The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was a Pennsylvania corporation that operated an exclusive and secretive retreat at a mountain lake in St. Michael, Pennsylvania, near the community of South Fork. Its members were more than 50 extremely wealthy industrialists and their families. Most were based in Pittsburgh, the center of steel and related industries. The club owned the South Fork Dam and an associated reservoir. The earthen dam failed on May 31, 1889, causing the Johnstown Flood that killed more than 2,200 people downstream. An estimated 14.3 million tons of water from Lake Conemaugh were released, wreaking devastation along the valley of South Fork Creek and the Little Conemaugh River and the dozen miles downstream to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. It was the worst disaster in U.S. history at the time. Relief efforts were among the first major actions of Clara Barton and her newly organized American Red Cross. The club was found to have neglected maintenance on the earthen dam and performed some ill-advised alterations. Despite some years of claims and litigation, the club and its members were never found to be liable for monetary damages. The corporation was disbanded in 1904. Its real estate was sold by the local sheriff at public auction, largely to satisfy a mortgage on the large clubhouse. The club, the flood and later investigations have continued to be subject of studies, commemoration, and cultural works. A Johnstown Flood National Memorial was created. In addition, in 1986 the remaining buildings of the club and associated property were designated as a National Historic Landmark District, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Club and dam history
In the late 19th century, Pittsburgh was the center of industry and had many extremely wealthy entrepreneurs and businessmen. In 1880, entrepreneur Benjamin Franklin Ruff suggested organizing a club to establish an exclusive mountain retreat as a center of summer recreation for members. He and Henry Clay Frick established the club in 1881. Ruff had previously bought property that he offered for sale to the club, promoting the idea to Henry Clay Frick, a friend and among the wealthy elite group of men who controlled Pittsburgh's steel, rail and other industries. The newly organized club purchased property including an old dam and abandoned reservoir from Ruff. He had purchased it from former Congressman John Reilly (D-PA). The reservoir behind the dam was named as Lake Conemaugh by the club. It was about two miles (3.2 km) long, approximately one mile (1.6 km) wide, and 60 feet (18 m) deep near the dam. The lake had a perimeter of seven miles (11 km) and could hold 14.3 million tons of water. When the water was "up" in the spring, the lake covered more than 400 acres (1.6 km2). The South Fork Dam was 72 feet (22 m) high and 931 feet (284 m) long. Despite being both well-designed and well-built when new, it failed for the first time in 1862. A history of negligent maintenance and alterations were later believed to have contributed to its failure on May 31, 1889. Between 1881 when the club was opened and 1889, this dam frequently sprang leaks and was patched, mostly with mud and straw.
Dam flaws
Before closing on Ruff's purchase, Congressman Reilly had had crucial discharge pipes removed and sold for their value as scrap metal. There was no longer a practical way to lower the level of water behind the dam should repairs be indicated. Ruff, although not a civil engineer, had a background that included being a railroad tunnel contractor. He had supervised repairs to the dam. But these did not include a successful resolution of the inability to discharge the water and substantially lower the lake for repair purposes. The five cast iron discharge pipes, each with an inside diameter of two feet, had previously allowed a controlled release of water. When the initial renovation was completed under Ruff's oversight, it became impossible to drain the lake to repair the dam properly, as the dam and lake area were modified to suit recreational interests. Most significantly, in order to provide a carriageway across the dam, the top was leveled off, lowering it. The dam was only a few feet higher than the water level at its lowest point. To compound the problem, the club owners and managers had erected fish screens across the mouth of the spillway. Although that was intended to keep water from accumulating to the point of straining the dam, the spillway screens became clogged with debris, restricting the outflow of water. Daniel Johnson Morrell became a member of the club to observe the state of the dam under its stewardship. He campaigned to club officials, especially to Ruff, its co-founder, regarding the safety of the dam. Morrell insisted on inspections of the dam's breastwork both by his own engineers (including John Fulton), and by those of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Morrell's warnings went unheeded. His offer to do repairs, partially at his own expense, was rejected by club president Benjamin F. Ruff (who died two years before the flood). Morrell joined the club to further express his concerns, but died four years before the flood he had labored to prevent. The dam had not failed completely since 1862. Notwithstanding leaks and other warning signs, the flawed dam held the waters of Lake Conemaugh back until disaster struck in May 1889. The president of the club at the time of the flood was Colonel Elias Unger. The founding entrepreneur, Benjamin F. Ruff, had died several years earlier, and Unger had been on the job only a short time. The American Society of Civil Engineers launched an investigation of the South Fork Dam breach immediately after the flood. However, according to modern research conducted by, among others, University of Pittsburgh instructor Neil M. Coleman, the report was delayed, subverted, and whitewashed, before being released two years after the disaster. Coleman published a book that gave details of the 21st-century investigation, its participating engineers, and the science behind the 1889 flood, titled Johnstown's Flood of 1889 - Power Over Truth and the Science Behind the Disaster (2018).
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