For Penn State Public Broadcasting, I'm P.J.

O'Connell.

Water is the topic of this edition of the Pennsylvania Parade, recreational water and dangerous water.

Mother nature treats us rather well here in rural Pennsylvania as a rule.

But occasionally we are reminded that there are tremendous forces in nature that we do not control, forces that can undo in a few moments the work of a lifetime, and in some cases, life itself.

The evening of July 20, 1977, was one of those moments.

It rained and rained and rained in the hills outside Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

The resulting flow of water created a disaster and an opportunity.

A young television producer named Nancy Jesuale worked in Johnstown and, in the midst of disaster, did what good reporters do.

She went out to shoot.

The results are hardly professional.

They have a shaky, rough and ready quality about them.

But the human intensity of her report reminds us of the immense natural forces we face, and of the resilience of the people and the reporters of Central Pennsylvania.

NARRATOR: At 4:00 AM on the morning of July 20, 1977, Nancy Jesuale was awakened by the hysterical screams of a neighbor.

She looked out her bedroom window and saw nothing.

What she heard was the sound of rushing water, flood waters ravaging the city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

With daylight, the magnitude of the disaster became apparent.

Another Johnstown flood had struck, the third in less than a century.

Freakishly heavy rains had swollen mountain streams and caused a dam to burst.

Rivers flowed faster and harder than at any other time on record.

Roads and bridges washed out.

Telephone and electric service was disrupted.

Houses collapsed or washed away.

And a lot of people died.

Nancy Jesuale had come to Johnstown 18 months earlier as part of the Southern Allegheny Community Television project.

One of her television cameras was washed away in the flood.

But another camera had been loaned to a friend on higher ground.

And by 4:00 that afternoon, 12 hours after the flood struck, Nancy Jesuale was in the streets of Johnstown, talking to the people who had faced the walls of water.

[rushing water] Over to the old library, there will be trucks there to take you up to the 876th armory near the airport.

MAN 1: I believe that the federal government, the city government, they should build higher walls.

WOMAN 1: You know, I heard the town was out of touch for a couple of days.

No one knew that the dam broke, they said.

WOMAN 2: We knew the dam broke.

MAN 2: When they tell us and they verified it with us that that evening, there were 21 separate violent thunderstorms over the city of Johnstown at the same time, that's 21, that's a phenomenon in record keeping, and it's never happened before.

But we weren't figuring on no disaster of a dam breaking or anything else.

In fact, when we come out of my house, the water started worse than coming down the road.

My garage and car and truck was washing down the road.

So we finally got out with my two grandkids from New York and my boy, 16, and my wife, and a neighbor from the gas station came down.

And he said, what are we going to do?

I said, get the H out, [chuckles] put it that way.

And everything started breaking loose.

All at once, all you heard was a bunch of noise and rattle and crackling and that noise and that gone.

I truthfully didn't even hear anybody screaming, although I knew they were there.

But some of them did because I was probably scared more than they were.

But anyway, in a minute to two minutes, all those homes, nine homes, was washed down across from us.

All we could see was just big, high rolling waters going when it would break daylight, then stuff later rolling down it.

We seen a Ward trailer coming along, and a house trailer-- I think it was Sheldon's, probably-- come down there stoner.

Came down through it, and I never realized the dam-- old Harry Horner told me.

He said that dam broke up there.

And the little girl below me was standing on the porch with her baby yelling.

And about that time, the lights went out, and she screamed.

And I feel that that must have been when the house moved, when she left out that terrible scream, which I'll never forget.

But we were there and couldn't do nothing.

There was just nothing we could do, because these waves were as high as the houses.

MAN 3: In a minute to two minutes, all these homes, nine homes, was washed shut down across from us.

All we could see was this big, high, rolling waters.

[radio chatter] MAN 4: And then we woke up that morning and heard water and looked out and was just a river of water.

And the center had broke in two.

And we don't know where we're going.

WOMAN 3: And I looked out the window, and all I could see was water.

And I thought, oh my Lord, what's going on here?

Well, I thought, [indistinct], is this the end of the world or what?

