday night four more spans were carried away and the loss will probably be from $10,000 to $15,000. The first span moved away at 6 p.m., second at 10, and the other two at 11 o’clock….

“Washington County. The Antietam, the Conococheague and Beaver creek were converted into rivers. Many of the milldams upon them have been washed out, and a number of bridges crossing them have been swept away or injured to such an extent as to be unsafe. Three iron bridges recently erected by the county commissioners, one at Kemp’s Mills, near Williamsport, one between Smithsburg and Leitersburg, and one at Fairview have been carried away. The bridge at Broad Fording and the one across Licking creek, near Clear Spring, are destroyed, and the loss to the county from the damage done to bridges alone is estimated at from thirty to fifty thousand dollars, to say nothing of damage done to the public roads by washouts….

“So far only two lives are reported lost. Theo Wolf, of Williamsport, aged about 18, while out on the river catching drift wood, fell from his skiff and was drowned….and Jos Creager, of Leitersburg district, an old man, aged 80, accidentally fell into the creek at Crums mill, and was drowned.
Damage in Carroll.

“Carroll county has suffered greatly; the water is still high but gradually subsiding. The large covered bridge, one hundred feet long, between Beckleysville and Middletown is washed away. At Meadow branch, a few miles from Westminster, at Roop’s Mill, a new iron bridge was lifted from the abutments and is lying down in the water. One bridge near New Windsor, another over the Patapsco, near Finksburg, and several others in other parts of the county have been rendered unsafe for travel. All the streams overflowed and much fencing has been washed away….

“Between New Windsor and Union Bridge about 1,900 feet of road-bed and tracks were washed away, and two culvert bridges also went….Only one loss of life is reported so far, that of George Derrick, a middle-aged man, keeper of horses belonging to John W. McFadden, proprietor and owner of Trevanion Mills, on Pipe creek, a few miles from Taneytown. Mr. Derrick was drowned in attempting to cross the creek in a carriage. When near the creek he was seen by Mrs. Samuel Fink, who motioned to him to turn back, as the bridge was gone. Owing to the noise of the water and the blinding rain he did not see her, and in a moment more had pitched over the horse’s hear and both were plunging rapidly down-stream. Search was made as soon as possible, but up to the present Derrick’s body has not been found. The buggy was found yesterday near Bollinger’s Mill, and the dead horse the Hambletonian stallion Roller, at the foot of Otterdale dam, near Bruceville, between six and seven miles distant. The drowning of Mr. McFadden’s horse and driver gave rise to the report of the drowning of Mrs. McFadden and a friend, Miss Moore, and caused considerable excitement in the upper part of the county until the report was contradicted. Mr. McFadden valued the horse at $10,000….

“Mr. Wm. H. Hudson, night packer at the flour mills of the C. A. Gambrill Company at Orange Grove, was drowned about 9:15 o’clock Friday night. He went from the mill, on the Baltimore county side, and crossed over the swollen river on the small, picturesque suspension bridge. His intention was to call the employees who live in cottages on the Howard county side. Mr. Hudson had performed his duty and was returning to the mill. When he had nearly reached the mill side spectators say that a large piece of floating timber struck the frail bottom of the bridge and carried it away, taking Mr. Hudson with it. He was not seen or heard from afterwards. The bridge was not finally destroyed by the waters until about 3 a.m. Saturday. Mr. Hudson leaves a wife and four children. He formerly resided at Elkridge Landing…..

(Daily News, Frederick, MD. “The Great Flood. Towns Submerged and People Drowned.” 6-3-1889, p. 3.)

Sources

Daily News, Frederick, MD. “Disastrous Floods.” 6-1-1889, p. 3. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/news-jun-01-1889-p-3/

Daily News, Frederick, MD. “The Great Flood. Towns Submerged and People Drowned.” 6-3-1889, p. 3. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/news-jun-03-1889-p-3/

Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “After the Flood Comes the Fever.” 5-31-1880, p. 2. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cumberland-daily-times-may-31-1889-p-2/

Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2. Accessed 3-5-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cumberland-daily-times-jun-03-1889-p-2/

Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “The Flood! A Deluge Worthy of Dore’s Description.” 6-1-1889, p. 3. Accessed 3-6-2020: https://newspaperarchive.com/cumberland-daily-times-jun-01-1889-p-3/

Evening Capital, Annapolis, MD. “B. & O.’s Big Washout.” 6-1-1889, p. 1. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-evening-capital-jun-01-1889-p-1/

Johnson, Willis Fletcher. History of The Johnstown Flood. Edgewood Publishing Co., 1889.

National Park Service. Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (webpage). “Memorable Floods at Harpers Ferry.” Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/memorable-floods-at-harpers-ferry.htm

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Histories of the National Mall. “Flood of 1889.” Accessed 3-6-2020 at: http://mallhistory.org/items/show/453

U.S. Geological Survey (Richard W. Paulson, Edith B. Chase, Robert S. Roberts, and David W. Moody). National Water Summary 1988-89 – Hydrologic Events and Floods and Droughts (U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2375). U.S. GPO, 1991. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=CFlz5TNtUpMC&ppis=_c&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Weather Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce. The Climatic Handbook for Washington, D.C. (Weather Bureau Technical Paper No. 8). Washington: GPO, 1949. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=EaQvAAAAMAAJ&ppis=_c&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Weather.gov. Top 10 Highest Historical Crests: Potomac River at Point of Rocks, MD. 1-14-2020. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://www.weather.gov/media/marfc/Top20/POT/PointofRocks.pdf

19th Century

1889 — May 31, South Fork Dam fails, flash flood, fire, Johnstown & vic., PA –2,209-3,188

lornajarrettblanchard May 31, 1889

–2,209 – 3,188 Blanchard estimated range.*
–8,000-14,000 Bucks County Gazette (PA). “A City of the Dead,” June 6, 1889, p. 1.
–5,000-12,000 Logansport Journal (IN). “Death’s Awful Triumph,” June 4, 1889, p. 4.
— >10,000 Ogilvie. History of the Great Flood in Johnstown, Pa., May 31, 1889… 1889.
— 9,065 U.S. Army Signal Corps. Monthly Weather Review, June 1889, Vol. 17, p. 149.
— 7,000-8,000 Dieck, Herman. The Johnstown Flood. 1889, p. 53. (Publisher not noted.)
— ~5,000 Connelly and Jenks. Official History of the Johnstown Flood. 1889, p. 50.
–220 Fourth Ward Morgue. Bodies readied for burial by name.
— 48 Millville Borough Morgue, at school-house. Named bodies.
— 33 Millville Morgue. “
— 39 Minersville Morgue. “
–112 Morrellville Morgue “
— 63 “ “ Unidentified bodies.
— 12 Peelorville Morgue. Bodies readied for burial, listed by name.
–108 Pennsylvania Railroad Station Morgue. Bodies identified by name.
— 44 Presbyterian Church Morgue. Bodies identified by name.
–131 St. Columba Morgue, Cambria. Named fatalities.
— 5 “Names of some of the dead who are not recorded on morgue lists.”
–103 Bodies “recovered on the Kernville side.”
— 47 Bodies “taken from the river on the Westmoreland side at Nineveh.”
— 26 Bodies taken from river, on the Indiana side at Nineveh, by name.
–~50 “ “ “ Unidentified.
— 14 Bodies recovered at Franklin, by name (except for one unknown man)
–~15 Bodies recovered at Mineral Point.
— ? “long list of unidentified dead…in the official list…”
–1,070
— Thousands Johnson, Willis Fletcher. History of The Johnstown Flood. 1889, p. 392.
— 3,500 Annual Statistician and Economist 1892 (Vol. 16). L. P. McCarty, 1892. p. 64.
— 3,188 Shank, William H.. Great Floods of Pennsylvania. 1974 and 1993, p. 33.**
— <3,000 Chamberlin, Jo. “Johnstown Remembers, pp. 69-74 in Kartman, Disaster! 2007. -- >3,000 National Park Service. Johnstown Flood. “Frequently Asked Questions.” (webpage).
— <3,000 Smith, Roger. Catastrophes and Disasters. NY: Chambers, 1992, p. 109. -- 2,209 Arndt. “The Johnstown Flood of 1889.” P. 5 in Gilman, History of Johnstown Flood. -- 2,209 Assoc. of State Dam Safety Officers. Case Study: South Fork Dam (PA), 1889). -- 2,209 Binder. “Act of God? Or Act of Man?...” Review of Litigation, 15/1, Winter 1996, p.20. -- 2,209 Johnson. Situation Desperate: U.S. Army Engineer Disaster Relief… 2011, p. 37. -- 2,209 Johnstown Area Heritage Association. “The Johnstown Flood.” -- 2,209 Kutilek, “An American Tragedy; 2,209 Are Killed.” -- 2,209 National Park Service. Johnstown Flood National Memorial Pennsylvania. -- 2,209 Holen, Arlene. “The History of Accident Rates in the United States.” 1995, 101. -- 2,209 McCullough 1968. The Johnstown Flood, p. 269. -- 2,209 OJP DOJ. Community Crisis Response Team Trng. Manual: 2nd Ed. (Appx. D) -- 2,200 Burt and Stroud. Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book. 2004, p. 131. -- 2,200 Collins. Tragedies of American History. 2003, p. 154. -- 2,200 Faher. “Bridge failures intensified flood…” Tribune-Democrat. 11-28-2009. -- 2,200 Gunn. “Johnstown, [PA], flood.” Chap. 36, Encyclopedia of Disasters (V1), p. 145. -- >2,200 History.com. This Day in History…May 31, 1889. “The Johnstown Flood.”
— 2,142 Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 90.
— >2,100 Ludlum. The American Weather Book. 1982, p. 80.
— 2,079 Keller (Chief of Bur. Of Infor.), July 8 rpt. to PA Adjutant Gen. D. H. Hastings.
–1,658 Recovered bodies.
–969 identified dead
–689 unidentified
–421 “names of…that certainly perished…” but bodies not found.

* We use National Park Service (NPS) for low-end of range. The NPS notes that number was “carefully derived” about fourteen months afterwards. We use Shank (3,188) for the high end (2,209 known dead and 979 missing), and note that the NPS, after indicating when the 2,209 number was derived, notes “The actual death toll was probably well over 3,000.” The very high estimates (5,000-14,000) are, in our opinion, not credible. We reference the NPS and other sources to the point that the actual death toll is unknown. See Willis Johnson below on the fact that undertakers in the first days afterwards were overwhelmed and some did not keep records of the number of bodies made ready for burial, thus precision is not possible.

