Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: floods
Trucks Aiding Marooned People at Main Street, John…
Trucks Aiding Marooned People at Main Street, John…
03 Jun 2014 |
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A disaster (fires, earthquakes, floods) photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.
Caption: "Trucks Aiding Marooned People at Main St., Johnstown Flood, 3-18-36."
The Johnstown Flood of 1889 decimated the city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania , killed over 2,200 people, and--like the Chicago Fire and the San Francisco Earthquake--was sensationalized and documented in numerous books, songs, photos, and other media (see the Johnstown Flood Museum's article on <a href=" Remembering the Johnstown Flood " target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Remembering the Johnstown Flood for a brief discussion of the flood's impact on popular culture).
While the failure of a dam was the culprit in the 1889 flood, heavy rains caused more flooding in Johnstown in 1936 and 1977 (about two dozen died in 1936 and eighty-five in 1977).
This real photo postcard shows rescue efforts on March 18, 1936, the day after the flood began that year. Men and women stand awkwardly in the bed of a truck as it sloshes through the floodwaters on Main Street in Johnstown (mouse over the image above to see an enlarged view of the truck and its passengers ).
Other details worth noting: the "Rothert's 'Furniture That Keeps Faith'" billboard down the street, the neon "Bus Depot" sign just behind and to the right of the rescue truck, and the "Arrow Furniture" van ("America's Finest Furniture") parked below the "Cambria Theatre" sign.
Automobile in Flooded Street, Warren, Pennsylvania…
30 Jun 2019 |
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A cars and trucks photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.
This is a real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Mr. Sam Ekey, Warren, Pa., R.D. #4, and postmarked in Warren, Pa., on March 31, 1913.
Handwritten message: "Warren, Pa., 3/30, 1913. Dear Brother, Wm. Kopf would like to have his posts Saturday. If you need the money take it, 12½¢ each. Frank needs about 10 7 fts. Maybe we can give Henderson his and give Frank Henderson's from last year [meaning, as far as I can understand, that "Henderson" is going to get the fence posts originally intended for "Frank," and Frank is going to receive his ten seven-foot fence posts from among the ones that they prepared for Henderson last year]. Everything OK. Norman has the mumps. He is at home on the farm. E.E."
It's likely that "E.E." was Emil Ekey (1886-1976), who was writing to older brother, Sam Ekey (1881-1965). "Frank" may have been Frank A. Ekey (1868-1959), another brother. A quick search didn't yield any information regarding the other individuals--William Kopf, Henderson, and Norman--that Emil mentions.
The flooded street was the result of the Great Flood of 1913 , which "occurred between March 23 and March 26, after major rivers in the central and eastern United States flooded from runoff and several days of heavy rain." I assume that the photo shows a street in Warren , which is located in northeastern Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Allegheny River and Conewango Creek.
The license plate on the car in the photo is no. "23801, Penna., 1913," and the man in the driver's seat is looking back at the photographer. Beyond the automobile there are three people--one of them only visible through the vehicle's windshield--wading through the floodwaters. To the left of the threesome is a mailbox stranded by the water, and to its left are two individuals standing in the doorway of a building.
A mailman wearing waders and holding a mailbag is standing in the water on the right-hand side of the photo. Perhaps he was headed over to the mailbox to collect the mail.
Emil didn't mention the flood in the note he wrote to his brother. I wonder if either of them knew any of the people in the photo. It would also be interesting to know who the photographer was.
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