In the spring of 1889, Johnstown, Pennsylvania was a booming coal-and-steel town. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for a summer resort patronized by the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Warnings of possible danger were ignored, and on May 31, the dam burst, sending a wall of water through the town and killing more than 2,000 people. David McCullough examines the tragedy and the scandal that followed.
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