February 2014 – Page 3 – American Disasters

February 19, 2014December 16, 2020

Flood Versus Disaster: The Creation of the Johnstown Flood of 1889

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The Johnstown Flood of 1889 is an “accident” that draws parallels to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 because of human interaction with and development of the land, and human hesitation to acknowledge the preceding signs. McCullough’s geological notes regarding the speed of urbanization and tree removal on hill slope porosity describe how the development of the city quickened the speed at which the water arrived in Johnstown. This is a common problem that continues into today. Historically, rivers have big floods every 10 years, and massive floods every 100 years that widen and extend the river channel. The flood is severe, but afterwards the land gets to rest for the next 100 years. Urbanization messes up this cycle by making rainfall reach river channels quicker, and therefore increasing the volume of water in the riverbed in a shorter amount of time. The rapid industrialization of steel mills and subsequent population boom in Johnstown after the canal construction reduced the time it took water to reach the city and exacerbated the flood.

Similar to how Pernin and Smith note the small fires that broke out before the Great Fire, McCullough notes the heavy rain that occurred months before the Great Flood. Additionally, McCullough observes that in 1864 the dam broke for the first time. As Sarah points out, neglect of dam maintenance led to the eventual collapse, but the growth of the city led to a higher death toll. While the people of Johnstown did not doubt the potential of flooding, they had grown accustomed to this scare. For these two reasons: urbanization and precipitation patterns, I cannot place all the blame on the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Elite.

It is frustrating to read about the ironies McCullough presents, including the capitalists vacationing to South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club in order to free their cluttered minds from work; and how the capitalists, who commanded and encouraged construction of the dam, were not physically affected with the eventual collapse of the dam, however this disaster did not lie entire in the hands of the rich.

February 18, 2014December 16, 2020

The Johnstown Flood

David McCullough uses individual vignettes to introduce Johnstown, the surrounding area, and the South Fork Dam. Contrary to my initial opinion, much of the disaster does not seem to be based on corruption in McCullough’s depiction of the event. The South Fork dam itself was properly built. It was created in the standard manner of almost all dams, involving packed earth. The engineers did a competent job. The only problem was maintenance of the dam. The dam was part of a canal that soon became unproductive when a nearby railroad grew rapidly. Attention was soon diverted from the canal and dam to the more profitable and useful railroad. In nakindig’s post it is written, “Preparedness, or lack thereof, is of utmost importance to preventing disasters.” So perhaps the dam should have been maintained and prepared to prevent a disaster. I feel I can’t really place blame on people for focusing on the railroad more than the dam though. I don’t think anyone willfully plotted to let the dam’s condition disintegrate. There is only so much money and time that people necessarily have to concentrate on the most beneficial thing. I’m sure there were other dams built in a similar manner that were also not maintained, but since they did not break, they faded into obscurity. Also it is unclear whose responsibility it was to maintain the dam. The state, the federal government, the builders, people who used the canals, people’s whose homes might flood if the dam failed?

Many of contributing factors seem to be other issues. First, the area is prone to unexpected rains after windstorms; the locals call them “thunder-gusts” (20). Johnstown was built down in a valley, a place prone to flooding. More people moved to Johnstown—which created more possibility for a higher death toll—because it was a growing town. Since the beginning of the war, the west opening, and the Iron Company moving into town, Johnstown attracted many people, McCullough writes.

McCullough also contrasts the people in the Clubhouse with the factory workers in Johnstown. This seems to align with “The Wedge” discussed in this post. Like Emily said her post “The Power of Hardship to Unite,” this poor mass against a few rich people seems to be a stereotype of the Gilded Age. I thinks it is kind of limited to group people into two categories. There are so many varying ranges of wealth, and not all “poor” people are downtrodden, oppressed, and helpless nor are all “wealthy” people evil, selfish, and destructive, not to mention all the people not neatly captured in these two categories.

