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The, uBrary of Congress
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PittsburghMllegheny
IN THE
Centennial Year
PITTSBURGH
AN D
ALLEGHENY
IN THE
Centennial Year
-BY-/
GEORGE H. THURSTON
PITTSBURGH: ^. A. ANDERSON & SON, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, 99 FIFTH AVENUE.
1876.
\'^'* *
f^.
ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN TEE YEAR 187^^
BY GEORGE H. THURSTON,
IN TEE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF C0NGRESS,2AT WASHINGTON, D. C.
V
</?sS
CHAPTER I
PEN PICTURES OF PITTSBURGH.
On the 24th day of November, 1753, no human habitation occupied the point of land where Pittsburgh has since arisen. On either side a river, flowing from nearly opposite points of the compass, swept to their junction in a grander river; from whence, in after years, ships, built of trees then growing on the banks of those two streams, sailed without hindrance down over two thousand miles of forest bordered river, to cross the waters of the great southern Gulf, and breast the storms of the oceans beyond.
For the control of this point of land the elder Pitt, and Louis XIY, were al- ready scheming. The Indian trapper, and adventurous scout, the Jesuit gliding along the great rivers in his bark canoe, or traveling, Indian led, over the forest trails, had all brought stories, and told tales, of the wonderful country through which numerous rivers gave facilities for travel and transportation. In these facilities for commerce and transportation the statesmen of France and England saw the substratum of a wonderful empire. Looking to the control of '^ La Belle Rivere^^^ with its head waters but one hundred miles from the great lakes, and three hundred miles of the sea coast as the key to it all, they placed their finger on the map where join the Allegheny and Monongahela as the point of power. From thence along those rivers, and throughout that great country, should of right issue military expeditions, commercial adventures, and the flood of popu- lation. How the past approves the acute statesmanship of those rulers ; how the present confirms their vision of the great empire.
At this point, on the 24th of November, 1753, probably its only human occu- pant, stood one who was to wrest from the grasp of European rule the country they coveted, and be the father of the great empire those Trans-Atlantic courts foresaw such wonderful navigation facilities must create, and increase.
Here then stood Washington, the projector of Pittsburgh, in thought if not in actual plan, for he records in his journal at that date — ''I think it extremely well situated for a fort, as it has absolute command of both rivers." It is probable, that standing in the bleak November day on this point of land, his mind rapidly over- ran the future, and saw from the fort he had already projected, ^^ westward the star of empire take its way." Before him rolled the waters of a great river^ sweeping to the Mexican Gulf, and giving outlet and egress to the nations of the earth. Behind him was already pressing, despite the hardships of pioneer life, and the dangers of Indian warfare, the power of emigration. Around him rose,
Gil
Pittsburgh and Allegheny
in all its grandeur the primeval forest, and who can say what prophetic thoughts in the warm fancy of the then young man sprung and grew.
^'Then here he stood among primeval trees,
Here vv^here the rivers meet he chose the station, And with unerring eye prophetic sees
This point must be the head of navigation.""^
Truth is stranger than fiction, says the adage. In the great city of Pittsburgh, extending for miles around the point where in that November day Washington stood, alone, ''and thought the future o'er;" and in the forty millions of people, with all their wealth of farms, factories, mines and cities, to which the business of Pittsburgh has access, by her rivers and her railroads, the reality outswell the ambitious dreams of the elder Pitt, the grasping schemes of the fourteenth Louis, and all Washington's mind foreshadowed when he pronounced Pittsburgh the gate-wa}^ to the west. Perusing these lines at the close of the first century of American independence, may not it be confidently said that where all the same primary elements of growth still exist, as they do, within Pittsburgh's control, that in the future her wonderful increase will be repeated, and, in a period of years yet unborn, truth be again cited as stranger than fiction by he who shall then tell the story of Pittsburgh's growth.
On the lYth of February, 1754, less than three months after Washington ^' chose the station," the fort that he projected, the embryo of Pittsburgh that was to be, saw its birth in the stockade erected by Mr. Trent ; and again in less than three months more, on April 24th, the unfinished stockade, commanded by Ensign Ward, with forty men, was surrendered to Captain Contrecoeur, who at once proceeded to erect Fort Duquesne.
''How changed the scene since by the morning light. Poor Ensign Ward saw dimly from the high-land A fleet of perogues with their banner white, And heard the thrilling war whoop at "Herr's island."
Wrapt in his blanket in the hindmost boat, De Contrecoeur the motley crews commanded, Then here the flag of France was first afloat. Then here for the first time were cannon landed."^
Not long did the flag of France blow out clear and white before the breezes from ofi" the Allegheny. On November 24th, 1758, just five years after Washing- ton had stood at the point and projected the fort, the French, alarmed by the approach of General Forbes, set fire to their magazine, burnt all their improve- ments, and evacuated the place in boats.
* "Su>co-tash/' by W. 11. Denny.
In the Centennial Year:
6
On the 25th of November, 1758, the remains of Fort Pitt were taken possession of by General Forbes. The army was immediatel}' set at work erecting a small military Avork on the east bank of the Monongahela, and this was the first Fort Pitt, capable of holding two hundred men, from whence arose the name of Pittsburgh, as the settlement was called from the 1st of January, 1759, in the newspapers and letters of the day. In the summer of 1759, General Stanwix arrived and commenced the erection of the second Fort Pitt, which the following engraving shows the plan of and its position to the present streets of the city.
a, Barracks, already built b, Commandant's House, not built, c, Store House, d, d, Powder Magazines, e, Casemate, completed. /, Store House for Flour, &c. r/, Wells, in two of which are pumps. //, Fort Duquesne. i, i, Horn Work, to cover French Barracks. k\ First Fort Pitt, destroyed, r?, Sally Port.
6 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
This plan is a reduced copy of the draft made bj the constructing engineer, Rutzer, in 1761, afterwards given to George the III, and presented bj George IV to the British Museum. The Hon. Richard Biddle, during a visit to London in 1830, had a copy made from tlie original; from which, we presume, was made the engraving we have here copied.
In 1764, Colonel Boquet built a redoubt outside of the fort, on the spot marked with a "^ in the plan, which is still standing.
The following description of the fort and the village is from a diary kept bj" one James Kenny, who had a trader's store at the fort in 1761 :
11th mo : 19th. — The Fort Banks here is very near raised, which makes it look much stronger than it was in times of more danger ; by accounts ye front next
ye inhabitants being of brick, and corners of ye angle of hewn stone, about
foot high, ye back part next ye point where ye two rivers meets being of earth, and sodded all so that it grows thick of long grass, that was done last year, and they have mowed ye bank several times this summer ; it 's four squair with a row of barracks along each squair, three rows of which are wooden frame work, and ye row on ye back side next ye point is brick ; also a large brick house built this summer in ye south east corner, ye roof now aputing on, having fine steps at ye door of hewn freestone, a cellar all under it ; at ye back of ye barracks opens ye doors of ye magazines, vaults and dungeons : lying under ye great banks of earth thrown out of ye great trenches, all round in these are kept ye stores of ammunition, etc., and prisoners that are to be tried for their lives ; in these vaults there is no light, but do they carry lanterns, and on ye south east bastion stands a high poal like a mast and a top mast to hoist j^e flag on, which is hoisted on every first day of ye week from about eleven to one o'clock, and on state days, etc. ; there are three wells of water walled in ye fort, and a squair of clear ground in ye inside of about two acres.
20th. — I have been informed by a young man that was ordered by ye Com- manding officer, Collonel Boquet, (this summer), to number all ye dwelling houses without ye fort, marking ye number on each door ; that there was above one hundred houses, but ye highest number I have seen, by better accounts, there is one hundred and fifty houses, to take notice of I think was seventy-eight, these being ye inhabitants of Pittsburg, where two years ago I have seen all ye houses that were without ye little fort, they had then, thrown down, only one, which stands yet, also two that was within that little fort is now standing, being ye hospital now, all ye rest being built since, which if ye place continue to increase near this manner, it must soon be very large, which seems likely to me.
12 mo : 4. — Many of ye inhabitants have hired a schoolmaster, and subscribed above sixty pounds for this year for him, he has about twenty scholars, likewise, ye soberer sort of people seem to long for some public way of worship, so ye schoolmaster, etc., reads ye Litany and Common Prayer on ye first day to a Con- gregation of different principles, (he beings a Prisbiterant,) where they behave very grave, (as I hear) on ye occasion, ye children are brought to Church as they call it.
12 mo : 25th. — A young Indian man brought us four turkeys, saying, that he was recommended by several of his acquaintances to come to ye Quaker who would use him very well, and having bought them and paid him six shillings cash, besides victuals and drink, he going out heard of a better market, so came back and got ye turkeys, delivering ye money again, but his second Chap not pleasing him in dealing, he brought them back to us and had his money again, but he said Dam it several times at ye second Chap."
In theZCentennidl Year,
It was not until 1764 that Pittsburgh began to take form as an embryo city. In that year Col. John Campbell laid out a plan of lots near the fort, which plan is now embraced in four squares of the present city.
Two years after, the Rev. Charles Beaty, under date of September, 1766, men- tions Pittsburgh in. his journal as ^^ some kind of a town without the fort.^'' When only this curt, disparaging remark is all that is applicable at that time to the em- bryo city, the inference can only be that the appearance of the little settlement without the fort was anything but suggestive of its future greatness. This infer- ence is strengthened by the record of Arthur Lee in his journal, in 1784, nearly twenty years after, of ^'I believe the place will never be considerable."
In May, 1769, the survey of the manor of Pittsburgh was completed, and em- braced 5,766 acres. Shortly after this time we find, in the journal of George Washington, the next record of the progress of the city of Pittsburgh. Under the date of October, 1770, he being then on his way to the Kanawha to examine And locate lands for himself and others, the following pen and ink picture of Pittsburgh is made by Washington's hand:
"We lodged in what is called the town, distant about 300 yards from the fort. -X- -:f -x- The houses, which are built of logs and ranged in streets, are on the Monongahela, and I suppose may number twenty, and inhabited by Indian traders."