** “The rampaging waters and subsequent fires that broke out in the city left 2,209 known dead and 979 more missing, who were certainly lost.”

Narrative Information

Association of State Dam Safety Officers:

“South Fork Dam was an earth- and rock-fill dam located about 8 miles east of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Originally constructed in 1852, the dam’s primary purpose was to provide a source of water for a division of the Pennsylvania Canal. The dam was approximately 72 feet high, 918 feet long, 10 feet wide at its crest, and 220 feet wide at its base. The outlet works for the dam consisted of a stone-lined culvert with five valves for releasing varying amounts of flow as well as a spillway created by cutting into the rock along the east abutment. Though plans specified a spillway width of 150 feet, the constructed spillway only spanned about 70 feet. As a result of poor maintenance, the outlet works culvert collapsed and a portion of the dam washed out in 1862.

“In 1879, the breached dam and surrounding land were sold to Benjamin Ruff who planned to repair the dam and use the land to create a retreat for the wealthy. Under Ruff’s ownership the area became the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of which elite members included Andrew Carnegie and Henry Frick. The South Fork Dam, as it became known, experienced a catastrophic failure on May 31, 1889 when it was overtopped during a large storm event. The resulting flood wave that contained 20 million tons of water and debris caused 2,209 fatalities and became known as the “Johnstown Flood”.

Gelber: “Property damage was estimated at $17 million….

“Hundreds of desperate souls were swept off rooftops and buildings, and those unfortunate souls who clung to the remnants of the railroad bridge suffered a terrible fate when the mass of debris became engulfed in flames. Ruptured oil tanks ignited and burned flood refugees alive, despite valiant rescue efforts that were clearly hampered by the loss of fire-fighting equipment. After the floodwaters receded 25,000 residents were left homeless and disease took even more lives….” (Gelber, Ben. The Pennsylvania Weather Book. Rutgers University Press, 2002, p. 186.)

Graham: “The distance between the dam and the community of Johnstown was about 23 km (14 miles)…. Debris was a major factor in this flood. Debris swept before the flood momentarily dammed the water at a 23 m (75 feet) high stone railroad viaduct bridge located about 8 km (5 mi) downstream from South Fork Dam. The collapse of this viaduct sent a renewed surge toward the community of Johnstown. In Johnstown, another stone bridge used by the Pennsylvania Railroad piled up 15 meters (50 ft) of debris, but the bridge did not fail. The mass of debris, covering more than 0.24 km2 (60 acres), caught fire and burned for 5 days.” (Graham 1999, p. 3)

History.com: “The South Fork Dam collapses on this day in 1889, causing a flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that kills more than 2,200 people.

“Johnstown is 60 miles east of Pittsburgh in a valley near the Allegheny, Little Conemaugh, and Stony Creek Rivers. It is located on a floodplain that has been subject to frequent disasters. Because of the area’s susceptibility to floods, a dam was built in 1840 on the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles upstream from Johnstown. Nine hundred feet by 72 feet, it was the largest earth dam (made of dirt and rock, rather than steel and concrete) in the United States and it created the largest man-made lake of the time, Lake Conemaugh. The dam was part of an extensive canal system that became obsolete as the railroads replaced the canal as a means of transporting goods. As the canal system fell into disuse, maintenance on the dam was neglected.

“In 1889, Johnstown was home to 30,000 people, many of whom worked in the steel industry. On May 31, the residents were unaware of the danger that steady rain over the course of the previous day had caused. A spillway at the dam became clogged with debris that could not be dislodged. An engineer at the dam saw warning signs of an impending disaster and rode a horse to the village of South Fork to warn the residents. However, the telegraph lines were down and the warning did not reach Johnstown. At 3:10 p.m., the dam collapsed, causing a roar that could be heard for miles. All of the water from Lake Conemaugh rushed forward at 40 miles per hour, sweeping away everything in its path.

“People in the path of the rushing flood waters were often crushed as their homes and other structures were swept away. Thirty-three train engines were pulled into the raging waters, creating more hazards. Some people in Johnstown were able to make it to the top floors of the few tall buildings in town. However, whirlpools brought down many of these taller buildings. A bridge downstream from the town caught much of the debris and then proceeded to catch fire. Some people who had survived by floating on top of debris were burned to death in the fire. Reportedly, one baby survived on the floor of a house as it floated 75 miles from Johnstown.

“One of the American Red Cross’s first major relief efforts took place in the aftermath of the Johnstown flood. Clara Barton arrived five days later to lead the relief. It took five years to rebuild Johnstown, which again endured deadly floods in 1936 and 1977.” (History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, May 31, 1889. “The Johnstown Flood.”)

Johnson, Leland/USACE: “President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison spent Sunday, 2 June 1889, with Secretary of War Redfield Proctor reading the poignant and shocking dispatches coming from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. An old earthen dam upstream of the city had given way on the last day of May, unleashing a flood wave that caused 2,209 fatalities. The failure of South Fork Dam released a wave onto already swollen streams that smashed its way down the Conemaugh valley, ripping up trees, wiping out villages, and engulfing entire trains. By the time it reached the city at
the confluence of the Little Conemaugh River and Stony Creek, a mass of debris was rolling on its crest. Johnstown was destroyed by what would become the most deadly river flood in American history.

“President Harrison was so moved by the disaster that he presided at a mass meeting in Washington to collect contributions for the victims, and he telegraphed the governor of Pennsylvania to ask what could be done to help. The governor requested temporary bridges: all bridges at Johnstown, except a stone bridge blocked by debris, had been washed out. Lack of bridges gravely hampered relief efforts, and people were unable to learn the fate of relatives and
friends living on opposite sides of the streams.

“Harrison ordered the Corps of Engineers to Johnstown to install temporary bridges across the streams. The Corps had one pontoon bridge at the Military Academy at West Point, where Superintendent John Parke used it to train cadets. Colonel Parke had a personal interest in the Johnstown emergency: his nephew and namesake, John Parke, a summer employee at the South Fork Dam, had made a historic horseback ride down the valley to warn that the dam was failing. Parke the elder had his pontoons (flat boats) aboard a train and on the way to Johnstown before noon on 4 June….” (Johnson, Leland R. Situation Desperate: U.S. Army Engineer Disaster Relief Operations, Origins to 1950. Office of History, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2011, p. 37.)

Johnson, Willis Fletcher: “….One of the most active undertakers here [Johnstown] is John McCarthy, of Syracuse, N.Y., one of the leading undertakers there, and a very public-spirited man….He said to a reporter: [during body recovery process]

It is worthy of mention, perhaps, that never before in such a disaster as this have bodies received such careful treatment and has such a wholesale embalming been practiced. Everybody recovered, whether identified or not, whether of rich man or poor man, or of the humblest child, has been carefully cleaned and embalmed, placed in a neat coffin, and not buried when unidentified until the last possible moment. When you reflect that over one thousand bodies have been treated in this way it means something. It is to be regretted that some pains were not taken to keep a record of the bodies recovered, but the undertakers cannot be blamed for that. They should have been furnished with clerks, and that whole matter made the subject of the work of a bureau by itself. We have had just all we could do cleaning and embalming the bodies.” [p. 365]

(Johnson, Willis Fletcher. History of The Johnstown Flood. Edgewood Publishing Co., 1889.)

Ludlum: On Thursday, May 30, 1889 “…the first drops of a light rain fell over the Allegheny Mountains of west-central Pennsylvania. These were the harbinger of a band of increasing precipitation being generated by a slow-moving low-pressure system approaching from the west by way of the Ohio Valley. Though not of great barometric depth, the narrow weather trough extended in a long finger from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. It separated cold polar air rushing southward over the Great Lakes region, with temperatures near 40 [degrees]F…and accompanied by late-season snow squalls, from warm tropical air streaming northward over the Atlantic coastal plain, having a thermal content near 70⁰F…and attended by thunderstorms. Nature set the scene in the clouds for a clash of the elements over Pennsylvania that would produce a rainstorm of great intensity, and man’s defective works on earth were to turn an already major flood into a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.

“Johnstown, a manufacturing city of about 30,000 residents, was situated in a narrow river valley on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad about one third of the way from Altoona to Pittsburgh. The exact amount of rainfall at Johnstown cannot be determined since the local observer, Mrs. H. H. Ogle became a victim of the flood. The rainfall has been estimated at 6.2 in…by averaging other nearby observations. Measured amounts ranged up to 9.8 in…at Wellsboro, Tioga County, in the Susquehanna watershed. It is probable that the higher mountains caught larger amounts. Though of limited east-west extent, the rain front stretched from West Virginia northeast to central New York State, causing high floods in the Potomac, Allegheny, and Susquehanna drainage systems.

“On Friday morning, May 31, the steady rain sent the Conemaugh River over its banks into factories, stores, and homes in the narrow valley above Johnstown. When the local rain gauge was carried away by the high water at 10:44 a.m., the river stood 20 ft…above low water; by noon it was ‘higher than ever known; can’t give exact measurement,’ according to the river reporter.

“This was already a record flood and would have achieved historic local stature without the occurrence at South Fork Creek of the Little Conemaugh River, some 15 mi…upstream from Johnstown.”

“The weather on Memorial Day, Thursday, May 30, 1889, in Western Pennsylvania was gray, giving way to a fine mist that began to fall during the evening hours. After tapering off for a short while, rain commenced to fall again shortly before midnight, only with much greater intensity and accompanied by strong winds.

“The weather scenario that ultimately led to the disastrous Johnstown Flood of 1889 featured a trough of low pressure extending from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.” (Ludlum. The American Weather Book. 1982, 76.)

New York Times, 1911: “The mass of debris borne by the flood was checked by the bridge of the Pennsylvania Railroad and an effective dam was made. The water recoiled upon the city, meeting there the wing that had been diverted and had flowed around the city. The result was a gigantic whirlpool which ground to pieces any building that escaped the first onset. The noise of the destruction was maddening to the survivors. (New York Times. “Johnstown Flood; Other Disasters,” 10-1-1911)

Shank: “An ominous rumble was all the warning Johnstown residents would receive before a tall dark spray became visible above the deadly wave of water heading for the city. By then it was too late…for many to seek higher ground. The merciless torrent swept locomotives and railroad cars, homes and factories, trees and furniture downstream. Thirty acres of water-lagged debris careened into the stone arch railroad bridge, which ignited a horrible conflagration.

