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

I02
THE STORY OF JOZ/ySTOirX.
tu a channel nearer tlie iron works, a deposit of stones, iive fci t thick and a
hundred \ ards Ion-, hmded in the viliai;e. I'.eginnmg at Scjuire Grittin's building
on I'roiit street, the llood ra/ed 148 houses t(.i tlie cellars and carried them
down the spitelul, swollen Coiicniaugh. Two \vo(.)den strnclures at the bend of
the ri\er.sonKlio\\ I'lidured the strain nntlinciiin-I) and stocDd alone, like sentinels
on' a deserted battle-held or the Ouden residence in the Chicago fire. Of
the nine hundred people who laced death in the malevolent tide a large pro-
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portion returned no more to tell of their adventures and experiences.
Although
the dense wreckage enabled many to land along the river, no less than three
hundred and hft\- residents cd Cambria passed into the hereafter. Twenty-five
families left no sur\ivinu menilier to say what liad become of them, and over
half the town was stripped bare as a hungry dog could scrape a bone.
Soon the waters went out of the mountains, finding jdeiity ot elhow-room
in the broadening valley. They weakened, spread over a greater area and let
Coopersdaleott with ei'.;lit w recked buildings and a couple hundred lower stories
flooded. Morrelh ille suliered little, and Sheridan's damage was tritling.
liaNoc done from the
FJut for miles the shore-, were line.l with e\ideiices of th.e
dam to the western liorder of Cambria. To the inhabitants of Xine\eh. I]c>li\ar.
New Florence and other points down the ri\er the masses of flotsam ;:a\e the