There appears to be a conflict here between "ye Quaker," James Kenny, from whose journal of 1761 we have just quoted, and Washington, as to the number of houses. James Kenny giving seventy-eight, nine years previous.
In May, 1776, Pittsburgh was a small out-lying or western fort. From its ramparts the Cross of St. George blew out clear and fair before the Spring winds, sweeping breezily up between the two ranges of thickly wooded hills lying on either side of the river, that, hardly a stone's throw from the sally port of the fort, sprung from the junction of the clear Allegheny and darker Monongahela rivers.
On every hand, save where the little village and the few cleared fields around basked in the warm spring sun, the dense forest clothed hill and bottom, ravine And river's edge. Down from the northeast on the one side, swollen with the melting northern snows, came sweeping the clear, bright waters of the Allegheny. From the south, on the other side, glided sullenly to their union with the north- ern stream, the tawny waters of the Monongahela. Flowing away from the green point stretching from the ramparts of Fort Pitt to the waters' edge, rolled from out the joining waters of the Allegawi"^' and the Monongahela the La Belle Rivere of the French, the 0-hi-o of the aborigine, to be, in years to come, a highway of commerce, wonderful in its towns and cities and the traffic on its waters.
* A remnant of an Indian tribe has been foundjin the west with this name, and some think at the proper original name of the Allegheny.
8 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
Up into the clear atmosphere wreathed lazily, or swayed fantastically, in the^ breeze, the pale blue smoke of wood-fires from the two score of houses which, formed the village, shadowy forerunners of the dense black columns that were- in an hundred years to be shooting up in every direction for miles around the- location of the little settlement of 1776. Scantily, here and there, about the doors of the few cabins, or along the one street, grouped cannie Scot and blithe Prenchman^, the plucky Englishman, the stolid Indian, and the thin, sinewy native- American trader and scout. Before the entrance to the fort the red coated soldier of George the Third paced lazily his monotonous beat, the clank of his- musket, and accoutrements, making a faint fore-reaching echo of the clang, and clash, of the machinery that then far down the aisles of time was moving ta- forge the bar and drive the plane, to smelt the ore, and shape the metal, and wake the echo of over five hundred miles of streets, and render noisy the day audi clamorous the night, in a hundred years from then. Thus in May, 1776, spark- ling in the sunshine ran the rivers, green and fresh swayed the trees, bright, and red waved the banner of England, idly about the fort lounged the repre-- sentatives of five distinct people, and quietly under the warm May sun rested' ^^ De-un-da-ga^^^ as by the Seneca Indians this embryo of Pittsbugh was called.
'^A hundred years ago what sylvan beauty Did nature on this almost island crowd, "^"^ Where Traffic now from altars grim and sooty, Doth overcome us like a winter's cloud." f
In December, 1784,"^"" we find in the journal of Arthur Lee, who had, with Dr... Franklin and Silas Deane, been a Commissioner to the Cfourt of Versailles, the-- following picture of Pittsburgh at that date. He says : " Pittsburgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in paltry log houses.^' Fresh from the French court the rudeness of a frontier settlement seems to have made no favor- able impression on his fastidious tastes. He also writes, '^The banks of the Mo> nongahela on the west or opposite side of Pittsburgh are steep, close to the river- and about two hundred yards high. About one-third of the way from the top is^ a vein of coal above one of the rocks. The coal is considered good and is burnt, in the town." How astounded would be the ghostly Mr. Lee could he re-visit; the scene and see how the coal he so curtly mentions is now burnt in the town,, and the acres on acres of it that are floated away. Mr. Lee also writes, '' There is; a great deal of small trade carried on, goods being brought at the vast expense of" forty-five shillings per cwt. from Philadelphia and Baltimore. There are in the
**The site of Pittsburgh was once almost an island from a chain of ponds stretching along its* eastern side, where Smithfield street now is. These ponds were at that early period the resort of wild ducks.
fSuc-co-tash, by W. H. Denny.
* It was in January, 1784, that the first sale of lots were made by John Penn, Jr., to Isaac Craig and Stephen Bayard. Iti June, 1784, the laying out of the town was completed.
In the Centennial Year.
town four attorneys^ two doctors, and not a priest of any persuasion, no church nor chapel. -J^- -^ -5^ The phice I believe will never be considerable." Mr. Lee did not evidently, to use a slang phrase of the present day, ''take much stock"" in the town peopled with Scots and Irish, living in paltry log houses. But works have been better than his faith. As it is after his statement that there are four attorneys and two doctors in the town that he records his belief that the place will never be considerable, it might be the subject of an interesting metaphysical inquiry how far this professional outlook gave rise to his estimate of the fu- ture prospect of the town, especially in connection with the almost despairing^ statement — "and not a priest of any persuasion, no church nor chapel." Cer- tainly this is not a very flattering picture of the embryo city of Pittsburgh. With, a population whose characteristic national traits were likely to give full employ- ment to the four attorney's and two doctors, and not a priest of any persuasion to- counteract what might be a Darwinian exposition of the survival of the fittest^, poor Arthur Lee may perhaps be well excused from not investing in corner lots in this little frontier town of "paltry log houses," containing about four hundred inhabitants. This population we infer from an account given by Dr. Hildreth, of Marietta, who, with a body of New England emigrants, arrived at Pittsburgh on April 3d, 1788, on the "May Flower." Dr. Hildreth, after giving a statement of the starting of the "Ma}' Flower" from Robbstown — now known as West Xewtoa — the passage down the Monongahela, and the arrival at Pittsburgh, says: "Pittsburgh then contained four or five hundred inhabitants, several retail stores^ and a small garrison of troops was kept in old Fort Pitt. To our travelers who- had lately seen nothing but trees and rocks, with here and there a solitary hut^ it seemed quite a large town. The houses are chiefly built of logs, but now and. then one had assumed the appearance of neatness and comfort."
Niles Register, vol. 30, page 436, says, "that Pittsburgh in 1786 contained: thirty-six log houses, one stone, one frame, and five small stores.* At this dat^ the first newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains was established. The first number of the Pittsburgh Gazette being issued on the 29th of July, 1786. Still' printed, ably edited and prosperous, the Gazette is rapidly nearing its Centennial,, but we doubt if its present proprietors, or any of the fraternity in the present" day, would venture on starting a newspaper in a community of thirty-six log houses with five retail stores, Avhere there was no regular mail route, and the. country around as thinly settled as the town.
In 1789 we find the following description of Pittsburgh in a rare volume en- titled "An Historical Review of North America, printed at Dublin, Ireland,. 1789," Says the author of the volume: "Pittsburgh is a neat, handsome town,, containing about four hundred houses ; it is situated at the confluence of the A1-. legheny and Monongahela rivers. It is expected this to2cn ivill in a few years become the emporium of the western country.'' The italics are given to mark the diff'erence.
*In January, 1788, provisions were very ecarce, and flour rose to sixteen dollars a barrel; and in. January, 1779, bacon was one dollar per pound.
10 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
in opinion between Arthur Lee in 1784 and the writer of the volume just quoted, five years later.
There seems to have been considerable difference in the statements of various authorities at that time as to the population of the town, and the number of houses it contained. A communication from Judge Breckenridge published in the first number of the Gazette, on the situation of the town of Pittsburgh, says : *'■ The town consists at present of about an hundred houses with buildings appur- tenent. More are daily added, and for some time past it has improved with an equal but continual pace. The inhabitants, men, women and children, are about fifteen hundred." Mr. Breckenridge has either made some mistake in the •estimate of the population or they stowed close, for his estimate gives fifteen persons to each house. As Niles' Register, quoted before, gives less than half the number of houses stated by Judge Breckenridge and Dr. Hildredth two years later, says ''Pittsburgh then contained four or five hundred inhabitants," and a census made of the borough in 1*796, and published in the Gazette of January :9th, of that year, states the population, ten years after Judge Breckenridge's statement, at only one thousand three hundred and ninety-five, it is probable that the I^iles Register record of houses, in 1*786, is correct, and that the population at that period, ninety years ago, was about four or five hundred. There was no mail carried to Pittsburgh at the time the Pittsburgh Gazette was first established, all correspondence of any nature being carried by travelers or a special express. In September, of 1*786, an order was made by Government to establish a post between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but on the 1st of October, 1*790, — four years after the establishment of the mail — the postage for the preceding year was only one hundred and ten dollars and nmety-nine cents.
On the 22d of April, 1*794, Pittsburgh was incorporated as a borough. In 1800 the census gives Pittsburgh 1,565 inhabitants. Turning from the vision of Washington, standing, in 1*753, on the uninhabited point of land where Pittsburgh isince grew from the Fort Pitt of 1761, and the rude frontier village of Pittsburgh in 1776, we pass an hundred years, and the great city of Pittsburgh in 1876 rises in all its proportions, wealth and business, before us.
One hundred years! what wonderous records they contain of change and progress. In them have had birth and growth the steamboat, the railroad, and the electric telegraph. It was from Pittsburgh the first steamboat, the "New Orleans," sailed upon the western waters. It was from Pittsburgh the first western railroad, the Ohio & Pennsylvania, reached its iron arms to grapple the growing commerce of the West, and it was from Pittsburgh the first line of tele- graph was built to the West.
In that eventful century the American colonies of Great Britain passed from the appanage of a crown into a mighty nation. Where, in May, 1776, the flag of ,St. George waved redly over the slight fort, around which gathered the little frontier village of an hundred persons, stands, in May, 1876, a world known city
In the Centennial Year, 11
of two hundred thousand people, from the tops of whose furnaces wave red banners of flame, the glowing standards of American industry.
