Ahh, the force that causes so much evolution in folk music. Word substituion. The dam collapse songs I referred to in my intial post was Johnstown, Pa. not Jamestown.
Documentaries and several books cover that disaster well.
It just strikes me as odd that there are so many storm disaster songs, famous cyclones and the like, here in Missouri folk tradition and so few about dams collapsing anywhere. Its not that rare of an event, especially in coal mining regions with steep grades.