February 17, 2014December 16, 2020

Morality and Consumerism

An interesting point that Edwards discussed in chapter 4 of New Spirits is the relationship between women, morality and consumerism during the Gilded Age. As this age progressed and industrialization as well as urbanization continued to swell, material objects began to take on weight that they had never held before. Certain methods of travel, parties, and fashion all became status symbols that proved an individual was superior to the majority of the population (95).

Women’s fashion became a popular avenue for the display of such Social Darwinist attitudes. As shopping typically fell into the female societal role, women in particular fell prey to rising consumerism and increasing advertisements.

An interesting paradox in the relationship between woman and consumerism lies in this era’s understanding of the female character. Women were typically regarded as fragile and easily corruptible; their delicate sensibilities required them to be isolated from business and industry because of these circles corrupting influences. Yet, as consumerism grew and women’s independence slowly increased, women were thrust into the middle of American consumer culture and all of its corrupting influence. Edwards suggests that during this time period “material standards posed many moral problems” as consumerism grew and became central to American culture(96). This situation is intriguing in that women, who represented morality in humanity, could no longer be kept apart from societal corruption. Edwards mentions William Dean Howells’s book, The Rise of Silas Lepham, as an example of this loss in innocence (95).

Society and its social boundaries could not stay the same through the rise of consumerism. As Emily mentioned, women’s roles adapted in many ways beyond consumerism through the Gilded Age’s progression.

It is important to keep in mind the characterization of women during this time period in order to understand the “moral problems” associated with consumerism. People believed that women were particularly vulnerable to this rising corrupt consumer culture.

February 17, 2014December 16, 2020

The Wedge

In Chapters 3 and 4 of New Spirits, Rebecca Edwards presents two distinct accounts of the Gilded Age economy. One depicts a period of unbridled economic growth. In this period, titans of industry accumulated vast fortunes and middle class professionals carved out positions in the growing economy. The plight of the working class offers a sharp contrast to the opulence of the higher classes. It seems difficult to reconcile these two competing narratives. However, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

This is where Henry George’s wedge construct becomes useful. Edwards adopts the idea of a wedge separating Americans to reinforce the notion that Gilded Age was a period of sharp divisions between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. Factory workers worked in unsafe conditions for longer hours, while socialites in New York held extravagant parties at their million dollar homes. The wedge is evident here.

Income inequality appears to be a central element of Chapter 4. Edwards discusses the political battles fought over currency that further strengthened the socio-economic divide. The discussion of class division in this section is very similar to current political discussions. Both time periods feature a widely held belief that industrialists and bankers are responsible for an economic downturn. Similarly, both periods have unequal wealth accumulation at the top. The belief that this inequality is wrong is a facet of both time periods. The time period in the chapter was obviously worse than the current situation, but it is useful to note how long this argument has prevailed.

Whether discussing money or occupation during the Gilded Age, the notion of a wedge separating the upper and lower classes is an invaluable explanation for the time period.

February 17, 2014December 16, 2020

The Power of Hardship to Unite

Chapters three and four of New Spirits present an interesting, although stereotypical account of the Gilded Age, examining ‘work’ and ‘money.’ The overall impression that these chapters present is one of hardship for the masses, from brakemen to cowboys. This impression coincides with the traditional reading of the Gilded Age as a time of corruption and big money, which directly contradicts Charles W. Calhoun’s call for a reexamination and reevaluation of the true legacy of the Gilded Age in his piece, “Moving Beyond Stereotypes of the Gilded Age”. Interestingly, this is a reading that Rebecca Edwards, the author of New Spirits, also calls for in her introduction. However, the way in which the chapters on work and money are presented adhere to the reading that she previously criticized.

For another class this week, I read primary source accounts of women’s lives in Germany during the 1920’s. What struck me was how much this reading echoed the New Spirits reading, providing key insight into daily life in the factory. Although Edwards repeatedly mentions the greater working conditions that Europeans faced in comparison to their American counterparts, the primary source accounts that I read told of hard work, long hours, and little pay. The comparison that I have made between early twentieth century Germany and America argue for similarities that unite beyond boarders and oceans, that unite people in the human experience.