MAN 5: It's hard to believe people take a lifetime to build things, and in eight hours, it's gone-- just like that.

MAN 6: It's not even a-- I ain't complaining about nothing.

My wife and my son-in-law and my daughter and my four grandkids, they worked out completely up here-- completely.

And they're all alive.

That's all I care about.

Yeah, you want to-- you want to see something I got in this cellar?

I want to show you taking the film.

Is this going on?

I want to show you what I found.

And that's what was in the mud.

I mean, if you don't believe in God, you will if you touch that.

I mean, that's something, isn't it?

A crude cross I found.

WOMAN 4: That wasn't yours?

No, definitely it wasn't mine.

This wasn't mine.

There was a lot of stuff in my cellar.

Wasn't mine.

It was mine.

It went.

But when I picked that up, I'm going to get that the day of the flood and I'm going to hang out in my living room.

I'm not going to touch it just the way it is.

CREW: Yeah.

That's something that I think is-- I don't know what it's for.

Some kid or somebody made that I shovel in mud.

I had 4 or 5 feet of mud in there.

I cleaned the cellar out and throw it in the wheelbarrow.

It was in there.

But that's why you got to believe in God.

If you don't, buddy, you better jump in the flood, right?

Right.

CREW: Yes, sir.

He saved me and my family.

I tell you.

We're all alive.

But like I say, I'm not complaining.

[radio chatter] WOMAN 4: Let's keep rolling.

MAN 7: They thought I was dead.

I was missing as far as they were in the store.

I was the only one that was unaccounted for.

When they heard about the tragedy out here, and they thought that I was dead, and their eyes got real big, like, as if I was a ghost.

[laughter] And they almost cried.

They said, boy, are we happy to see you.

That's it.

GIRL: Because you have kids-- Well, we were sleeping and we heard people yelling.

And the helicopters over, there was police officers going around announcing that if you were on the bottom floor, go up to the third floor, or if you were safe, to stay where you were, not to come outside.

But then they came to us and they said, you have to leave.

So the State police knocked on everyone's door and told us that to get one bag, or as much as we could carry, and start over the hill, up over Oakland, through the woods.

And they said those who felt they were unable to do that should wait for the helicopter.

So we waited for the helicopter because I have five little children, like I said.

And I couldn't take them up over the hill like that.

And there's no way that I'm going back.

NANCY JESUALE: Where will you go?

Well, I don't know, but like I said, I'll pitch a tent in the middle of a field if I have to, but I'm not going back there.

NURSE: One couple I remember in particular, the man had not seen his wife since the flood.

He last saw her in the water.

And then he came to the shelter and he didn't know where she was.

The Red Cross locator service found her in one of the hospitals.

And we told him that she was found and was safe.

And we thought he doubted us a little bit.

He's elderly, and he spoke with a Hungarian accent, and he didn't say very much, but we thought he was doubting what we said.

And then the hospital called and said she was going to be dismissed.

So we told him that.

And again, he didn't seem to say much.

And then on Thursday evening, the hospital called and said they would send her over.

So we went back and said, she's on her way over.

And he still didn't say much.

But when she came in, he cried, and she cried, and all the nurses cried.

BOY 1: Yeah, I'd like that.

WOMAN 5: No, no, no, I need to know.

BOY 2: Oh.

[indistinct speech] Are you taking pictures?

NANCY JESUALE: Mm-hmm.

Are we on TV?

NANCY JESUALE: Yes.

Oh, no.

NANCY JESUALE: Where do you live?

718 [indistinct] Avenue.

NANCY JESUALE: Oh.

How long have you been here?

For a long time?

Mm-hmm.

A couple of years.

[chuckling] BOY 1: Let me check.

[muffled conversation] WOMAN 6: I have to look at that bare spot below my house and know all my neighbors are gone now.

It's going to be a long time before I get over that.

CREW: Yeah.

[indistinct chatter] WOMAN 7: And it's the total body that suffers.

And there's just no way that you can say, oh, I wasn't injured because you didn't have a break in your skin.

