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CHAPTER V. THE JOHNSTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT AND DISASTROUS FIRES.     From the time when the Susquehanna tribe ruled along the Susquehanna river, as early as 1682, or when the Indian chieftain Okowelah reigned in the valley of the Conemaugh in 1731, until 1837, a destructive fire was managed in two ways; First, it was allowed to burn until it died out; or, second, to put it out by the gourd or bucket brigade.     In 1837 a Merrick & Munson rotary engine, with the stinging name of the “Hornet,” was purchased. It had a handle attached to a crank on either side that required twenty men to throw a spray twenty-five feet, in consequence of which there were forty blistered hands. In a few years it was succeeded by the “Yellow Jacket.” The difference between these engines was that the “Hornet” went to the place of the fire and water in buckets was carried to it, while the “Yellow Jacket” went to the source of the water and pumped it through a copper-riveted leather hose to the fire. It had pumps of the reciprocating type, with handles running along the side of the engine.     In 1853 the “Yellow Jacket” was out of date and the “Vigilant” was its successor, except when the fire was near the canal or the river, the “Yellow Jacket” pumped the water to the tank of the “Vigilant,” which had reciprocating pumps, worked by handles running across the engine parallel with the axles. It required twelve men on the handles to do good work, and while they were putting their weight and energies on the bars the crowd would cry, “ Down on the Vigy.”     The Seventeenth Annual Firemen's Convention for the State of Pennsylvania was held in Johnstown on October 6, 7, 8 and 9, 1896.     The volunteer department was always efficient and well conducted, but the time came when it was insufficient to meet the new conditions of the city.     A disastrous fire took place on March 28, 1906, destroying the Swank Hardware Company's building on the corner of Main and Bedford streets, the Journal office, John Henderson's furniture store, and P. S. Fisher's business place. By common

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