Johnstown was typical of all mill towns of the Late Gilded Age. The work force comprised individuals from Italy, Poland, Hungary, Russia, and Sweden. They were known as "bohunks" or "hunkies" and lived down the river in Cambria City below the new stone railroad bridge that carried the Pennsylvania railroad across the Conemaugh River. Many of the steel hands worked ten or twelve hour days, six days a week and many worked the hated "long turn" that meant all day Sunday and Monday. If a man earned ten dollars a week he was considered fortuante.

Johnstown in the 1880s was the largest of the towns developed along the river valley. The area became dotted with smaller community enclaves living off the prosperity and wages of the mills. There was East Conemaugh, Woodvale, Conemaugh, Cambria City, Prospect, Millvile, Morrellville, Grubtown, and Moxham. There were nearly 30,000 people of varied ethnic backgrounds living in or around Johnstown. Having the largest population of around 10,000 in 1889 Johnstown sat at the center of the economic, entertainment, and social life of the area.

The Peril to the City

Situated above Johnstown was a man made lake known to the locals as the South Fork dam. It was built early in the 1840s and was nearly two miles in length. David McCullough writing in his book The Johnstown Flood notes, "Seen from below, the dam looked like a tremendous mound of overgrown rubble, the work of a glacier perhaps. It reared up 72 feet above the valley floor and was more than 900 feet long." The dam wall had over the years become pock marked with brush and trees growing in the cracks of the rock wall. From below there was no indication that the lake was being held back by this man made creation.

The rain that had started the day before continued on May 31st. At first there was little concern for the quickly rising streams and rivers that flowed into the South Fork Dam. However, the mills began sending men home late in the afternoon when the rain flooded streets and houses. People began to move seeking escape from the flood waters with friends who lived on "higher" ground. For some trying to protect family and property they remained in their houses determined to ride out the storm and the rising waters.

A view of the dam after its destruction

More on the Johnstown Flood.