Williamsport / Loyalsock PA - Agnes Flood 1972 (Lycoming County)

WATCH THE VIDEO IN HIGH QUALITY!!! The following information is from a 2000 or 2001 article that appeared on a local (Williamsport based) website. I can no longer recall the name of the website. The information was provided by the Fagnano family.

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MORE EARTHY TRIVIA. My challenge to you this week is: Just
where did the earth and rock come from for the 13-mile flood
control dike built in the 1940s and 1950s?

Who moved mountains for the dike system around Williamsport in the 1940's and 1950's? The answer is in the Fagnano family history.

Balante Fagnano, who was a general contractor at the time, acquired a subcontract to gather rock and earth for the dike project in 1940. The original contract for the dike project was in the hands of a man named Johnson (we believe was from New Jersey). He entered the navy prior to Pearl Harbor and sold the contract to Herb Allison, Frank Marrazzo and a third individual. Fagnano gathered stone and earth in 1940 and 1941.

The Fagnano family archives features a photo taken in 1941 by the local historical photographer Vincent Smith. The photo features Balante, his brother Charles (real name "Angelo" who was killed in France in 1944 during World War 2), Balante's two sons, Joseph (left) and Louis (right). The men were loading rocks into their truck along the current Lookout on Route 15 while the young boys watched.

World War 2 put a halt to the project from 1942 - 1945.

When the project resumed in 1946, Fagnano maintained his subcontract for the project. By this time, Fagnano had acquired heavy equipment to quarry the mountain stone and a small fleet of trucks to help transport the mountain stone for the dike project. Fagnano's brother, Romeo, operated the payloader a good portion of the time. Gentlemen such as Dominic Santalucia, Foster McCloskey, Donald Dysher, Robert Thomas and dozens more helped in gathering and transporting the stone for the dike project. By 1954, Balante's son, Louis (just a boy of four in the Vincent Smith photo) was driving a truck to help transport the stone. Fagnano's workforce continued to gather material until the project was completed in 1955. Fagnano's workforce collected roughly 85% of the stone for the project.

Specifically where the Rock was gathered: A small quantity of shale stone was gathered from a quarry owned by Walter Mayer (Freedom Road). Someone other than Fagnano gathered this stone. Fagnano's contribution of stone came from the Bald Eagle Mountain Range -- Armstrong Township, the current Lookout on Route 15, the Sylvan Dell area and some where Lamade Stadium currently resides. The colorful mountain stones that grace the Williamsport dike were all gathered by Fagnano's workforce. A small amount of other stones were gathered from farmers' field just west of Williamsport.

Some stones from the Lamade Stadium site were rejected due to a controversy over the type of stone that was preferred by the contractors. Also, the shale stone from the Freedom Road site was discontinued because of its tendency to break up. Hard mountain stone was preferred.

Where the Earth was gathered: Earth came from the Newberry area, Reach Road and the current site of Little League Baseball. Fagnano gathered some earth, but his major contribution was the mountain stone.

The people who set the stones into the dike were Pennsylvania Dutch men from the Lancaster Area.

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A few notes about the film footage: The first three minutes are of the Market Street bridge on the Williamsport side. In this footage you can see some of the stones that were gathered by Fagnano for the dike project. The footage then switches to Loyalsock's Golden Strip area. (As of 2008) The "Big N" is currently TJMaxx, while Grants is now the home of Kmart. Valley Farms is in the same location today. Faxon Lumber is featured in a portion of the footage taken from about where Munro Muffler resides. There is also footage looking south on Westminster Drive just south of the Reed St. intersection.

A few notes about Balante Fagnano: Fagnano owned a salvage yard on the upper end of West Third St. (just west of Penn College) which he and his brother Romeo operated from the late 1940's until 2002. Fagnano was honored by the Department of Emergency Services in 1978 for providing dozens of vehicles that were used in training personal in attending to accident victims trapped in their automobiles.

The film footage is from the Haefner family archives. The footage appears to be taken just after the rain stopped in late June of 1972.

Does anyone know: Was the dirt that was removed to make Black Canyon Park (now Bruce Henry Park) also used in the dike project? I had heard this might be true, can anyone confirm this?

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[trini967]

WOW

[briarsmoke]

Thanks for posting this! We had three feet of water in our basement in Eldred Township (Northway Rd.). I couldn't understand why my dad wouldn't let us keep it there and use the basement as a swimming pool.

Lots of memories in that video. The footage near the end shot on Westminster Dr. shows the Litton plant where my dad worked on radar systems.

[wstaib]

Wow, I was only a year or so old when the flood occurred, and I remember hearing stories about it but I had no idea that the flooding overtook so much of the area! Especially striking to see the Golden Strip underwater... I wish I knew more about the incident. I'm really grateful that you posted this! It's amazing to be able to look back in time. Thank you!

[scrantonsux]

read The Luzerne County Railroad and it is an amazing story!! The actions the judge took in favor of his former law firm partner and lunch buddy were beyond belief. With all of the newspaper coverage your case had, it is obvious that shedding light on corruption is not enough! The articles from the Citizen's Voice and the Times Leader pictured in your book made it clear that the reporters were shocked and amazed by the judge's shenanigans. Larry, thanks for writing an incredible book!

[userunavailable3095]

Thanks for that. This was a really formative memory of my childhood. I think you nearly caught my grandparent's house in the footage a couple of times. I just had a good cry for missing them.

[dcf4psu]

38 years ago today. I was 10, so I don't remember just how widespread the flood was, nor do I remember the rain (over 12 inches). I do remember walking with my brother to the dike when the river was around 20ft and rising. I'm not sure I'd want to be on it at the point shown in this home movie. The city was very fortunate the levee wasn't topped; it was a very close call. The next time it may not be as fortunate. Laslty: Big-N, Britts, Tastee Freez all bring back memories.

[wpfctr8]

I work with that little four year old. Louis is now 73 or 74 years old. He still goes to work and welds every day.

[Thevideoclip100]

i was just born when this happened,i lived in wilkes-barre at the time,my dad had a pet store on the square that got ruined,(dont worry,all the animals came to live at my house for a while..)

[JTR1414]

is there any way i can get the video alone for a project for school

[aries37]

We were stuck at Camp Kline on Pine Creek. What a nightmare crossing that footbridge to get out of there!