Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-05-30
TRACT.
S141,750

$141, $50
One would suppose that where so many
millions of value had been destroyed
money would be scarce. The natural ex-
pectations would be to find good deal OF
paper in the foundations of the new town.
1t is not so. There is undoubtedly good
deal of credit under many of the business
houses, but it is good credit The busi-
ness of Johpstown Is largely in the hands
of men who were in business here before
the flood. Those who were successful
then, it is fair to assume, will succeed
again with fair treatment aud little time.
There has been general disposition to
accord them these, and they are prosper
ing. The permanent rebuilding has not
been done on credit, The iRvariable
answers of contractors 10 an inquiry con-
cerning this is that those who are building
are paying cash for their improvements.
Few ask for long credits. Men build
within their means or wait. Many are
building double dwelling houses, half for
home, half to rent. The new houses
are in many cases better than those which
stood in the same sites before, though
the large number of cheap frame houses
would probably bring the average lower.
THE FLAT TO BIZ FILLED UP.
There is noticeable falling off IN the
demands on contractors just now. The
people are housed. Tie rush to get any
sort of roof that they could spread bed
and kitchen table under is over. People
have time to think. Houses that held one
family before are large enough to hold two
or three, and the people are enduring
some discomfort, and are taking their
time about rebuilding.
To look from the tram passing through
Johnstown gives a false notion. The
par: of the town most plainly in view
seems but little changed in the last six
months. Temporary shanties and two
story store-rooms built of unpainted
boards still fill up the heart of the
city. The reason of this is that the prop
erty owners there are waiting for the re-
grading of the fiat. The level of the
ground is to be raised beginning with a
lift of ten feet at the point where the
streams come together above the fatal
stone bridge and running out to nothing
at Market street, five blocks up. The
filling IS 10 be taken, 50 far as may lie,
| 81. 49, ,,T la al thIs a
double ben, ii of additional safety. AS
soon us tni, grading is done new and sub
stantia buildings will cover this ground.
TIE LOST TOWN OF woODvALE.
Looking out of the righI-hand windows
as the uain goes east frum Johnstown,
one secs II waste of sand. There Wood
vale stood, with its 300 people. This
was the town that caught the first full
plunge of the flood af'er it had boiled
through the twisting gorEes "f ine hills
and a mile Of straight ''ay before It, The
town lay in The Hat, scarcely above tie
natural level OF river. The avalanche had
time to gather speed, to arm itself with
trunks of trees, and masses of masonry.
1t had seized more than ii score of locOmo-
tives at Conemaugh. 1t had torn up for
ests by the acre, snatched 500 cars from
the rails, ripped rails, ties and ballast
from the earth, tore off even the
earth itself down to the rocks,
like flesh from the bones. Weakened
with the ruin it had mace, the mountain
of water, whirling over and over as it
flung back and forth from hill to bill, in
its thirstihg course Gown the crooked
valley, with the motion Of a bullet fired
out of rife, hurled itself through Wood
vale.
The expression is weak Ii did not 20
through Woodvale. 1t came and in an
stant rushed in, and there was no Wood
vale. The flood seized the town, tore it
from the ground, mangled it for II mo-
ment in its frothing jaws, added the Gau-
tier Steel Works to it, and flung it through
Johnstown against the hill and the stone
bridge beyond. Not the houses alJne
were taken. Their very foundations and
the soil they stood on were ripped off,
down to the level of the cellT floors. 4
plough-share going through the fragile
nest of a community of humble bees never
made ruin more complete,
REoLAINING FLOODED land.
When the flood had gone, and the
waters had gone back to their natural
channel, they left new soil. A deposit
of sand, several feet thick, covers the'site
of the town. One may drive over it at
random. The remains of one street have
been discovered, but there is nothing to
indicate where the others were. No grass
grows out of the sand. It's dead waste,
its fiat surface broken here and there by
pieces of wreck, set of truck wheels, a
boiler, or jagged fragment of machinery
sticking up. The flood dug the surface
down until it is not safe to build upon
until dixie or levee is MAIDS to keep the
water out. A few weeks ago, in an
ordinary flood, it was covered four feet
deep, and tannery, reconstructed since
j ! l. = l.