meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

JOHNSTOWN FLOOD

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

Bruce Carlson

News, History, Politics

4.61.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"The real cause of the damage was the dam failure" We took on this topic a few years ago. With anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina not that far, one might find some comparable items in these two events of history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

0:04.4

While all the whos of Hooville were at McDonald's eating,

0:07.7

the Grinch from his lair started plotting and scheming.

0:10.9

Gherkin-flavored fries and odd socks will send them crackers.

0:14.1

So try the Grinch's new meal and head down to Macers.

0:19.8

Until 4th of Jan from 11 a.m., price and participation may vary while stocks last grinched for adults.

0:24.6

In South Fork, Pennsylvania in 1889, on the top of a dam, working in the outdoors with a few of

0:39.8

their friends, fellow members of the South Fork hunting and fishing club, those who managed the dam

0:47.2

at the time.

0:47.9

But this was no fun exercise.

0:49.8

This day was different.

0:50.8

This day, the crew knew that there was a disaster of incalculable proportions right behind

0:57.0

that their work meant thousands would die or thousands would live.

1:01.0

And there was very little they could do, but sweat it out and try their best.

1:07.0

Lake Corombe, Pennsylvania was swollen after a deluge that had lasted all night.

1:12.1

It also soaked the area around, but that was the least of their problems.

1:17.6

After the night of rain, early in the morning, Elias Unger, head of this fishing and hunting club, ran up there,

1:24.7

looked at the dam and saw that the spillway, a little hole designed to

1:29.2

relieve the water pressure, was clogged with debris. He goes around, he wakes up his men, and they

1:34.7

spend the day trying to unclog the spillway. Other men try to get a second hole in the dam.

1:39.5

Can't do it. Unger sends a man, John Park, into town to to the telegraph office to send a signal to the big

1:46.2

population centers, particularly they've got to warn the town of Johnston, Pennsylvania with

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bruce Carlson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Bruce Carlson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.