16 March 2010 THREE RIVERS RISING: A NOVEL OF THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD by Jame Richards, Knopf, April 2010, 304p., ISBN: 978-0-375-85885-7; Libr. ISBN: 978-0-375-95885-4
"But this ol' river keeps on rollin', though,
No matter what gets in the way and which way the wind does blow"
-- Bob Dylan, "Watching the River Flow"
"Celestia
We instinctively know to hide our meetings,
to never speak of them to others.
When we cross paths--
me strolling the boardwalks with my mother,
him weeding a border--
we do not exchange longing glances.
That would be too risky.
The eyes of every busybody
in the club
are on me.
And Peter's hawk-eyed supervisor
wrings every drop
of work out of him.
Even the suspicion of fraternizing
with a guest
would be grounds for dismissal.
There will be no romantic picnic outings
to the waterfall for us.
Only brief afternoon swims
and furtive moments in the dark woods."
Celestia is the vacationing sixteen year-old daughter of a wealthy Pittsburgh businessman, and Peter is a local teen from the opposite end of the social strata. Peter has temporarily escaped the start of what will likely be a life in the coal mines -- like his father -- by finding work at the resort for the fabulously wealthy of Pittsburgh which is situated on the edge of man-made Lake Conemaugh. We know from history that the dam creating the lake -- perched 450 feet above Johnstown Pennsylvania -- will fail on May 31, 1889, and that over 2,200 people will perish thanks to the destruction caused by the sudden release of 20 million tons of water. (I calculate that as being approximately 5 billion gallons.)
Nearly a year before that fateful event, while Celestia is summering with her family at the resort on the lake, she meets Peter. These two teens are among the characters who narrate this tale in prose poetry of the filthy rich and the exceptionally poor as the clock ticks down to the day of disaster.
"Rainy day, rain all day
Ain't no use in getting' uptight
Just let it groove its own way"
-- Jimi Hendrix, "Rainy Day, Dream Away"
"Peter
...We hear boots shushing through dried leaves
Voices become clear.
The first voice: 'It has rained
every spring
since time began.'
The second voice: 'The caretaker says
the dam was reinforced years ago.'
The third voice: 'All I'm saying is,
there are an awful lot of people in that valley.'
'You think too much, Stan.
Why don't you just relax?
Think about pheasants.'
'Yeah, pheasants, not peasants.'"
The story is also told by Maura, a young teenage mother of three (going on four) in Johnstown, whose husband works on the railroad; by Kate, who heads off to train as a nurse after her childhood sweetheart dies young; and by Celestia's father, Whitcomb, a man who has raised himself up economically and socially from nothing, and who is determined to maintain appearances and his social standing at any cost.
(This can be quite a challenge for a father when one has to deal with the volatile mix of teenage hormones, a bunch of snooping busybodies, and lots of nearby woods in which to play.)
"Oh, the water, oh, the water
Oh, the water, let it run all over me"
-- Van Morrison, "And it Stoned Me"
THREE RIVERS RISING is a story of young love, social stratification, and parental expectations during the days when Pittsburgh industry was the center of the world -- the days preceding The Flood -- and the aftermath of that horrific event..
Fortunately, these days our government is much better at making sure that such massive manmade earthen structures are sound, inspected, and well-maintained...err...most of the time.
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