The Shape of the Land Shapes the Land's History
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Painting of Conemaugh River by George Hetzel shows how the land looked to early setters. |
Later houses, factories, and other businesses crowded onto the floodplains |
Paint Creek: The creeks that flow into the Stoneycreek and Conemaugh Rivers were shallow ... |
...narrow... |
and full of rocks. The creeks are "tributaries" of the rivers they feed. |
Stoneycreek and Conemaugh Rivers flow right through Johnstown. |
Johnstown sits on a floodplain surrounded by steep ridges. |
Johnstown before the 1889 Flood. Filling in the banks to create more land narrowed the rivers. |
Aerial view of Johnstown |
Aerial view of Johnstown |
Aerial view of Johnstown |