At Lake Conemaugh,
...the water was about level with the top of the dam and had already started to eat into what little had been thrown up by the plow and shovels. On the outer face, near the base of the dam, it looked as though several leaks had developed.
At this point, Colonel Unger decided that perhaps something ought to be done to warn the people in the valley below. The only way was to send a man down...
...John Parke made the ride [to South Fork, the nearest town] in about ten minutes. Parke's relative youth, and...furthermore...that Boyer and Bidwell had already told everyone that there was no danger of the water running over the top...account for the marginal success of [Parke's] mission.
Parke also told two men to go to the railroad's telegraph tower...and tell the operator to alert Johnstown...(Ibid 93)
