k to the stone arch bridge. The stream that went up
Stony Creek was turned back by the rising ground and then was reinforced
by the back water from the bridge again and started south, where it
reached a mile and a half and spent its force on a little settlement
called Grubbtown.

Work of the Water.

The frequent turning of this stream, forced against the buildings and
then the bluffs, gave it a regular whirling motion from right to left
and made a tremendous eddy, whose centrifugal force twisted everything
it touched. This accounts for the comparatively narrow path of the flood
through the southern part of the town, where its course through the
thickly clustered frame dwelling houses is as plain as a highway. The
force of the stream diminished gradually as it went south, for at the
place where the currents separated every building is ground to pieces
and carried away, and at the end the houses were only turned a little on
their foundations. In the middle of the course they are turned over on
their sides or upside down. Further down they are not single, but great
heaps of ground lumber that look like nothing so much as enormous pith
balls.

To the north the work of the waters is of a different sort. It picked up
everything except the big buildings that divided the current and piled
the fragments down about the stone bridge or swept them over and soon
down the river for miles. This left the great yellow, sandy and barren
plain so often spoken of in the despatches where stood the best
buildings in Johnstown--the opera house, the big hotel, many wholesale
warehouses, shops and the finest residences. In this plain there are now
only the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train, a school-house, the Morrell
Company's stores and an adjoining warehouse and the few buildings at the
point of the triangle. One big residence, badly shattered, is also
standing.

Houses Changed Base.

These structures do not relieve the shocking picture of ruin spread out
below the mountain, but by contrast making it more striking. That part
of the town to the south where the flood tore the narrow path there
used to be a separate village which was called Kernville. It is now
known as the South Side. Some of the queerest sights of the wreck are
there, though few persons have gone to see them. Many of the houses that
are there, scattered helter skelter, thrown on their sides and standing
on their roofs, were never in that neighborhood nor anywhere ne