Where, in May, 1776, a little village stood on the verge of civilization, peering timidly into the forest beyond, in May, 1876, a great city stands, midway between an empire of population on the east and empire of population on the west. Twenty millions to the east of her, twenty millions to the west of her, while the electric telegraph, the railroad, and the steamboat, connect her with the world and its commerce.
Throughout the nation, of which this city is such a central point, iron from its mills is found in every mart, its steel in the agricultural implements on every farm, and crowding from off the dealer's shelves the cutlery of Europe. Its glass is on the table of every hotel, and in the windows alike of city residence and frontier cottage. The smoke of its coal floats in the air from the Gulf of Mexico throughout the length of the Mississippi, and speeding across the country, glimpses are caught of it darkening the sky of little towns, that flit away behind the fleet locomotive, that can, and does, perhaps, claim Pittsburgh construction. As the train in the closing twilight rushes past cottage, village, and town, the bright light of its famed Petroleum is seen making brilliant with the evening lamp thousands of homes. Even on the hull of the staunch ship rolling with the swelling waves of the broad ocean the glitter of Pittsburgh's copper glints in the sunshine as she lifts w'ith the heaving wave, or is seen beautifying and bright- ening the machinery of the modern steamer, whether on our inland rivers, our great lakes, or grander ocean.
Standing a sooty giant athwart the head waters of the Ohio ; — glowing with the blaze of hundreds of furnace fires, — swart and grimy with their smoke, Pittsburgh may well be proud of her past, and look with great hope to her fu- ture. Planted on one of the grandest fuel fields of the world, she has wonderful facilities for receiving crude minerals and other material, for the world's needg and consumptions in their manufactured forms. Equally able to distribute them, to consumers, with the grasp upon the supply trade of this country faintly outlined in the foregoing paragraph, what, if her people fail not to keep and cultivate the advantages and powers their position gives them, may not Pittsburgh be in the future under the same industries? Her past foretells that future, and predicts her growth, which, in years gone by, the pages of this volume show.
In May, 1776, a little village of a few houses, clustering around a small fort, Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, in May, 1876, is a great community, occupying an area of 22,000 acres, having 500 miles of streets, with more wards than a hundred years ago it had houses. The Monongahela river and the Allegheny, which in May, 1776, swept through miles of primitive forest before they inter- mingled their waters, now, in May, 1876, flow each through from six to eight miles of city, with its massive blocks of houses, its miles of paved and gas-lighted streets.
12 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
Where, in 17*76, a solitary Indian canoe or skiff here or there, crossing from the little village to the forest on the other side, formed the connection, now tea grand bridges span the waters of the rivers, and are but as sections of the streets- that extend for miles from their either ends. Where, as late as 1*784, it is recorded of the town there was ''no church nor chapel, no priest of any persuasion," there are in 1876 over one hundred and ninety churches, from whence arise praise and prayer to Him who holds the destinies of nations in His hands, and has not for- gotten Pittsburgh in the blessing which fall alike upon the just and the unjust.
As no showing of Pittsburgh has, from its peculiar topographical configura- tion, presented or can fully picture the city, so is it equally difficult for the pea to give its portraiture in 1876. Built along the valleys of the two rivers, upoa the hill sides, up the ravines, and on the plain lying behind the ranges of hills- that border the Monongahela and Allegheny, no artist's sketch can present its- beauty or its picturesque views ; neither can the pen bring before the mind's eye of the reader its beautiful residences, the broad well-paved streets that for miles- and miles lie out of sight from the casual business visitor or the passing tourist.
The traveler, simply passing through Pittsburgh, sees things under such a, gloom of smoke, that the beauty of the city outside of its business area is gen- erally unknown. The traveler approaching Pittsburgh from the East on the Pennsylvania Kailroad hardly suspects that the beautiful park-like country through which he is passing, dotted thick with attractive residences, picturesque grounds, and broad paved roads, over which the bright sunshine showers down and clear blue skies bend, is part of the famous "Smoky city," a portion of the great metal factory of the United States. Just as some chance remark conveys the idea that, for nearly twenty minutes he has been riding at rapid railroad speed through miles of Pittsburgh's fairest wards, he enters upon a region of smoke and fire^ and for two miles or more rides under canopies of smoke, past furnace and mill,, coke ovens and factories, to be, after a brief pause in the spacious Union Depot, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, drawn into the bowels of the earth, to travel en- tirely from one side of the city to the other under its houses and streets. Emerg- ing on the Monongahela river side of the city, he still pursues his course amid fire and smoke, past glass houses, steel works, rolling mills and foundries, for some two or three miles, to again pass into a land of sunshine and clear skies^ where still the houses of Pittsburgh merchants and manufacturers dot the land- scape and beautify the scenery. The ear has been so stunned by the whistle of the escaping steam, the clank of machinery, the din of metallic .reverberation, and the roar of forges in all directions ; that as the eye is prevented from compre- hending any of the landscape surroundings, the mind is equally confused in ob- taining any definite comprehension of the scope of its manufactures. The travelers- pass from under its clouds of smoke and beyond its ear distracting and pecu- liar noise with the one distinct idea that its manufactures must be great, and with. a feeling of curiosity to explore the mysteries of its workshops.
In the Centennial Year, 13
Thev have caught glimpses as they passed of half naked men throwing about in savage play huge masses of molten metal ; they have seen for a moment the interiors of great cavernous buildings, where stalwart, sooty men, were pulling iind hauling, and dragging about long bars of glowing metal which went twirling ^nd slipping like fiery snakes through rapidly revolving cylinders ; they have -caught glimpses of streams of molten metal pouring like burning water through ^gathered groups of workmen ; they have heard strange, demoniacal yells and shrieks, passed clouds of scalding vapor, glided for miles by sombre house, black •discolored churches and gloomy warehouses. They recede from its boundaries with an impression that they have passed through some city half enchanted, such :as Marco Palo and other old Venitian travelers, fabled to have found in the then unexplored region^ of the earth, a city of fire and smoke.
And such is Pittsburgh in 1876 to the passing traveler as he enters it bj cither of the railroads that centres in the city. To the tourist who may spare the time to explore Pittsburgh there is, beside that region of fire and smoke, sections of calm delight, districts of great picturesque beauty.*
It needs but the tourist, in the budding month of May, or in sunny June, or jgolden September, or russet October, to drive a foot pace through the famous once East Liberty valley, now comprising some of the wards of Pittsburgh to see the city aright. Broad, well-paved avenues stretch for miles throughout its space. Perched on jutting hill, or nestled in beautiful valleys or resting fairly on level plateaus, costly residences and charming cottages attract the eye on -every side. Beautiful grounds, rich with cultivated shrubbery, or picturesque vvith natural forest trees, charm the sight; and the whole impression is of driving through a beautiful park, within which elegant residences have been, by per- mission, built. Here and there a massive and costly church sends its towering spire up into the clear, sunshiny sky, while no din of machinery disturbs the sylvan quiet of the scene, or shadow of smoke glooms the view. If the "business portion of Pittsburgh is a city, half enchanted, of fire and smoke, in- habited by demons playing with fire, this section of Pittsburgh is also under en- chantment of a different kind, and smiles a land of beauty, brightness and quiet. The one section might be a picture by Tintoretto, and the other by Claude Lo- raine.
In the long summer twilights, a ride out Penn and Fifth avenues, through Hiland and Ellsworth avenues, and other of the beautiful wide streets, where TOWS of gas lights stretch on either hand for miles, with the windows of the houses brightening in gradual illumination through the gathering darkness, while
*Sir Henry Holland, who was of the Prince of Wales' suite, when he visited Pittsburgh, remark- ed at that time to Josiah King, Esq., one of the committee of reception, that he had, in 1S45, spent ^ week in an equestrian exploration of the suburbs of Pittsburgh ; that he had traveled through all the degrees of the earth's longitude, and had not elsewhere found any scenery so diversified, picturesque and beautiful as that around Pittsburgh, and likened it to a vait panorama from which, as he rode along, the curtain was dropping behind and rising before him, revealing new beauties continually.
14 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
the perfume of flowers and the fresh foliage fills the air, renders it a drive with- out its paralell, perhaps, in this countr}^ There is no city which has such a drive, where all the quiet of the county, all the beauty of cultivated suburbs, and the architecture and conveniences of a city combine.
Passing to the north side of the Allegheny river, the tourist again finds himself outside of the din of machinery and the blurr of smoke, and driving around the Parks of Allegheny city enjoys a view of a well built city of notable residences of much beauty, or riding for miles through paved streets finds row after row of neat houses unclouded by smoke, and void of annoyance from the noise of factories- Pittsburgh proper, of the old city, and the South Side, is where the fires of the factories glow brightest, and the smoke rolls up blackest. This is the part most seen by travelers ; and has its beauties as well as the other sections spoken of. There is no more impressive sight than at the junction of Fulton and ClifT streets of a clear night, when a strong wind has swept away the volumes of smoke from the city. Close on the left hand rises grey and grand the beautiful High School ; below it the basin of the water works shimmer in the light. In. front lies the city of Allegheny with its miles of streets, marked clear and dis- tinct by the rows of glittering gas lights. Away up to the right stretches- the Allegheny river, on whose either side for three or four miles street lights shine ]prightly; along whose line forge fires, furnace blaze and factory flames^ are reflected back from the river shining blue and sparking in the moonlights Clear and bright on the left centre lies the Ohio, "Xa Belle Rivere,^' with perhaps a white steamboat gliding past, with its tall, chimneys sending out showers of sparks, a very star spangled banner. To the right, to the left, and in front of the spectator, furnaces are throwing up columns of flame. Through the wide open doors and windows of factories and mills illuminations of their interiors from their forge fires, the glow of flov/ing metal and twisting red hot bars of iron throwing off scales of fire under the pressure of machinery, presents a picture the spectator will not soon forget. The tourist standing thus, nearly three hundred feet above the Allegheny, with the night bringing out every forge .fire and fur- nace blaze, with the clank of the machinery rising through the air, and the roar of the furnaces echoing from the hills, will feel this ''Hymn of Pittsburgh,'^ which one of her poets. Col. Richard Realf, has so admirably rendered in words that thrill w^ith the very spirit of Pittsburgh's forges and furnaces :
My father was mighty Vulcan,
I am Smith of the land and sea; The cunning spirit of Tubal Cain
Came with my marrow to me. I think great thoughts strong-winged with steel,
I coin vast iron acts ; And weld the impalpable dreams of Seers
Into utile lyric facts.
