SENSATIONS OF THE MONTH. (BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) [San Francisco, June 29.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 388, 27 July 1889, Page 6

SENSATIONS OF THE MONTH. (BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) [San Francisco, June 29.

Tiru month has been most prolific in sensations. Hardly a day has passed bub that something out of the ordinary has occurred. The last steamer departed with the first news of the Johnstown disaster, which ranks as one of the most terrible catastrophes of modern times. it is impossible within a limited space to give even a faint idea of its startling character. There was a narrow valley with mountains on either side, following the twists and turnings of the Conemaugh river. The Pennsylvania railroad traversed it with a section of its main track. It was a beautiful region, the scenery very varied and full of colour, and throughout, from one end to thq other, it was thickly populated. Here were located the Cambria Iron Works, an immense establishment, employing thousands of men, and containing every appliance that modern skill has devised for the manufacture of articles of steel. Up where the valley merged with the mountain chain growing narrower and more precipitous, was located an immense dam iorming a lake many miles in extent. Years ago this was the reservoir of the Pennsylvania Canal, but when the great waterway fell into disuse it was abandoned, and the land around it; became the property of a mimber of rich Philadelphia merchants and exhibitists-, who had organised what was known as the South York Fishing Club. The waters were banked in by a tremendously thick earthen wall, packed with stones, wood, and other materials, and was considered secure again&t any ilood. For weeks previously heavy rains had fallen, and the Conemaugh was swollen, and was running high. The water rose in the lake, gradually getting higher and higher until ib ru.shed a point far above the ilood marks of past years. For twentyfour hours the dam sustained the thous ands of tons pressure. But when the water began to trickle over its edges the limit of its endurance was i cached. Soon there was a heavy stieam falling into the valley and sapping the foundations of tho great earth wall. At three in the afternoon the dam burst with a sound like a tremendous peal of thunder, then thegieat black mass of water burst down the valley sweeping before it trees, rocks, boulders, as if they were so many toys. ]n an hour and a half the lake was entirely empty. There was not flab country for the angry wafeers to difluse themselves over. They shot along the precipitous sides of the valley coniined therein as a bullot in a gun with every yard of distance travelled the tcnilic wave gained momentum. The country which ib passed through was denuded even of vegetation. Further down were the several towns and \illages of iVoodvale, Bolivan, Conemaucrh, and Johnstown. These were exceedingly thrifty populous boroughs, containing altogether about 60,000 people. They were simply obliterated, and thousands were drowned. It would be impossible to give any idea of the ruin and desolation of this valley, or of the scenes of terror and horror that ensued as the wave struck Johnstown. Half the houses in the town were bodily raised and washed against; a .stone viaduct of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. There they were jammed and squeezed into a solid mass of debris. Hundreds of people were in the houses and so located that escape was impossible. Then to make matters worse, this vast aggregation of buildings was sit on fire and blazed for days with terrible force. Many trying 1 to escape were burned to death. But it is merely the reiteration of details. Suffice it to say that 6,000 people weie drowned or burned, and that the valley of the Conemaugh is desolate. Many millions of dollars have been subscribed for the sufferer?. New York city has already sent over £200,000, and the other cities have contiibuted in proportion to their size and wealth. As if one disaster was not enough, a few day? afterwards came the news of Seattle's destruction by fire. Seattle is the metropolis of Washington Territory, and was a thriving, fiouri&hing town of at least 30,000 inhabitants. On the afternoon of June 6th a fii*e started in the business portion of the city,andspreadfrom house tohouse and from block to block until the many fine buildings constituting the business portion are but a heap of ruins. The estimated loss is $10,000,000. The insurance amounts to $2,700,000. The South British under tho able management of A. S. Murray, well-known in Auckland, and C. P. Stringer loses only £2,600 ; the New Zealand has been legs fortunate and is out at least £6,000.