And then all of the stress and all of the mental problems are just as much of a problem to us, and will be a problem.

WOMAN 3: I really didn't know how much water we had until in the morning.

I'm in an efficiency because I'm all alone, you know?

NANCY JESUALE: Uh-huh.

And I never heard it rain so fast in my life.

It just seemed as though there was half a dozen cloudbursts met right over around us, you know.

Oh my Lord, I never heard anything like it.

NANCY JESUALE: Were you afraid?

No.

NANCY JESUALE: No?

That's the funny thing about it, I wasn't afraid.

I wasn't either.

I thought, well, here goes.

I'm going to sleep.

And if I'm living, I'm living.

And if I'm dead, I'm prepared.

NANCY JESUALE: No kidding.

Yeah.

And I'm telling you, when I woke up in the morning, it was still raining a little bit.

And I looked out the window and all I could see was water.

And I thought, oh my Lord, what's going on here?

The cars were all covered.

All you could see-- It was starting to recede then already.

But the middle of the car, the roof of each car, right in the center of the roof.

NANCY JESUALE: That's all that was exposed.

That's all was exposed.

Well, I thought, my [indistinct], is this the end of the world or what?

Yeah, looks that way.

I was sitting here all night, from 5 o'clock when it started here to 5:00 in the morning.

Never changed.

The rain was going steady same, same.

WOMAN 3: Yeah, didn't even stop a little.

And it didn't stop-- nothing.

Nothing.

NANCY JESUALE: Did you go to sleep?

No, I-- NANCY JESUALE: Or did you stay up all night?

I stayed up all night.

I couldn't sleep.

[indistinct] writing and everything.

WOMAN 3: No, sir, I slept.

It was everything.

Before one was over, another one riding in tandem.

NANCY JESUALE: Uh-huh.

It was very scary.

NANCY JESUALE: Yeah.

But I was just holding hands and praying and sitting right by the window.

They had to carry me from the corner towers to the trucks.

WOMAN 8: Bus, to the bus.

No, I wasn't lucky enough to get a bus, so I had to go on the last one.

We wouldn't go.

WOMAN 8: I was thinking-- WOMAN 3: They put us on a truck.

NANCY JESUALE: An army truck?

WOMAN 3: No, it wasn't even an army truck, I don't think.

Maybe it was.

I don't know.

Didn't even have a top on or sides.

NANCY JESUALE: Did not.

WOMAN 8: Same thing with me.

I didn't want to go, and the policeman look at me, look at me, and they just grabbed my chair and me.

And they took me to the bus.

We went in a hurry.

We didn't think much.

We never think that we were going to go.

WOMAN 3: Heavens, I never dreamed of anything like that.

WOMAN 8: No, they come too fast.

WOMAN 3: I just never dreamed anything could be like this.

No, sir.

I was sorry, but on the way, I think that Johnson is going to be left without any industry or anything.

NANCY JESUALE: Is Bethlehem going to close down and move out?

I have no comment on that.

I doubt that very much.

And there are meetings on that, and I think they're assessing their problem.

I wouldn't know how to answer that at the time.

I'm very optimistic.

NANCY JESUALE: You are optimistic?

Oh, sure.

NANCY JESUALE: That's good to hear, because I've heard rumors that-- Well, there you go again is exactly what I told you in the very beginning, that come here, we'll give you the information, and-- Let me just say this to you, that we're going to rebuild this city.

It's going to be even better and nicer than it was before.

We're starting-- Even the plans that we had, we have to scrap those plans now and start all over again with newer plans.

And they're already in the implementing stages.

And it's going to be bigger and better than it's ever been before.

You'll see.

NANCY JESUALE: You're saying that with a smile on your face, so I believe you.

HERB PFUHL: Because I know something that a lot of people don't know.

NANCY JESUALE: OK, but it's good news?

HERB PFUHL: Oh, sure is.

NANCY JESUALE: When are you going to tell?

HERB PFUHL: As quickly as I can get the word, believe me.

NANCY JESUALE: One more question.

This is just a personal question.

Sure.

How does it feel to be the mayor of the town that got struck so critically with the disaster?

