Summary of David McCullough's Johnstown Flood

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was a private summer resort located on the western shore of a mountain lake in Pennsylvania. On the afternoon of Thursday, May 30, 1889, the club was not quite ten years old, but with its gaily painted buildings, it looked spanking new.
#2 The storm that night was the worst rainfall that had ever been recorded for that part of Pennsylvania. It was also the most extensive rainfall of the century for such a large area. But there were large disparities in the amount of rainfall between places within a hundred miles of each other.
#3 The town was full of visitors on Memorial Day, with people gathering along Main Street since noon. The parade got underway about two-thirty.
#4 Johnstown was a dangerous and ugly city in 1889, but the land around it was beautiful. The city was built on a flood plain at the confluence of two rivers, down at the bottom of an enormous hole in the Alleghenies.

Sujets

• 19th century
• United States

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 24 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669359500
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on David G. McCullough's The Johnstown Flood
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was a private summer resort located on the western shore of a mountain lake in Pennsylvania. On the afternoon of Thursday, May 30, 1889, the club was not quite ten years old, but with its gaily painted buildings, it looked spanking new.

#2

The storm that night was the worst rainfall that had ever been recorded for that part of Pennsylvania. It was also the most extensive rainfall of the century for such a large area. But there were large disparities in the amount of rainfall between places within a hundred miles of each other.

#3

The town was full of visitors on Memorial Day, with people gathering along Main Street since noon. The parade got underway about two-thirty.

#4

Johnstown was a dangerous and ugly city in 1889, but the land around it was beautiful. The city was built on a flood plain at the confluence of two rivers, down at the bottom of an enormous hole in the Alleghenies.

#5

The town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was home to a number of millworkers who lived in cheap, pine-board company houses along the riverbanks. There were no hideous slums like there were in later years.

#6

The first white settlers in the valley were Solomon and Samuel Adams, who came over the Allegheny Mountains from Bedford in 1771. They cleared a patch of land near the Stony Creek.

#7

Johnstown was the center of the lot, geographically and in every other way. It was far and away the largest, with a population of its own of perhaps 10,000 by 1889, which was four times greater than the biggest of the others.

#8

Life in Johnstown was simple, with few pleasures. There were Saturday night band concerts in the park, and lectures at the library. Sundays half the town would put on its best and go walking.

#9

Life in Johnstown was busy and full of hard work. The country seemed to be moving forward, and the town was booming. There were new businesses, streets were lit at night, and people were getting somewhere.

#10

The year was 1887, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was experiencing a good season. The town was healthy, prices were rising, and there was a strong national spirit. The rivers had been high every spring, but this time they behaved themselves.

#11

The Reverend had only been in Johnstown a few years, and it had been just a month before that he and his wife had moved into the new parsonage. He had grown up along the canal to the west of Johnstown, at Blairsville, and his first church had been in Ligonier.

#12

George Heiser, the owner of the Heiser store, was a good storyteller and easygoing person. He was not very physically powerful, and he was a very soft touch.

#13

Heiser’s son, Victor, had a very similar personality to his father. He was a serious, pink-faced boy with big feet and blond hair. He had been educated since childhood, and his mother insisted that he continue his education.

#14

The Heisers were a typical married couple in Johnstown on the night of May 30, 1889. They had suffered the death of a child, and they had tried their luck elsewhere and lost. They were proud of the progress they were making.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The dam was called South Fork dam, and was located in the town of South Fork. It was owned by the Pittsburgh people, who had made many changes to it over the years. It was generally known as Lake Conemaugh in Johnstown, and in the little coal towns and railroad stops along the way to Johnstown.

#2

The dam that formed Lake Conemaugh was built in 1889. It was the largest man-made lake in the country, and it was close to seventy feet deep in places. The water came from half a dozen streams and little creeks that rushed down from Blue Knob and Allegheny Mountain.

#3

The Lippincott house, with its two sweeping front porches, was not much smaller than the clubhouses. The Moorhead house was Queen Anne style, and the Philander Knox house was next door.

#4

The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was a summer resort that was only open to the favored few. It was a great success, and it seemed like the men who had bought the old dam ten years earlier knew what they were doing.