JOHNSTOWN, a city of Cambria county, Pa., U.S.A., 75m. E. by S. of Pittsburgh, on the Conemaugh river at the mouth of Stony creek. It is on Federal highway 219, and is served by the Baltimore and Ohio and the Pennsylvania railways. The popula tion was 67,327 in 1920, of whom 12,142 were foreign-born white (largely from southern and eastern Europe), and in 1930 had fallen by the Federal census to 66,993. Including the contiguous boroughs, the population of the metropolitan area in 1928 was estimated locally at over 1 os,000. The city lies 1,149ft. above the sea, on level ground along the river, nearly enclosed by high, pre cipitous hills which afford many charming vistas, and is surrounded by some of the most picturesque scenery of the Alleghenies. It is the metropolis of the Conemaugh valley, and one of the chief coal-mining and steel-producing centres of the State, with over 18,000 men employed in these two industries. The coal mined in Cambria county in 1926 amounted to 18,860,645 tons. Iron, fire clay, limestone and timber also abound in the vicinity. Within the city are some 140 industrial establishments (including the Cambria works of the Bethlehem Steel company, employing 14,500 men in mills and mines), with an aggregate output in 1925 valued at $107,186,236. Among the numerous manufactures besides steel are silk, radiators, stoves, radios, paints, brick, concrete block, cigars, tires, playing cards, mattresses, motor trucks, mine cars, electrical equipment and hoists for mines and electrical conduit. The assessed valuation of property was $78,237,200 in 1925. Bank clearings in 1926 were $315,200,000. There are 23oac. in the public parks, and in 1926 a municipal stadium seating 17,000 was completed. A new sewer system was under construction (1928) at a cost of over $5,000,000. The city has a commission form of
government. Joseph Jahns, a Swiss pioneer, settled here in 1791, and a little later a town was laid out and named after him. It was an important port of call on the Pennsylvania canal, before the Pennsylvania railroad was built, but grew slowly until 1880, when the population was 8,380. With the development of the iron and steel industry in the following decade, the population increased almost threefold. The city was incorporated in 1889. On May 31, 1889, after unprecedented rains, a dam across the South Fork, 12M. above the city (built in 1852 to provide a stor age reservoir for the Pennsylvania canal) gave way, releasing a body of water 60-7oft. deep and 7ooac. in area. The flood swept down the valley in a mass loft. or more in height at its head, at a speed of 2om. an hour, and within an hour almost completely destroyed Johnstown and wiped out entirely seven other towns in the valley. The Pennsylvania railroad bridge withstood the strain, and against it the water piled up a mass of wreckage on which many persons were saved from drowning, only to be burned when it caught fire. Between 2,000 and 3,000 lives were lost, out of a population of 30,000, and the loss of property was estimated at $12,000,000. In Grandview cemetery, overlooking the city, where most of the victims were buried, is a large plot containing the graves of 779 who were not identified. A relief fund of over $4,000,000 was raised by a nation-wide subscription and disbursed through a State commission. The city was quickly rebuilt and made a rapid recovery from the disaster.