ood. The Postmaster himself escaped
with great difficulty.

The dam broke in the centre at three o'clock on Friday afternoon, and
at four o'clock it was dry. That great body of water passed out in one
hour. Park & Van Buren, who are building a new draining system at the
lake, tried to avert the disaster by digging a sluiceway on one side to
ease the pressure on the dam. They had about forty men at work and did
all they could, but without avail. The water passed over the dam about a
foot above its top, beginning at about half-past two. Whatever happened
in the way of a cloud burst took place during the night. There had been
but little rain up to dark. When the workmen woke in the morning the
lake was very full and was rising at the rate of a foot an hour. It kept
on rising until at two o'clock it first began breaking over the dam and
undermining it. Men were sent three or four times during the day to warn
people below of their danger.

The Break Two Hundred Feet Wide.

When the final break came, at three o'clock, there was a sound like
tremendous and continued peals of thunder; rocks, trees and earth were
shot up into mid-air in great columns, and then the wave started down
the ravine. A farmer, who escaped, said that the water did not come down
like a wave, but jumped on his house and beat it to fragments in an
instant. He was safe upon the hillside, but his wife and two children
were killed. At the present time the lake looks like a cross between the
crater of a volcano and a huge mud puddle with stumps of trees and rocks
scattered over it. There is a small stream of muddy water running
through the centre of the lake site. The dam was seventy feet high and
the break is about two hundred feet wide, and there is but a small
portion of the dam left on either side. No damage was done to any of the
buildings belonging to the club. The whole south fork is swept, with not
a tree standing. There are but one or two small streams showing here and
there in the lake. A great many of the workmen carried off baskets full
of fish caught in the mud.

Three Millions Indemnity.

It is reported that the Sportsman's Association, which owned the South
Fork dam, was required to file an indemnity bond of $3,000,000 before
their charter was issued. When the bill granting them these privileges
was before the Legislature the representatives from Cambria and Blair
counties vigorously opposed its passage and only gave way, it is said,
u