A Water Authority Reservoir and Its Submerged History
Johnstown, PA
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
No admission fee for the surrounding area. The reservoir is a restricted water supply facility — no fishing or swimming permitted.
Access
Limited Access
Wooded, rugged terrain around the reservoir; unpaved access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1932 · Water Infrastructure · 20th-Century Engineering · Rural Cemetery Preservation
Unlike the South Fork Dam — which catastrophically failed on May 31, 1889, killing more than 2,200 people in the Johnstown Flood — the North Fork Dam is a 20th-century municipal water supply structure with no connection to the 1889 disaster. Construction began in 1925 following the 1922 drought and was completed in 1932 by the Johnstown Water Company. The dam was designed by engineers working with Bethlehem Steel, using a construction approach similar to hundreds of other dams built in Pennsylvania during the same era.
The dam spans the North Fork of Bens Creek, a 1,000-foot-long earthen embankment standing 105 feet high. At capacity it holds 1.1 billion gallons, making it the largest reservoir in the Greater Johnstown Water Authority system. Combined with impoundments at Saltlick Creek and Dalton Run, North Fork supplies over 2.1 billion gallons of raw water storage serving more than 21,500 domestic, commercial, and industrial customers, plus several consecutive water systems.
The watershed around the reservoir encompasses dense, second-growth woodland in the ridge-and-valley terrain of Somerset County. The Yoder North Fork Dam Cemetery, a small burial ground with approximately 25 documented memorials, sits within this watershed — a remnant of the rural community that occupied the land before the reservoir's construction. The nearby Mishler Cemetery, on land that was once the Lester Alwine farm, is similarly described as part of the watershed area. A 2024 $27 million improvement project was launched to upgrade the dam against future storm events. The Greater Johnstown Water Authority manages the facility, and no fishing, swimming, or recreation is permitted on the reservoir itself.
Sources
The paranormal reports attached to the North Fork Dam area describe multiple sightings of figures behind the dam, in the vicinity of the nearby Yoder North Fork Dam Cemetery. Regional accounts also claim the deep, wooded terrain surrounding the reservoir was historically a site of executions — hangings and shootings described in general terms without names, dates, or any documentary source that could be located during research.
The Yoder North Fork Dam Cemetery exists as a documented fact — a small burial ground with approximately 25 memorials now sitting within the reservoir's watershed. Its preservation amid the dam's 1925-1932 construction left a rural 19th-century graveyard stranded in restricted woodland, accessible only via rough unmarked approaches. The physical reality of an old graveyard in a remote, wooded area near a restricted water facility creates the atmospheric conditions that tend to generate and sustain these types of reports.
No newspaper archives, court records, or historical society documentation was found to support the violent-death claims. The execution-site legend is classified as unverified local folklore. The ghost sightings are similarly attributed to the general area without specific dates, witnesses, or corroborating accounts.
The North Fork Dam and Reservoir is a municipal water supply facility owned by the Greater Johnstown Water Authority. The Yoder North Fork Dam Cemetery — 25 documented burials — sits within or near the reservoir's watershed area. The surrounding wooded terrain is dense and remote; access to the cemetery requires navigating rough, unmarked approaches.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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