“The rampaging waters and subsequent fires that broke out in the city left 2,209 known dead and 979 more missing, who were certainly lost.” (Shank, William H. Great Floods of Pennsylvania: A Two-Century History. American Canal and Transportation Center, 1972, 2nd Ed.. 1993. P. 33.)

Smith: “….Gaping hole. The break in the dam widened to a gaping hole 430 feet (130m) across, but the rushing water was slowed by the debris it collected. The valley above Johnstown narrowed significantly, and the accumulated debris almost stopped the water several times before it came on again. As the wall of water neared Johnstown, it struck the Gautier rolling mill. Its force was irresistible and huge furnaces together with boilers and drums of cable and wire were swept up by the flood. At 4:10 pm, an hour after the initial break, the flood reached Johnstown. Much of the town was wrecked but the flood was halted by the Stone Bridge, which carried the railway line to Pittsburgh. The bridge checked the waters, held them, and then as the debris piled up around its massive piers, slowed them to a less destructive force. Unfortunately, despite all the water, this wreckage caught fire — it contained live coals, petroleum and much other flammable material -=- and people who had survived the onrush of water died by fire.

“The flood continued, though much abated, and when the wreckage of one building arrived in Pittsburgh, 60 miles (100 km) away, the next day, rescuers found a five-month-old baby alive inside….” (Smith, Roger. Catastrophes and Disasters. Edinburgh/NY: Chambers, 1992, p. 109.)

U.S. Army Signal Corp.: “It has been estimated that the loss of life and property in the string of communities in the direct path of the Johnstown flood is about as follows:

Johnstown and Millville 7,000
Franklin and East Conemaugh 38
Cambria 1,100
Woodvale 300
Kernville 600
Mineral Point 16
Minersville 8
Morrellville 1

“….The Following extracts from a special report relative to these floods, by Professor Lorin Blodget, of Philadelphia, will be found of interest:

“The floods of May 30, 31, and June 1, 1889, in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia:

“It is undoubtedly proper to treat this flooded district as a whole, and to understand it properly the leading facts should be presented as they occurred on each successive day as fully as possible. In this way the extraordinary character of the storm and the flooding violence of the rainfall in each locality will be best shown.

“There was a general storm developed in Kansas and Missouri May 27th, which moved slowly from west-southwest to east-northeast along a line from Kansas to New England, making this transit at a slower rate than usual, however, on and after a partial suspension on the 29th, developing renewed violence in Virginia and Pennsylvania on the 30th of May. This was the beginning of the extreme conditions, the high temperature and dense saturation, and it had been unusually cold both south and north up to the morning of the 30th.

“As this saturated condition reached the higher ridges of the Alleghenies on this day, it developed the most excessive rainfall of the century for so large an area, depositing a uniform sheet of from 6 to 8 inches of rainfall during a continuous storm of from twenty-four to fifty-six hours during. The greatest profusion was on May 31st and during the nights of May 30th-31st on the western border, and May 31st and June 1st on the eastern border. And this rainfall was in sheets or masses rather than in drops, being described as ‘cloud bursts’ by several observers and many local journals, a characteristic observed at Johnstown and Harrisburg alike, as also at places far south in Virginia and north as far as Smethport, McKean Co., Pa…..” (U.S. Army Signal Corps. Monthly Weather Review, June 1889, Vol. 17, p. 149-150.)

Watson: “May 31, 1889: Great Johnstown Flood

“The confluence of chilly Canadian air colliding with moisture-laden tropical air flowing northward along the Atlantic coastal plain turned a light rain into a heavy downpour that would trigger Pennsylvania’s greatest human catastrophe.

“An earthen dam built in 1852 at the junction of South Fork Creek and the Little Conemaugh River, fourteen miles northeast of Johnstown, was designed to furnish water to the Pennsylvania Canal. A railroad line would eventually render the dam obsolete, and a group of wealthy Pittsburgh investors, including Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellow, purchased the site in 1879, establishing the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club.

“The seeds of tragedy were sown by complete indifference to engineering concerns regarding the integrity of the dam. The South Fork dam stood 50 feet high, about 450 feet above the elevation of a stone-arch bridge in the middle of Johnstown eighteen miles downstream. The dam did not have a solid central foundation, and for ten years Conemaugh Valley residents had voiced concerns about the potential dangers of the neglected dam to no avail.

“The great reservoir, Lake Conemaugh, was 2.5 miles long, 1.5 miles wide, and as deep as 100 feet. As heavy rain pelted down on western Pennsylvania throughout the morning hours of Friday, May 31, 1889, the waters rose at the rate of an inch per hour. As early as 11:30 a.m., engineers were alarmed that the dam was in trouble, as many worked feverishly to open the sluiceway to release pent-up pressure. Floodwaters from runoff were already knee-deep in Johnstown from the heavy rains, but when messengers arrived shortly after noon warning of a grave danger, few chose to evacuate their homes and flee for the hills. One Pennsylvania Railroad engineer reportedly rode eighteen miles frantically sounding his whistle and ‘crying out that the dam was bound to go.’

“As the afternoon wore on, it became apparent that the dam was showing signs of imminent collapse. Residents in the area frantically attempted to shore up the crumbling earthen structure, but at about 3:15 p.m. the middle of the dam gave way, creating a breach of 300 feet, which sent a thunderous wall of water 35 feet high and a half-mile wide down the narrow valley at a rate of 40 miles per hour.

“Twenty million tons of water raced through the river valley ‘like a cannon ball,’ stated a press account. The wall of water tore through the villages of South Fork, Mineral Point, and East Conemaugh, wiping out everything in its path. Debris turned into ‘battering rams’ and twenty-ton railroad engines parked at the Pennsylvania Railroad yard ‘were tossed like chips of wood.’ The towns of Franklin and Woodvale disintegrated under the rush of water and debris that was headed for the city of Johnstown, a vital manufacturing town home to 28,000 residents and the Cambria Iron Works. The force of the water against the hillside caused a backwash up the valley of Stony Creek, wiping out the center of town in ten minutes (Watson 1993, 126 ).

National Park Service FAQ’s: Question: “Were the members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club held responsible for what happened May 31, 1889?

Answer: “The Club was never held legally responsible for the Johnstown Flood, although the Club was held responsible in public opinion. The only cases successful from the Johnstown Flood were against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company…the railroad lost two cases based on the loss of property.” (National Park Service. Johnstown Flood. “Frequently Asked Questions.” (Webpage).)

Sources

ABC News (Connie Clarke). “The Johnstown Flood: the Worst Dam Failure in U.S. History — The Kaloko Dam Disaster Has Many Antecedents.” 3-2-2007. Accessed 1-28-2017 at: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2918360&page=1

Annual Statistician and Economist 1892. San Francisco and New York: L. P. McCarty, 1892. Vol. 16. Google digitized. Accessed 9-7-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=ealXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Arndt, Neena. “The Johnstown Flood of 1889.” In Rebecca Gilman. A True History of the Johnstown Flood. Accessed 3-4-2020 at: https://www.goodmantheatre.org/Documents/Study%20Guides/0910%20Season/JOHNSTOWNFLOODStudyGuide.pdf

Association of State Dam Safety Officers. Case Study: South Fork Dam (Pennsylvania, 1889). Accessed 3-5-2020 at: https://damfailures.org/case-study/south-fork-dam-pennsylvania-1889/

Binder, Denis. “Act of God? Or Act of Man?: A Reappraisal of the Act of God Defense in Tort Law.” The Review of Litigation, Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter 1996, pp. 1-80.

Bucks County Gazette, Bristol, PA. “A City of the Dead,” 6-6-1889, p. 1. Accessed 3-4-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bristol-bucks-county-gazette-jun-06-1889-p-1/

Burt, Christopher C. and Mark Stroud. Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book. W. W. Norton & Co., 2004, 304 pages. Google preview accessed 1-1-2014 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=NuP7ATq9nWgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Chamberlin, Jo. “Johnstown Remembers, pp. 69-78 in Kartman, Ben, Disaster! 2007. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=lynBIKvEDBQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Collins, Ace. Tragedies of American History – Thirteen Stories of Human Error and Natural Disaster. New York: Plume Books, 2003.

Connelly, Frank, and George C. Jenks. Official History of the Johnstown Flood. Pittsburg: Journalist Publishing Co., 1889.

Dieck, Herman. The Johnstown Flood. 1889. (Publisher not noted.)

Faher, Mike. “Bridge failures intensified flood, researchers find.” Tribune-Democrat. 11-28-2009. Accessed 3-4-2020 at: https://www.tribdem.com/news/local_news/bridge-failures-intensified-flood-researchers-find/article_c7edafc7-a04e-528d-9297-f9305a424a24.html

Gelber, Ben. The Pennsylvania Weather Book. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002.

Graham, Wayne. Channel and Valley Changes Resulting from Dam Failure. United States Bureau of Reclamation, November 10, 1999, 6 pages. Accessed at: http://www.hrwallingford.co.uk/projects/CADAM/CADAM/Munich/MU13.pdf

Gunn, Angus M. “Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood.” Chapter 36, Encyclopedia of Disasters (Vol. 1). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007.

History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, May 31, 1889. “The Johnstown Flood.” Accessed 12/7/2008 at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=05/31&categoryId=disaster

Holen, Arlene. “The History of Accident Rates in the United States.” Chapter 9 in Simon, Julian Lincoln. The State of Humanity. Blackwell Pubs., 1995. Google preview accessed 11-23-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=DrgN0AvFGL0C&dq=1917+Eddystone+PA+Munitions+Plant+Explosion&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0

Johnson, Leland R. Situation Desperate: U.S. Army Engineer Disaster Relief Operations, Origins to 1950. Alexandria, VA: Office of History, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2011, 290 pages. Accessed 12-11-2016 at: http://www.publications.usace.army.mil/Portals/76/Publications/EngineerPamphlets/EP_870-1-70.pdf

Johnson, Willis Fletcher. History of The Johnstown Flood. Edgewood Publishing Co., 1889.

