Flood Survivors
Many photographers took special "stereo views" that made their photos look three-dimensional. First they took the pictures with a camera that had two lenses (like binoculars). The pictures were printed side-by-side. People used a viewer called a "stereopticon" to blend the two pictures into one three-dimensional image. The "Viewmaster" and 3-D books and movies of today work in a similar way. See a stereo card and stereopticon on this page.
Stereo views were a new fad in 1889. Photographers liked being able to sell their pictures this way, since printing photos in newspapers, magazines, or books was still difficult and expensive. People bought thousands of stereo cards of the Johnstown Flood. Three-dimensional pictures really helped people understand how bad the flood damage was. If you have 3-D glasses, you can view the same photographs here.
Click on the images below to view a larger image. To help you see as much as possible from these photographs, use the tool "Reading a Photograph."
A man stands and surveys the damage. |
Sightseers posed among the destruction. |
Much of the debris has already been removed from in front of the stone bridge as these survivors look out over the desolated valley. |
Men recover the body of a flood victim. |
Clean up workers |
Flood survivors |
These survivors built their shack from debris they could find. |
These men are surrounding a locomotive, one of many destroyed by the flood. |
These flood survivors are in front of a valley wiped out by the flood. |
 Several women are doing laundry in front of their shelter they built of flood debris. |
These survivors pose with the family dog - rumored to have saved the little girl from drowning. |
Debris on Main Street |
Wreckage on Main Street from the 1889 Flood. |
These survivors demonstrate the resilience of Johnstown. They were selling coffee and sandwiches from their tent. |
As soon as possible, businesses reopened in temporary buildings on Main Street. |
Columbus Day in 1893 - Johnstown is well on the way to recovering. |
Parade of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1897 - no signs of the flood visible. |