I've been thinking about this since Sunday's post, which caused me to miss the news of the earthquake in China.
1889: Once in 5,000 year storm (Out of Nebraska and Kansas) causes rivers in Johnstown to overflow and earthen South Fork Dam on mountain to "move away." Lake Conemaugh becomes Lake Johnstown. 2,209 people killed, $425 million (current dollars) property damage. Johnstown rebuilds.
1936: Unseasonably warm weather in March causes huge winter snowpack to melt causing major runoff, flooding. 25 people killed, $41 million (1936 dollars, I think.) property damage. FDR rebuilds. (image)
1977: Once in 5,000 year storm (Out of South Dakota) causes rivers to overflow and earthen Laurel Run Dam on mountain to "move away." 80 people killed, $300 million (1977 dollars, I think.) property damage. No rebuild. Relocate.
Those are just the three biggies. There were lots of others, ergo, Johnstown's nickname "Flood City."
I've been thinking about three things since Sunday's earthquake in China.
Location, location, location.
I've been thinking of Johnstown's position in the local topography. To one expert Johnstown's position in the local topography calls to mind the image of the bottom of a "funnel." To another, "a giant drain." To David McCullough, "the bottom of an enormous hole in the Alleghenies." Those are not good locations for a city unless it's named Atlantis.
If the mountain won't come to Muhammad then Muhammad must go to the mountain.
New Orleans should not have been rebuilt where it was after Hurricane Katrina and Johnstown should not have been rebuilt where it was after the Great Flood. But they were. Move on. Okay. Move the town. Rebuild the town on the mountain, Mt. Johnstown! Huh? Sounds good, doesn't it? Dam the Little Conemaugh, the Big Conemaugh, the Stony Creek: Lake Funnel Drain Hole. Not as good sounding, name it what you want.
Or:
Move Muhammad, move everyone, to the mountains--or anywhere else that isn't a funnel drain hole which is what a lot of Johnstown people did after '77. Visionaries, those Muhammadans. Move, just move something.
As for the non-visionaries remaining in Johnstown:
Damn the Dams.
How about a nice hotel? A prison, insane asylum, whore house. There are other things you can build on mountains. Dams are responsible for two of The Three Biggies. So, just say no to dams. Really, do you really need dams? Really. Personally, I would exterminate even beavers. If you see a single beaver, kill him. You don't really need dams. The South Fork Dam wasn't rebuilt, was it? No, it was not. The Laurel Run Dam wasn't rebuilt was it? No, it was not. Is it in your blood or something, your DNA, are you genetically coded somehow to build dams, was your mother mated with a beaver or something? Okay, fine! If the answer to any of those four is yes, you don't have to answer, keep it to your selves, I accept you for what you are, The Beaver People, could you just not put (1) earthen (2) dams (3) on the mountain?
I'll take one out of three there.
