New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-06-03
NO NUMBERS STARTLING NOW.
ONLY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE
BODIES RECOGNIZED.
THE PEOPLE BEGINNING TO PEAR AN epidemic
THE FINANCIAL. LOSSES ALMOST INcALcULABLE
THE RESTORATION OF PROSPERITY TASK
LIKE THAT OF sUBDUIyG NEW coUN.
.TRY-RuFFIANs SUPPRESSED WITH
A STRONG HAND.

must eapse before even the survivors OF the
disaster in the Conemaugh River Valley will be
able 10 realize the thoroughness with which their
little world has been turned into desert, No
figures AS TO the loss OF life can be any more than
estimates. Considering the fact that so few are
alive to tell the awful history one must think
that even 600 is not a startling conjecture as
TO the number OF the dead To every person who
visited the Valley to-day the saddeninG question
must have occurred:
Where are the peorle?'
Where there were tens Of thousands on Fri
scores. Nobody places the estimate Of deaths
lever than 1000, and ono OF the Pennsylvania
Railroad surgeons says that 10000 viii not sur
prise him. Tho positive fact that there remains
one building alone in the portion of Johnstown
callei woodville, which had $4,000 inhabitants,
is pretty good evidence that 1000 is con6erva-
tive estimate. At one point near Johnstown the
Conemauah River is damned up by a gorge Of
human corpses Opposite Nincveh, several miles
down the river, nearly 100 bodies were found by
ten occupants OF the only two houses in that district
The dead, be their number greater or less, will
soon disappear. But with all the sudden loss
Of human life and activity there is also such q
complete annihilation Of the industries OF the
valley! that TO rebuild them win he like starting
in a new country. James McMillen, Of the Cam
bris Iron Works, said to-day:
II do not know what our loss Is. I cannot
even estimate, as have not the faintest idea
what Il may be. The upper mill is total
wrrck, damaged beyond repair The lower mill
is damaged TO such an extent that all machinery
and buildings are useless. The mills win be re
built Immediately. have sent out ordrrs that
all men that oau must report at the mill TO
morrow to begin clearing up I do not think
that tho building is insured against Hood. The
great thing We want is 10 get that mill in opcra-
ton again.
The Gautier Wire Works, OWNED and
operated by the Cambria Iron Com
pany.. vii hs rebailt immediately, bat
The land on which 10 stood Is to-day Is barren
and dcsolatr rs II IL stood in the midst OF the
sahara Desert Estimates OF the losses Of the
Cambria Iron Company given are from g., 900, 900
to $500 600, and little OF this can be recovered.
These figures give some suggestion Of the bearing
OF the calamity on the future OF the valley. When
Superintendent Pitcairn telcgaphed 10 Pttsburg
on Friday night hat Johnstown was annthilated,
he came close 20 the facts OF the case, although
he had not seen the ill-fnted city Where long
rows OF dwelling houses and business blocks stood
forty.eight hours ago, ruin and dcsolation now
reign. Probably 800 houses have been swept
from the face OF the earth completely as II
they had never been erected. Mnln-st, from end
to end is piled fifteen and twenty feet high with
fragments, in some instances as high rs the roofs
Of the houses which rmain standing
When prosperity is again restored, when the
valley is again pcopled It will be with practically
new industries and with new people. Ot the
happy thousands who lived between those hills
last Friday, it can be said, il ever II could, OF
any people "Thc places that knew them shall
know them no more forever The immediate
prospect is a distressing one. Trains hav" reached
tho ruins Of what was Johnstown, and
they have brought provisions, that
the hunger from which many suffered
has been appcased. No more trouble for
Iack Of victuals is anticipated. But with
hundreds OF corpscs yet TO be found and cared
for, and with decomposition setting in among
these yet undiscovered, there is danger of an cpl
dcmic In dry weather the scarcity OF water Is
hardly more apparent az any other town in Amer-
ca than il is at JohnstOwn. Travellers must have
observed that generally the bed Of the Concmaugh
River is plainly visible from the cars, covered
only by few inches Of water. In these particu-
lars what is true OF Johnstown is true of all the
reighborhoods within the range Of the disaster.
The lake which caused tho great destruction
will probably never be restored. To rebuild the
dam would not only be costly; it would probably
be met by n storm OF indignant popular dSap-
proyal. Its first utility had long since been al
most forgotten in It's reputc as a summer resort
and in the shadow OF the recent calamity this is
counted 20 its dscredit
The dam was pronounced By its builder, tho |
late Gcreral James n. Moorchead, one
Of the stsnchcst In America. and had
ever since been examined twice month by com |
petcnt engineers.
The owners OF the reservoir, while they feel |
deeply the indirect blame put upon them for the |
loss Of life, cannot account for the bursting OF |
the dam. Tho people OF the valley, from long
familiarity with the danger, had ceased to pay |
attention 10 warnings. At every storm, said one
resident Of the neighborhood, the same cry was
repcatod until people began to laugh at their
own fears; IL was then that the end came.
The search for the dead was carried on Dusty
to-day Corpses were found in the greatest num-
LII. IL NIr.rnh t,n mint Mhere