Johnstown Area Heritage Association. “The Johnstown Flood.” Accessed 12-7-2008 at: http://www.jaha.org/FloodMuseum/oklahoma.html

Keller, Harry (Chief of the Bureau of Information, PA). Report submitted July 8, 1889 to Brigadier-General D. H. Hastings, Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania. Reproduced in Connelly and Jenks, 1889, pp. 219-222.

Kutilek, Doug. “An American Tragedy; 2,209 Are Killed” (Johnstown PA May 31, 1889 Dam Failure). Accessed Sep 15, 2008 at: http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/helpseek/jflood.htm

Logansport Journal, IN. “Death’s Awful Triumph,” June 4, 1889, p. 4. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=83143326

Ludlum, David M. The American Weather Book. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1982.

McCullough, David. The Johnstown Flood. New York, Touchstone Books, 302 pages, 1968.

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Johnstown Flood. “Frequently Asked Questions.” (Webpage). Accessed 3-5-2020 at: https://www.nps.gov/jofl/faqs.htm

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Johnstown Flood National Memorial Pennsylvania (website). United States Department of the Interior, 4-24-2013 update. At: http://www.nps.gov/jofl/index.htm

New York Times. “Johnstown Flood; Other Disasters,” 10-1-1911, p. 5. Accessed 3-4-2020 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1911/10/01/archives/johnstown-flood-other-disasters-2235-perished-in-the-destruction-of.html

Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice. Community Crisis Response Team Training Manual: Second Edition (Appendix D: Catastrophes Used as Reference Points in Training Curricula). Washington, DC: OJP, U.S. Department of Justice. Accessed at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/crt/pdftxt/appendd.txt

Ogilvie, J. S. History of the Great Flood in Johnstown, Pa., May 31, 1889, by Which over Ten Thousand Lives Were Lost. NY and Chicago: J. S. Ogilvie, Publisher, 1889.

Saxena, K. R. and V. M. Sharma. Dams: Incidents and Accidents. London and New York: Taylor & Francis, 2005.

Shank, William H. Great Floods of Pennsylvania: A Two-Century History. York, PA: American Canal and Transportation Center, 1972.

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

Smith, Roger. Catastrophes and Disasters. Edinburgh and NY: Chambers, 1992.

United States Army Signal Corps. Monthly Weather Review. Vol. 17, June, 1889. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=zlcUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

United States Department of Homeland Security. Dams Sector: Estimating Loss of Life for Dam Failure Scenarios. September 2011, 94 pages. Accessed 12-2-2017 at: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=726315

Watson, Benjamin A. Acts of God: The Old Farmer’s Almanac: Unpredictable Guide to Weather and Natural Disasters. Random House, 1993.

19th Century

1889 — May 13, sidewheel steamer Alaskan Founders in Storm, off Cape Blanco, OR–28-30

lornajarrettblanchard May 13, 1889

–28-30 Blanchard estimate.*

— 39 Puget Sound Weekly Argus, Port Townsend, WA. “Lost in the Sea.” 5-23-1889, p. 1.
— 6 dead
–33 missing
— 36 Pullman Herald, WA. “The Steamer Alaskan Goes to Pieces off Cape Blanco.” 5-25-1889, p1.
— 8 saved (out of 44)
–36 (drowned, dead from exposure, or missing)
— 36 Herkimer Democrat, NY. “Went Down in the Pacific…Steamer Alaskan…” 5-22-1889, p. 5.*
— 31 Gibbs, Jim. Disaster Log of Ships. 1971.
— 31 Gibbs, James A. Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast. Portland: 1957, p. 162.*
— 26 Oakland Tribune. “Shipwreck One of Worst Since Janeiro’s Loss…” 8-30-1929, D3.
— 21 Seattle Post Intelligencer. “Lost In The Sea. The Great Steamer Alaskan Sunk.” 5-17-1889, p.1.
— 5 known drowned
–16 missing (another 13 saved when picked up by the tug Vigilance)
— 17 Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels (U.S.). Annual Report… 1889, p. 16.
— ~15 McCurdy. “Ocean Tragedies…Northwest….” Overland Monthly, 34/202, 10-1899, 297.

* Blanchard estimate. If there were 49 onboard (44 crew and 5 stowaways as reported by the Monroe Daily Independent, WI, of 5-20-1889, p. 2), and 10 were picked up in a boat, 5-6 men made it to shore alive in a boat and 4, including the Captain were picked up on floating debris, then 29-30 men died. In October Charles Albert, of Oakland, one of the crew of the steamer wrote from Hong Kong that he had been rescued by a vessel on its way to Hong Kong. Thus the death-toll drops to 28-29. We note that Gibbs, in Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast, does not note the rescue of this sailor, thus it appears to us that his death-toll estimate of 31 should be 30. In an attempt to be conservative, we choose to rely on a range of deaths of 28-30.

*Herkimer Democrat: “…only twelve men out of the forty-eight on board have been heard from.”

*Gibbs: “Of the 47 men aboard the Alaskan, 31 were officially listed as dead.” [However it was months later that it was discovered that a crewmember had been rescued by a vessel on its way to Hong Kong, and only after reaching there could he write his family in October that he was alive. Sans a list of the “official” deaths, we speculate that this man was among the list of deaths.]

Narrative Information

Forbes: “Loss of the ‘Alaskan’.”

“The following extract tells the story of a recent wreck: —

“Portland, Ore., May. 17. Capt. R. E. Howes of the steamer ‘Alaskan’ and First Officer Wood have arrived here. The ‘Alaskan’ sailed for San Francisco from Astoria last Saturday noon, crossed the Columbia River Bar safely, and headed down the coast on Sunday forenoon. A very heavy gale sprang up, which soon increased to a terrible storm, and the sea ran very high, and the vessel began laboring heavily. In the afternoon, the steamer strained and began making water. The pumps were kept going constantly, and the officers and crew vainly endeavored to stop the leak by stuffing in blankets and bedding.

“The storm continued with unabated fury, and early Sunday evening the upper works of the steamer began going to pieces. The water poured in on all sides, putting out the fires and flooding the upper works. The engines were stopped and the vessel pitched and tossed at the mercy of the elements. The pumps could not be worked and the vessel began filling. Captain Howes gave orders for all to stay by the vessel, in hopes the storm would soon abate. About 12 o’clock Monday night it was evident that the steamer would soon founder. Captain Howes then gave orders to launch the life-boats and rafts. All the boats were launched but one, which was crushed against the side of the steamer. The men behaved well, acting with coolness and obeying orders promptly.

“There were 44 men on board the vessel and 3 stowaways. All but seven or eight put on life-preservers, got into the boats and on the life-rafts, and drifted away. Some refused to leave the steamer, preferring to take chances on board rather than commit themselves to the hungry waters.

“At 2.15 A. M., Monday, the steamer took a plunge and went down stem first. Captain Howes gallantly stayed with the vessel until she sank, and clinging to a portion of the wreckage, floated away. He was afterwards picked up by one of the rafts. After 33 hours he and others were rescued by the tug ‘Vigilante.’

“John Welch was found dead on a piece of wreckage. Chief Engineer Swayne was washed off one of the rafts soon after leaving the sinking vessel, and is known to be lost. Among those who refused to leave, and are certainly lost, were: Albert Rawles, steward; S. T. Week, second officer; W. Jenny, a seaman. Thirty persons remain yet unaccounted for. The tug ‘ Vigilante,’ after picking up those mentioned, cruised about the scene of the disaster for over twelve hours, but saw no signs of the others. There is scarcely any hope that they escaped. The U. S. light-house tender ‘Manzanilia,’ now on the Southern coast, is cruising about, looking for the survivors, if any.”

“Portland, Ore., May 19. News has just been received that all of the crew of the foundered steamer ‘Alaskan’ have come on shore at Florence near the mouth of the Suisslaw River in Lane County. After leaving the ship, the men were tossed in a fearful manner, the sea breaking over the boat at times. They came near the land at Cape Perpetua, about 14 miles north of the Suisslaw harbor on Thursday noon, but were unable to land on account of the huge breakers, and also on account of the rocky nature of the coast at that point.

“Finally they concluded to try to swim ashore. All were successful except one, who, after enduring the horrible suffering of two nights and three days on the open ocean, lost his life. During the time they were out, all they had to eat was six cans of peaches. Four of the survivors are quite ill from the effects of drinking the salt water.” (Forbes. Notes on Some Few of the Wrecks and Rescues During the Present Century. 1889, 96.)

McCurdy: “A fine vessel was lost to the Northwest when the Alaskan foundered off Cape Blanco in May, 1889. This handsome side-wheeler left Portland to dry-dock at San Francisco, and carried a crew of over thirty men [sic]. She ran into rough weather from the start, and soon her house began to work loose, letting in the water badly. The storm increased in violence, and a mountainous sea was soon running. The upper of the unfortunate steamer began to break up, and the water poured in to such an extent that the fires were put out. Several boats were launched and manned, Captain R.E. Howe and a portion of the crew staying by the vessel. Before long the Alaskan gave a lurch and went down, Captain Howe and several others keeping afloat on bits of wreckage. Hours afterward they were picked up, more dead than alive, by the tug Vigilant and made comfortable. One boat, containing ten men, reached shore, the rest of the crew finding a watery grave.” (McCurdy. “Ocean Tragedies…Northwest….” Overland Monthly, 34/202, 10-1899, p. 297.)

Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels (U.S.): May 13, 1889. – Steamer Alaskan, while at sea off Cape Blanco, encountered a heavy gale of wind and foundered, whereby seventeen of her crew were drowned.” (Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels…for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1889. 1889, p. 16.)

Newspaper

May 16, Hartford Courant: “Portland, Oregon, May 16. – The steamship Columbia, which has just arrived at Astoria, bound from San Francisco to Portland, brings a report of the loss of the Oregon Railway & Navigation company’s magnificent side-wheel iron steamer Alaskan. This vessel is reported to have foundered at sea off Cape Blanco, Monday, May 13…” (Hartford Courant, CT. “A Fine Steamer Lost.” May 17, 1889, p. 1.)

May 19: “Thirty-Three Men Missing.”
“Strong Probability That Nearly All of the Alaskan’s Crew Were Lost.”

