In 1850 there were 18,000 people, 1,300 in the largest settlement in the southwest corner. In the county population peaked at 213,000 in 1940 and has declined every decade since. 1940. Its largest settlement became a city of 67,000 and has lost people every decade since 1920. Since 1920.
They came from the east. They came from adjacent counties and from those further away in the Ridge and Valley Region, and from those more distant in the Delaware Valley; they came from the east and they came up against the Allegheny Front, all of them. They came in twos and threes and peered in from footpaths and Indian trails and then moved on. They followed the canal and then the railroad. They came from the east looking for work and they found work or they didn't find work and they worked or they didn't work but they all moved on, west mostly, nearly all of them. They came from all over Europe, from England, Germany, Poland, Wales, Italy, Ireland, Hungary, Russia, Scotland, but they all came from the east and moved on west over the mountains.
They were Joseph Schantz from Switzerland via Philadelphia, George Shyrock King, Westmoreland County, Thomas Barnes from Clearfield County Pennsylvania and Lancashire County England, and Russian Prince Demetrius Augustin Gallitzin a converted Roman Catholic become priest now up for sainthood via The Hague and Maryland. A Russian Prince...
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There was Schantzstadt and when Schantz became Johns there was Johnstown and when neither one became the seat of Cambria ("Wales," Latin) County Joseph Johns nee Schantz moved on and so many moved on that Johnstown was deemed the most unsuitable place for newcomers in America in 2003; there was Barnesboro and Thomas Barnes' coal mines were named "Lancashire" and Barnesboro moved on when the coal ran out and merged with Spangler and is now named Northern Cambria; there is Nanty Glo ("Ravine of coal," Welsh); there is Gallitzin, and there was George Shyrock King's Cambria Iron Company, the Union's forge during the Civil War, now a shuttered National Historic Landmark.
And there were sailboats on the mountain.
They came from the east. They came from adjacent counties and from those further away in the Ridge and Valley Region, and from those more distant in the Delaware Valley; they came from the east and they came up against the Allegheny Front, all of them. They came in twos and threes and peered in from footpaths and Indian trails and then moved on. They followed the canal and then the railroad. They came from the east looking for work and they found work or they didn't find work and they worked or they didn't work but they all moved on, west mostly, nearly all of them. They came from all over Europe, from England, Germany, Poland, Wales, Italy, Ireland, Hungary, Russia, Scotland, but they all came from the east and moved on west over the mountains.
They were Joseph Schantz from Switzerland via Philadelphia, George Shyrock King, Westmoreland County, Thomas Barnes from Clearfield County Pennsylvania and Lancashire County England, and Russian Prince Demetrius Augustin Gallitzin a converted Roman Catholic become priest now up for sainthood via The Hague and Maryland. A Russian Prince...
(Pause)
(Pause)
(Pause)
(Resume)
There was Schantzstadt and when Schantz became Johns there was Johnstown and when neither one became the seat of Cambria ("Wales," Latin) County Joseph Johns nee Schantz moved on and so many moved on that Johnstown was deemed the most unsuitable place for newcomers in America in 2003; there was Barnesboro and Thomas Barnes' coal mines were named "Lancashire" and Barnesboro moved on when the coal ran out and merged with Spangler and is now named Northern Cambria; there is Nanty Glo ("Ravine of coal," Welsh); there is Gallitzin, and there was George Shyrock King's Cambria Iron Company, the Union's forge during the Civil War, now a shuttered National Historic Landmark.
And there were sailboats on the mountain.
