USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > Johnstown > From trail dust to star dust : the story of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a city resulting from its environment > Part 1
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-rom trail dust to star dust
m. Moravet Green
from trail dust to star dust
BY
m. Margaret Green
Publisher of a Pictorial Map entitled "Map of Johnstown 1800-1950"
The Story of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a City Resulting from Its Environment
Johnstown's story has been the story of its environment, of the Indians and their trails, of the natural resources hidden in the hills, but most of all the story of men.
MCMLX
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The native forest consisted of oat, maple, hickory, walnut, beach, chestnut, and pine. Early lumbering operations and a steady demand for mine props have left little, of the original timber, though it has been followed by a second-growth mixed hardwood forest on the slopes not exposed to blast furnace fumes. Bedded iron ore was under the plateau surface. Goal is in the valley sides and Clay is adjacent- to the coal layers Limestone-in western kills.
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PRODUCTS
Viaduct wasted
174
LOCKS
American House (Hostel of canal days)
GREEN HILL
between
Gautier Department
South Fork
consists principally of
"Here was The widest paint the Canal
Conemough
bar mills - The Franklin
soft high
Pant has its ore youl , coke
Hollidaysburg Incline
works, plate mills, and care
B
8 tracks'
eps
The Old Viaduct
Here The flood watery
TAUPP
when The viaduct checked
floods course, At 4:10 The
mass weighing 18,000,000 tons
--
31 John, 5
Roman Catholic
Five
Church
Packet
burhud
CAMBRIA' PLANT
SUP
GAUTIER DEPARTMENT
Cloading
STANDS IN THE BASIN
of Portage R. R.
OF THE
First Building
OLD CANAL 60/t-wide
methodist Church
Flood
not sufficient
of 1889
to relieve
The qu
Builtof
bodů
over
Stone from Portage R.K
canal
( Stone was let
used
SEDIORDER ENDED HERE.
G
averebel
ELKcity park
MASONIC TEMPLE
To Ebensburg
OMER
Old stating rink floated across
ISTI
Aqueduclange river
HOUSE
CIRCUS 7635
From Prospecttill
Noah's Ark
came the first" ore
Wat time
to be used in making
F First House in
Johnstown
builtby
high/4 Bank
Joseph.
Cambria Public
City
Library
Church
STREE
Adams family-17
-1890
5
To Somersel
Enzerbachs
to
Pike and
as much
Theater
odists
Joh
N
KELLY
from east
CONVIR
MOR REL MANSION
Now
-1962
U
Somerset
STREET'
. U.
pru yor- her
maintains
Junior College
choice!
cod
Blackie"
Central
World
HighSchool
carkiad sha
for schools a churches
witheran church
ower. and of
10
Through hovse
tour. (Basement
LOWEr GIA
Capitol
originally stood hare
Later changed
1889
First high school replaced
-strut Level
toURIOUS
These -
before ing 69 flood
Park
ALL
Is now The Joseph
Union
LOSSES
BOARD
George Bosley
SDrowned
George Beam. P. A .Vickroy
thek.
$59 000,000
To Millcreek3388 taxas
ground
1823 county oppropre.
Robert Linton
tion for pauper "sch'tls
Airport
CAdsm Coover first
EGAL M
is tax collector
Aggregat, Flood Losses 1889
To Insurance Companies-$250,000 )
ferndale
Floods 12 '08 '16,
Contributions-
Borough
4-5
13,960,680_Coal is a natural asset
a'le'ns
zmains of
INCLINE PLANE"
REPORT
PLOT of the UNKNOWN
whAN. pig- iron
c. 1857.
Should
ta Bene
Malgs 423
250
173
017
Upper Youder Twop.
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The city has an elevation of only 1184 feet above sealevel, but the surrounding uplands of a thousand_ feet cause it to be both rainier and colder than
the normal- Its 47.51 inches of precipitation is eleven inches more than Pittsburgh's and its growing season of 163 days is eighteen days-
shorter than that of Pittsburgh and 42 days shorter than that of Philadelphia. Snowfall averages 52 inches vs. 33 for Billsburgh and 23 for Philadelphia
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0000000000000000000000000000000 the canal. I'm 1803 there were three families in Johnstown, in 1816 fifty families, in 1828- 200 inhabitants,
cut by the river. Traders followed the Indian trails. The caral followed the wagon roads, and the railroad-
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manis -
1858
Lincoln Hear
Leer Hospital
MEMORIAL
HOSPITALS
Town
Via Frankstown Biz
AMORIA TROU
V from south via.