How are you holding up?

Well, naturally, I'm very sad.

It's my city, and it hurts.

And you plan so hard and you build so hard, and just like that, it's gone.

It hurts.

The only thing that I can say there is what I told the people today at Roxbury, and I really mean this, that when I came out of the Roxbury-- rather, the Medieval School, and after fighting that water all night long, it dawned and I looked at there was my city in ruins.

And it hurts.

And I walked a little bit further, and I picked up a little 10-year-old boy that was no longer with us.

And the Sergeant was with me, I said to him that we'll promise this boy that we'll rebuild this city better than it's ever been built before.

Although he'll never see it, that's my promise.

Regardless of whether I'm a mayor or whether I'm not, boy, my heart's right here.

WOMAN 6: And as you look around, there's no question in my mind as to why people want to stay and want to rebuild.

When you're reading the newspaper in some other State, you think, well, now why don't they just leave?

But you realize this is home, and there would be no question of their wanting to go.

Also, I don't think people from outside understand that it was rain that did it.

This incredible amount, almost 12 inches of rain, and what was it, five or seven hours, something like that.

It wasn't the Johnstown just isn't prepared for floods.

It was a flood proof area.

And people didn't have insurance for that reason.

They were told, many of them, they didn't need it, because there would be no more floods.

This was just a really freakish thing.

MAN 3: Well, they had a meeting and they told us that dam was no threat, and why should the people in the whole Township pay for a handful of us people down in the valley?

So therefore, we had no flood insurance.

CREW: Not too many people.

MAN 3: But it did happen.

That dam was a threat, and at worst, all those people and all them lies out.

WOMAN 6: The first three days we were there, we had 21 people.

And you should have seen that, no water, no lights.

That was really-- That was something, I'll tell you.

You have 21 people in your house and hunting beds and trying to each one wipe with the same wash rag.

MAN 3: But we did real good.

We're still living, and no disease.

I had to comb my hair for one solid week, and I don't know if I washed my face even.

I don't even remember.

CREW: Are you tired?

We're always tired.

Yeah.

Everybody's tired.

We've been really just sitting around moping lately.

I think everything's just-- CREW: Sinking in?

Yeah, sinking in, really.

I have to look at that bare spot below my house and know all my neighbors are gone That's going to be a long time before I get over that.

CREW: Yeah.

MAN 3: Even if they weren't our own family, well, they still were-- They were close neighbors.

MAN 3: --in a lot of ways and good neighbors.

Good neighbors.

MAN 3: I'll say this.

These people, most of them in this hall and out here, all of them were workers.

They weren't no bums or reliefers or nothing like that.

They were all good workers, contractors, miners and mill workers and everything like that, so.

Now me, I was lazy, and in fact, anybody would ever know me at work, they'd know dang well, that's all I did was loaf, so.

I had to put that in case you would put this on.

My boss would catch me then he'd know, he'd say he's lying.

[laughter] I had to give you that anyway.

But it's wonderful we can still laugh.

Yeah, that's right.

Wonderful that you can still laugh.

Truthfully, we got a lot to be thankful for.

Yeah.

And I don't know, I guess the good Lord spared me for all the dirtiness and crookedness I'd done over my years, that maybe I'll do some good and-- What did we say last night?

We have come to a conclusion the Lord left us here-- For some reason.

What it's going to be, I don't know.

I hope it's for the good.

And I hope I did something-- To make us better people.

It can.

Because I realized a lot of things.

I realize a lot of things now that I should have done, that I'd never done before too.

Yeah.

There was a lot of things that-- CREW: It's affecting a lot of people like that.

Yes, there's a lot of things I should have helped other people that I didn't, because I didn't take the time.

But I'm going to take the time now.

NANCY JESUALE: Were you in the house that night?

No, we left and went to a barn.

We evacuated into a barn.

Up the hill up there.

Up over the hill, yeah.

The water was coming, I guess.

He's seen.

I didn't even look.

He just grabbed the baby and get the baby out and get the kids out.

And we evacuated to one house and the water started coming in it.