“Portland, Ore., May 19. – Captain R. E. Howes, of the steamer Alaskan, which foundered off Cape Blanco, and the first officer, Wood, arrived here Friday on the Columbia. The Columbia brought no tidings of the boats which put out from the Alaskan, and the probability that all of them were lost is strong.

“It is not known to a certainty just how many men were on the ship. The crew numbered forty-four, and after the vessel had put to sea three stowaways were found. Two stowaways are among the rescued. One of them, James Foley, said that he knew there were five stowaways, which makes the total number forty-nine. Of this number ten have been saved, six have died and thirty-three are missing. John Welch was found dead on a piece of wreckage, clinging to some ropes. Chief Engineer Swain was seen washed off on one of the rafts soon after leaving the sinking vessel, and is known to be lost. Seven persons refused to leave the ship and were certainly lost.” (Monroe Daily Independent, WI. “Thirty-Three Men Missing.” 5-20-1889, p. 2, col. 5.)

May 20: “Alaskan Survivors.”
“Eugene City (Or.), May 20th. – A life raft from the Alaskan came ashore on the beach near the Umpqua river on Saturday morning with James McGarry, the only survivor of four, including Chief Engineer Swain, who left the ship on Monday off Cape Blanco. Swain died very shortly after reaching the raft, and two sailors, names unknown, died the same day. One boat is reported to have arrived at the Siuslaw river a few days ago with five or six men.” (Sacramento Daily Record, CA. “Alaskan Survivors.” 5-21-1889, p. 4, col. 2.)

Oct 21: “Saved From the Deep.”
“San Francisco, October 21. – Charles Albert, of Oakland, one of the crew of the steamer Alaskan, which went down off Cape Blanco last May, has been heard from in Hong Kong. His family had given him up for dead. He writes that as the steamer sank he caught hold of a piece of wreckage, floated thereon for seven days, and was finally picked up by a bark from Portland, lumber laden to Hong Kong.” (Los Angeles Daily Herald. “Saved From the Deep.” 10-22-1889, p. 5, col. 1.)

Sources

Forbes, Robert Bennet. Notes on Some Few of the Wrecks and Rescues During the Present Century. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1889. Digitized by Google. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=kHkSAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Gibbs, Jim. Disaster Log of Ships. Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, 1971, 176 pages.

Gibbs, James A. Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast. Portland: Binford & Mort, 1957.

Hartford Courant, CT. “A Fine Steamer Lost.” May 17, 1889, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: https://courant.newspapers.com/search/#query=%22a+fine+steamer+lost%22

Herkimer Democrat, NY. “Went Down in the Pacific. The Big Steamer Alaskan…” 5-22-1889, p. 5, col. 5. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/herkimer-democrat-may-22-1889-p-5/

Los Angeles Daily Herald, CA. “Saved From the Deep.” 10-22-1889, p. 5, col. 1. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/los-angeles-daily-herald-oct-22-1889-p-5/

McCurdy, James G. “Ocean Tragedies on the Northwest Coast.” Overland Monthly, Vol. 34, No. 202, Oct. 1899. Pp. 291-300. Digitized by Google. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=otNUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Shipwreck One of Worst Since Janeiro’s Loss, 1901.” 8-30-1929, D3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=105413307

Puget Sound Weekly Argus, Port Townsend, WA. “Lost in the Sea.” 5-23-1889, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/port-townsend-weekly-argus-may-23-1889-p-1/

Pullman Herald, WA. “The Steamer Alaskan Goes to Pieces off Cape Blanco.” 5-25-1889, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/pullman-herald-may-25-1889-p-1/

Reno Evening Gazette, NV. “A Reported Wreck.” 5-16-1889, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/reno-evening-gazette-may-16-1889-p-2/

Sacramento Daily Record, CA. “Alaskan Survivors.” 5-21-1889, p. 4, col. 2. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sacramento-daily-record-union-may-21-1889-p-4/

Seattle Post Intelligencer. “Lost In The Sea. The Great Steamer Alaskan Sunk.” 5-17-1889, p. 1. Accessed 2-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/seattle-post-intelligencer-may-17-1889-p-1/

Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels (U.S.). Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1889 (Treasury Department Document No. 1251. Steam-boat Inspection, dated 9-27-1889). Washington: Government Printing Office. 1889. Accessed 1-1-2021 at:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu09189980&view=1up&seq=197&q1

19th Century

1889-March 2, SF CA sealing schooner Otter leaves San Francisco for Shumagin Islands, AK, lost 23

lornajarrettblanchard March 2, 1889

–23 Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks. “Alaska Shipwrecks 1800-1899.”
–23 Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.” “O”

Narrative Information

Alaskashipwreck.com: “1889…Otter…SC [area]…81 foot…74 Ton Schooner…23 [lives lost].” (Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks. “Alaska Shipwrecks 1800-1899.”)

Alaskashipwreck.com: “Otter (1889). The 74 ton 81 foot schooner Otter was lost with all hands in the North Pacific in March of 1889. The Otter departed San Francisco March 2, 1889 bound for the Shumagin Islands with 23 crewmen aboard and never was heard from again. Two other vessels, the schooner James A Hamilton and the schooner Annie also disappeared on the same route at the same time. Lost from the Otter were Captain G W Littlejohn; First Mate, Joseph Wilson; Boatswain Charles Swanson; Hunters John P Sidwell, W C Peterson, Ernest Fisher and Herman Rode; Seamen Joseph Richards, William Neven, W Eitel, Henry Edwards, Frank Sawyer, Frank Mulhi, John Johnson, F G Sutton, John Herman, Heinriech Kellinen, John Brown, Martin Anderson, Hans Knudtsen and J E Burnett; Cabinboy C L Wolf; Cook Gotlieb Elsen. The Otter was valued at $10,000 at the time of the disaster. (Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.”)

“Mapping and Location: Unknown Alaska.

“Additional Information: Tonnage 73.75, Length 81, Breadth 24.6, Depth 7.6, Built 1881 at San Francisco, Registered Sitka, ON 155024, Master G W Littlejohn, Owner H Liebes.

“Sources: 1. Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore (1992), 2. Daily Alta California (July 25, 1889) “Probable Loss of Three Schooners Which Left Last March” Pg 2 Col 1, 3. Merchant Sailing Vessels of the United States (1888) Pg 210.” (Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.”)

Newspaper

July 9, 1889: “Our San Francisco Letter….The whaling schooner J. A. Hamilton has been given up for lost. She left port March 3d in command of Captain Ryder and has not yet reported at Onmalaska [Unalaska]. She carries twenty-three men.

“The sealing schooner Otter has also been out a long time without reporting.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Honolulu. “Our San Francisco Letter.” 7-9-1889, p. 4.)

Sources

Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks.” Alaska Shipwrecks 1800-1899.” Accessed 11-7-2021 at: https://alaskashipwreck.com/alaska-shipwrecks-1729-2012/alaska-shipwrecks-1800-1899/

Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.” Accessed 11-7-2021 at: https://alaskashipwreck.com/shipwrecks-a-z/alaska-shipwrecks-o/

Hawaiian Gazette, Honolulu. “Our San Francisco Letter.” 7-9-1889, p. 4. Accessed 11-7-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/honolulu-hawaiian-gazette-jul-09-1889-p-4/

Tornfelt, Evert E. and Michael Burwell. Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore. Anchorage, AK: U.S. Department of the Interior, Mineral Management Service, Alaska OCS Region, 1992. Accessed 11-7-2021 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Shipwrecks_of_the_Alaskan_Shelf_and_Shor/8YUTAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=seal

19th Century

1889 — March 2, last sighting, SF schooner James A Hamilton departs San Francisco for AK-21

lornajarrettblanchard March 2, 1889

1889 — March 2, last sighting, SF schooner James A Hamilton departs San Francisco for AK-21

–21 Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks. “Alaska Shipwrecks 1800-1899.”
–21 Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.”
–20 Tornfelt and Burwell. Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore. US Interior Dept., 1992.

Narrative Information

Alaskashipwreck.com: “James A Hamilton (1889). The 74 ton 82 foot wooden whaling schooner James A Hamilton was lost during the whaling season of 1889. Newspapers report the James A Hamilton (J A Hamilton, Hamilton) departed California March 3, 1889 bound for Unalaska with her whaling crew and three passengers for the schooner Angel Dolly; Captain John Lee, a mate and a seaman. The James A Hamilton was never heard from again. Lost were her Captain – Alfred Ryder, First Mate – John Gifford, Third Mate – Thomas Foster, Boat Steerers – Peter Johnson, George Warren and Charles Fitzgerald, Seamen – Charles Frestrain, George Penson, William Brightman, John Wilson, Thomas F Quirk, Steuart Charles Thompson, John Santos, William Dodge, Alfred Christian, and Jas. Jackson, Cook – John F Bookey, Cabin Boy – Zachriah, and the three passengers. The James A Hamilton was valued between $10,000 to $15,000 at the time of the disaster.

“Mapping and Location: Alaska Unknown.

“Comment: The 81 foot schooner Otter and 57 foot schooner Annie were also lost with all hands along the same route the same time. Rumors circulated that the three were lost in the gales of late March.

“Additional Information: Tonnage 77.8 Gross 73.91 Net, Length 81.5, Breadth 24, Depth 7.5, Built 1885 at Benicia CA, Registered San Francisco, ON 76555, Owner Magee & Moore.

“Sources: 1. Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore (1992), 2. The Daily Alta California (July 25, 1889) “Probable Loss of Three Schooners Which Left Last March” Pg 2 Col 1, 3. Merchant Sailing Vessels of the United States (1888) Pg 15.” (Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.”

Newspaper

Aug 8, 1889: “Washington, Aug. 7. – There has been received at the Navy Department from Lieutenant Commander Charles H. Stockton, in command of the Thetis, a report on the movements of the vessel in the Arctic Ocean….Commander Stockton says: ‘…. I learned also from the whaling vessels that I met in the Arctic that the whaling schooner James A. Hamilton, which sailed several months ago from San Francisco, had not yet been heard from.’” (Philadelphia Inquirer. “Cruise of the Thetis.” 8-8-1889, p. 5.)