Although contemporaries were unable to see or unwilling to act on similar experiences beyond international boarders, the power of hardship and shared experience to unite is prevalent within the United States, in the Gilded Age and today. Edwards talks about the mutual benefit associations that workers formed (67), as well as taverns as “informal working man’s clubs” (92). This can be extended to the booster vision of the Chicago fire, and their attempts to portray the fire as a uniting event. While it may have been exaggerated, there is usually some truth in every story. The shared traumatic event of the fire brought together the city, at least to some extent. To extend this to the present day, I will focus on the example that Nate brought up in class the other day about the snow storm that crippled Atlanta: while it was a hardship on everyone involved, the people pulled together and helped out. The power of shared experience to unite is strong, and has been traditionally under estimated.

I agree whole-heartedly with Nate’s point that “primary sources give us a perceptive account of historical events,” and I think the example that I have brought up on the similarities that were highlighted in the primary sources nicely illustrates this point.

February 13, 2014December 16, 2020

Davidson snows of yore

We might think of the snow as anomalous, but Davidsonians of previous years have also had to contend with storms (and also took lots of pictures of the snow!)

As promised, here are some pictures of historical Davidson snowstorms from the DPLA:

An impressively artistic Davidson snowman, 1929

February 12, 2014December 16, 2020

Chicago Exceptionalism

Contrary to what the title might suggest, I will not be talking about deep dish pizza. I will, however, discuss Carl Smith’s well-written article, “Faith and Doubt,” and the importance of the Chicago fire. Rarely do I ever enjoy reading (I picked the wrong major), but Smith’s analysis of the fire’s social affect on the city whetted my appetite for something different than descriptions of the fire’s physical destruction. One of his arguments claims that, at least among fire literature and Chicagoans, the city’s importance grew following the fire. He claims “the destruction indicated not the degree of Chicago’s venality or misfortune, but the grandeur of its destiny.” (130) The Chicago fire became the city’s “epic moment” that spawned a belief that Chicago was “pure, heroic, and modern.” (131) Religious explanations for the fire further contributed to this thinking by claiming “God smote the city…as a warning and a lesson for all other cities.” (135) Therefore, members of the city and nation must protect the valuable future of Chicago (by protecting the social order) because only Chicagoans could withstand such a divine beating. I viewed these religious justifications as comparable with the struggles of Job in the Bible. Smith cites individuals that believed the deaths as a result of the fire were deserved due to a lack of “character and resolve.” (150)

Countering this view of Chicago’s perfect post-fire community, Smith provides numerous examples of terrible actions performed by these supposedly “good” people. Thieves, looters, and whiskey-drinking women plagued the city. Although many of these criminal accounts were exaggerated, Smith hits the nail on the head by claiming that the fire brought all forms of society down to the lowest level. (151) To quote my esteemed colleague Price, who quoted Smith, “inequalities of society were now leveled off as smooth as the beach itself.” (157) The fire evened up the playing field by destroying a significant aspect crucial to class separation: material wealth.

Perhaps because Chicago did not witness a pivotal battle in the Civil War, I often forget of its existence during this period. Reconstruction, disenfranchisement, and southern hostility are the key words I think of eight years following “The War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance.”* Smith, however, reminds us (me) that the city did exist and became instrumental in the nation’s healing process after the war. I never thought of that angle, but his justification for this claim persuaded me to believe him. Many Americans donated to assist the burned city and focused on Chicago’s needs instead of other social disagreements. “The rest of the country forgot its petty artificial division and rediscovered its finest collective self,” claimed Smith. (141) Although I think Smith may have exaggerated to the extent these petty differences were forgotten, I thought back to 9/11 and how unified America was. Following 9/11, President Bush’s approval rating was through the roof; proof that disaster causes those affected to forget other predicaments. In the wise words of my Davidson advisor, “when shit hits the fan, people rally around their own.”