We had to just go up further.

NANCY JESUALE: What were you doing during that time?

Well, mainly just trying to get back down into the houses now before you get inside out of the weather, and that was a big thing.

So we cleaned up the closest house down over the hill or was my aunts.

And they left the kids in there all stay in there and we got down where we could get our house, where we get into it.

That was a big thing, getting into a place where you could stay.

NANCY JESUALE: Are you tired?

Oh, exhausted.

Everybody is.

Yeah, it's just You work from morning till night, you work from morning till night.

You scrub mud, you scrub mud in and out.

MAN 9: I don't think we'll ever get rid of this mud.

[indistinct] the loss of your family, I think, is really what hurts.

If you could have your family back, they could have the houses and everything, if our family would have just got out.

[background chatter] NANCY JESUALE: Are you getting a lot of rest at night, or?

No, you just think about it.

You think about it.

You think about being up-- well, when I was up in a barn, I thought, how's the rest of my family?

Somebody told me they did get out, you know.

But they got up to a hill when I was-- then I felt a little safe, because they was out.

I had called them twice.

We thought maybe they was out then.

And when we come back down, they start saying the whole bottom of the hollow was wiped out and nobody got out.

It was just a tragedy.

God got to give you the strength to pull you through it.

NANCY JESUALE: Are you feeling strong?

Well, not really.

NANCY JESUALE: Not today.

No, uh-uh.

It's just so much.

And at first, it don't catch up with you.

But then later, I guess it starts catching up with you.

NANCY JESUALE: Uh-huh.

And it's still just like a dream, like it didn't happen.

You go to bed and you think you're going to wake up and everything's going to be all right again.

It's a realization that you don't want to face.

It's just unbelievable I guess.

NARRATOR: 76 people died.

Property damage estimates run as high as $300 million.

50,000 people were forced from their homes, at least temporarily.

20,000 people were out of a job, some of them permanently, as stores and businesses found it too expensive to rebuild.

But $100 million euros in government aid was made available, and the city fathers insisted that Johnstown would rebuild again.

And scientists pointed out that the flood of '77, like the others before it, was a chance happening, a freak of nature that occurred very rarely.

And so if the odds hold, Johnstown is safe statistically for the next 500 years.

Safe statistically for the next 500 years.

That may be a comfort for some.

But now we move from natural disaster to recreational economics.

Play is often more than fun.

It is also business.

And in this case, water play has become a substantial recreational enterprise.

The terrain in rural Pennsylvania allows for a particular form of water play down rushing streams and rivers.

We'll show you some of these splashy pleasures as we let you explore Whitewater, PA. NARRATOR 2: Penn State television presents.

Whitewater, PA. [banjo music] Whitewater, PA, is an imaginary locality consisting of the streams and rivers which make up the white, frothy world of the Pennsylvania paddler.

Its boundaries, such as they are, are the Delaware, the Youghiogheny, the Allegheny, and the Lehigh rivers, and its streets, avenues, and alleys are the West Branch, the Red Moshannon, and the Nescopeck, Casselman, and Bald Eagle, and Slippery Rock, the Blacklick, Brandywine, Connoquenessing and Kishacoquillas, and Mosquito Creek.

It's a bouncy, wet, occasionally spectacular place.

Join us as we tour Whitewater, PA.

Right from the start, let's get one thing straight, Whitewater can be fun, and that's what this film is about.

But it can also be deadly.

You can drown here.

You can die of hypothermia, or cold water exposure.

You can break your body and your boat by mixing rocks and tons of water.

Whitewater can be a safe sport, but only if you're well equipped, well trained, and careful.

[banjo music] A good place to start is the upper Delaware River, the border between Pennsylvania and New York and New Jersey.

The Delaware is a mostly calm, placid river with enough mild Whitewater to be interesting and challenging to beginners.

The Delaware is also a heavily developed recreational area.

Canoe outfitters claim they can put over 2,000 canoes on the river on a nice weekend.

Scouts, clubs, families, and groups of friends go paddling and camping on the Delaware from mid-April through June, until water levels fall too low.

