Explore the ruins of Potter County’s Austin Dam and uncover the tragic story of Pennsylvania’s second worst dam disaster.
The ruins of the Austin Dam in Potter County stand as a memorial to lives lost, the acts of courageous citizens, and the haunting legacy of Pennsylvania’s second worst dam disaster in Pennsylvania.
The Tragic Austin Flood Story
The town of Austin grew up in the 1880s around the lumber industry. The virgin hemlock forests supplied sawmills and tanneries, fueling an economic boom. Austin’s sawmills were among the largest on the world at the time, earning the town the nickname Hemlock City.
However, by the early 1900s the old growth forests dwindled and the region suffered decline. The businessman Goerge Bayless was persuaded to build a pulp and papermill. The Austin Dam, also known as the Bayless Dam was built in 1909 to provide a reliable water supply necessary for operation of the pulp and paper mill. The structure was a concrete gravity dam, meaning that it holds the force of the water behind it by its own weight. At the time it was built it was the largest dam of its kind in Pennsylvania, being 50 ft. high, 540 ft. long and impounding over 200 million gallons of water.
The dam was poorly constructed with important features omitted to cut costs. For example, against head engineer T. Chalkey Hatton’s recommendation, Bayless decided against a cutoff wall below the base of the dam to prevent uplift pressure from underground seepage. Uplift pressure effectively reduces the weight of a gravity dam, decreasing the amount of water the dam can hold back. Additionally, a less expensive wooden cap was used to close the draw-off pipe rather than a valve which would allow quick release of water if the reservoir level rose too high. These would prove to be critical flaws.
There was trouble from the beginning. Visible cracks appeared shortly after the dam was completed in December of 1909 due to improper curing of the concrete during the freezing winter temperatures. Bayless reassured the residents of Austin that they had built “the dam that could not break”. Although some residents were vocal in opposition to the dam, the danger was downplayed because the town’s livelihood depended on the pulp and paper mill.
Just a month later in January 1910 heavy rain and snow melt from unseasonably warm weather pushed the dam to the brink of disaster. Water seeped underneath the dam, shifting it 18 inches at the base. Part of an embankment collapsed allowing water to flow around the dam. In a desperate attempt to relieve the pressure on the dam, dynamite was used to blast a notch in the crest of the dam and to blow off the draw-off pipe cap. With catastrophe narrowly averted, the reservoir was drained. Minimal repairs were made, and the dam was returned to service.
In mid-September 1911 heavy rains filed the reservoir to within inches of the spillway crest. This was the fullest the reservoir had been since the near-disaster in January 1910. On September 30, 1911 at 2:29pm the dam suffered catastrophic failure and split open. The section shown above swung open like a door releasing the deadly torrent into the Freeman Valley. Cora Brooks who ran a brothel on a hill near the dam acted quickly to telephone the switchboard operators in town a mile away. There is a sign in the memorial park where you can read her story. The alarm was sounded. One of the operators ran through the streets shouting that that the dam was broken while the other operator called to warn everyone she could. Austin residents desperately fled to higher ground.
As the raging wave rushed through the Freeman Run Valley toward the town it swept up logs and piles of pulpwood turning them into deadly projectiles. The flood destroyed the pulp and papermill then obliterated the town. The disaster was compounded when ruptured gas mains erupted in flames, spreading fire through the wreckage. Of the approximately 2500 residents, at least 78 were killed in the disaster.
Visiting the Austin Dam Memorial Park
The 76 acre Austin Dam Memorial Park was established in 1994 by the Austin Dam Memorial Foundation. The park is open to the public year-round with a seasonal welcome center, gift shop, and pavilion. There are paths around the front and back of the dam, passing through the breaches. There is also a 1.5 out-and-back trail featuring historic ruins.
The park hosts activities including art shows and concerts. There is camping available in the park with 5 tent sites and 3 camper sites (at the time of authoring).
Austin Dam Memorial Park is located at 41.65187, -78.08559. You can see the dam ruins from Route 872, but to get there you must turn west from Route 872 on Jones Run Road (at 41.66502, -78.08911) about 1 mile north of the dam ruins. After Crossing Freeman Run, turn left at the sign on the drive to Austin Dam.
WARNING: Do not try to get to Austin Dam from the town of Austin, on the west side of Freeman Run. Google Maps may try to take you from the town up Railroad St. which quickly becomes a narrow, rough dirt road, especially after the Bayless Papermill ruins. It is possible to make in a truck, but it is not advisable.
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