Sources

Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks.” Alaska Shipwrecks 1800-1899.” Accessed 11-6-2021 at: https://alaskashipwreck.com/alaska-shipwrecks-1729-2012/alaska-shipwrecks-1800-1899/

Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.” Accessed 11-6-2021 at: https://alaskashipwreck.com/shipwrecks-a-z/alaska-shipwrecks-j/

Good, Captain Warren and Michael Burwell. Alaska Shipwrecks 1750-2015. Published by Warren Good, 2018. Accessed 11-1-2021 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=ArpqDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Philadelphia Inquirer. “Cruise of the Thetis.” 8-8-1889, p. 5. Accessed 11-6-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-inquirer-aug-08-1889-p-5/

Tornfelt, Evert E. and Michael Burwell. Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore. Anchorage, AK: U.S. Department of the Interior, Mineral Management Service, Alaska OCS Region, 1992. Accessed 11-6-2021 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Shipwrecks_of_the_Alaskan_Shelf_and_Shor/8YUTAAAAYAAJ?hl=&gbpv=1

19th Century

1889 — Feb 9, last sighting; schooner Annie leaves San Francisco, CA for Unalaska, AK–11

lornajarrettblanchard February 9, 1889

–11 Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks. “Alaska Shipwrecks 1800-1899.”
–11 Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.” “A.”
–11 Good, Captain Warren and Michael Burwell. Alaska Shipwrecks 1750-2015. 2018, p. 40.

Narrative Information

Alaskashipwreck.com: “1889…Annie…Unk. …57 foot…Wood Schooner…11 [lives lost].” (Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks. “Alaska Shipwrecks 1800-1899.”)

Alaskashipwreck.com: “Annie (1889. The 42 ton 57 foot wooden schooner Annie disappeared with all hands after leaving San Francisco February 9, 1889 bound for Unalaska with 11 crewmen aboard. The 81 foot schooner Otter and 82 foot schooner James A Hamilton left out of San Francisco March 2, 1889 and disappeared on the same route, also losing all hands. Lost with the Annie were: Captain – John Johnson, Mate – John Brown, Hunters – Gustave Gimmel and Joseph L Dupont, Seamen – James Smith, Peter Norman, Martin Cremes, Keimpe Kornes, Juqoat Krestauson and Robert Turner, Cook – Roger Augustine. The Annie was valued at $3,000 at the time of the disaster.

“Mapping and Location: Alaska Unknown

“Additional Information: Tonnage 41.73 Gross 39.65 Net, Length 57, Breadth 22.2, Depth 4.5, Built 1877 at San Francisco, Registered San Francisco, ON 105684, Owner Captain Laflin of San Francisco.

“Sources: 1. Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore (1992), 2. Daily Alta California July 25, 1889 “Probable Loss of Three Schooners Which Left Last March”, Pg 2 Col 1, 3. Merchant Sailing Vessels of the United States (1888) Pg 66.” (Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.” “A.”)

Good and Burwell: “Annie (1889). The 42 ton 57 foot wooden schooner Annie disappeared with all hands after leaving San Francisco February 9, 1889 bound for Unalaska with 11 crewmen aboard.” (Good, Captain Warren and Michael Burwell. Alaska Shipwrecks 1750-2015. 2018, p40.)

Sources

Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks. A Comprehensive Accounting of Alaska Shipwrecks and Losses of Life in Alaskan Waters. Accessed 11-6-2021 at:
Indian Journal, Eufaula, OK. [Schooner Flying Scud lost.] May 5, 1887, p. 6. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=158340462

Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks.” Alaska Shipwrecks 1800-1899.” Accessed 11-6-2021 at: https://alaskashipwreck.com/alaska-shipwrecks-1729-2012/alaska-shipwrecks-1800-1899/

Alaskashipwreck.com. “Shipwrecks A-Z.” Accessed 11-6-2021 at: https://alaskashipwreck.com/shipwrecks-a-z/alaska-shipwrecks-f/

19th Century

1888 — Dec 24, Steamer John H. Hanna Burns, Mississippi River, Plaquemine, LA –21-25

lornajarrettblanchard December 24, 1888

–21-25 Blanchard estimated death toll.*

— 30 Boston Post. “A Steamboat Burned.” 12-26-1888, p. 1, col. 5.**
— 30 Chautauquan, “Summary of Important News for Dec., 1888,” V9, N1, Oct 1888, p. 318.
–20-30 Opelousas Courier. “Dreadful Catastrophes.” 12-29-1888, p. 1.
— 25 Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. “Twenty-Four Lives Lost.” 12-27-1888, p. 2.***
— 25 Daily Journal, Logansport, IN. “The Year’s Disasters,” Jan 2, 1889, p. 4.
–21-25 St. Joseph Herald, MI. “West and South,” and “Many Lives Lost.” 12-29-1888, p. 1.
— 23 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 688.
— 22 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, 252.
— 21 Boston Post. “A Steamboat Burned.” 12-26-1888, p. 2, col. 6. (Cites the Picayune.)
— 21 Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels. Annual Report…June 30, 1889. P. 25.
— 20 Annual Statistician and Economist 1892 (Vol. 16). L. P. McCarty, 1892. p. 61.
— 20 Evening Herald, Syracuse, NY. “Record of the Year,” 31 Dec 1888, p. 3.

* Blanchard estimated death toll. As one can see from the sources above there is represented a range of twenty to thirty deaths. While it appears to us from a reading of all the sources that the death toll rose to twenty five with the death of James Given (see Cincinnati Commercial Gazette), we are not inclined to ignore the notation of 21 deaths by the annual report of the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels, or the estimate of twenty-two deaths by Way. Thus we choose to use 21 as the low-end of our estimated death toll and 25 as the high end. In that the report of Given’s deaths notes that there were several other burn victims in the Charity Hospital in New Orleans, it is quite possible that there were other deaths due to burns.

**Boston Post: “….It is stated that of the hundred persons on board only fourteen are known to have been saved….About thirty persons perished in the flames and a large number jumped overboard and were drowned [p.1]….The impression now is that the number of lives lost will not exceed thirty. [p.2]”

***After noting twenty-four deaths, adds that James Givens, one of those mentioned as injured had since died at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

Narrative Information

Chautauquan: “December 25. Burning of the Mississippi river steamer John H. Hanna; thirty people burned to death or drowned.” (Chautauquan, Oct 1888, p. 318.)

Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels. “ December 24, 1888. – The steamer John H. Hanna, while descending the Mississippi River with a cargo of cotton, took fore opposite Plaquemine, La., and was totally destroyed. Four passengers and seventeen of her crew were lost.” (Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels. Annual Report of…to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1889. 1889. “Tenth District…Fatal causalities.” p.25.)

Way: John H. Hanna. Sternwheel wood-hull packet, build in Madison, IN, in 1876, measuring 181.2 x 38 x 6.5. “Ran principally New Orleans-Ouachita River. Capt. J.W. Blanks was master….Still in the trade 1885 with Capt. F. A. Blanks, master and J.S. Holmes, clerk. She was downbound at Plaquemine, La., on Dec. 24, 1888 with 3,000 bales when news came of the burning of the Kate Adams, and the Hanna crew found their own boat afire. There was life loss of 22 persons….” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…1999, p. 252.)

Newspapers

Dec 26, Boston Post: “New Orleans, La., Dec. 25. – The steamboat John H. Hanna, from Ouachita River, with a large number of passengers and a cargo of 2500 bales of cotton on board, was burned last night at Plaquemine, It is stated that of the hundred persons on board only fourteen are known to have been saved. The John H. Hanna was built in Madison, Ind., in 1876, and hailed from Louisville, Ky. She was of 377 tonnage and was owned by the Ouachita River Consolidated line. She was valued at $18,000, but was insured for only $12,000, on local and foreign companies. The officers of the boat are as follows: Captain J. S. Holmes, master; S. R. Powell, first clerk; James V. Jordan, second clerk; Henry Jolles and Louis Rawlings, pilots; William Hanley, first engineer; Daniel Carroll, steward.

“A special dispatch from Plaquemine to the States says: The burning of the steamer John H. Hanna last night near this place was one of the most terrible river disasters that has ever happened in Southern waters. The loss of live was very heavy. About thirty persons perished in the flames and a large number jumped overboard and were drowned. Among the lost are Captain J. S. Holmes, and the first clerk, Samuel R. Powell. Their bodies have been recovered. Captain Holme’s body was terribly burned. Bob Smith, the old pilot of the J. M. White at the time she was burned, and was a passenger on the John H. Hanna and was burned to death. His body has also been recovered. One of the deck hands, who escaped, says there were about 100 persons on board and that only about a dozen can now be found alive. The engineer and pilot were saved. All were more or less burned, some of them severely.

“The fine steamer was coming down the river just before day dawned. Several of the passengers were seated in the cabin having a merry time. Many of the crew and passengers were asleep when the fire broke out and spread with indescribable rapidity. The details of the sufferings and death of some of the passengers are harrowing in the extreme. The boat had reached a point which was but a short distance above the town when a negro roustabout near the boiler room ran out to the deck and shouted that the boat was on fire. John Cullen, a stoker, was near the place at the time, and seeing the flames bursting forth from the big tiers of cotton near the boiler, ran hastily to the engine room and gave the alarm. Engineer Merriman at once sounded the alarm by blowing the steam whistle and ringing the bells. In an instant, certainly in a much shorter time than it takes to explain it, the flames shot through the cabin and over the sides of the cotton, enveloping the entire boat in fire. Clerk Powell was upstairs at the time, and when he saw the flames he heroically ran through the smoke which filled the cabin and tried to arouse the sleeping people. He kicked at the doors and in a short time almost everybody was awake. Then confusion worse confounded appeared, and frantic people on the boat ran to different exits to make their escape, but the boat was piled high with cotton and the passageways were filled with smoke. Many dropped before they were able to get to the forward part of the boat, and were dead when the steamer went down.

“As soon as the fire was discovered Engineer Merriman set the steam pumps working and tried to battle with the flames, but the fire swept through the boat like a blaze on a prairie, and the engine room was soon in flames. Then, to add further to the consternation, a steam pipe burst and filled the place with scalding steam. Engineer Merriman was forced to abandon his post, and he and the stokers and others ran to the sides of the boat and climbed through pell-mell in order to save their lives. As soon as the smoke and flames began to shoot through the sides of the boat, Captain Jolles, the pilot, swung the wheel around and headed the boat for the shore. A full head of steam was on at the time, and the boat was soon run into the bank. Before she did so, however, she was doomed. All of her timber was then furiously burning. When the Hanna struck the bank she bounded away again and swung around, drifting down as she burned. Then Captain Jolles jumped out over the cotton bales and springing into the river swam ashore.

