America's Great Disasters

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America’s Great Disasters

Mr. Ryan

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Great Disasters

Many terrible things have happened to America and her citizens

Floods, Hurricanes, Fires, Blizzards, Explosions, Diseases

Causes death, injuries, loss of homes, money, jobs, communities, friendships

But many good things arise too! Safety laws, sense of community & accomplishment, new inventions/technology

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Sultana Explosion

Largest maritime disaster

April 1865 on the Mississippi River near Memphis TN

Civil War POW’s were crammed onto the 260 ft. steamboat Sultana to go to the North for their freedom at the end of the war

Ship meant to hold 376 passengers

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USS Sultana

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Sultana

Govt. paid $5.00 per person, so Captain Mason put almost 3000 people plus animals and cargo on boat

Boilers exploded killing many and setting the ship on fire

Because of poor records, nobody knows how many died: estimate 2300-3000

Not famous because the Civil War just ended and President Lincoln was killed too!

Captain Mason

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The General Slocum Disaster

Steamboat out of NYC on June 15, 1904 for a church picnic on the East River

Over 1300 on board, ship meant to hold less than ½ of that

Teen saw the fire and told the captain, but was ignored

1031 people died, mostly children

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The General Slocum

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The General Slocum

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The General Slocum

Because the life boats were wired together too tightly and the life vests were too heavy…many died. This created an uproar and many new laws were passed to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

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The Great Johnstown Flood

May 30, 1889 Johnstown PA

Johnstown, East Conemaugh, and Woodvale lived “downhill” of Lake Conemaugh, which had a dam built about 1850

The dam was 1000 feet long. The lake was 500 acres and held 25 million tons of water

The lake wasn’t needed anymore to supply water to the canal because of the railroad built in 1854

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