The shape of the land shapes the land’s history. See the tool “Reading a photograph” before you start!
Painting of Conemaugh River by George Hetzel shows how the land looked to early settlers.
View of Cambria City clustered along the bank of the Conemaugh River
Paint Creek: the creeks that flow into the Stoneycreek and Conemaugh Rivers were shallow.
The creeks were narrow.
…and full of rocks.
Stoneycreek and Conemaugh (shown) Rivers flow right through Johnstown.
Johnstown sits on a floodplain surrounded by deep ridges. (Stoneycreek River on left of photo).
Filling in the banks to create more land narrowed the rivers.
Aerial view of Johnstown. (Conemaugh River at top; Stoneycreek at bottom).
Aerial view of Johnstown.