“The sight was a weird one, viewed from the bank, and the town was aroused. Floating cotton, charred timbers and other debris filled the river, and many people were struggling desperately in the water for their lives. Some of them were able to swim ashore, but most of them were so badly burned or so thoroughly exhausted that they struggled but a few moments and sank to rise no more. As the burning boat struck the bank of the river, the crew and passengers who had been able to reach the forward end of the boat sprang ashore, some of them with scorched faces and bruised limbs, and many of them with scarcely any covering. Captain Holmes, in his frantic desire to be relieved from the pain he was suffering, buried his face and hands in the soft mud and begged most piteously for help. Bob Smith was just behind, and was laid out by the side of the dying captain. Nothing could be done for the suffering men, and the two died together on the river bank.

“The struggling unfortunates who reached the shore were taken car of, and doctors and others came to their assistance and tried to alleviate their sufferings. The City and Central hotels and private houses threw open their doors to the ill-fated people, and fed and clothed them until this morning. No one saw Clerk Powell, who displayed much heroism in waking up the passengers, after he had rapped at the doors, and it is quite certain that he was burned to death, and went down with the steamer. No attempt was made to save any of the steamer’s books or papers, and everything, together with the clothes and crew of the passengers, was lost. The boat burned rapidly after she reached the bank, and in a very short time after the alarm was given she had burned to the water’s edge. The hull sank, and nothing was left of the Hanna but floating timber and burning cotton.

“Among those that were lost are: Captain J. S. Holmes, master of the boat; Samuel Powell, chief clerk; Bob Smith, a pilot from Smithland, La.; Mike O’Neil, night watchman; Joe Crane, cabin watchman; Monroe Deck, first cook; Jack Duff, second cook; Joe Harvey, cabin boy; Jim Watson, second baker; John Grafton, carpenter. Among those who were badly burned are: Dan Carroll, steward; Jim O’Neil, deck hand; John Gibbons, sailor man; Louis Welch, roustabout, and a number of others.

“Coming down on the boat as passengers were a number of the crew of the steamer Josie W., all of whom were saved. The survivors were all warm in their praise of the people of Plaquemine, who spared no pains and no money to furnish them with clothes and shelter after their terrible experience. W. L. Brule, Mayor of the city, was especially kind to the survivors. None of he men could say what was the origin of the fire. The general impression, however, is that some careless smoker threw a cigarette among the cotton bales and thereby caused the disaster. The death of John Grafton, carpenter, was a sad one. He was in the upper portion of the boat, struggling to get near the front end. The flames were twisting and sweeping all about him. He tried nobly to reach the bow, but he dropped and burned to death before the eyes of the people who were not able to render him any help. The second bar-keeper of the boat said Mr. Powell was standing near him when they both jumped into the water. Powell, who could not swim, climbed on a floating cotton bale, but two deck hands also jumped on the bale, turning it over and throwing Powell into the water, and he disappeared. The boat was about fifteen yards from the shore when a great many people plunged into the river, and several who reached the bank in safety became bogged in the soft mud, and so intense was the heat of the burning boat that they were burned to death before they could climb up the steep bank to the levee. The fire was so rapid that before the pilot had finished sounding three alarm whistles the entire boat from stem to stern was a roaring mass of flames, and the scene that ensued was terrible in the extreme. Men jelled and ran about the decks of the steamer like maniacs, and others, screaming at the top of their voices, threw themselves into the dark waters and were lost to sight in the twinkle of an eye. The second barkeeper said that several persons near him struggled in the water and begged pitifully for help, but he could not render them any assistance, because the water chilled him to the marrow and his clothing clogged his every movement. A cabin boy who was an assistant to the steward said that the crew, who were in the ‘texas,’ were aroused from their slumbers by the flames which roared over them, and they were compelled to dive headlong from the roof of the boat into the river, and many of them were burned to death while in the water. The impression now is that the number of lives lost will not exceed thirty.

“A special dispatch to the Times-Democrat from Plaquemine gives the following account of the death of Captain Holmes: The brave captain, a resident of New Orleans, met with most awful death. He remained at his post of duty till every chance to save the lives of his passengers was gone. Then he leaped into the water to swim for the shore, but it happened to be boggy, and he was seen to make frantic endeavors to extricate himself, without avail. The burning boat was fast nearing him, and while he was on his knees in the mud he put his hands up to protect his back from the intense heat. It was an awful moment for those on shore, who were making every endeavor to relieve him with skiffs and ropes from the bank. One man went out to him and placed a box between him and the flames to protect him from the increasing heat. He said: ‘Never mind me. I’ll be dead in a few minutes anyway.’ He was finally freed from his terrible situation by tying a rope around his body and dragging him onshore, but it was too late. He died in about half an hour after being rescued. The body of Chief Clerk Powell was in a perfect state of preservation. There were no marks of any kind upon it. He had on a life preserver, which was partly burned. It is supposed he died of suffocation. A short time previous to the alarm of fire Powell was conversing with Willie Higgins, barkeeper, about the burning of the Kate Adams, which Higgins had just finished reading. On being told that fifty lives were lost, Powell said: ‘I can’t understand how so many lives can be lost when land is so near.’ Half an hour later he was a corpse floating down the river.

“The Picayune’s Plaquemine special places the number known to be lost by the Hanna disaster as five whites and sixteen colored.” (Boston Post. “A Steamboat Burned.” 12-26-1888, p. 1, col. 5, and p. 2.)

Dec 27, Cincinnati Commercial Gazette: “St. Louis, Mo., December 26. – A special to the Republic from New Orleans places the total loss of life by the burning of the steamer Hanna at twenty-four. Of the injured men in the hospital four or five will die, among them Givens, the sailor, who was the hero of the disaster. His face is horribly burned, nose gone and eyes burned out, his left arm completely burned away and left side and leg charred. The funeral of the victims took place to-day, the flags of steamers in the harbor being at half-mast. Bob Smith, the pilot who lost his life, was a famous man on the river, and regarded himself as unlucky. He was on the R. E. Lee when she burned; on the White when there was great loss of life, and on the Hanna, when she caught fire some years ago, but was not destroyed. There were rumors to-day that the fire was of incendiary origin. Steamers coming down yesterday reported the river near Plaquemine filled with floating, burning bales of cotton. The Pargoud could not land at Plaquemine owing to the burning cotton.

“James Givens, of the John H. Hanna, died at Charity Hospital to-night.

“The funeral of Captain Holmes took place to-day.

“The remains of Clerk Powell were sent to his home in Columbia, La. The remains of Pilot Bob Smith were buried in the Catholic Cemetery at Plaquemine.” (Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. “Twenty-Four Lives Lost.” 12-27-1888, p. 2.)

Dec 27, Decatur Saturday Herald, IL: “Plymouth, Mass., Dec. 27. – Captain J. S. Holmes, who commanded the steamer John H. Hanna, and who was burned to death at the destruction of his steamer at Plaquemine, was a native of this town. His brother, Captain Curtis Holmes, still lives here. Since the age of seventeen Captain J. S. Holmes had been in the steamboat service I the South.” (Decatur Saturday Herald, IL. “Captain Holmes a Native of Plymouth Mass.” 12-29-1888, p. 14.)

Sources

Boston Post. “A Steamboat Burned.” 12-26-1888, p. 1, col. 5. Accessed 9-15-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-post-dec-26-1888-p-1/

Chautauqua Institution. “Summary of Important News for August, 1888,” Chautauquan, Vol. 9, No. 1, Oct 1888, p 64. At: http://books.google.com/books?id=UMnmAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. “Twenty-Four Lives Lost.” 12-27-1888, p. 2. Accessed 9-15-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cincinnati-commercial-gazette-dec-27-1888-p-2/

Daily Journal, Logansport, IN. “The Year’s Disasters.” 1-2-1889, p. 4. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=83142306

Decatur Saturday Herald, IL. “Captain Holmes a Native of Plymouth Mass.” 12-29-1888, p. 14. Accessed 9-15-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/decatur-saturday-herald-dec-22-1888-p-14/

Evening Herald, Syracuse, NY. “Record of the Year – Principal Events That Have Occurred in the World,” 12-31-1888, 3. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=51376727

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Opelousas Courier. “Dreadful Catastrophes.” 12-29-1888, p. 1. Accessed 9-15-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/opelousas-courier-dec-29-1888-p-1/

St. Joseph Herald, MI. “West and South,” and “Many Lives Lost.” 12-29-1888, p. 1. Accessed 9-15-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/st-joseph-herald-press-dec-29-1888-p-1/

Supervising Inspector-General of Steam Vessels. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1889. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1889. Accessed 9-15-2020 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu09189980&view=1up&seq=195

Way, Frederick Jr. (Author and Compiler), Joseph W. Rutter (contributor). Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System Since the Advent of Photography in Mid-Continent America (Revised). Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 1999.

19th Century

1888 — Dec 23, Steamer Kate Adams Burns, Mississippi River, Commerce Landing, MS-~33

lornajarrettblanchard December 23, 1888

— ~33 Blanchard estimate.*

— 60 Star and Sentinel, Gettysburg, PA. “General News,” Jan 1, 1889, p. 3.
— 40-50 Spirit Lake Beacon, IA. “The Burning of the Steamer Kate Adams,” Dec 29, 1888, 4.
— 35-50 Baltimore Sun. “A Fine Steamer Burned on the Mississippi River.” 12-24-1888, p. 4.
–35-~40 Boston Daily Globe. “Two Score Lives. Miss. Steamboat Takes Fire,” 24 Dec 1888, 1.
— 35 Annual Statistician and Economist 1892 (Vol. 16). L. P. McCarty, 1892. p. 61.
— 35 Columbus Enquirer-Sun, GA. “The Kate Adams.” 12-25-1888, p. 1.
— 35 Daily Journal, Logansport, IN. “The Year’s Disasters,” Jan 2, 1889, p. 4.
— 35 Evening Herald, Syracuse, NY. “Record of the Year,” 31 Dec 1888, 3.
— 35 Galveston Daily News, TX. “The Steamer Kate Adams,” Dec 25, 1888, p. 1.
— 33 Supervising Inspector General. Annual Report of… 1889, p. 22.
–12 crew
— 1 cabin boy
–20 passengers
— 33 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994…Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, 263-264.
— 30 Elyria Democrat, OH. “Thirty Lives Lost…Burning…Kate Adams,” 27 Dec 1888, p3.
— 25 Public Ledger Almanac. Philadelphia, PA: Collins Printing House. p. 25.
— 24 The World, New York City. “Death on the River,” Dec 26, 1888, p. 1.
— 23 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 176.
— 23 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 689.
— 23 US Congress, House. Hearings… “Safety of Life and Property at Sea.” 1935, p. 248.
— 14 Chautauquan. “Summary of Important News for Dec, 1888,” V9, N1, Oct 1888, 318.
— 14 Logansport Daily Pharos, IN. “Only Fourteen Persons Lost,” Dec 31, 1888, p. 1.
— 14 The World, New York City. “The Lives Lost Were Fourteen,” Dec 30, 1888, p. 3.