Water and rocks, that's Whitewater, folks.

A bit of a challenge, and a lot of beauty.

[banjo music] [rushing water] In a few spots, however, the Delaware is more of a challenge than some can handle.

[banjo music] This is Skinner's Falls near Milanville, one of the biggest rapids on the river.

[banjo music] This kind of white watering can be fun on a warm spring day, with air and water temperatures at mild levels.

A few weeks earlier, however, with heavy runoff, water and air temperatures many degrees colder, Skinners Falls, or any other Whitewater stream, could be a death trap for the unwary or careless paddling.

You can skirt this rapids or portage around if you prefer.

And if you're not certain of your Whitewater skill, you should.

But in fact, most portaging is done the other way, from the bottom back to the top for another try.

[banjo music] Here are some quick paddling tips.

Kneel in Whitewater.

It keeps your center of gravity low and your boat more stable.

Sitting is for flatwater, where a little tipping is not a major problem.

Don't switch your paddle from side to side.

The paddle only works when it's in the water.

Here there's only one possibility, hang on and hope.

Speaking of paddles, try to keep a firm grip on things.

You'll need it downstream.

[banjo music] Here's good paddle usage, but not much else.

A high seat and most important, no life jacket.

A life jacket can be literally that in Whitewater.

An unexpected flip into cold water, striking your head on a rock, getting hit by a careening boat, these are real Whitewater dangers.

Your life jacket is your best guarantee of being able to try this again next year.

[banjo music] Another beginner's Whitewater stream is Pine Creek in Tioga and Lycoming counties.

Flowing through Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon, Pine Creek is a popular overnight trip for camper paddlers.

Local outfitters can provide rafts and canoes, but water levels vary considerably on this stream, so a phone call to the local tourist Bureau may save you some disappointment.

Bring it over.

Bring it over.

[screaming] [banjo music] Again, on a warm day, with experience, the right equipment, and comparatively warm water, white watering can be great, safe, fun.

But on a cold day, with cold water, poor equipment, and no whitewater experience, this scene could be a disaster rather than a momentary problem.

Pinning your boat on a rock is no fun anytime.

But in cold, high water, without proper rescue equipment, and without paddling partners to help, this situation could be dangerous.

Here are some safety tips.

Never paddle alone.

Two boats is an absolute minimum.

Wear your life jacket, don't sit on it.

Be sure your boat has adequate flotation.

Wear adequate clothing.

A wet suit or wool is best.

And carry spare dry clothing.

Cold water exposure, hypothermia, is a real danger.

Carry rescue ropes for both paddlers and boats.

And carry a repair kits for your type boat.

It beats walking out of a river canyon.

Most of all, know what you're doing.

Similar scenes happen to the best Whitewater paddlers.

The difference is being able to protect yourself when it does.

Hey NARRATOR 2: This rapids is not on Beach Creek.

It's on a section of the Youghiogheny River in southwestern Pennsylvania, Fayette County.

The Yough, as it's known, was described by George Washington during a 1740s surveying trip as unnavigable.

Today, on any summer weekend, it may be one of the most heavily navigated rivers in the country.

This is where experience, training, the right equipment, and caution pay off.

This is classic Whitewater.

[banjo music] Closed boats, kayaks, and decked canoes are most common here, though skilled open boaters sometimes give the yak a try.

This section of the river is tough and demanding, 12 major rapids in seven miles, from Ohiopyle to Stewarton.

Rapids like Railroad, Swimmers, Last chance, Double Hydraulic and Cucumber.

[banjo music] After getting safely through Cucumber, do they paddle on?

No, they play the rapids, maneuvering across its chutes, challenging its souse holes.

Sometimes losing to the river's force, the tremendous power of tons of moving water.

Good technique helps here.

Sometimes knowing how to get out of a boat is the most important thing.

Or knowing how to right the boat without getting out.

This is an Eskimo roll, invaluable in Whitewater paddling.

[banjo music] And then on downstream to Dimples Rapids.

A Whitewater River can be a maze of rocks, narrow, rushing chutes of water.

