1889 Kurz and Allison View of the Johnstown Flood, Pennsylvania

A dramatic c. 1889 chromolithograph view of the disastrous Johnstown flood of May 31, 1889, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The view depicts the apex of the flood when debris collected against the Johnstown Railroad Bridge burst into flame. This terrifying image was distributed throughout the United States, becoming the primary artery through which knowledge of the flood and its disastrous consequences were disseminated.

The Johnstown Flood

The Johnstown Flood was a catastrophic flood of the Conemaugh River that devastated Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on May 31, 1889. The flood followed a storm that formed in the Midwest and swept across the country. When it arrived in Johnstown, it dropped from six to ten inches of torrential rain in just 24 hours - the most rain that region had ever seen. As streams and rivers swelled with runoff, the Conemaugh River overran its banks.

To make matters worse, the South Fork Dam, some fourteen miles upstream, burst, adding all the waters from the three-mile long Lake Conemaugh to the Little Conemaugh River. The water surged towards Johnstown, increasingly choked with debris until it smashed into the 78-foot-high Johnstown Viaduct. The debris clogged the viaduct, creating a second, even larger dam. The viaduct was only able to hold back the water for a few moments before it too burst, sending the debris filled water towards helpless Johnstown. One witness described the event as 'a huge hill rolling over and over'.

The surging sixty-foot wall of water smashed into Johnstown at roughly forty miles per hour, utterly destroying the town. Much of the debris then came up against the Pennsylvania Railroad Stone Bridge across the Conemaugh River. The well-made bridge held back the flood in yet another temporary dam. There the debris caught fire, capturing many in an inferno. It is that moment that is depicted here. Shortly thereafter, the waters reversed, creating a second flood that struck Johnstown from the opposite direction, finalizing its destruction. The resultant fires lasted some three days and the debris, covering thirty acres, took months to clean. The death toll reached 2,208 people, marking it as one of the greatest natural disasters in U.S. history.

Chromolithography

Chromolithography, sometimes called oleography, is a color lithographic technique developed in the mid-19th century. The process involved using multiple lithographic stones, one for each color, to yield a rich composite effect. Oftentimes, the process would start with a black basecoat upon which subsequent colors were layered. Some chromolithographs used thirty or more separate lithographic stones to achieve the desired product. Chromolithograph color could also be effectively blended for even more dramatic results. The process became extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when it emerged as the dominant method of color printing. The vivid color chromolithography produced made it exceptionally effective for advertising and propaganda imagery.

Publication History and Census

This view was drawn and engraved by the firm of Kurz and Allison in Chicago. The print bears the date of May 31, 1889, but it was likely issued several months after the events. Poor cataloging makes it very difficult to perform a reasonable census on this map. It is rare to the market, we note only one sale, but is represented in perhaps a dozen libraries nationwide.