Technology

The Johnstown Flood demonstrates the danger of humans manipulating nature without due understanding and caution. Johnstown is a child of the technological era, emerging from a backwater existence when the Pennsylvania Railroad puts down tracks in the Allegheny Mountains, supplanting the system of canals just recently finished linking Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The railroad allows the city to become a major center for steel production during the boom years of the Civil War and the laying of track across North America. Johnstown hopes the vertical building beginning in Chicago and the U.S. Navy's conversion to a steel fleet will keep them prosperous.

Most Johnstownians are employed in the Cambria Iron Company, which is a leader in advanced applications of the Bessemer process. Residents read in their newspapers stories about the Eiffel Tower and other wonders of technology, and look towards a bright future. True, their valley is smoky...