But in all but the wildest streams, there are eddies.

And these are the Whitewater paddlers refuge.

A momentary stop to rest and survey the next section of the river.

Often a paddler travels from one eddy to the next, sometimes playing the chutes and holes, sometimes moving cautiously through unfamiliar water.

The important thing is to be in control, to know what's coming next.

And what's coming next on the yak is Swimmers Wave.

We'll let you guess how it got its name.

Now, not everyone can play Swimmers Wave this well, but we'll let you in on a little secret, this paddler is a river guide.

He makes this trip six times a week.

Still, that's not bad.

paddling.

Paddling?

A grea, ride.

wet, frothy, challenging.

But suppose you're not a wild water class paddler.

Or you'd like to see if Whitewater is really as tough as they say it is.

Well, there's more than one way to get down a river.

[screaming] Every year, 40,000 people travel the Youghiogheny River on commercial raft trips.

Private rafts may carry another 20,000.

On a commercial trip, equipment, instructions, lunch, and transportation downriver and back are furnished, along with the qualified river guides.

This is the first serious Whitewater on the trip, Cucumber Rapids.

If you don't follow instructions, you may feel like part of a tossed salad after going through it.

[banjo music] If you follow the shoot of water between the rocks, you can get through Cucumber quite nicely.

If you miss the shoot, you'll fall in the hole, and look out.

[banjo music] It's great fun in warm weather and at modest water levels.

Trying it with cold temperatures or high water would be foolish or fatal.

So if your skill or energy level isn't up to a particular rapids, don't be chicken, walk.

It could save your neck.

[banjo music] Unlike the Youghiogheny, most streams in Whitewater, PA, are not dam controlled, and so Whitewater paddling is often limited to a few weeks of Spring runoff.

By mid-June, many paddlers are reduced to practicing on lakes, traveling long distances to find water, or praying for rain.

Rain means runoff, and runoff often means white water.

In fact, a number of smaller streams in Whitewater, PA, can only be paddled after a heavy rain.

But rain and runoff also mean Swift currents and unexpected hazards.

This railroad bridge might go unnoticed at low water levels.

In high water, it's a potential boat trap.

This road culvert looks peaceful enough from upstream.

Below it is a large standing wave.

And a downed tree.

To these experts from the Penn State Outing Club, the hazards, though unknown, are not unanticipated.

Their skills and experience are equal to the difficulty of this stream, Black Moshannon Creek, in Center County.

It took a 3 inch rain to bring the stream to this level, so this trip means challenge and exploration.

It also means danger.

From water rushing through half submerged trees and branches, and from open water suddenly ending in piles of debris held against the cross stream obstruction, an unwary paddler might find himself this mess by the swift current.

A careful, experienced paddler can often find a safe route through or portage around if he can't flow through.

Obstructions are among the most dangerous paddling hazards.

The pressure of the current can hold the paddler fast, making rescue difficult and sometimes too slow.

But if the hazards are sometimes great, so are the rewards.

[banjo music] In a day or so, the stream returns to normal summer levels, and paddlers return to practice, and perhaps prayer for more rain.

Come on.

NARRATOR 2: Practice is an important part of white watering, sometimes the only part.

During the winter, Pennsylvania paddlers can either go South or go indoors.

Many paddling clubs make arrangements to use The Eskimo roll is more easily perfected here than in Cucumber Rapids.

Sit up there.

Right.

So once I got into it, when I started moving it around-- NARRATOR 2: And progress comes more quickly, and certainly more comfortably, than in 45 degree river water.

Paddling instruction isn't limited to pools, of course.

Each spring, several paddling schools are held in Whitewater, PA. First, basics, how to get into the boat easily.

Onward squeeze.

Way back.

NARRATOR 2: How to paddle effectively.

When you get good on one side-- NARRATOR 2: How to do an Eskimo roll.

You're up like this.

You rotate around your boat.

Once again, whatever gets you up is a good roll.

You got to cry off the bottom.

It's a good roll.

NARRATOR 2: You'll probably need that move later on, friend.

Then easy riffles.