In the Centennial Year, 15
I am monarch of all the forges,
I have solved the riddle of fire; The Amen of Nature to need of Man
Echoes at my desire. I search with the subtle soul of flame
The heart of the rocky earth, And hot from my anvils the prophecies
Of the miracle-years blaze forth.
I am swart with the soot of my chimneys,
I drip with the sweats of toil; I quell and scepter the savage wastes,
And charm the curse from the soil. I fling the bridges across the gulfs
That hold us from the To Be, And build the roads for the bannered march
Of crowned Humanity.
The beauties of Pittsburgh sketched in the foregoing paragraphs travelers rarely see, nor many of her own citizens, from want of knowledge of where and when to see. There are a dozci other points around the city where the scenery by day or night is beautiful, bu': they may not all be presented even by pen and ink. Enough has been given of "pen and ink pictures of Pittsburgh" to show what it was an hundred years ago, and to present some idea of what it is in the Centennial year, leaving the succeeding chapters to portray its growth, present its business, tell the story of its industries, suggest its advantages, and foreshadow its future.
16 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
CHAPTER II.
THE MILITARY RECORD OF PITTSBURGH.
Originating as a military out-post, Pittsburgh has carried the color of military prestige through all her career. In earlier days her frontier character naturally rendered her the centering point of Colonial military movements, as did her situ- a,tion at the head of a stretch of navigable streams. In after days her facilities for furnishing munitions of war, and her ability as a metal factory, still gave lier mark in the military movements of the time, while in the rebellion, Pitts- Iburgh became almost a national armory and military camp. The constant marching and re-marching of troops through the city ; the rendezvous it was for the volunteers and drafted men of Western Pennsylvania ; the shipment of munitions of war gave at all times a military aspect to the streets and the .suburbs. A full detailed history of the military events transpiring in and around Pittsburgh would require a larger volume than this to contain the facts and the papers ; and this chapter is merely designed to present briefly the leading ^events, more as an index than a history.
The construction of the stockade by Capt. Trent, alluded to in the previous •chapter, may be cited as the initiatory date of the military history of Pittsburgh. The expedition of Monsieur De Contrecoeur, in 1754, with sixty batteaux, three thousand canoes, eighteen pieces of cannon, and one thousand French and In- dian troops, was the first military movement transpiring at this locality, and was the first overt act of hostility of the memorable French and Indian war of 1754-58.
The expedition of the French commander De Villier, from Fort Duquesne, against Gen'l Washington at Fort Necessity, on July 3d, 1754, may be given as the second actual military movement of which Pittsburgh was the pivotal point; while the defeat of Braddock on the 9th of July, 1755, stands third in the list of military events which are a part of the city's history.
Thus, amidst the contentions of two great European nations to secure the point •of land where Pittsburgh stands, the embryo of a future city was formed, and Fort Duquesne passed into history, and became a familiar word in courts and camps, to become yet more familiar as Fort Pitt, and still more famous as Pittsburgh.
The expedition of Gen'l Forbes in 1758, against Fort Duquesne, comes next in the events that belong to the military history of Pittsburgh ; and the attack
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In the Centennial Year. 17
of a portion of Genl Forbes' forces under Major Grant on the 14th of September, 1758, is another battle scene in the military tableaux that illustrate the city's birth. The first actual conflict upon the area, where the city now stands, gave title to a locality known as Grant's Hill, which, until about the year 1840, retained, to a great extent, its original configuration and elevation, and its summit was the site of the reservoir for the water supply of the city. In after years the hill waa gradually graded away, and although a rising grade of the streets that intersect the locality indicate ascending ground,^no thing remains to mark the hill where, in the early gray September morning,
^^ The Higjilander with kilt and naked knee
Sent down his challenge to the sleeping fort. And waked them with his pipe and reveille."
This attack of Maj. Grant is characterized by Gen'l Washington in a letter to 'the Governor of Virginia as '' a very ill-conceived, or very ill-executed plan, perhaps both ; but it seems to be generally acknowledged that Maj. Grant ex- ceeded his orders."'
It was eleven o'clock at night when Major Grant appeared with his troops on the brow of the hill, about a quarter of a mile from the fort.
In the morning four hundred men were posted along the hill, facing the fort, to cover the retreat of "a company under Captain McDonald, who marched with drums beating toward the enemy, Major Grant believing there was but a small force in the fort. The garrison, Avho seemed to have kept an apparently sleepy watch, was aroused by the music, and sallied out in great numbers, of both French and Indians. This force, accounts say, was separated into three divisions, two -of which were sent, under cover of the banks of the two rivers, to surround the force of Major Grant, while the third delayed a while to give the others time, and then displayed themselves before the fort as if exhibiting their whole strength. The attack then began, and Captain McDonald, with his one company, was immediately obliged to fall back on the main body under Major Grant, who at the same moment found himself suddenly flanked on all sides by the detach- ments of the enemy moving from the banks of the river. The struggle became desperate. The provincial troops, as at Braddocks, at once covered themselves behind trees, and made a good defence ; but the Highlanders stood exposed to the £re .without cover, and fell in great numbers, and at last gave way and fled. Major Lewis, who had been posted in the rear with two hundred men, principally Ameri- <5an regulars and Virginia volunteers, with the baggage, hastened forward to the :gupport of Grant, but soon found himself flanked on both sides. The work of »death went on rapidly, and in a manner quite novel to the Highlanders, who in all their European wars had never before seen men's heads skinned; they gave way, and the rout of the troops became general.* A number of the men were
*It is recorded as one of the incideuts of this rout, that as Major Lewis was advancing with his men he met a Scotch Highlander under full flight, and on inquiring of him how the battle was 2
18 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
driven into the river and drowned, and Major Lewis was taken prisoner.f Major Grant retreated to the baggage, where Captain Bulletj with fifty Virginians, en- deavored to rally the flying soldiers. As soon as the enemy came up Captain^ Bullet attacked themVith great fury; but being unsupported, and most of his men; killed, was obliged to retreat. Major Grant and Captain Bullet were the last to- desert the field. They separated, and Major Grant was taken prisoner. J it is» not without interest in this connection to state that the point at which Grant was^ captured was at what is now the corner of Wood street and Third avenue, where- the St. Charles Hotel now stands.
The abandonment of Fort Duquesne hj the French on the 24th of November^, and its occupation by General Forbes on the 25th, are the two next scenes at this- eventful spot. A plan of the^fort as it then existed is not without interest in thisi connection ; the one given is from the drawing sent to Governor Morris, of Penn- sylvania, by Captain Robert Strobo, who, with Captain Yan Braam, had been sent to Fort Duquesne on the surrender of Fort Necessity as a hostage. In his letter- dated July 28, 1754, which gives a full account of the forces in the fort and other- valuable information of a military nature, he says : '^ I send this by Monccatoo- tha's brother-in-law, a worthy fellow and may be trusted. On the other side yoit have a draught of the Fort, such as time and opportunity would admit of at this- time;" and urging that^no time be lost in capturing the fort, uses this language :
going, the panic stricken soldier replied: they M'ere "a' beaten, and he had seen Donald McDonald" lip to his hunkers in mud, and a' the skin off his heed." This would indicate that the Highlanders had reached or were passing the point or base of the hill, at the present line of Smithfield street, between Fifth avenue and Third avenue, as a series of ponds or stretch of swamp skirted tho base of Grant's hill just here, and it was probably in passing through this swampy portion of the ground that poor Donald McDonald sunk up to "his hunkers in mud" and lost the "skin off his heed," and- it is probable that he was the Captain McDonald who led his one company with drums beating down- the face of the hill as if on parade.
f This ofScer is the celebrated General Andrew Lewis of the Indian war of 1774, commonly called Lord Dunmore's war. He was the companion of Washington in the campaign of Braddock, and was^ a captain in the detachment that fought at Fort Necessity, and it is stated that Washington's opinion of Lewis' military abilities was so great that when the chief command of the revolutionary armies was tendered to him, that he recommended it should rather be given to General Lewis. Stuart, in his Historical J/onoiVc, says, "General Lewis was upwards of six feet high, of uncommon strength and agility, and his form of the most exact symmetry. He had a stern and invincible countenance^ and was of a reserved and distant deportment, which rendered his presence more awful than engaging.
JThis is the same Col. Grant who, in 1775, on the floor of the British Parliament, said that he had often acted in the same pervico with the Americans ; that he knew them well, and from that knowl- edge ventured to predict " that they would never dare face an English army, as being destitute of every requisite to good soldiers."
While Grant and Lewis were detained as prisoners at Fort Duquesne, Grant addressed a letter to- General Forbes, attributing their defeat lo^Lewip. This letter being inspected by the French, who* knew the falsehood of tho charge, they handed it to Lewis. He waited upon Grant and challenged him; upon his refusal to light he spat in his face in the presep'"^ of the French officers, and left hiwk to reflect upon his baseness.
In the Centennial Year. 19
^' When we engaged to serve the country it was expected we would do it with our lives; — let them not be disappointed, consider the good of the expedition without the least regard to us."
