nuts!" and not one in fifty of the people who
received the warning gave heed to it.

The Debris of Three Towns.

With the waters standing several inches deep in the streets of the
"flats" of the city the deluge from South Fork Lake, burst the dam and
rushed full upon Johnstown shortly after five o'clock on Friday
afternoon the last day of May.

First it swept the houses from Mineral Point down into East Conemaugh.
When the flood reached East Conemaugh the town was wiped out. This mass
of debris was borne on to Johnstown, reinforced by the material of three
towns.

The Gautier steel department of the Cambria Iron Company was the first
property attacked in the city proper. Huge rolls, furnaces and all the
machinery in the great mills, costing $6,000,000, were swept away in a
moment, and to-day there is not the slightest evidence that the mill
ever stood there.

Swept From the Roofs.

Westward from this point the flood swept over the flats. The houses, as
soon as the water reached them, were lifted from their foundation and
hurled against their neighbors'. The people who at the first crash of
their property managed to reach the roof or some other floating material
were carried on until their frail support was driven against the next
obstruction, when they went down in the crash together.

The portion of the "flats" submerged is bounded by Clinton street to the
Little Conemaugh River, to the point at Stony Creek, then back to
Clinton street by way of Bedford.

This region has an area of one mile square, shaped like a heart, and in
this district there are not more than a dozen buildings that are not
total wrecks.

Ten per cent. of this district is so covered with mud, stones, rocks and
other material, where costly buildings once stood, that it will require
excavating from eight to twenty feet to reach the streets of the city.

Remnants of the City.

Of the houses standing there is the Methodist church, the club house,
James McMillen's residence, the Morrell mansion, Dr. Lohman's house and
the First ward school building.

The Fourth ward school house and the Cambria Iron Works' general office
building are the only buildings standing on the north side of the river
from the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge to the limits of the "flats."

The Pennsylvania Railroad, from its station in Johnstown City nearly to
Wilmore, a distance of seven miles, had a magnificent road bed of solid
rock. From East Conemaugh to th