In Michigan sudden snow storms appeared, frightening local citizens. On the evening of May 29 the U.S. Signal Service issued a warning of "threatening weather." for the Mid-Atlantic states.

The city of Johnstown the day before the great flood.

The City of Johnstown

Johnstown lays sixty-five miles due east of Pittsburg in the heart of the Allegheny Mountain Range. Built on a level flood plain at the juncture of two mountain rivers, the Little Conemaugh and Stoney Creek, Johnstown looked like it appeared from a hole in the ground. The towns biggest employer the Camberia Iron Company operated night and day seven days a week. The company's three-ton convertors manufactured steel for rails, barbed wire, plowshares, track bolts, and spring teeth for harrows. As in most mill towns the work force of immigrants came from all parts of Europe, but to the locals they were all "Hunkies." All the workers lived in inexpensive pine frame company-owned houses. One of the local newspapers, describing the area, claimed the quarters were loud and that "pestiferous stinks prevail."

The steel mills of the Camberia Iron Company were just below Johnstown in an area were the Conemaugh River begins its run westward. The hillsides surrounding the town had turned an ugly black from the soot and smoke of the blast furnaces. The countryside surrounding the town, however, was heavily forested, green and lush with mountain streams, and abundant wildlife. The city rested on a level flood plain at the junction of two rivers. The town sat so far down into the valley that one observer noted, "Your sun rises at ten and sets at two." Life was hard in the mill towns and work dominated everyone's lives.

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