125 YEARS AGO...THE SECOND TELEGRAPH MESSAGE Three years before the Great Flood, Robert Pitcairn, Superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and member of the South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club, had asked his friend J.P. Wilson, superintendent of the Argyle Coal Company to notify him if he ever saw any signs of danger at the dam. So on May 31, he sent Dan Siebert to look at the dam. Upon his return to South Fork, he reported that there was a glassy sheet of water, 50 to 60 feet wide, pouring over the top of the dam. However, he did not seem particularly concerned about this. Nevertheless, Wilson took Elmer Paul, a more experienced telegraph operator, to the SO Tower, trying to get a line straight through to Johnstown. So the second message was sent and received in the same manner as the first. The following message was sent from South Fork or the SO telegraph tower and received at Mineral Point or MP tower at 1:52 pm by operator William Pickerill: South Fork, May 31, 1889 R.P. O.D. VIA MP & AO THE WATER IS RUNNING OVER THE BREAST OF LAKE DAM, IN CENTER AND WEST SIDE AND IS BECOMING DANGEROUS. C.P. Dougherty. ~NMK
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 17:50:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015