In 1889, Johnstown, Pennsylvania was a city with much promise. With the discovery of coal, iron ore and limestone, it was inevitable that Johnstown would become a steel manufacturing center. In the twenty-four years since the Civil War the population of Johnstown had tripled and with the building of the Pennsylvania Mainline Canal in 1834 and the arrival of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Cambria Iron Company in May 31, 1889, all this came to an abrupt halt as a devasting flood hit the area resulting in tremendous loss of lives and property.

Fourteen miles up the Little Conemaugh River, the two-mile long Lake Conemaugh was held on the side of a mountain—450 feet higher than Johnstown—by the Old South Fork Dam. It was originally intended to be a reservoir that would supply water to the Pennsylvania Canal, but with the completion of a railroad line through the Allegheny Mountains, it became obsolete before it was finished. In 1879 the dam was purchased by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Some of the country's wealthiest and most powerful men were members of this club. They built a clubhouse and cottages and raised the lake level, stocking it with expensive black bass. Members enjoyed hunting, fishing and sailing. Their careless maintenance of the dam weakened it dangerously. Though everyone talked about the possibility of the dam breaking, it never had, and thus it became something of a standing joke around town.

The community observed Memorial Day festivities on May 30, 1889. Shortly after a service at the cemetery honoring the war dead, it began to rain and continued to rain through the night and into the next day.

After an early breakfast on the 31st, a minister in Johnstown retired to his study in the parsonage on Main Street to work on his sermon for Sunday. He had chosen for his text, "But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and he opened it to find his wife's cousin, Mrs. Brinker. She was wet and very frightened. "Johnstown is going to be destroyed today," she said and then indicated that the dam was going to break and all would be swept away. This was not the first time Mrs. Brinker had made such a statement. She had repeated it so many times that her neighbors just laughed at her.

"Well, sister Brinker, you have been fearing this for years and it has never happened and I don't think there is much danger," said the minister. He invited her in until the rain stopped, an invitation she readily accepted.

Before the day was over, Mrs. Brinker's prophecy was fulfilled. The heavy rains caused the water level in the dam to rise an inch every ten minutes. Workmen tried frantically to dig another spillway and increase the height of the dam but to no avail. Three warnings of impending disaster were sent from the dam by telegraph and by foot, but the people of Johnstown had heard stories about the dam breaking too many times before. Shortly after 4 o'clock in the afternoon the South Fork dam broke, sending a 30-40 foot wave of water towards Johnstown at a speed of 40 m.p.h. Twenty million tons of water crashed down the valley, consuming everything in its path. The people of Johnstown heard a rumble, then a roar like thunder. Most never saw anything until the wall of water approached, bringing with it rooftops, trees and pieces of houses. Even more terrifying was the black pall of smoke and steam which hung over it all—later referred to as the "death mist."

Buildings went down like dominoes. Every tree in the city park was ripped out by the roots and flung, along with houses, freight cars, horses, cows and people, against the mountainside on the other end of town. The center of the city was erased in ten minutes. The wave had spent much of its force in hitting the hillside, so the stone bridge downstream from the place where the Little Conemaugh and the Stony Creek joined, survived. As debris piled up around its arches, a new dam was formed, along with a lake 30 feet deep in places. The bridge saved hundreds of people who had ridden their houses or rooftops with the flood. They climbed, many of them naked and bleeding, over the wreckage to the roadway and fled to higher ground. But many were trapped in the wreckage, some hopelessly tangled in barbed wire that washed down from the Gautier Wire Works and they suffered a most hideous fate. As darkness fell, the whole twisted heap caught fire. It burned "with all the fury of hell," wrote one witness, thoughout the night, cremating about 80 people alive.

Many bodies were never identified and hundreds of the missing were never found. In all, the flood took 2,209 lives. Ninety-nine whole families were wiped out; 396 children aged ten years or less were killed; 98 children lost both parents; 124 women were left widows; and 198 men lost their wives. The cleanup operation took years, with bodies still being found months—and in a few cases years—after the flood.

The Bible speaks of impending judgment and of those who would mock at such a thought—"There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lust, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? … But the heavens and earth … are … reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition [destruction] of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:3-7).

The heart of man is no different today than it was 100 years ago, or for that matter, since early in man's history. The Lord gave instructions to Noah to build an ark as shelter from the flood which was to come. Men scoffed and scorned Noah's efforts but in time the flood came and all in the world lost their lives with the exception of the eight members of Noah's family. Was Noah's family spared because of any goodness on their part? No; it was simply because they BELIEVED what God said about coming judgment; they OBEYED Him in building the ark; they had FAITH in the shelter provided; and, they were SAVED from the judgment.

This is just how one is saved today. Jesus said, "Verily, verily I say unto you he that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [judgment]; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). Judgment is coming on the earth and any amount of unbelief or mockery will not change this fact. God has made provision for man's salvation through the death of His only begotten Son on the Cross of Calvary. Faith in this finished work, confession of sins and acceptance of Jesus as personal Saviour, is the only way to be saved.

To refuse this offer of salvation is to invite judgment from a holy God. Signs of the Lord's return for His own are very apparent. Not only will the unsaved be left on earth to go through seven years of tribulation—judgment like this world has never known—but they will be cast into an eternal hell. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3). Don't put off this most important matter of your soul's salvation. Don't ignore the warning of coming judgment. Flee to "higher ground" before it's too late. "Flee from the wrath to come" (Matthew 3:7).

M.S.J.