Wondering why I didn't know the geography.

I found an interesting article about how one baby escaped death during the Johnstown Flood or the Great Flood of 1889.  This infant floated all the way from Johnstown to Pittsburgh on the floor boards of a ruined house.  That is a distance of 75 miles.  I lived in Pennsylvania for the first 36 years or so of my life, so I thought that I knew the area pretty well, especially the rivers.  I spent many a happy day and night on the Allegheny, canoeing, boating, swimming, fishing, and most anything else connected to the river.  Both sets of my grandparents lived along the river, although in different towns.  Therefore, when I read the above story I said that just can't be, I thought that any river going through Johnstown would flow south or east toward the Atlantic ocean.

I then dug out my trusty road atlas and looked at the pages that showed the areas between Johnstown and Pittsburgh.  Low and behold, there are rivers that connect the two towns.  Amazing!!  Why didn't I know that?  I guess that just goes to show that even if we are well acquainted with an area or things, we just may not know everything about them.  That goes for people, too.

It is hard to imagine the devastation a flood of that magnitude and with all that water released at one time can do.  I found a couple of pictures on the Internet that may help to show damage caused.  This first one is of the dam that gave away:

And this one is a picture of where the town used to be.  Unbelievable!!

 

Now, you all keep yourselves and your powder dry and have wonderful day, you hear?