Person

John Fulton

A man with a gray beard and a dark suit jacket and tie. — John Fulton

"...I told them that the dam would break sometime and cause just such a disaster as this." -John Fulton

John Fulton worked at the Cambria Iron Company as an engineer and by 1889 was the General Manager. He lived near Central Park in Johnstown. David McCullough describes the Irishman's look and personality in his book, The Johnstown Flood:

"He had wonderfully heavy eyebrows and a resolute gaze that gave him the look of an Old Testament prophet. He was a man to reckon with, one of Johnstown's most ardent temperance leaders and a pillar at the Presbyterian Church, where he taught Sunday school and would be long remembered for closing his Bible classes with the most interminable prayers ever uttered by man."

Due to his profession and working alongside Daniel Morrell, head of the Cambria Iron Company, Fulton was an excellent choice to take a look at the South Fork Dam after it was rebuilt by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. He met with Colonel Elias Unger and Casper Carpenter, members of the club in late 1880. A few contractors were also present at the meeting that took place before the club's official opening season in spring 1881.

Fulton had some concerns about the dam that he relayed to Morrell in late November 1880. In his letter Fulton writes:
"There appear to me two serious elements of danger in this dam. First, the want of a discharge pipe to reduce or take the water out of the dam for needed repairs. Second, the unsubstantial method of repair, leaving a large leak, which appears to be cutting the new embankment.
As the water cannot be lowered, the difficulty arises of reaching the source of the present destructive leaks. At present there is forty feet of water in the dam, when the full head of 60 feet is reached, it appears to me to be only a question of time until the former cutting is repeated. Should this break be made during a season of flood, it is evident that considerable damage would ensue along the line of the Conemaugh.
It is impossible to estimate how disastrous this flood would be, as its force would depend on the size of the breach in the dam with proportional rapidity of discharge.
The stability of the dam can only be assured by a thorough overhauling of the present lining on the upper slopes, and the construction of an ample discharge pipe to reduce or remove the water to make necessary repairs."

Morrell sent this report to Benjamin Ruff, president of the club. Ruff did not care much for Fulton's observation writing "...you and your people are in no danger from our enterprise." After the flood, Fulton would show evidence that there were attempts to make sure the dam was built properly.

On May 31, 1889, Fulton was out of town. He lost his home when the floodwaters struck town and was presumed dead. Fulton was the first choice to be head of the committees after the flood, but in his absense, Arthur Moxham assumed the role.

On June 9, 1889, the first church services were held after the flood. In part of his remarks he said:
"I hold in my possession today, and I thank God that I do, my own report made years ago, in which I told these people, who, for purposes for which I will not mention, desired to seclude themselves in the mountains, that their dam was dangerous. I told them that the dam would break sometime and cause just such a disaster as this."

Fulton was one of the original founders of Grandview Cemetery.