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

the
55 Tf!E STOnV OF joii.xsrowx.
done bv an honest Scotch stonemason nan>ed John Durno, who xvas afterward k.Ued by faUing
from another high brid-e The arch is three and a-half feet thick at the springing Ime and
three feet at the crown arch stones are of light-colored sandstone and the backing of silicious
limestone found near the spot. The sandstone was split from erratic blocks, often
;
of
great size \vhich were found Iving in the woo.ls. on the surface of the ground The contract
price for the masonrv was 54^0 per perch of tv^enty-t-.ve cubic fee., and the work was remarkably
well done The face stones were laid in mortar from the sihcious limestone, without the
addition of anv sand. The cost of the Viaduct was about 555.000, and by building it a lateral
bend of about 'two miles was avoided. The embankment at the end of the viaduct was sixtyfour
feet high,"
Here the Conemau^h turns abruptly, travclint; two miles to form an oxbow
a few yards across. Part of the waters streamed throUL;h the cut leading
to the old bridge, which supported two steel tracks, the main body of the flood
circling the tortuous channel. The arch reared its imposing curve seventy
feet ab°ove the average hei-ht of the river, presumably beyond the grasp of the
ravager. Precipitous hills contracted the channel and the foaming waters
hcap^ed up as never before. They enveloped the Viaduct, which trembled and
fell. An iron bed-plate, weighing twenty tons, floated forty rods and the compact
stones laid in cement scattered like pebbles. Logs stranded in the
topmost branches of trees and marks on the rocks proved that the waters had
risen sevcity-mne ffct ! No wonder the staunch Viaduct, which the assaults of
sixty years had not impaired, succumbed at last, John Armstrong was right
in saving :
" Wh-il d..es not fade' The tower that loni; had stood
The crash of thunder and the warring winds • « • •
Now hangs in doubtful ruin, o er its hase ;
And flinty pyramids and walls of biass
Descend,"
Paddling an improvised raft of sticks and broken boards athwart the
bridgelcss stream, the toilsome journey in the track of the flood was resumed.
The^'railroad was amply elevated for two miles west of the Viadtict to sustain
no damage. The brick station at Mineral Point loom