*Blanchard death-toll estimate. While there is a broad range of estimates – from a low of fourteen to a high of sixty, we choose to rely on the detailed breakout provided by the Supervising Inspector General of Steamboats in his 1889 report to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. We incorporate, however, the approximate sign (~) in recognition the wide range of reporting and skepticism concerning an exact number ever being known which was expressed in some newspaper reporting at the time.

Narrative Information

Berman: Kate Adams: “Dec 24 1888 [date of loss]…Burned…Mississippi River. 23 lives lost.” (Berman 1972, p. 176.)

Supervising Inspector General: “December 23, 1888. – While the steamer Kate Adams was ascending the Mississippi River opposite Commerce, Miss., she caught fire and burned. Twelve of the crew, one cabin boy, and twenty passengers were reported lost.” (Supervising Inspector General. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels. 9-27-1889, p. 22.)

Way: Kate Adams: Sidewheel packet built at Sewickley and Pittsburgh, PA in 1882 with five boilers. “Capt. Mark R. Cheek was master when the Kate was discovered afire at Commerce Landing, 40 miles below Memphis, early Sunday morning, Dec. 23, 1888. She was on her 602nd trip in the trade, Memphis-Arkansas City. Her cargo included 1,161 bales of cotton, 1,900 sacks of cotton seed, and 87 sacks of seed corn. Thirty-three lives were lost….” (Way 1994, p. 263-264.)

Newspaper

Dec 23, Boston Globe: “Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 23. – The elegant passenger steamer Kate Adams, running as a semi-weekly packet between Memphis and Arkansas City, was burned this morning near Commerce. Miss., 40 miles south of this city, and about 40 lives were lost. She was en route to Memphis and had about 200 people aboard, including her deck and cabin crew of 80, and 25 cabin and 60 deck passengers, besides 25 colored cabin passengers.

“The fire, which caught in some cotton near the forward end of the boilers, was discovered about 8 o’clock. The passengers were at breakfast, and when the alarm was given they all made a rush for the forward dock. At this time the steamer was about 300 yards from the Mississippi side of the river, and her bow was at once headed for the shore.

“Pilot J. A. Barton was on watch, and he remained heroically at his post, until she was safely landed. Harry Bert, the second clerk, was seated at the table when the alarm was given. He brought all the ladies and children forward and assisted them ashore.

“Captain Mark Cheek, who was on the hurricane deck, remained there, giving his commands until the stage plank was safely lowered.

“The fire by this time had spread all through the cabin, and he was compelled to retreat to the rear, and climbed over the rails and descended to the cabin. Here he found Chief Clerk W. O. Blanker, who had made an effort to save the money and papers of the steamer, which were in the safe. He managed to grab the money, but was cut off from the bow and forced back into the cabin. As he was groping his way aft he stumbled and fell over some chairs and lost all the valuables he had secured, and it was with great difficulty that he succeeded in reaching the rear through the blinding smoke and flames which filled the cabin. Captain Cheek seized a life preserver, and placing it on Chief Clerk Blanker helped him overboard into the water. He floated down about three miles before he was rescued by parties who had walked ashore and followed him down the river. Captain Cheek assisted several others in securing life preservers and when it was no longer possible for him to remain without being burned he too jumped into the river and swam ashore. There were about 25 colored cabin passengers who were saved along with the white passengers.

“On the lower deck, however, a fearful panic seized the crew and deck passengers. Those who were cut off from escape from the bow wore compelled to jump overboard to escape the flames. The stern of the burning steamer had swung out into the river, and an effort was made to launch the yawl, but it was capsized by the crowd which filled it, and many of its occupants were drowned. They were nearly all colored men, but there were three or four women in the crowd….

The burning steamer drifted away after lying at the bank for 20 minutes and floated down the river, her hull sinking at the head of Peter’s island, four miles below Commerce….

“She was the finest and fastest steamer of her typo in the Mississippi river, and her owners this summer spent $20,000 in repairing her at Paducah….

“This would have been the completion of her six hundred and second trip in the Memphis and Arkansas City trade. Her cargo consisted of 1161 bales cotton 1900 sacks cottons and, 87 bags of seed and a good list of sundries….

“The passengers and crew lost all their clothing and effects…

“Three of the colored cabin crew who were rescued from the water died afterwards…. The water was very cold, which benumbed the limbs of those who jumped overboard, and to this is attributed the greatest loss of life. All speak in highest terms of the coolness and bravery displayed by the officers of the boat, all of whom remained at their posts until the last, and it was through their efforts and courage that all the lady passengers were safely taken ashore…..

“It is impossible to ascertain definitely how many lives were…lost, but a conservative estimate places the number at not less than 35. It may reach a much larger figure.” (Boston Daily Globe. “Two Score Lives. Miss. Steamboat Takes Fire,” 24 Dec 1888, p. 1.)

Dec 25, Columbus Enquirer-Sun: “Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 24. – William Donohue, one of the clerks of the burned steamer Kate Adams, came up this forenoon from the wreck. He was in a yawl with Clerk George Corbett, when it capsized, and the last he saw of his colleague he was floating down the river clinging to a small ladder. Donohue managed to catch a bale of cotton, and was swept out into the current and was rescued six miles below Commerce by some negroes on the Arkansas side of the river….

“The loss of life is not yet definitely known, and the prospects are that the exact number who were drowned never will be accurately stated. Thirty-five is the most conservative estimate. Out of he party of fifteen white laborers which boarded the steamer below Friars Point, only two are said to have been saved. If this is true, and there are no means of substantiating the fact, the loss of lives may reach sixty, s many negroes who were on the lower deck lost their lives in attempting to swim ashore from the stern of the burning vessel….” (Columbus Enquirer-Sun, GA. “The Kate Adams.” 12-25-1888, p. 1.)

Dec 29, The World: “Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 29. – The loss of life by the burning of the steamer Kate Adams last Sunday morning, forty miles below here, has been reduced to fourteen, of whom four were white and the remainder colored. This is conclusive, after a careful official investigation by the steamboat inspectors here. The names of the lost are not obtainable except the clerk, Corbett, and a passenger named Robinson. The fire was ignited by one of the firemen throwing a red-hot poker on a sack of cotton-seed in front of the fire-doors. Four or five hundred bales of the boat’s cargo of cotton floated off without being scorched. A wrecking boat will go from here to-night to save the property.” (The World, NYC. “The Lives Lost Were Fourteen,” Dec 30, 1888, p. 3)

Dec 31, Logansport Pharos: “Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 31. – Local Inspectors…have almost completed their investigation of the Kate Adams steamboat disaster. From statements made by William Blanker, the first clerk of the boat, they find that the Adams had 197 persons on board when she took fire. Of these 183 are known to have escaped, leaving 14 as lost.” (Logansport Daily Pharos, IN. “Only Fourteen Persons Lost,” Dec 31, 1888, p. 1.)

Sources

Annual Statistician and Economist 1888. “Chronology.” San Francisco and NY: L.P. McCarty, 1888. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=j7JXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Baltimore Sun. “A Fine Steamer Burned on the Mississippi River.” 12-24-1888, p. 4. Accessed 9-20-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/baltimore-sun-dec-24-1888-p-4/

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Boston Daily Globe. “Two Score Lives. Mississippi Steamboat Takes Fire,” Dec 24, 1888, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=163226957

Chautauqua Institution. “Summary of Important News for August, 1888,” Chautauquan, Vol. 9, No. 1, Oct 1888, p. 64. Accessed 9-20-2020 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UMnmAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

Columbus Enquirer-Sun, GA. “The Kate Adams.” 12-25-1888, p. 1. Accessed 9-20-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/columbus-enquirer-sun-dec-25-1888-p-1/

Daily Journal, Logansport, IN. “The Year’s Disasters.” 1-2-1889, p. 4. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=83142306

Elyria Democrat, OH. “Thirty Lives Lost by the Burning of the Steamer Kate Adams,” Dec 27, 1888, 3. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=9053853

Evening Herald, Syracuse, NY. “Record of the Year – Principal Events That Have Occurred in the World,” 12-31-1888, 3. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=51376727

Galveston Daily News, TX. “The Steamer Kate Adams,” Dec 25, 1888, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=49099289

Logansport Daily Pharos, IN. “Only Fourteen Persons Lost” [Steamer Kate Adams]. 12-31-1888, p. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=83513592

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

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Spirit Lake Beacon, IA. “The Burning of the Steamer Kate Adams,” Dec 29, 1888, p. 4. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=102753950

Star and Sentinel, Gettysburg, PA. “General News,” 1-1-1889, p. 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=2883323

Supervising Inspector General of Steam-Vessels. Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector-General of Steam-Vessels to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1889. Washington, DC: 1889. U.S. Department of the Treasury. Accessed 9-20-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=AD2E0KPaKAcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

The World, NYC. “Death on the River.” 12-26-1888, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=137325602

The World, NYC. “The Lives Lost Were Fourteen” [Steamer Kate Adams]. 12-30-1888, p. 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=141474280

United States Congress, House of Representatives. Hearings Before the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, United States Congress (74th Congress, 1st Session). “Safety of Life and Property at Sea.” Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1935. Accessed 8-9-2020 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Safety_of_Life_and_Property_at_Sea/l9xH_9sUuVAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=belle%20zane

Wikipedia. “Commerce, Mississippi.” 7-26-2020 edit. Accessed 9-20-2020 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce,_Mississippi

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