The disinterested bravery and self-devotion evinced in this request of Strobo's^ who sent the plan and instructions to his countrymen at the risk of his life, is. not to be expressed in words, and adds more honor to the annals of Pittsburgh than it is possible any mention of the fact could add to the halo of pure patriot- ism with which this act and request surrounds his name.
It was in the summer of 1Y59 that General Stanwix, who succeeded General Forbes, on his death, proceeded to Fort Duquesne and began building Fort Pitt.. This fortification was, when finished, supposed to be strong enough to secure the British Empire on the Ohio to the latest posterity. An extract from a letter dated September 24, 1759, printed in the American Magazine published at Wood- ridge, N. J., says: "It is nearly a month since the army has been employed in erecting a most formidable fortification^ such an one as will to latest posterity se- cure the British Empire on the Ohio." Vhomme propose^ et Dieu dispose.
From the occupation of the ruins of Fort Duquesne, for some three years after, frequent Indian conferences were held at Fort Pitt, at which the various Indian tribes, headed by noted chiefs, assembled in all their savage grandeur, to meet the English commanders.
First among those conferences, and a little time before the evacuation of the fort by the French, is that of Christian Frederick Post, an unassuming Germaij, a MoraAaan missionary, who was persuaded to carry a message to the western Indians, in order to prevail on them to withdraw from the French.
" Type and forerunner of that German race. Which since o'erspread the forest of the west, Which scatters sheaves and flowers on its face. And plucks ungentle passions from the breast.""^
On the 24th of July, 1758, he arrived in sight of Fort Duquesne, and held a talk with the chiefs of the Delawares, Shawnees and Mingos. Those talks con- tinued until September 2d, and under date of 26th he records in his journal; " The Indians have agreed to draw back." In his journal the simple faith of the Moravian breaks out from time to time. On September 7, he writes : '' It is a troublesome cross and a heavy yoke to draw this people ; they can punish and squeeze a body's heart to the uttermost ; the Lord knows how they have been counselling about my life ; but they did not know who was my protector and deliverer. I believe the Lord has been too strong against them." And on his return he says : " The Lord has preserved me through all the dangers and diffi- culties that I have been under ; He directed me according to His will by His holy Spirit ; I had no one to converse with but Him."
«
*Suc-co-tasb.
20 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
On December 4, 1758, the chiefs of the Delawares held conference with Col. Boqiiet, and on January 4, 1759, nine chiefs of the Six Nations, Shawnees. and Delawares, sought and held a conference with Col, Hugh Mercer. On July 4, 1758, a conference, which extended to July 11, with some adjournments, was held by George Croghan, Esq., supply agent to the then Sir William Johnson, Bart., with the chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations; Delawares, Shawnees andWyandots^ who represented eight nations ; Ottawas, Chipawas, Putewatimes, Twightwees, Cuscuskees, Kicapoos, Shockeys and Musquakes. On October 25, 1759, Gen'l Stanwix held another conference with the same tribes.
In the famous Pontiac war of 1763, although its principal seat was in the region of Detroit, yet Fort Pitt was still a point of mark and of attempted capture. The Indians surrounded the fort arid cut off all communication with it. They posted themselves under the banks of both rivers, and continued there from day to day with great patience, pouring in showers of fire, arrows and musketry, hoping by famine, fire, or by harrassing the garrison, to carry the works. Fort Pitt remained in a critical situation until after August 5, 1763, when General Boquet, who had been sent to the relief of the fort, signally defeated a body of 400 Indians at Bushy run, a tributary of Bush run, a branch of Turtle creek, in Hempfield township, W-estmoreland county, 21 miles from Pittsburgh. The Indians had 60 killed, and the English 50, also 60 wounded.
It was about one o'clock in the afternoon of August 5th that the troops were suddenly attacked by the Indians. The engagement ended only with the day. At the first dawn of light the Indians showed themselves, and began the attack. The English, unable to leave their convoy and wounded, could not move ; many of their horses were lost, and the drivers had hid themselves through fear. The situation became critical ; the English were literally besieged rather than engaged. The fate of Braddock was before their eyes. To turn the condition of the posi- tions, Col. Boquet contrived the following stratagem. The troops were posted from the preceding night on an eminence, and formed a circle around their convoy. Directions were given to two companies, which had been posted in the more ad- vanced position, to fall within the circle, while the troops to the right and left should open their files and fill up the vacant space as if covering their retreat. A company of light infantry, with one of grenadiers, were ordered to lie in am- buscade to support the two first companies of grenadiers, who moved on in feigned retreat, and were designed to begin the real attack.
The Indians fell into the snare. Advancing with the greatest bravery, they galled the English with a heavy fire; but when certain of success, the two first cotnpanies took a sudden turn, and sallying out from a point of the hill, fell furiously on their right flank. The Indians, although disappointed, resolutely resisted; but on the second charge they fled. As they ran, the two companies which had been ordered to support the first rose from ambuscade and gave them their full fire; the four companies then united and pressed the Indians until they were totally dispersed.
In the Centennial Year. 21
Although the Indians, stricken with terror at this defeat, abandoned their haunts east of the Muskingum, it was only to prepare themselves for a renewal of hostilities the succeeding spring, the result of which was the gathering again of troops at Fort Pitt, in the autumn of 1764, for the expedition of Colonel Boquet against the Delawares, Shawnees, Mingoes, Mohicans and other nations in Ohio, between the Ohio river and the lakes. This expedition departed from Fort Pitt on the 3d of October. Their course was along the level ground which is now the First and Sixth wards of Allegheny to the narrows, and then along the beach to Beaver creek, and thence to Tuscarawas, near the forks of the Muskingum. This expedition resulted in compelling the tribes against whom it was sent to relinquish all their prisoners, who were first brought to Fort Pitt, and thence taken to Carlisle.
In the spring of 1765, Fort Pitt was again the scene of a grand Indian con- ference with Geo. Croghan, Esq., Deputy Agent for Indian affairs. On the 9th of May of that year the chiefs of the Shawnees, Delawares, Senecas, Munsies and Sandusky Indians, accompanied by five hundred warriors, beside their women and children, assembled at the fort.
On April 26, 1768, the principal chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations Delawares, Shawnees, Munsies and Mohicans, to the number of 1,103, beside their women and children, once more assembled at Fort Pitt to confer with Col. Croghan.
On October 19, 1770, Washington again visited Fort Pitt, on a tour down the Ohio, for the purpose of viewing lands to be appropriated among the officers and soldiers who served in the French war; and on the 21st of November, he was again at Fort Pitt on his return home, and spent all of the 22d of November there.
For a period after this there was a cessation of prominent military events in and around Fort Pitt ; in fact, Indian hostilities had almost entirely ceased, and the peace lasted until 1774, when the Indian war called Lord Dunmore's war began. Although Fort Pitt was at this date, more or less, a point of supply and rendezvous, yet no marked event occurred there.*
In 1778, a small force of regular troops under Gen'l Mcintosh, sent by the general government for the defence of the western frontier, rendezvoused at Pitts- burgh. The general with a small body of men, composed partly of regulars and partly of militia, descended the Ohio from Fort Pitt to the mouth of Beaver creek, and built Fort Mcintosh, on the present site of the town of Beaver.
*It was during this year that Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, set up the pretension that the Western boundary of Pennsylvania did not include Pittsburgh and the Monongahela river. He took possession of Fort Pitt by his agent, Dr. Connell}', on the withdrawal of the royal troops by order of Gen'l Gage. The fort seems to have been in a dismantled condition at this time, as in a letter written by Pevereux Smith, at Pittsburgh, June 10, 1776, describing the acts of Connelly, is this sen- tence : "Connelly has embodied upwards of one hundred men, and will Jiave this fort in good order in a short time.'''' At this same time a deputation of the Six Nations had a conference with this Dr. Connelly, as Lord Dunmore's representative, in respect to the murders committed by Cresap and Greathouse, which led to the war of 1774.
22 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
On the 27th of November, 1792. Pittsburgh witnessed the departure of Gen'l Wayne's — Mad. Anthony — expedition to the North-west territory. All through the previous summer Fort Pitt had been a camp of instruction. Gen'l Wayne using energetic measures to put his troops in the best possible discipline for eflScient services. After leaving Fort Pitt, Gen'l Wayne encamped for the winter at a point seven miles above the mouth of Beaver river. This place was strongly fortified, and called Legionville. The result of Wayne's expedition belongs to the military history of the North-western territory rather than Pittsburgh, which was simply the point of organization of the troops. After this the Indian conferences, with all their panoramic parade in and around Fort Pitt, entirely ceased.