*One of many ridiculous names for the Civil War. For further reading and laughs, http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-different-names-for-the-civil-war.76252/

February 12, 2014December 16, 2020

Examining the Archetypical Chicagoan

In Carl Smith’s “Faith and Doubt: the Imaginative Dimensions of the Great Chicago Fire,” he discusses two of the major types of responses to the Chicago. The first posits Chicago as a distinctive entity, stresses its God-given destiny as the Queen of the West (some members of this school went so far as to argue that the magnitude of destruction demonstrated Chicago’s preeminence over other major cities, such as Paris, that also experience fires), and reduces its immoral reputation (gambling, prostitution etc.). This view largely ignores class distinctions. Conversely, the second view stresses the dangers of the lower class and explains how, without the social barriers, the lower class is truly as evil (satanic and demon-like were frequent comparisons) as the upper classes feared them to be.

Initially I found these views to be irreconcilable; one is founded on the reduction to an archetypical Chicagoan, while the other is based around the construction of class distinctions and their associated morals. However, after reading Catherine’s post regarding the classism in the Chicago fire, I began to reconsider this distinction. I was particularly interested in her discussion of boosters’ roles in providing a narrative for the Chicago fire and subsequently prompting the recovery effort. It is important to consider that these boosters were targeting upper class Americans capable of investing necessary capital into Chicago. We must then consider that these references to the archetypical Chicagoan were in fact references to the upper class Chicagoan. This would allow these initial two views to become reconcilable.

I would argue that a combination of these views can be understood as a warning against sectionalism within upper class America. By sensationalizing the ways in which the fire destroyed class boundaries, writers reminded other members of the American upper class that their position, like these Chicagoans (who are relatable because of the way that the ‘first view’ stressed their upstanding morals), were in constant jeopardy to the whims of God, Nature, and the subsequent horrors of the class intermingling so well represented by the, often fabricated, stories of crime during the fire. A stress on both Chicago’s upstanding morals and its prior financial eminence is extremely important; by reminding the upper-class of their financial and social frailty it also demonstrated the need for a unity among the upper class.

February 12, 2014December 16, 2020

The “Common Brotherhood”: The Memorialization of the Chicago Fire

Carl Smith’s “Faith and Doubt: The Imaginative Dimensions of the Chicago Fire” provides two commonly accepted, but opposing, depictions of the Great Chicago Fire in the late 1800s. The first argued that the Fire was an act of deus ex machine, with God reaching his hand down to Earth and tearing down institutions of malice. The second, and more foreboding, depiction instead viewed the Fire as a great revelation of the sins and evils within the city that humanity must work to ameliorate. Both views can be boiled down to one question: was the fire a reformation in itself, or a call to action for reform? For many observers, the fire was itself a positive, unifying force that tore down social barriers and created a singular community and a “common brotherhood” of Chicagoans. (141) However, the landed classes in Chicago viewed the newly level playing field with hysteria and paranoia, calling it an indistinguishable blend of “human creatures and maddened animals.” (158) Smith writes this piece to remind us that the “moral value” of disaster is entirely based on perspective.

As Casey noted earlier today, Smith does an excellent job juxtaposing the “recovery and hospitality” after the fire with the “violence and corruption” that occurred during it. The first half of Smith’s article focuses entirely on positive memorializations of the fire. His sources range from pastors who praise the fire as a destruction of Chicago’s “gambling-hell” and “primal sin of selfishness” to journalists who celebrate the response as “kindling the fire of sympathy” within the nation (133/141/142). These positive interpretations of the blaze highlight how the incident served as a “trial of the city’s character,” with the city emerging as unified and determined to rebuild (136). The second half of his article is less cheery, stressing the chaotic reports of people who experienced the fire firsthand. Law, order, and the established social structure break down in favor of looting, lynching, and vigilante justice. The class divides that existed before the fire “were leveled off as smooth as the beach itself,” as fire proved to be a thoroughly class-blind destroyer of property (157). The “swift justice” (A&E reality show potential there) that met thieves in the form of lynching and hanging proved to be a barbaric foil to the great sympathy and care shown to survivors after the fire (153).