How to control the boat in moving water.

I was watching-- NARRATOR 2: Some instructions, and then the next maneuver-- adding a downstream turn.

Going there.

As you were just sort of-- NARRATOR 2: Downstream, an intermediate group is learning to love the beauties and mysteries of a standing wave formed by water flowing over a submerged rock just upstream.

Properly positioned, this two-place canoe can surf the upstream side of the wave, balancing calmly while tons of water rush past Back up just-- There it is.

All right, nicely done.

Watch your Lane.

NARRATOR 2: Of course, it takes a little practice, but isn't it fun?

Further downstream, Slalom Gates have been hung for more advanced students.

The aim is to paddle downstream through the first gate, turn in below the second gate, and paddle upstream through it.

Then paddle backwards through the final gate, a reverse gate.

[banjo music] Well, that looks simple enough, you say.

It takes practice, friend.

[banjo music] As soon as man makes a vehicle that moves, someone wants to race it.

And of course, canoes are no exception.

This is the Red Moshannon Downriver Race held each year in Clearfield County.

Downriver races are paddled from one point on the river to another point downstream.

Fastest time wins.

And of course, you solve your problems on the go.

[banjo music] Another form of racing is Slalom Racing.

Fast times count here too, but you get penalty points for hitting any of the 20 to 30 gates on the course, for missing a gate, or for going through the gate the wrong way.

Low score wins here.

This is the Loyalsock Slalom, sponsored by the Wildwater Boating Club of Central Pennsylvania on Loyalsock Creek in Sullivan County.

Let's take a close look.

This two-place canoe team must pass through this gate by paddling upstream, an upstream gate.

Then paddle the next gate backwards, a reverse gate.

Then turn downstream for a downstream gate.

If the boat touches a gate pole on either side, a 10 second penalty is added to the paddlers score.

Both poles add 20 seconds, and if you miss the gate entirely, add 50s seconds.

Low score wins, and even little touches count.

Whitewater, PA, has been a leader in Whitewater racing for many years, with a number of national and world paddling champions.

And in 1975, the US national slalom championships and the US national Slalom Team trials were held on the Youghiogheny River.

Paddlers from all over the nation gathered to try for the National championships in men's kayak, women's kayak, men's one-place and two-place canoe, and in mixed man and woman canoe classes.

[rushing water] These are the best Whitewater paddlers in the country.

Skill levels here border on the phenomenal.

And yet-- [banjo music] --it happens to the best of them.

[banjo music] Almost, fellas.

Once more.

Once more.

Oh, well, they had plenty of company.

22 entries were recorded DNF, Did Not Finish.

To give you an idea of the level of challenge in this race, let's look at one particular set of gates.

20 is a reverse gate.

Then turn downstream through 21.

And reverse again for gate 22.

The challenge is that the gates are set on the fastest current in the river.

They're close together, and there's a large hole and standing wave between each pair of gates.

[banjo music] Here, Steve Draper and Kevin Murphy of the Wild Water Boating Club of Bellefonte miss Gate 20, can't get on Gate 21.

But make the reverse through Gate 22.

One of three gates, and 100 penalty seconds added, and they were among the lucky ones.

For this team from the Chicago Wild Water Association, it's a hit, a complete miss, and a decision to paddle upstream for another try.

Which means a hit, and another hit, but at least they're upright and able to finish the race.

The Youghiogheny provided a tough and demanding test.

Scores ranged from 373 for the winning men's kayak to 1046 for the slowest, most heavily penalized finisher.

No Pennsylvania paddlers won national championships that year, though 5 were chosen to the US slalom team, but just two have raced.

Here is a mark of Whitewater excellence.

[banjo music] Some of the equipment and techniques are a bit out of date, but the looks on the faces, from fear to exhilaration, are very much the same.

Recreation is a major part of Pennsylvania's second largest industry, tourism, and Whitewater boating is a significant drawing card.

But it is in the faces that you can see the real rewards of Whitewater, PA.

Standing firmly on dry ground, I'm P.J.

O'Connell, for the Pennsylvania Parade.

[end credits]