New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-06-02
EFFORTS TO REACH THE VALLEY
THE ROADS CUT OFF N EVERY DIRECTION
rHE NEAREST POINT or APPHoAcH FouHrzLS
MILES YRoM oHNsrowS~PnEPARtNs
70 cAnE FOR THE DEAD AsD
THB DESTITUrH
rsr rrrEoaAPn TO rHz ralspsEI

| Pft<sburg. June lit Is simply impossible To-
| niRht 20 estimate the loss OF life In Johnstown'
! So far as known OF this hour, no newspaper man
| has yet entered the town, or even hoated over
| the roofs OF the remaining houses. Reporters
| who were sent there this morning by the main
line Of the Pennsylvania Railroad have not beea
! heard from since they passed Greensburg. thirty
! one mills east before noon. Trains cannot get
! nearer than New-Florcnce, fourteen miles THIS
side OF Johnstown, so that circumstantsl accounts
| NJ scenes at the devastated town are mere fiction
| The nearest communication so far known is from
| a valve station on the Cambria and Westmorelsnd
| Natural Gas Line. IL Is in the mountains one ana
one-half miles from JohnStown. Brief messages
were telephoned 20 Ligonier, WCstmoreland County
thence 70 this yity. Later, this was cut on also
Reporters who went up the West Pennsylvania
Railroad, intending TO Join the main line OF the
Pennsylvania Railroad at the Blairsville
intersection. could only get within twen-
tv-oiub. miles Of the place. There they
s,opped. and learned a rumor that $50 dead
bodies had been found at Blairsville In
ordinary times Johnstcwn can be reached by
,vov Of the Baltimore and Ohio 10 Somerset, thence
over the Somerset and Cambria, but travel be-
tween here and Somerset is broken, and the only
news from that region came in the shape OF a brief
message from Sloystown, saying that II was be-
Neved the storm burst the big mains OF the natural
pns companies, which became iguited and set fire
70 A mass OF wrecAage, probably oremsting both
the living and the dead.
In the history OF Western Pennsylvania jour-
roIsr tbere have never been such difficulties sur
70, ndIng the gathering Of news us in the case OF
the present disaster Pittsburg and Johnsto' n
are both distinctively iron and steel communities.
and there has been constant Interchange OF work
men. with their families between the two places
The same Is true Of BraddocC and other little iron
centres in this vicinity Therefore, IL Is not 10
no wondered az that trains TO New-Florence are
hacked with supposed bereaved parents and chill
dren. At the intervening stations they swarm hKe
bees ard country telegraph offices are jammfo WIN
anxious ones waiting for news. In this city, the
Union Station looks as IL did In war umeS' ~
train after train with provisions and clothing Is
ssnt out The same train carries sombre-lookhS
collins OF all sizes Everybody Is contriOu"hs'
and leading clothiers are sending out distributing
corps Worldngmen In factories circuiatou SUI
scription lists when the paymasters had to-day
connie ted their regular Saturday task All SORTS
~ local ORGANIZATIONS have covered the windows
a, the newspa Der offices with placards announcing
henellt concerts aud other performances
T. Is expected that as soon as IL can be accom-
plIsbed, the greater number Of the survivors VIII
be brought 10 this city and cared for until they
can decide uron their future course, as they
could not he accommodated in the little h"mlets
surrounding their late home
Johnstown was the only big place between here
md Altoona. The main support OF the town was
the Cambria Iron Works, which are entirely under
water and which employed majority
Of the working population. The horrors
q, the scene will not cease when the
waters recede, nor wlea the dead are buried
and the living provided with shelter. food end
clothing. Those who hId business places VIII
Ind their stock swert away and dig percent
age Of their Customers dead, while the working
man will look In vain for employment. The de-
yastation OF war times cannot equal the wreck
and ruin In the deep valley Of the Conemaugh
A message from Cokctown, near Blairsville, at
1870 D. M, said that 100 bodies had been found
there. ,.r
Mayor McCallin, OF this city, tclegraphed Gov.
ernor Beaver for tents for the Johnstown sur.
vlvors, but the Governor cannot forward them, rs
every bridge but ono b town between Harrisburg
aad AlsoOna. aad assR shegM sAk 4sasse. .GlsaA