Page 977 : JOHNSTON — JOLIET
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ily driven back, and was relieved of his command. In February, 1865, Lee placed him again in command, with orders to “drive back Sherman.” But Sherman’s force was four times as great, and, after hearing of Lee’s surrender, he surrendered his own force on April 26. He was elected to Congress in 1877. He received, the appointment of United States commissioner of railroads from President Cleveland, and retained this office until his death at Washington, D. C., on March 21, 1891. He was an able general and a man of wide culture and ability. See his Narrative of Military Operations.
Johnston, Richard Malcolm, an American writer, was born at Powellton, Ga., on March 8, 1822, and was educated at Mercer University. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar. Later he was called to the chair of literature at the University of Georgia, which he held until the outbreak of the Civil War. He then opened a boys’ school, near Sparta, Ga., which he removed to Baltimore, Md., in 1867. It was not until after this date that he appeared as a writer of short stories and novels, which gave him wide popularity. In 1871 he published Dukesborough Tales, a series of southern stories and character sketches then new and charming in style and humor. Among other works are a History of English Literature, written in collaboration with W. H. Brown; Life of Alex. H. Stephens; Studies, Literary and Social; Old Times in Middle Georgia; and Pearse Amerson’s Will. Judge Johnston died at Baltimore, Sept. 23, 1898.
Johnstown, N. Y., county-seat of Fulton County, is on the Fonda, Johnstown, Gloversville and Northville Railroad and on Cayadutta Creek, 40 miles northwest of Albany. It was founded in 1764 by Sir William Johnson, who erected Fort Johnson, a courthouse, a jail and an Episcopal church. To-day it possesses electric tramways and the other adjuncts of a modern town. Its chief industry is that of the manufacture of gloves and knitted goods, but the gelatin, lumber, gristmill and machineshop products are noteworthy. Population 10,447.
Johnstown, Penn., a city on Conemaugh River, by rail fifty-eight miles southeast of Pittsburg Manufacturing of various kinds is extensively carried on, steel-making being the most important industry. The plant of the Cambria Steel Company is one of the best equipped establishments of the kind in America. There also are the Lorain Steel Company, an iron and steel works, furniture factories, potteries, a wireworks and woolen and leather factories. Public buildings of note are Cambria Free Library, Conemaugh Valley Memorial Hospital, the city-hall, high school, Franciscan monastery and several churches.
Johnstown is famous as the scene of one of the greatest catastrophes of recent years. By the bursting of a reservoir on May 31, 1889, the city was overwhelmed with a flood. The water descended through a narrow valley and destroyed everything in its path. The loss of life is estimated at 2,500 or 3,000. An appeal for aid was generously responded to both at home and abroad, the cash contributions amounting to more than $4,000,000. Johnstown to-day is a much larger and finer city than before her misfortune, of which but few traces remain. The city occupies the hundredth place in America’s large cities, its population being 55,482.
Joliet (jō′ lĭ-ĕt), a city in Will County, Ill., 36 miles from Chicago on Desplaines River, at the terminus of the Chicago Canal. The rapids give water-power estimated to be sufficient to run machinery to employ 50,000 men. Six railroads, the Illinois and Michigan Canal and an electric line to Chicago furnish transportation. Pig iron, Bessemer steel, steelcars, steelrods, wire, nails, wirefence, tinplate, Corliss engines, steam boilers, stoves, agricultural implements, matches, horseshoes and wall paper are manufactured on an extensive scale. The oatmeal works are the second largest in the world. Stonequarrying is an important industry. The 22 school buildings are made of Joliet limestone. The township high-school building, recently completed at a cost of $225,000, is said to be the best equipped school-house in the state. Other notable buildings are the Illinois Steel Company Athenaeum (a clubhouse for workingmen), two hospitals, two academies and a public library. The northern state penitentiary is located here. Population 34,670.
Joliet (zhô-lyā′), Louis, one of the early explorers of the Mississippi, was born at Quebec in 1645. He studied at the Jesuit College, Quebec, intending to become a priest. He, however, abandoned this intention, and spent some years as an Indian trader, thus getting a knowledge of the languages and geography of the west. With Marquette he was selected to explore the western country and push through to the Mississippi. They started in May, 1673, reaching the Mississippi at the mouth of the Wisconsin in June. They floated down the Mississippi, passing the mouths of the Missouri and the Ohio, and going far enough to be sure that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. Joliet upset his canoe on his way back, losing all his maps and papers, so that the only accurate report of the expedition was Marquette’s. Joliet was given the seigniory of Anticosti Island in 1680 and, later, that of Joliette. Few men have contributed more to the geography of that time than did Joliet. He died in 1700. See Parkman’s La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West.
