Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-02-12
The New JOhnstOwn.

The Marvellous Way In which the Strick-
en- city has Risen to New Life and
Prosperity.
Travellers through the COnemaugh valley
will search almost in vain now for vestiges
of the destruction wrought in the little
city of Johnstown by the terrible food of
May 81, 1889. The aggregate value of the
property swept away by that towering wall
of water which rushed down the valley
when the great lake above Little Fork dam
burst its barriers has never been more than
roughly estimated. -Four thousand lives
were lost i'm the track of the food. which
stands now, and will continue to stand let
us hope, as the most appalling disaster of
the kind in the history of the country.
Where the old .Johnstown Law i'm shape
less, sodden ruin, crowding the channel Of
the river above the fatal stone bridge, after
the dreadful loss of 1000 lives and millions
of property, a new JOhnstown has arisen
ga city of unspeakable griofs and dreadful
memories, but also "a city Of great indus
trial activity, indOmitable courage and
hOpefuness for the future The new
JOhnstown is a striking monument to the
unyiclding, granite qualities of American
character. In some countries a spot which
had been the scene of such frightful suf-
fering would be abandoned by every living
being and stunned as if it were accursed.
Yet here at JOhnstOwn, two years and
half after the fatal day of destruction,
nearly every trace of the disaster has been
Obliterated and a new city stands, with
smoking chmneys and clustering stecples
and homes, larger and more busy and pros
porous than the old.
The great wire and steel mills, which
were entirely swept out of existence, and
the blast furnaces, rolling mills. and other
manufacturing industries, have all been re-
constructed, and are in operation with a
larger capacity and higher efficiency than
before the flood. In Johnstown proper
very little was done in the way of restoring
the lost homes during the fatal season of
1889, but the spring of 1890 saw work be-
gun and pushed with remarkable activity
a portion of the city which had been sub
iect to frequent overtlows was raised to "A
nine-foot higher grade The river banks
were defended by stone walls, the residence
portion of the city was rebuilt with the
addition of many fine new houses. The
new business buildings were finer than
those destroyed, and among the new con-
structon was large first-class hotel, a ca
pacious and attractive opera house, and the
public library building, restored and en-
larged by the generosity of Andrew Carne-
gle. The local banking institutions wealth
cred the financial stress which followed the
flood safely, and are now doing a larger
business than ever before, while an addi-
tional national bank has been established.
The aid which the whole country hastened
to extend to the sorely stricken city was
without precedent in its munificent gcner-
oSity. This was quickly supplemented by
the energy and pluck of those who sur
yived, and the two together have wrought
this seeming miracle.
The people of the city have just decided
to devote one days income toward erect
ing monument to commemorate the flood
and the kindness of the people. The day
chosen, whose income is to be thus applied,
is May 81, the third anniversary of the
flood.
Her people are also raising fund in aid
of the Russian famine sufferers