PIONEER CONVERS
Goose-
OF AMERICA
helped to bring
Barton & feudal
for
civic maturity
trade routes"
SERVICE. Pater Lavergood and Adam Cover
$ =
War I
Ground
First
Dump Trams
Presbyte Have Church
1805
Proposed
fills in
given by Joseph Johns
Memorial
Iwe two room schools And one four room toop
SICEET CHESTNUT
1936 FLOOD
ground
Park
P
Lote
Playground
336
Joseph Johns as pay-
Road and
$73 state
Victims
Cemetery
1634- Free public "
by boots
REFE
Church_
STONYERERE STREET"
CREEK
of
1. 20
Claimants, .. $ 12,471,605:60
67, 87, 99 36
TO WESTMONT 91
FLOOD MAY 31, 1889 Lost Identified IdaRiyad Missing
GRANDVIEW CEMETERY
Females 1219
340
263
OKEYELAIT-Shownese- CONNUMACH- 1721
Indians
Sex Unk 20142 .115 636 8 99
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to Point Given by
School
propertyloss
planned for
Flood
for children > Inucleof it later lock
Carried
Johnstown
PLANE
Baptist in court tie 2 3
932J
SIMILAR
09
STONY ENilkcrack Furnace , AIOR TUARY 00 IRON STEEL SOUTH FORK DAM HELD 600.00 80ft. arch ROUND . 3 mi lons CU. IN. OF WATER . LARGEST AT THE TIME. mi- wide>25 BREAST-72 4 Ec. high vale) Itozone/ VeITZ AKIIFICIAL LAKE ON CONTINENT 5 feet deep. 2 noUND richest piece (wood) JOHNSTOWN to give the visitor a picture of our city Rosedale by product cote plant Prosper Till Tron, Qru 286. STORAGE N County in Cambria CLEARFIELD purchase wmode by CLARION cluded in TAFFER CENTER 249 acres BLAIR WESTMOPE IMAMBRIK INDIAN A ALTOONA LAND John HUNTING TE PITTSBURGH also giTusk d Lancaster 7 JOHNSTOWN Junction of , followed. " Chas. Comp- bell in 17 69 two rivers acestone vein PENNSYLVANIA- ime g/ co UNE: MAIN ROBO CAMBRIA- TRONCO. FÖRRE In 1854 The The Organized in 1853 by George king In brickworks CO H EF 1833 1866 Fall of Platform SINNE-I -1 TLE CONE FJC GROUND RAISED 5 D .89 under mines opened resulting in western hill Westmont Fill =) STADIUM COAL Westmon CHILL 1850 was occupied The junction Johnstown. athunder-s long before mh we stroms . The Airport " and tp through Laurel Ridge arrival of white muur. Pittsburgh va Millcreek Road made a convenient gateway to valley- bottom land and The e west. Mensher they Traders followed His interest in Clonemaugh Old Town was slight- when he sold it, however, he guaranteed to the people MITYBA C 12×16 200 -writer overs, bloot furnaces, steel V coords Long. AS& R P climbed, and FORTAGE NOS 2 TV. reached the main portion of The Town . It moved of the wrote of 30 miles per Gop in Laurel Ridge cut by The Conemough bour and mowed down everything in its path When it reached the Stone Ban Ore Bridge and Westmont Hill, it turned up 0 the Story Crack. The brook wos which split 14coup Bridge B+CR.R. is in old river bed Fies. ) Stat IN CANAL Baltimore Petar Broch Dept gave The For m. srl Old land for U.S Found County seat of Office hare NI 1845 Cambria County town 1840 ro spect Viaduct ON REE flood Johns startlin Bridge and fell into stresm New Bridge -1938- FRANKLIN DIBER OLD PAGE- TRADE STRE Here. The. might have been dies of the Town Presented cl Amish village accept NAPOLEO STRE LITTIF Cambna Theater Y.M.C.A. mit We' TREE and MERCY AFTER THE FLOOD . Cow-Ordinands HOUSE STONY Fit bridge MORRELL. CO. Jehet Schol 0 HAM ING WOOD and 1936 route Nachons handsdown La veis 33mi PHILADELPHIA wk for THE OLD FRANKSTOWN LOAD ROUND TRIP 50000005005 Near The corner of WEIGHLOCK first m U.S to PITTSBURGH- 3 wks for freighty Washington. Sts. FAIR ON FACKET $3.50 MEALS/150 The caral was.com Canal was aband .FOTE Field////// SVER BE 1863 To Frank plated + in operation ESTOWn Clinton and in 1832 the portage 16 block- BET 5000000000500000 0000300 descended 2,369 ft- Sindines up rose seventy nine 12 ISLAND E (LONG) The IVE WASTHE Pointa BETHLEHEM STEEL / COMPANY'S Originally known goose Island TREET Indian The Cons! Stelefon al MUNICA PAL MORRISAVE like 1000 RAILROAD orfode Links Lots 49,505152 Theskr JULS (SINHOW) NIJUNY 10-15 /t. of dubris In AIR PLANE the force MAU 200 POPULATION IN 1832 1,200 BEIANARCO. IN18 -20,000 ORGANIZATION -1852 parc vitality t JOHNSTOWN "THE RESULT Of ENVIRONMENT 1940 N FRITZ GOLD MEDAL JOHN AWARD Compiled & drawn by m. margaret Green Revise1 1948 THREE HIGH' ROLL When watching a pull over mill at 3 The Cambria E Iron Co. works in 1857 Mr. John