“Faith and Doubt,” while not making any bold argument on the moral value of the Great Chicago Fire, serves as a fitting reminder that no disaster can ever be interpreted as purely “good.” While the relief efforts and tales of rebuilding are inspiring, the memoirs of the survivors document a darker story. In the Lord of the Flies-type environment created by the fire, it was every man for himself, with justice nowhere to be found. Smith gives us a solemn example of how “leveling the playing field” may not be quite as idyllic as we hoped it to be.

February 12, 2014December 16, 2020

An Ideological Thermometer

In the wake of disaster, often our attempts at conceptualization provide valuable insight as to our values or belief systems. In the cases like Pernin’s work on the Peshtigo fire, access to one man’s beliefs, in this case Catholicism and God’s divine will, can be found in his attempt to understand his experiences. The Chicago fire, however, presents a unique opportunity to access the nation’s belief system due to the volume of explanatory work that grew out of the city’s newspapers, correspondence, writing from various other great cities across the nation, etc. Due to the sheer magnitude of individuals concerned with what transpired in Chicago and the volume of explanatory work available, we are able to do a case study of the nation’s maxims. Carl Smith’s, “Faith and Doubt” is an in-depth review of the two distinct ways that Chicagoans and others attempted to explain the significance of the Chicago fire. What becomes clear upon examination is that both these explanations are the result of the intersection between three crucial elements of American society: religion, class, and American exceptionalism.

The first method of explanation that Carl Smith describes in his piece is the view of Chicago rising from the ashes like a phoenix as a moral pillar that was chosen by God to uplift the nation. This explanation asserts that the Chicago was essentially baptized by the fire, and that only the most pure, most pious, most humble, and most hardworking of the population remains. It also asserts that God hand-picked Chicago to be this uplifting example, and that only Chicago could have emerged triumphant from a trial such as this. Also, this explanation posits that through her misfortune the rest of the United States could return to its philanthropic and giving core. Essentially this version explains the fire as a gift and declares Chicago’s future bright as ever.

This explanation is essentially an intersection of religious fervor and a strong belief in American exceptionalism. This explanation provides evidence that the country is still very much a religious nation, looking to the Bible and God’s divine will as explanation for misfortune. Their belief that Chicago was hand-selected and uniquely prepared to emerge triumphant from this kind of disaster – which is why God chose Chicago rather than say London – is indicative of this belief in American exceptionalism.

The second method of explanation that Carl Smith describes in his piece is the view of Chicago sinking into fiery peril. There is talk of God’s punishment being exacted upon the city, and a focus on the crime that runs rampant in the wake of the fire. They describe the fire as an act of Satan which was designed to plunge the city into ruin. There is the juxtaposition of “good” wealthy or middle-class Chicagoans suffering at the hands of vagabonds who are now free to enter the city to take advantage of its vulnerability. And furthermore, there is the characterization of the lower-class Chicagoans taking over parts of the city where they were previously not welcome as a result of their own deplorable way of life.

This explanation, like the previous one, utilizes religion to explain the significance of the Chicago fire. In this case, God is exacting his judgment against the city, and therefore it should be taken as a warning to change their way of life. It is even characterized as an attack of the Devil. The emphasis on the good majority of Chicagoans – wealthy and middle-class inhabitants – being taken advantage of by vagabonds – lower-class inhabitants – is indicative of class stratification. Catherine Schmidt talks about the element of class that comes into play in reference to the Chicago fire. The tension between the classes, with the wealthy dismissing the poor as dirty, conniving, responsible for their plight, and ready to steal from those who worked hard for their success, is very clear here. The tensions that arise along with industrialization and the urbanization that occurred as a result play out here.

Therefore, it is clear that the United States, at the time of the Chicago fire, was still a very religious minded country, that believed in American exceptionalism, and struggled with the intensification of class stratification that is born of the industrial revolution. Often what we learn from eyewitness accounts, and primary sources such as newspaper articles or pieces of art, is what those who created them were thinking. We learn about their fears, belief systems, hopes, and aspirations. And by tapping into a large enough body of these sources, we can almost take the ideological temperature of the nation.