A few CVRR pictures and some other related pictures....2

[Rufus T. Firefly]

This card was advertised as a logging camp scene....................but I think it's more likely the aftermath of a major flood given the overturned houses in the background and debris everywhere.

[chuck]

Dam break? A traditional flood would not recede that fast. The "creek" can be seen on the right. Not a lot of mud either, mostly broken timbers/trees. Definitely NOT a logging camp/operation.

[rogruth]

I tend to agree.
I have not seen a dam break area personally I have seen a cloudburst area that looked much like that.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Dam break? A traditional flood would not recede that fast. The "creek" can be seen on the right. Not a lot of mud either, mostly broken timbers/trees. Definitely NOT a logging camp/operation.

Dam break is what I meant for significant flood - I have no idea how much time has elapsed post flood......

There have been several floods in PA w/o dams breaking that left behind similar damage. There were several in Johnstown that reached well over 15' just from rain and run off.

Sometime I will post photos from the one in the 30's (36?) that was also known as the Saint Patrick's Day Flood in that county.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[rogruth]

Interesting window pattern on the light colored building.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Roger, You have an enjoyable eye for detail. I had not taken notice of them at all, but now that you have drawn my attention to them, I would theorize that the out-of-line with the others window might be off-set due to there being an interior staircase there (?)

[rogruth]

Roger, You have an enjoyable eye for detail. I had not taken notice of them at all, but now that you have drawn my attention to them, I would theorize that the out-of-line with the others window might be off-set due to there being an interior staircase there (?)

But Murph, you are the one that put all the details on the scenes you used to make.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I can remember details and utilize and incorporate them , but that doesn't mean I see them all at once. That's why I like to pay attention when others are speaking and/or making observations = I'm always ready to learn and gain from the talented eyes and minds of others.

Hev and The Dirt were great at sending me and posting photos of details of rural America.

[chuck]

Style of the windows also changed. The frames on the far right are not the same as the ones to the left. It looks like the building has two parts. There is a "shadow" of the outline of a window or possibly a door just below the offset window. It seems the back end was an add on?

[J. S. Bach]

Rather than a flood, maybe severe windstorm damage?

[rogruth]

Rather than a flood, maybe severe windstorm damage?

Yes. Possible tornado.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Rather than a flood, maybe severe windstorm damage?

Yes. Possible tornado.

That makes some sense...........no idea when those became semi-regular in PA.

[chuck]

Wind storm (or a tornado) would leave the debris "oriented", linear pattern for straight line wind, radial pattern (like a bomb blast with an epicenter) for a microburst, spiral arrangement for a tornado.

That's random piles of sawn lumber, aka what's left of the town after the buildings were utterly smashed. A wall of water tore through and then left the debris. Damage appears to be limited to the flood plain. Structures up on the hill side appear to be unaffected.

The intact but overturned structures are near the edge of the flood plain and probably did not take the full force. I think we are looking down stream in that photo, the water moved from left to right.

That might have been a lumber yard? That's why there is so much wood that looks to be standard cut sizes. It seems to be centered around what is left of the railroad tracks?

[chuck]

Austin dam failure, September 1911. Dam failed because of poor construction

Another photo from a different view.



Note the "design" of the bridge over the creek and the "road" (and buildings) up the hill in the upper center. Compare that to the photo Rufus posted. Same bridge and same road/buildings.

Story of the disaster

https://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/dam-could-not-break-austin-1911