Fritz got the idea That athird roll could be mounted above the upper one and thus instead of passing the bar back to the roller idly- useful work could be made in the return HIS spread TS invention rapidly through out the world Railroad building in 1860's brought demond, for " CAMBRIA-STEEL Li 19360 discovered Water in West End of town :3 inches higher than -in 1889 CONEMTAUGHT when come WOOD RIVER Joseph Sichantz a native of Switzerland, bought a track of land on September 301793 for $8.50 per acre. BROAD STONE BRIDGE Make room for willing bands to clear the wreck away CRE Confusion shall not linger ?! ever for a day 500000000000000000 Gov Beaver Sent BOULEVAR 4000 man, to clear this block Su channal order to protect the country from. JOUnT lub pestilence in TE 89 Stackhouse Park and ade of the Stone Bridge in a commons, a graveyard, a school ground, and two locations for public buildings. The Adams were first settlers C GREENHOUSE RADIATORS - Abm L'oour LAVOROOd Abig river Johns Junior from Carr St IVE rooms I warcon The building by The founder of The Sry 499 from trail dust to star dust BY m. Margaret Green Publisher of a Pictorial Map entitled "Map of Johnstown 1800-1950" The Story of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a City Resulting from Its Environment Johnstown's story has been the story of its environment, of the Indians and their trails, of the natural resources hidden in the hills, but most of all the story of men. MCMLX Copyright, 1960, by William M. Greer First Printing, July, 1960 Second Printing, September, 1960 Published by William M. Greer, Johnstown, Pa. Printed in the United States of America by Danbury Printing Co., Danbury, Conn. Table of Contents 1. The Beginning of A Pioneer Settlement 9 2. The First Settlers 11 3. Securing The Land 16 4. The Early White Settlers 18 5. The First Industries 26 6. George S. King and Cambria Iron Co. 31 7. John Fritz 39 8. William Kelly 42 9. George Fritz 45 10. Daniel J. Morrell 47 11. The Coal Industry 50 12. Lumbering 52 13. Exchange 53 14. Transportation 56 15. The Pennsylvania Canal 60 16. Ferries, Fords and Bridges 73 17. Roads 76 18. Civic Development 78 19. Newspapers 83 20. Early Churches 85 21. Schools 87 22. Music 90 23. The Public Square 91 24. Disasters 94 25. The Great Flood of 1889 99 26. Modern Times 115 List of Illustrations Flood, 1889 Event Facing 104 Fritz, John Facing 40 From Trail Dust to Star Dust Page 118 Inclined Plane, The Facing 81 Kelly, William and Pioneer Converter Facing 41 Kettles or Rails Facing 32 King, George S. Facing 30 *Map of Johnstown Frontispiece Messiah Facing 80 Millcreek Furnace Facing 33 Morrell, Daniel J. Facing 49 Penn Traffic Store and Predecessor Facing 73 Pennsylvania Canal: Aqueduct Between 72-73 Basin Between 72-73 Craft Being Towed Facing 65 Weighlock Facing 64 Portage Railroad Facing 72 Scrip, Cambria Iron Co. Page 37 Unknown Plot, Grandview Cemetery Facing 105 * This is a reproduction of an original done by the Author in 1940. It was revised in 1950 on the occasion of Johns- town's sesquicentennial. The revised edition is a 30 x 23 inch pictorial map printed in six colors. Introductory Note This posthumous work was written by M. Margaret Greer, a native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She was a descendent of two of Johnstown's oldest families, being a daughter of Samuel S. Greer (son of David Francis Asbury Greer, a merchant of great integrity) and Emma Masters Greer (daughter of Joseph Masters, an associate judge). Educated during her early years in the Johnstown Public Schools, Miss Greer later was graduated from Wells College, Aurora, New York, in 1918. She also did graduate work at Columbia University and at the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh, from which she received the Master of Arts degree. She joined the faculty of the Westmont Hilltop High School at its inception, was librarian and dramatic coach for many years, taught mathematics and German, and later became Guidance Counselor. She showed great wisdom and learning in her teaching and was possessed with an overwhelming zeal to impart cul- ture and to instill a desire for higher education in her stu- dents. Her greatest outside interest centered in