In the years 1Y91-4 Pittsburgh was the scene of the celebrated Whisky Insur- rection. In 1756 the Province of Pennsylvania laid an excise on whisky to sus- tain its credit. This law was to continue ten years. During the revolution the law was generally evaded in the west; but when the debts of the revolution began to press upon the State, a more vigilant enforcement of the lavr was at- tempted. Opposition at once arose, and liberty poles were erected in the western counties. The settlers of those localities, descended from the people of North Britain and Ireland, had many of them brought their hatred of an excise man from the old country. In that day drinking whisky was as common and honora- ble as eating bread. The cause of the American Revolution had been an excise law, and the people supposed they were only following the example whose re- sults they had lately fought out. The State law was repealed; but Congress in 1791 passed an act laying four pence per gallon on all distilled spirits. The pass- age of the act was opposed by representatives from the western counties of Penn- sylvania, among whom was Albert Gallatin, representing Fayette county, who with others on their return openly and loudly disapproved of the law. The first pub- lic meeting in opposition was held at Redstone Old Fort, (now Brownsville,) on July 27, 1791. On September 7 delegates from the four counties met at Pitts- burgh and passed resolutions against the law. On the 6th of September a party waylaid a collector for Allegheny and Washington, and tarred and feathered him. In October a person of weak intellect, named Wilson, who affected to be an excise man, was tarred and feathered and burned with hot irons. On the 15th of Sep- tember the President issued a proclamation enjoining all persons to submit to the law and desist from unlawful proceedings. In April, 1793, a party in disguise at- tacked at night the house of Benj. Wells, a collector of Fayette county. On the 22d of November they again attacked his house and compelled him to surrender his commission and books, and to resign his office. In July, 1794, many other out- rages were committed, houses and stills burned. Also in June several serious riots occurred, in which collectors of excise were maltreated in various ways. During these turmoils a term had come into popular use, to designate the opponents to the excise laws, who were called Tom Tinkers men. The first application of the term is stated to have originated at the destruction of a
In the Centennial Year, 23
still, which was cut to pieces. This was humorously called mending the still, :and the menders must of course be tinkers, and thus Tom Tinker's men. Al- though Congress, in June, 1794, amended the law, it still remained odious, as it was a repeal of the act that was demanded. The people had for years, in much peril from Indians, cultivated their lands, and when, bv their great exertions, more grain Avas raised than they needed for food, they were met with a law restraining them from using the surplus as they thought best, and they therefore regarded the tax as would be one now on lard, or pork, or flour. The conse- <[uence was that the disturbances still increased, and on the 16th of July the house of Gen'l Xeville, seven miles south-west of Pittsburgh, was attacked and burned, several persons being killed and wounded. Various meetings of the insurgents were held at different places, and in July, 1794, a large number of men assembled at Braddocks, many in organized companies, under arms, for the purpose of attacking Pittsburgh. The insurrectionary feeling had now reached its heighth. A word in favor of the law was ruin to any one. On the contrary, to talk against the law was the way to office and personal popularity and profit.
At the assemblage at Braddocks, when it was proposed by David Bradford, who was the most prominent leader, that the troops should go on to Pittsburgh, Hugh M. Breckenridge, who had joined the movement to control, and, if possi- ble, quell it by diplomacy, and in whose writings a full account of the whole matter is to be found, said: -'Yes, by all means, at least give proof that the strictest order can be maintained, and no damage done. "We will just march through the town and take a turn, come out on the plain on the banks of the Monongahela, and after taking a little whisky with the inhabitants, the troops will embark and cross the river." This was accomplished, and no damage but the burning of one barn done. "The people," says Mr. Breckenridge, ''were mad. It never came into my head to use force on the occasion; I thought it safest to give good words and good drink on the occasion rather than powder and balls. It cost me four barrels of good whisky that day, and I would rather ^pare that than a quart of blood.'"
On the 14th of Aurust a meetino: of 260 delegates was held at Parkinson
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!Perry, now Monongahela city. Albert Gallatin and H. M. Breckenridge both took prominent part ia the discussion, and the treasonable plans of Bradford were softened down and explained away: the original force of the insurrection was condensed down to a committee of 60, which was to be represented by an •executive committee of 12, who were to confer with the U. S. Commissioners. To gain time, and thus restore quietness, was the object of Mr. Gallatin and his -friends. The Commissioners proposed an amnesty, which, at a meeting held at Redstone Fort, August 23, was accepted through the arguments of ^Ir. Gallatin .and Mr. Breckenridge. This meeting virtually ended the insurrection, although there were enough malcontents left to render it necessary, in the opinion of the President, to send an army of 15,000 men to Pittsburgh, under General Lee, •The army arrived in Pittsburgh in November, but met with no opposition, nor
24 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
was any blood shed. The army soon returned to their homes; Gren'l Daniel Morgan being left with a few battalions to maintain quiet during the winter, and in the spring, order being fully restored, those were withdrawn.
With the war of 1812, Pittsburgh again entered into the military services of" the country. The equipments for the fleet of Perry upon Lake Erie, was, in a great measure, furnished from Pittsburgh ; a portion of the cannon being cast at Pittsburgh, and the cordage furnished from rope works then in existence at this point. A company of volunteers under Oapt. James Butler, called the Pitts- burgh Blues, served in the campaign under Genl Harrison, and were included in the detachment of six hundred men who were ordered by Gen'l Harrison, on the 25th of November, 1812, to march from his headquarters and destroy the Indian towns on the Misslssinewa river ; at the battle there fought, John Francis- was killed, and Elliott, Dodd, Read, and Chess were wounded. They also partici- pated in the siege of Ft. Meigs, where Newman and Richardson were killed, and Willock, Ross, Williams, Dobbins, and Wahrendoff wounded. They were also part of the small force of two hundred men, with which Major George Groghan so brilliantly defended Fort Stephenson, against Gen'l Proctor and five hundred: English troops, and eight hundred Indians. Of the services of the Pittsburgh Blues at this brilliant defence there is recorded, that, the enemy concentrating the fire of all their guns on the northwest angle of the fort. Major Groghan sup- posed that when the British attempted to storm the fort, the attack would be- at that angle. ''Seeing this, he ordered Sergeant Weaver and six privates of the Pittsburgh Blues to place there bags of sand and flour. This was done so effectually, that that angle received no material damage from the ene- my's gujis." Maj. Groghan had but one cannon in the fort, a six pounder; this^ he had placed in such a position as to rake the ditch in case the enemy attempted to scale the walls at that point. This only cannon was given in charge of~ Sergeant Weaver and his six men to handle. When late in the evening of the 2d of August, -the British storming column attacked the fort, Sergeant Weaver and his six Pittsburgh ers opened the masked port hole at which they stood around their six pounder, and the piece was discharged at the assailants, then only thirty feet distant. Death and desolation filled the ditch around the works- into which the attacking force had leaped in their charge. Fifty were instantly killed and wounded, and the scaling column fled in dismay, nor did they re- new the attack ; and at three o'clock that night Proctor and his men retreated. Another incident illustrative of the material of this company is pardonable here... The person narrating it, says : ''I had been in attendance on Gapt. Butler, lying sick in one of the block houses of Fort Meigs during its siege, and starting out one morning to procure some breakfast, saw Sergeant Trovillo cooking coffee over some coals. I told him my errand, and he told me to wait a few minutes: and he would divide his coffee with me. I took a seat, and in a moment or twa • afterwards heard the peculiar singing of an Indian rifle ball, that entered the ground a short distance from where we were sitting. Hurrah! says I; Ser-^
In the Centennial Year, 25
geant, what does that mean? He pointed to a tree at a considerable distance from the pickets, where I observed an Indian perched on one of the branches. He said, with great, good humor : ' That rascal, George, has been firing at me ever since I commenced cooking mj breakfast.' I swallowed my tin-cup of coffee pretty expeditiously ; during which, however, I think, he fired once or twice, and told Trovillo I was not going to remain a target for the yellow skins."
The steamboat '^ Enterprise/' the fourth one that navigated the western waters,, took from Pittsburgh some of the cannon and other munitions of war used at the battle of New Orleans ; and it is said, by her timely arrival aided greatly in the success of that contest.
The Mexican war of 1846 found Pittsburgh again making a record in the military movements of that day, and being, as in all previous wars, an import- ant point of rendezvous for troops, and supply point for munitions of war.
In the marches and battles of that war Pittsburgh was well represented. Among the troops from Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh were the old Pittsburgh^ Blues, of the war of 1812, who had preserved their organization from that time. The Duquesne Greys were also among those who fought in Mexico. This com- pany, with others, garrisoned the City of Puebla, under the command of Col. Samuel W. Black,^ and sustained a siege by the Mexican forces of several weeks duration; the story of which is briefly told in the following verses, which were published in the '■'' Pittshurgh American^''^ on the day of the return of the Pitts- burgh troops, at the close of the war.
Where the pleasant southern breezes
Kist Puebla's towers gray. Ten to one the wily Mexique,
With the leaguers patience lay. Ten to one, encamped for weeks
Round Puebla's towers grey.
One to ten was all we numbered
On Puebla's towers gray, Through the dark and chilling night.
Through the long and burning day, One to ten we kept the ramparts
Of Puebla's towers grey.
Shame ! upon the Mexique eagle,
By Puebla's towers gray. One to ten alone opposing.
Ten to one they fled away. Ah ! 'twas Black's brave Pennsylvanians
Held Puebla's towers gray.
*This gallant soldier was one of those brave spirits who gave his life for the preservation of th&- Union. He fell at the battle of Fair Oaks. Brave, impetuous and talented, the following speecli*
26 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
With the outbreak of the rebellion Pittsburgh once more became the scene of military movements, a partaker in military action, and an arsenal for the con- struction and supply of munitions of war. During the entire period in which the contest was continued Pittsburgh was the gate-way through which passed the most of the troops in their movements from the West to the East, and the East to the West. Early in the war a '^Subsistence Committee'' was established, for the purpose of furnishing a meal to all troops passing through the city. This sub- sistence committee dined its first regiment on the 28th of July, 1861, and from that period until the close of the war, by night as well as by day, no body of troops passed through the city without partaking of a dinner, supper, breakfast, or midnight lunch, or being invited to. The movement was purely a voluntary one, and sustained by voluntary personal contributions. It was organized August, 1861, and finally dissolved January, 1866. During the period of its organization there was fed 409,745 soldiers, in addition to which 79,460 sick and wounded soldiers were nursed and provided for in the Soldiers' Home.
The announcement of the firing upon Fort Sumter created at once a (lecided movement in Pittsburgh ; a committee called '' The Committee of Public Safety of Allegheny County" was formed, the executive committee of which, for several .months, sat in constant session day and night.
The close proximity of Pittsburgh to the border line of the seceding States, necessarily brought it at once into the vortex of the active movements of the hour; while her admirable supply of so many of the crude materials from whence munitions of war are formed, and her facilities for manufacturing, con- verted her workshops into so many divisions of a huge arsenal, in which nearly all the equipments of troops and implements of offence and defence were made. Por quite the entire period of the war, Pittsburgh was literally a camp and an arsenal. Her foundries, her rolling mills, her tanneries, her harness and saddle factories, her clothing manufactories, her wagon factories, were all active with the production of shot and shell, of cannon, of armor plates, of wagons, of artillery harness and infantry and cavalry accoutrements, and other munitions of warfare. But few hours of the day or night were without the passage of bodies of troops, or was the roll of the drum silent. Her streets were literally a war path.
