UPDATE: Congrats to e-r-h, juan2jam, and Silverfox who were all co FTFs👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
On May 31, 1889, a 30-foot wave of water from the South Fork Dam (roughly 14 miles upstream) smashed into the hillside to the left of the bridge sparing the stone bridge from its full impact. Though the bridge held, some 100,000 tons of debris piled against it. The debris then caught fire and burned for three days trapping many people who died there unable to escape the wreckage. A dynamite crew from Pittsburgh later cleared the debris. Pictures of the bridge have conveyed the flood's dramatic devastation for more than a century. Those images are some of the most iconic representations of the Johnstown Flood.
The Stone Bridge in Johnstown, Pennsylvania was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1887. Because is was the first large stone arch bridge west of the Susquehanna, it was known as The Stone Bridge. It became famous during the Johnstown Flood of 1889, when the seven arches of the bridge withstood the 1889 flood's impact and also blocked tons of debris from being washed downstream. A raging fire broke out in the debris, and the bridge quickly became an international symbol of the disaster.
There is parking for a couple of cars near the site and is a short walk from there to GZ. If you happen to be there in the evening, the bridge is lit up during the summer for three hours beginning at 7:00 pm.
In order to log this virtual cache as found you must message me the answers to the following 2 questions. Any logs with spoiler answers will be deleted. Feel free to post pictures as long as they don't give away the answers.
1. From a nearby sign, what was the nickname of the Chief Engineer who designed the bridge?
2. Near GZ, what is the last word on the mailbox?
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.