preserving the history of Johnstown, which interest was inspired by talks with her father. This led to painstaking research and publication of a pictorial map in 1950. Later she con- tinued her research in preparation of this history. Because of her untimely death, she was unable to re- vise this work and to include material about Jewish set- tlers in the area. However, her enthusiasm inspired Dr. Meyer Bloom, Vice President of Johnstown Jewish Com- munity Council, to interest a committee to undertake research and publication of a history of the Jewish people of Johnstown, in a separate volume. Miss Greer's object in writing this work seems to have been to present clearly and accurately those facts about the founders and builders of Johnstown which would be of interest and value to present and future generations. It is believed by her family and friends that it was her in- tention to bring up to date her story of Johnstown's progress by including such recent additions to civic growth as the Johnstown Cambria County Airport, the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Center, the Research Center of the National-United States Radiator Corporation (now Crane Company), The Allegheny Lutheran Home for the Aged, and other new developments in the area. The phrase "A City Resulting from Its Environment" seems to be a most appropriate keynote. Through study of this worthwhile history the reading public may grasp a feeling of the tribulations and triumphs inherent in Johnstown's one hundred and sixty years of progress. MARGARET EVANS ALICE M. GOCHER Acknowled gments Grateful acknowledgment is made by the publisher and his family to Miss Alice Gocher and Miss Margaret Evans, lifelong friends of the Author, for their kind Introductory Note. It is a privilege to extend gratitude to Dr. Wernher von Braun and This Week Magazine for their permission to use Dr. von Braun's commentary at the end of Chapter 26; to Bethlehem Steel Co., Penn Traffic Co., Penn- sylvania Railroad, and Tribune-Democrat for photo- graphs supplied to the publisher; and to Miss Ruth Sutch and the Cambria Public Library for the use of their files and permission to reproduce the Messiah and the Millcreek Furnace. The generous assistance of those persons and or- ganizations, not known to the publisher, who cooperated with the Author in furnishing the mass of facts condensed in this small volume, cannot be spoken of too highly. W.M.G. 1 The Beginning of a Pioneer Settlement Go back in imagination a century and a half-that was the beginning of Johnstown. Go back a century before that-the valley then belonged to the Indians. Go back to antediluvian days and try to imagine what this section of Pennsylvania looked like. In their upper reaches, the valleys of the Conemaugh River and the Stony Creek which meet in Johnstown, are sharply V-shaped, but in the immediate vicinity of the City the valley bottoms are flat. Apparently the Conemaugh in cutting through the Laurel Ridge of the Alleghenies on its northwestward course was delayed in its downward progress and developed small local flood plains. The swift-moving waters cut their way through the mountain ridges, for Pennsylvania rivers cross through rather than parallel the mountain ridges. The freed water of the local rivers left a bottom land sur- rounded by plateaus and edged by the two streams con- verging at The Point. These bottom lands, command- ing a gap through the mountains to the west, formed a good site for early settlement. The gap later proved to be a gateway to the West; first for the canal and then for the Pennsylvania Railroad. These modes of transporta- - 9 - From Trail Dust to Star Dust tion linked Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and so gave passage to the growing West. For this reason the vast immigration to the West passed through Johnstown. When the Indians roamed the Valley, it was a wilder- ness. The hills were luxuriant in their rich and varied growth. The iron ore and coal hidden in the hills were still the secret of nature. For modern dwellers in the narrow valley and on the broad plateau hilltops, only the imagination can picture the luxurious growth of hickory, chestnut, walnut, giant spruce and sturdy oak, and the