Storey’s river width measurements

Riverbank measurements, 1854 and 1907

Henry Wilson Storey measured the river channels in 1907 and compared them to the widths in 1854 to see how much they had narrowed.

Little Conemaugh

Location	Distance property to river (feet)		Narrowing (feet)
	1854	1907
At Johns St.	38	100	62
Union St.	37	138	101
Morrell Place	19	104	85
At Morgan’s	30	96	66
Washington & Walnut	45	93	48 38

Stonycreek River north bank

Location	Distance property to river (feet)		Narrowing (feet)
	1854	1907
Johns St.	19	106	87
Union St.	93	105	12
King St.	75	94	19
Walnut St.	75	120	45
Carr St.	56	120	64
School Alley	19	56	37
Court Alley	18	96	78
Above Franklin St. Bridge	75	120	45
Above John Thomas’	38	110	72
Levergood St.	56	106	5039

Kernville, settled later on the Stonycreek, did not have as much river narrowing

Location	Distance property to river (feet)		Narrowing (feet)
	1854	1907
At Napoleon St.	75	95	20
Franklin and Somerset Sts. Southwest corner	38	100	62
Franklin & Somerset	37	80	43
Willow St.	56	100	4440

Farther south on the Stonycreek

Location	Distance property to river (feet)		Narrowing feet
	1854	1907
At Bedford & Baumer	45	100	55
300 feet above	57	90	33
300 feet above	83	90	7
300 feet above	30	104	74
300 feet above	30	120	90
At Spruce St.	38	120	82
Cherry St.	57	42	-15 41

• 38Storey, op. Cit., 1:324.
• 39Ibid, 1:325.
• 40Loc. Cit.
• 41Loc. Cit.

Excerpt from Nathan Daniel Shappee, History of Johnstown, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1940. Pages 202 –203.