A news article that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald, 5 July 1972, published in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, describing the gutsy response to the Great Flood of 1972, which caused great damage in Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania:
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LYKENS: A COAL TOWN WITH GUTS
Lykens is a gutsy coal town of about 2,600 people, in the northeastern corner of Dauphin County (just over Schuylkill County line). These people have gotten used to being overlooked by dauphin County politicians who take for granted that Lykens people work and died and pay taxes like the rest of the people in the county.
The forced independence of Lykens has led to self-reliance, discipline and, above all, cooperation, which paid off for these people when it decided to rain incessantly for 10 days in Central Pennsylvania, swelling the normally peaceful waters of the Wiconisco and Rattling Creeks to the point where houses, trailers, cars, trees and roads disintegrated.
The thing is, the people of Lykens didn’t disintegrate. They called a town meeting, appointed coordinators, set up special committees and got what amounted to nearly a 100 percent volunteer effort from themselves and their neighbors in Williamstown, who provided food and shelter for many evacuees.
As a result, they were ready for the Pennsylvania National guard when it got the call.
The first unit to be called was the 131st Transportation Company in Williamstown. They were only on the job a few days because they were scheduled to leave for Camp Drum, New York, the following weekend and would need time to get their vehicles in shape to support the Guard’s 28th Infantry Division. They were replaced by Hershey’s 129th Data Processing Unit. When a barrage of protest mail hit the governor’s office, within a week the Williamstown soldiers returned to the task.
Both these units did a mountain of work. First they shut off all electrical equipment for safety, going from house-to-house to pull out every meter. They manned generators for emergency electrical power to refrigerate food and to operate pumps and chlorination plants flown in by Civil Defense.
They strung lights all over town to prevent looting and then stood guard duty enforcing a curfew that required even residents of Lykens to obtain a pass at City hall every day to get in and out of town at night. They manned radios to provide communication until telephone service was restored.
They furnished gasoline, made runs for water and helped push back the two creeks with trucks of dirt. Guard wreckers pulled cars out of swimming pools and creek beds and collapsed garages. Guard trucks hauled away tons of debris.
The people in Lykens said the Guard did a great job helping them get back on their feet. They said the mere presence of the Guard helped restore calm and made people feel secure in their homes. They said guardsmen and their equipment saved them months of back-breaking labor and countless dollars of probable loss.
A drive through the area one week later left no doubt that what they said is true.
But the guardsmen activated in Lykens knew it was the tough cooperative spirit of these people that really made them effective. The people were collected and organized. They were able to establish priorities and to tell the men what they required. Individual tragedies were set aside for the common good. They were quick to praise and reluctant to criticize. They needed help and they knew what to do with it. They knew how to lead and they knew how to follow.
They never sat back and demanded a miracle. That’s why they got one.
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From “Collector’s Limited Edition” of Lykens and Williams Valley Flood of 1972, published by the Lykens Standard, Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in June 1972. Also available from Newspapers.com.
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