lush lands on the bottom. Only in imagination can they picture the forest alive with game and the clean, clear, cool streams filled with "finny beauties." Only in imagination can they see the deer, the fox, the bear, and the wolf living in the wooded hillsides. Could the Indian imagine or wish for a happier hunting ground? Geographically, Johnstown has an elevation of only 1,184 feet above sea level, but the surrounding uplands of 1,000 feet cause it to be both rainier and colder than the normal. Its 47.51 inches of precipitation is eleven inches more than Pittsburgh's and its growing season of 163 days is 18 days shorter than that of Pittsburgh and 42 days shorter than that of Philadelphia. Snowfall averages 52 inches annually, against 33 for Pittsburgh and only 23 inches for Philadelphia. - 10 - 2 The First Settlers Geography has had its effects on many countries and places. The richness of the soil in the Nile valley in Egypt and the Tigris-Euphrates valley in Mesopotamia made these sections the cradle of civilization. Greece, cut by many small valleys, developed separate city-states jealous of each other. Italy's position on the Mediter- ranean Sea and Rome's position on the western coast instead of the eastern coast of Italy made it possible for the Romans to dominate the sea and the world of the pre-Christian era. Just so, the geographical situation of the Conemaugh River and Stony Creek invited settle- ment in the Valley. While laborers were digging the race for a forge on the Conemaugh, old firebrands, pieces of blankets, earthen smoke pipes and other Indian relics were dis- covered at a depth of twelve feet below the surface of the earth. The Indians had departed when the first settlers came but the relics prove their presence here. The Indians must have left around 1760, for they were the followers of the French and had probably moved on when Fort Duquesne was taken in 1758 by the British. It is certain, then, that there was an Indian village at the confluence - 11 - From Trail Dust to Star Dust of the two rivers which today are called the Little Cone- maugh and the Stony Creek, but which were known to the Indians as the Connumoch (little otter) and the Sinne-hanne (fast-flowing stream). Even though the Stony Creek is in size larger than the Little Conemaugh River, it is called a creek because the Indians named it Sinne-hanne, not Sinne-sipu. Hanne is the Indian name for stream, especially a swift mountain stream; sipu is the Indian word for river. In the earliest records the village at the junction of these rivers was known as Gunammochk, Connumoch (little otter), Caugh-naugh-maugh, Quin-nim-maugh- koong. The Joseph Johns Charter spells it Con-nu-mach, November 3, 1800. The earlier Indian spellings were used about 1731. Best authorities say the redmen called the place Conemaugh-Old Town, which was the name used for the settlement. In 1731 Jonah Davenport and James Le Tort, Indian traders, were in the territory of what is now Cambria County. In their report they spell it "Connumah." Le Tort reports that there were twenty families and sixty men in the village. It was situated on the trail which led from Frankstown, two miles east of Hollidaysburg on the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River, to Kittanning (Great Stream) on the Allegheny and was the largest Indian village west of Shamokin. Certainly it was an ideal location for an Indian village, for the hills and valleys yielded a rich harvest of nuts and game, and the rivers gave fish and afforded transpor- tation for these first products. In 1731 Okewelah was the Shawanese chief. The Shawanese, or Shawnees, and the Delawares who dwelt here were restless, savage, fierce, - 12 - The First Settlers treacherous, and deceptive, but not cowards. In 1748 Conrad Weiser, an Indian interpreter and backwoods diplomat, went through this territory bringing gifts to the savage Shawanese. It is also recorded that about 1778 marauding Indians around Hart's Sleeping Place (near Carrolltown) along the Kittanning trail were aiding British troops. They took Moses Hecks and Mr. Gersham as prisoners to Detroit. The last Indian attack in the area took place in 1784. It was in May 1774 that John Wipey, an inoffensive