Mellon and Henry Clay Frick enjoyed a long-lasting business and social relationship , and Frick frequently hosted Mellon , attorney Philander C. Knox , inventor George Westinghouse , and others for poker games . Frick and Mellon both joined the Duquesne Club and , after Frick established the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club , Mellon became one of that club 's first members . The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club built the South Fork Dam , which supported an artificial lake that the club used for boating and fishing . In 1889 , the dam broke , causing the Johnstown Flood , which killed 2,000 people and destroyed 1,600 homes . In the aftermath of the flood , Knox led a legal defense that successfully argued that the club bore no legal responsibility for the flood . Mellon did not publicly comment on the flood , though he did donate $ 1,000 to a relief fund
Johnstown Flood
Johnstown Flood
Andrew Mellon