History
From 1834 to 1854 the river was paralleled by the Allegheny Portage Railroad, connecting the two branches of Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, with the western terminus of the portage railroad at Johnstown.
On May 31, 1889, a dam on the South Fork holding back a slightly longer than 2 mile reservoir failed, sending a wall of water down the Little Conemaugh at 40 mph (64 km/h) and up to 60 ft (18 m) high, resulting in the loss of over 2,200 lives in one of the worst disasters in U.S. history—the Johnstown Flood.
Read more about this topic: Little Conemaugh River
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We have need of history in its entirety, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)
“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)