Indian-the last of the Delawares-and a friend of the Adamses, the first white settlers in the Conemaugh valley, was shot to death while fishing from a canoe in the Cone- maugh. When the Delawares left Frankstown, Wipey remained and built a cabin in East Wheatfield Town- ship, Indiana County, on the land of the Matthews family. He made his living by fishing, hunting, and trading. The shooting occurred just a short distance below the section of Johnstown called Coopersdale. Two white men named John Hinckston and James Cooper killed Wipey. His wanton death caused much consternation among the pro- vincial people. Gen. Arthur St. Clair, who was stationed at Fort Ligonier, the nearest fort to Conemaugh-Old Town, informed the governor of the State. The council offered 500 pounds for the arrest of the killers, but they were never apprehended. In the colonial era, the Indians frequently had been cruelly cheated and their resentment smoldered. Much that white men did to the Indians was contrary to the ideals of William Penn, their friend. The sale of rum ("lum" as the Indians called it, for they could not pro- - 13 - From Trail Dust to Star Dust nounce "r") and the white man's illegal encroachment upon their lands in places other than Pennsylvania were just grievances. The Delawares were most offended by the encroachment and deception in connection with the *Walking Purchase, but being helpless and under the power of the Iroquois, they were ejected by the Iroquois and went farther into the interior. Here they came under French influence and in the French and Indian War (1754-1763) they had an opportunity to give way to their hatred and disgust. Even though the Treaty of 1754 for the land west of the Susquehanna River had been signed by the Six Nations, the Indians had continued to complain and maraud. On their return home after signing the treaty, they realized that they had sold their lands and tried then to make an alliance with the French, who promised to redeem the lands from the English. The territory west of the Allegheny Mountains was defenseless. Under French instigation, it was made desolate by the Indians. Not until General Forbes in 1758 captured Fort Du- quesne and named it Fort Pitt did the Indians begin to leave. In 1768 a general conference of the Six Nations was called to meet at Fort Stanwix, New York, and another treaty was made. By the Treaty of Fort Stanwix and for the sum of $10,000 the Indians sold all their *In 1682 William Penn purchased from the Delawares a tract of land, bounded on the east by the Delaware River and in the interior at a point as far as a man could walk in three days. Penn and a party of Indians started on the walk; at the end of a day and a half, Penn concluded that it was as much land as he wanted, and a deed was given to the lands at that point-about 40 miles from the starting point. In 1737 after Penn's death the tract was increased by a party of expert walkers to a point 70 miles in the interior. - 14 - The First Settlers interest in the lands drained by the Susquehanna, the west branch of which rises near "Canoe Place" beyond which there was "insufficient water to float a canoe." "Canoe Place" is now Cherry Tree in Cambria County. The savage Indians gradually but finally yielded to the aggressive white man. The tomahawk gave way to the ax of the sturdy farmer; the deer and the fox made way for the sheep, the cow, the goose, and the horse; the wigwam was replaced by the rough-hewn log cabin. Fields of golden grain and the plough succeeded the trackless forests and the implements of the chase. When the Indian corn patch was supplanted by the cultivated farm, other changes followed. The flat boat supplanted the canoe; the log cabin took the place of the wigwam; the canal boat and packet displaced the flat boat; the stagecoach, locomotive, passenger and freight car took the place of the pack saddle and rude wagon. Today the airplane vies with the railroad and trucking industry for supremacy in transportation. Johns- town has witnessed all forms-"from trail dust to star dust." The noise of the forge and the heat of the furnace quieted the hoot of the owl and the howl of the wild animal. 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