While yet the clouds of the rebellion were gathering and muttering with sup- pressed thunders in the south, and before the firing upon Fort Sumter, one event marked in Pittsburgh the temper of the people of the city, and sounded the key- note of the grand hymn of loyalty that for five years after kept sounding, clear and strong, under defeat as well as in success, through all the loyal States.
made on the 15tli of May, 1861, at Omaha, while welcoming his successor to the Governorship of Nebraska, is marked with his characteristics : **0n to-morrow," said he, "I shall start for Pennsyl- vania, to stand there as here, very close to the flag she follows. I think I shall recognize it as the same that has always waved over her strong and brave battalions. It is a goodly flag to follow and xarries a daily beauty in its folds that makes all others ugly." ,
In the Centennial Year. 27
A few days previous to the 26th of December, 1860, an order came from Floyd the Secretary of War, to ship on that day one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, lying at the Allegheny Arsenal, to New Orleans, under pretext that they were wanted for mounting on Ship Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, on which some for- tifications had been begun. The intelligence of this order having gotten abroad, spread rapidly among the people. The Dispatch of December 25, commenting mpon this news, says :
''Will our people submit to this? Our citizens of all parties as a unit de- nounce the movement, and prominent democrats, leading Breckenridge men, have telegraphed to Washington to have the order revoked. * -x- -x- * * The people of Allegheny county should see that the cannon purchased by the national treasure are not conveyed to the far South, and they need not barricade Penn and Liberty streets to prevent it. Let them decide that no cannon shall be shipped till Charleston Arsenal is in possession of the Federal Government and Fort Moultrie reinforced, and none will be."
The italics and capitals are as originally printed in the article, which con- oludes with the following significant paragraph :
"Arrangements were making on Monday to have some of these guns taken to the wharf. We suppose some one will tap the fire bells on the route on their making their appearance on Penn and Liberty streets, that our people may wit- ness their removal."
Another article in the same paper concludes with, " Our people are a unit that not a gun shall be shipped South," These extracts reflect the intense feel- ing that prevailed in the community. The commander of the "Silver Wave," on which steamboat the guns were to be shipped, was notified that if he took the cannon on board his vessel she would never pass the limits of the harbor, but would be sunk. Steps were taken to have some pieces of cannon mounted op- posite Brunot's island, on the Allegheny side, to effect that purpose as the boat should pass. The commander of the arsenal was called upon by a committee and requested to desist from obeying the order, on the ground that it had its origin under circumstances which contemplated treasonable results. The officer in charge of the arsenal could only suggest that a rescinding of the order be ob- tained from Washington. In the mean time an informal meeting had been held on the afternoon of the 25th a.t the Mayor's office, to take action in the matter. The tone of this meeting is presented in the following extract which we quote from the Dispatch of the 26th.
"While there is a very decided opposition to any interference with the trans- portation of the guns to the river, until after we have heard from Washington, and all remonstrance fails, it was equally as decided against allowing their re- moval from the city should the orders from Washington not be countermanded." Another article says : " The proposed removal of cannon from the arsenal was the all absorbing topic of conversation (that day) ; and judging from the feeling, almost universally expressed, we do not doubt that the officers in command will meet with a determined resistance should they attempt to execute the order of the Secretary of War."
28 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
Edwin M. Stanton had at this time become, as Attorney General, a member of Buchanan's cabinet, and to him a committee of citizens applied to obtain a countermanding of the order. A dispatch was also sent to the President froni influential citizens, stating : ^' They would not be responsible for the conse- quences if the order was not countermanded."
A public meeting was called for Thursday the 30th, to take action in the mat- ter, and hear the report of the committees which had been appointed at the previ- ous meetings. It was while this meeting was in session that a detachment of troops, in charge of a number of guns, moved from the arsenal to transport thems to the wharf for shipment on the ^' Silver Wave." Secretary Stanton had replied that there was no knowledge of the order at the department; but no reply had yet been received from the government to the telegraph of the committee. A tele- gram had just been read to the meeting, announcing that Col. Anderson had withdrawn from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, when the guns and their escort reached Liberty street, near Wood. The excitement became intense, and most determined expressions of intention to stop the further progress of- the guns^ were made.
The position was one of great moment. There was no doubt that the order of Floyd to ship the guns was given with the intention of having this large amount of ordnance pass into the hands of the rebels. To allow the guns to» be shipped was to furnish the avowed enemies of the Union with a valuable supply of artillery. As yet, it was construed, no overt act had been committed by the South. To have, by force of arms, resisted a government officer in the carrying out the order of the Secretary of War, was, under the circumstances, to- organize armed resistance to the Federal government. Although no proclama- tion on the part of the government declared that the South was in rebellion^ yet all acts of the Southern States were so plainly evidences of preconcerted re- bellion, that the public mind failed to draw the nice distinctions of law, an(i looked upon the well avowed intention as the fact. Presuming rebellion al- ready existed from the hostile position and acts of the South, it seemed incredi- ble that the government should be shipping cannon where they would be used against it, unless the government was already part of the threatened rebellioD of the South against the North. If it were, it was clear the guns must not leave the city. If it were not, it was, beyond doubt, that treasonable motives were concealed in the order ; which it was equally the duty of loyal citizens to ap- prehend. Yet, to stop the shipping of the guns was to be guilty of actuall resistance by loyal people to a government loyal to them, which the people were even then preparing to sustain with life and treasure. It was an hour of great and painful uncertainty, calling for coolness and moderation. It can well be imagined, how anxiously those who saw a duty on either hand, yet appreciated the difficulties of the position, counted the hours until such advice could be received from Washington as would decide the course to be taken.
In the Centennial Year, 29
Through the exertions of influential citizens, the troops were halted on Wood street, so that time might be gained in which to obtain the communica- tion so much hoped for from the government.
The line of guns and their escort extended from Virgin alley to Diamond alley, Fifth avenue being in the centre, at the upper end of which, less than nine liundred feet distant, around the Court House, were gathered excited masses de- termined the cannon should not leave the city, but restrained from actual move- ment by the red tape of speeches, committees on resolutions, and like delays. The situation was not unlike that previous to the throwing overboard of the tea in Boston harbor, at the outbreak of the revolution. There the citizens had, on the evening of the day on which the event occurred, gathered at Faneuil hall to ;await the answer of the English Governor to a committee, who had gone to re- quest that the vessels holding the tea might have a re-clearance and be allowed to sail without landing their cargoes. Pending the return of the committee, the meeting was addressed by the speakers present, — when a message from the com- mittee was received, saying that the Governor had refused to allow the ships to clear, Samuel Adams arose and said, ''all has now been done that can be to preserve the peace," upon which the Indian war whoop was raised, and the fa- mous body af Mohawks issuing from the hall, proceeded to the ships and began throwing over the tea. Here, at Pittsburgh, the message had gone to Washing- ton requesting the rescinding of the order shipping the cannon. Awaiting the reply the citizens were gathered in public meeting, and their speakers — by ad- dresses— were holding the people. Two squares distant the cannon, under guard of U. S. soldiers, were halted until that reply could be had. The situation was quite twin with that at Faneuil hall. Happily, Edwin M. Stanton was the loy- alj decided, prompt man he ever proved in all the country's emergencies, and such assurances came from him as enabled the committee to so report as allayed the excitement of the people, although the order countermanding the shipment of the cannon did not arrive for three or four days.
Those who had comprehended the danger and embarrassment of the position •drew a longer breath as the meeting quietly dispersed. The troops conveyed the cannon then in charge to the wharf; no more were hauled, and in a few- days Floyd's order was countermanded. What would have been the result had not the order been revoked it is not necessary even to conjecture; but the day, and the hour, will not easily be forgotten by those who were active in procuring such action as prevented a collision between government troops, and a loyal peo- ple, determined to prevent, even at the risk apparent, a suicidal action on the p-art of the government.
It was the first decided action anywhere in the country against the rebeMion It was the first decided expression of the loyal North. The movement was in the hands of men fully as patriotic and determined as Adams and his co-adju- tors, and the public feeling, while awaiting the countermanding of the order,
30 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
was quite as intense as that which pervaded Faneuil hall. It will also not fail tO' be seen how the same desire to do all that ''could be done to preserve the peace," pervaded the action taken, and the same determination to do that which was a clear point of principle and duty, in event of a refusal to accede tO' their requests. The similarity of the situations is strongly apparent. " It is* in keeping here to mention that a company of forty Pittsburghers, under the* command of Capt. Robt. McDowell, who marched across the country from Harris- burg, were the first body of volunteer soldiers to arrive at Washington ; they reported to Secretary Stanton, then Secretary of War, for assignment to duty in" six days after the attack on Sumter. It is also proper here to mention what has- been known to but three or four persons, that the first Union victory was won with ammunition furnished from Pittsburgh, by the decision and nerve of two» of her prominent citizens. A body of West Virginia troops under Col. Kelley had been armed with muskets furnished by Governor Andrews, of Massachusetts,. but were unsupplied with powder or ball. With the ammunition furnished thems from Pittsburgh the battle of Phillippi was fought and won, being tha first suc- cess obtained by Union troops.
