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by Joshua Penrod (Author)
Guardian Dams. Today, most people remember Johnstown for a cataclysmic flood, but the city was also once known for steel.
From the early 1900s through much of the 1970s, millions of gallons of water per day were necessary to keep the city's main industry alive. This is the story of the dams that didn't fail, safely keeping the people of Johnstown and its steel industry prosperous for decades. It is also the story of transformation, for the dams built by an extinct steel company still stand and now safeguard areas of great natural resources and ecological importance in the highlands of Northern Appalachia. Surveying more than a century of wars, labor strife and economic catastrophe, author Joshua Penrod interweaves the story of these dams with the history of Johnstown itself.
Author Biography
Joshua Penrod is the author of Johnstown Industry (Arcadia Publishing, 2021) and other works, including literary essays in the Loyalhanna Review and the Northern Appalachia Review. He is an executive for a global biomedical trade association and holds several graduate degrees, including in law, business and environmental health. He holds a PhD from Virginia Tech and resides in the Johnstown area.
