In 1901 an orphaned, soft-featured, handsome, twenty-nine year old lawyer practicing in the tiny settlement of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania got the case of a career. His clients:
Andrew Carnegie, the wealthiest man in the world.
Henry Clay Frick.
Andrew Mellon, future Secretary of the Treasury. Both among the wealthiest men in the world.
James Hay Reed, United States District Judge and former law partner of,
Philander Chase Knox, later Senator and Secretary of State.
In total, eighty-four of the most powerful men in America from Pittsburgh, then among the most important cities in America. How in the world? I don't know.
Twenty-two years before, in 1879, when John William Kephart was seven years old Henry Clay Frick enlisted the others to purchase the South Fork Dam, originally the Western Reservoir, high above and about fifteen miles from Johnstown, along with the surrounding land and turn the property into an exclusive retreat for the rich and powerful from Pittsburgh. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was incorporated in Allegheny County court in that year. The dam was renamed Lake Conemaugh.
S.F.F.H.C. "improved" the property which had not been well maintained. The dam had suffered a major failure in 1862. Critically, S.F.F.H.C. lowered the dam crest by approximately two feet to accommodate carriage travel to the "cottages," mansions, built along the shore line.
Ten years after incorporation, on May 31, 1889, during biblical rainfall the swollen, weakened earthen dam "just moved away." Twenty million tons of water hurtled down the mountain and struck with the force of Niagara Falls. Lake Conemaugh became Lake Johnstown. Two thousand two hundred people were killed. John W. Kephart was seventeen years old.
Kephart began his practice of law in 1894, five years after the Johnstown Flood. In 1901, somehow, it was he who was chosen to liquidate the assets of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. The business occupied him through 1903.
It well may be that in choosing the twenty-nine year lawyer obscurity was an asset and discretion was what was valued most by the members of S.F.F.H.C. who had amongst them some of the most eminent and well known lawyers in America. The club and its members had taken a well-deserved beating in the press all across the country.
And John W. Kephart, Esq kept his clients' secrets. So complete was Kephart's discretion that his service was not known for 113 years. Popular historian David McCullough, author of The Johnstown Flood, had never heard of Kephart. Not until a box, labeled "no historical interest," with Kephart's papers was found in 2016 did his role with the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club become known.
Having dispensed with that project Kephart moved on to other, decidedly smaller, secrets.
Twenty-two years before, in 1879, when John William Kephart was seven years old Henry Clay Frick enlisted the others to purchase the South Fork Dam, originally the Western Reservoir, high above and about fifteen miles from Johnstown, along with the surrounding land and turn the property into an exclusive retreat for the rich and powerful from Pittsburgh. The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was incorporated in Allegheny County court in that year. The dam was renamed Lake Conemaugh.
S.F.F.H.C. "improved" the property which had not been well maintained. The dam had suffered a major failure in 1862. Critically, S.F.F.H.C. lowered the dam crest by approximately two feet to accommodate carriage travel to the "cottages," mansions, built along the shore line.
Ten years after incorporation, on May 31, 1889, during biblical rainfall the swollen, weakened earthen dam "just moved away." Twenty million tons of water hurtled down the mountain and struck with the force of Niagara Falls. Lake Conemaugh became Lake Johnstown. Two thousand two hundred people were killed. John W. Kephart was seventeen years old.
Kephart began his practice of law in 1894, five years after the Johnstown Flood. In 1901, somehow, it was he who was chosen to liquidate the assets of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. The business occupied him through 1903.
It well may be that in choosing the twenty-nine year lawyer obscurity was an asset and discretion was what was valued most by the members of S.F.F.H.C. who had amongst them some of the most eminent and well known lawyers in America. The club and its members had taken a well-deserved beating in the press all across the country.
And John W. Kephart, Esq kept his clients' secrets. So complete was Kephart's discretion that his service was not known for 113 years. Popular historian David McCullough, author of The Johnstown Flood, had never heard of Kephart. Not until a box, labeled "no historical interest," with Kephart's papers was found in 2016 did his role with the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club become known.
Having dispensed with that project Kephart moved on to other, decidedly smaller, secrets.
