The story of Johnstown : its early settlement, rise ... - JohnstownCafe

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the Conema\igh in its mad search for an outlet.
Barns and outbuildings sailed
in the same direction, returning as tiie tlood receded. Wilson's stable, with
two mules, a horse and a cow. landed in rear of the station, a big tree
under it and the animals unhurt. The water ms.- about hirtx -one feet, submerging
the railroad tracks si.\ feet at the depot. The double house occupied
bv thestation-ac;entand the foreman of the section-gang %\as deposited endwise
in a gully. A daintv morsel was Patrick Roiirck's house, across the creek,
with its furniture and one thousand dollars in bank bills. Of Stineman &
Murphv's planing-mill. at the junction of the streams, only the boiler and
bits of broken machinerx' remained. .\ patch of cellar-wall marked the site of
the coal company's supply-store. Had an earthipiake swallowed them, the
disappearance of the goods and superstructure could not ha\ e been more complete.
Smaller buildings were dispersed promiscuously. Tlie mountain of
water, not finding sufficient room between the hills tliat hemmed in the Conemaugh,
backed up both creeks. A grocery and a barl.cr-shop went voyaging
on the Fork, stranding ninety roils above their starting-point. Three neat
residences adjoining the planing-mill were totaUy obliterated and the gardens
stripped bare of vegetation and soil. That the loss of life was not vastly
greater is. indeed, surprising.
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CROSSV-:^ the i;ridgk
.\ freit;ht train la\- side-tracked near the Inwer end of the bridge. Engineer
It. M. Bennett heard
the roar of the ad\ancing
deluge and surmised that
the dam had broken. Uncoupling
the locomotive
\o. 1165— and llinging the
throttle open, he and Conductor
S. W. Keltz en-
'
deavored t(j cross. Steam
was lo\\' and the engine
hardly stirred. On the
switch leading to the jilaning-mill
and cnal-mine an
other freight \\ as pulling
out. It reachetl the main track just as the iletached engine gr>t o\-er tlie
liridi;e. Fift_\- yards further the uater struck Bennett's Idcomotixe. pitching