Western
states.

Grouped with the principal mills are the foundries, pattern and other
shops, drafting offices, time offices, etc., all structures being of a
firm and substantial character. The company operates about thirty-five
miles of railroad tracks, employing in this service twenty-four
locomotives, and it owns 1500 cars.

In the fall of 1886 natural gas was introduced into the works.

Building up Johnstown.

Anxious to secure employment for the daughters and widows of the
employees of the company who were willing to work, its management
erected a woolen mill which now employs about 300 persons. Amusements
were not neglected, and the people of Johnstown are indebted to the
company for the erection of an opera house, where dramatic
entertainments are given.

The company owns 700 houses, which are rented exclusively to employees.
The handsome library erected by the company and presented to the town
was stocked with nearly 7000 volumes. The Cambria Hospital is also under
the control of the beneficial association of the works. The Cambria
Clubhouse is a very neat pressed brick building on the corner of Main
and Federal streets. It was first operated in 1881, and is used
exclusively for the entertainment of the guests of the company and such
of their employees as can be accommodated. The store building occupied
by Wood, Morrell & Co., limited, is a four-story brick structure on
Washington street, with three large store rooms on the first floor, the
remainder of the building being used for various forms of merchandise.

Including the surrounding boroughs, Kernville, Morrellville and Cambria
City, all of which are built up solidly to Johnstown proper, the
population is about 30,000. The Cambria Iron Company employs, in
Johnstown, about 7500 people, which would certainly indicate a
population of not less than 20,000 depending upon the company for a
livelihood.

A large proportion of the population of Johnstown are citizens of
foreign birth, or their immediate descendants. Those of German, Irish,
Welsh and English birth or extraction predominate, with a few Swedes and
Frenchmen. As a rule the working people and their families are well
dressed and orderly; in this they are above the average. Most of the
older workmen of the company, owing largely to its liberal policy, own
their houses, and many of them have houses for rent.

CHAPTER IX.

View of the Wreck.

Each visitor to the scene of the great dis