The news of the firing upon Fort Sumter, as before stated, created a decided movement in Pittsburgh. An immense mass meeting was held in City Hall, on Monday, April 15th, 1861, at which the following resolutions, prepared by John W. Riddell, the City Solicitor, were read by Thos. J. Bigham, and unanimously^ adopted :
Whereas, The national government is now seriously menaced by traitors in arms, who have defied its just authority, raised the standard of revolt, and by hostile acts of war disturbed the public tranquility, and endangered the public peace ; and
Whereas, In an exigency like the present, it is the duty of all loyal and patri- otic American citizens, casting aside the trammels of party, to aid the consti- tuted authorities in maintaining inviolate the supremacy of the constitution and the laws, therefore
Resolved, By the people of Allegheny county in general mass meeting assem- bled, that we deem the present a fit occasion to renew our obligations of undy- ing fealty to that government and that union which we have been taught to regard and revere as the palladium of our liberties at home and our honor abroad; and in their defence and support, by whomsoever assailed, we will en- deavor to prove ourselves worthy sons of patriotic sires.
Resolved, That we especially approve of the course of the Legislature and executive branches of our State government, in promptly responding to the call of the President of the United States for men and means to sustain and pro- tect the Nation-al Government at this crisis in its history, and that Allegheny county will contribute her full quota of both to vindicate its authority.
Resolved, That discarding all political or partizan considerations in this hour of our country's danger, we mutually pledge to each other as American citi- zens/or the common defence, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honors.
Resolved, That a committee of one hundred citizens be appointed by the chair as a Committee of Public Safety, to see that the patriot cause receives na detriment in this region, and to convene the people whenever in their judg- ment such a step is necessary."
In the Centennial Year. 31
The Committee of Public Safety authorized in tlie last resolution was ap- pointed and announced in a couple of days thereafter; and a sub-committee^ consisting of Thomas Bakewell, Esq. and Hon. Thos. M. Howe, were appointed ta prepare an address. At the first organized meeting of the Committee of Public Safety, on the 2'7th of April, Hon. Thomas M. Howe presented and read from the sub-committee the following address, which he stated had been written by his' colleague, Thos. Bakewell Esq.
To THE Citizens of Western Pennsylvania: Friends and Fellow Citizens:
An unexpected emergency has arisen. That Constitution formed by the- wisdom of our forefathers, that liberty established by their labors, that indepen- dence sealed and sanctioned by their life blood, are menaced, not by the hostility of foreign enemies, but by the reckless ambition of domestic traitors and aspiring- demagogues, who have long partaken of the blessing of our free government^ and enjoyed their full proportion of its emoluments and privileges. Their unhallowed passions have plunged our beloved country into the horrors of a civil war, and have in some measure exposed our homes, our families, and our firesides, to the desecration a.nd ruin of hostile incursions. Under these alarm- ing circumstances this committee has been organized, not to supercede the- action of ordinary tribunals, not to interfere with the exercise of judicial power^ but to aid the constituted authorities of our land in the preservation of the public peace, the protection and support of those whose natural defenders may be absent on the call of patriotic duty; and if need be (which may God forbid) ^ to report for judicial action all persons who, false to every dictate of duty and patriotism, may secretly contribute that aid and comfort to the enemy which they will not dare publicly to acknowledge.
Diversified as may be our business avocations, our national predeliction, our religious opinions, or our political sentiments, on this momentous subject we address you, not as farmers, or manufacturers, or merchants, or lawyers ; not as Irishmen, or G-ermans, as Englishmen, or Welshmen; not as Catholics or Protes- tants ; not as Democrats or Republicans ; but as citizens, as Americans and Penn- sylvanians ; and as such we call upon you to unite as one man in the support of those glorious institutions under which our country has attained a growth and prosperity unequalled in the past history of the world. Let your young men advance to meet the threatening invaders, your old citizens organize for the defence of their domestic hearths. Let ample provision be made for the support of the families of those patriots who may leave home and its pleasures for the stern duties of the tented field. Let a spirit of mutual forbearance and charity prevail. Losing sight of all minor differences in the great object of our country's salvation, and above all, relying on the justice of our cause, let us unite in the determination to transmit to posterity the inestimable blessing of liberty received from our ancestors, in calm yet earnest dependence upon the support and approval of Him who rules the nations with His rod, and without whose notice not a sparrow falls to the ground.
The hand that penned this admirable appeal has for years been dust. Liv- ing to see transmitted 'Ho posterity the inestimable blessing of liberty received from our ancestors," he bore his share in the labors and sacrifices of the hour^ in the same spirit that prompted the words of the address.
32 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
Among the recommendations acted upon at this first meeting was the follow- ing, from a committee on organization of Home Guards, made in accordance with the suggestion contained in the address just quoted, the committee say: "It is proposed that this organization shall be the nucleus of future recruits for the public active service of the country."
Under this organization, by May 2d, in less than three weeks time, sixty-four <iompanies were organized, averaging seventy men each. These were armed with guns and equipments purchased by a fund contributed by the banks of the city, through the efforts of John Harper, Esq.', President of the Bank of Pitts- burgh, who was an active member of the committee for the organization of the Home Guard. Mr. Harper was the custodian of the fund, and under his disburs- ment the arms were purchased and distributed. It is worthy of remark — because at times uncalled for jeers have been made at the Home Guard — that this body of men proved just what the committee on its organization contemplated in their recommendation already quoted, ''the nucleus of future recruits for the public active service of the country." There was not one of the sixty-four companies that did not contribute largely of its members, already well-drilled' in arms, from time to time, to the various companies and regiments that under the several calls for troops entered active service ; while not only regimental com- manders, but able general officers as well, were furnished from this school of soldiers.
On the 15th of April recruiting began; and on the 17th, the Turner Rifles left for Harrisburg; followed on the 18th by four other companies, and by three more on the 20th. On the 22d a regiment — the 12th — was organized from ten more companies, and a battalion formed of eight other companies ; which sub- sequently, with two others, formed the 13th Regiment ; being twenty-six full companies which, in less than ten days time, responded to the call for troops. On the 24th the 12th and 13th Regiments left Pittsburgh for Camp Slifer, at Harrisburg, where the Pennsylvania troops were being rendezvoused, previouf to going to the front.
Through the thronged street, to the rapid beat
Of the drum's triumphant roll, While the bugle's note, on the air afloat,
Went thrilling the weakest soul, We followed our soldiers, so young and brave,
Our soldiers, so tall and brown, As the sun of May, with the closing day.
Made golden the streets of the town.
0, that gallant array ! on that spring-time day,
With the flag of our country over them flying;
How the trumpets blare made the heart of each there Swell proudly and brave, to its echoes replying.
In the Centennial Year. 33
While the steady tramp of the solid ranks
To the time of the music slowly swaying, Through all the throng made the weakest strong
As the sun on the bayonets redly playing. As we followed our soldiers, so young and brave
Our soldiers, so tall and brown. While the sun of May, in the closing day,
Made golden the streets of the town.
All the pride of war, in our thoughts we saw —
The sun on the musket barrels glancing; Where, across the slopes, through the distant copse,
The foemen in their pride were advancing. We drew our breath, in the face of death.
With lip compressed and teeth firm set, In the silence grim, succeeding the din,
Of the Kling^ Klang, Kling^ of '^fix bayonet!" And joyfully heard the colonel's word,
Though our hearts were nervously beating As never before, like the thunder's roar,
*' Charge!" swift down the line repeating. A thousand as one, e'er the word was done,
Down the slope we were fiercely leaping; Our bayonet's line, in its glittering shine.
Like to fire steadily sweeping; While the rebels' yell, and the shriek of shell,
To our charging cheer replied — We heard and saw, in that vision of war,
As we followed in love and pride, Our soldiers so young, our soldiers so brave,
Our soldiers so tall and brown, When the sun of May, near the close of day,
Made golden the streets of the town.
Down the long descent, double quick we went,
Our line without bend or quiver. Though the face of the wood, where the foemen stood,
Blazed with their fire's rapid deliver. Through that storm of pain, that deadly rain
Of shot and minnie ball screaming. Without thought of fear, with cheer after cheer,
We swept like the wind, our banner streaming; As through the smoke its bright stars broke,
We thought of the little child's saying —
34 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
"God made that flag, pa, don't you see the stars,"
And we feared not the batteries playing. Nor the foemen's yell, like a cry from hell,
Up the hill-side fiercely shrilling — Thus visions of war in fancy we saw.
As with hearts to the trumpet thrilling, We followed our soldiers, so young and brave,
Our soldiers, so tall and brown. When the sun of May, at the close of day^
Made golden the streets of the town.
We bade them good-bye with a misty eye,
As we thought of the battle our fancy paraded ; We bade them God speed, God's help in their need,
As the sunset into the twilight faded. But thought still followed our soldiers brave,
Our soldiers so tall and young. When the evening prayer stirred the evening air,
And the evening hymn was sung."^
It is not the design of this chapter to mention in detail all or any of the regiments, companies, and men who thus, at the call of their country, followed where duty led, nor is it the province of this book to enter upon a history of the public and private actions of the people of Pittsburgh, in the days when,, during the war for the preservation of the Union, Pittsburgh was, as before observed, a camp and an arsenal. That book is yet to be written. A proper presentation of those things will fill more pages than those allotted to this^ volume. The subject is but touched upon here as entering into ''the Military Record of Pittsburgh," and to show in a volume primarily designed to exhibit her resources and capabilities, how in this war, as in all previous military movements of the country from its earliest settlement, Pittsburgh became a point of military prominence. Suffice it to say that quite twenty thousand of Pittsburgh's young men carried the musket or the sword in all the prominent battles of the war. To mention a few, where all merit so much, cannot justly be done ; to mention all may not be for reasons already given. The pen would fain linger to tell of Cold Harbor, Seven Oaks, Chancelorsville, Fredericksburg,, the Wilderness, Lookout, Stone River, Antietam, Gettysburg, and a score of other well foughten fields, where Pittsburgh's youth fought, and many of their brave hearts gave their life's blood for the Union they marched to save, and died in saving. Honor be to their memories.
*From a War Poem by Geo. H. Thurston.
In the Centennial Year. 35
The beautiful grounds of Allegheny Cemetery holds the ashes of many of Pittsburgh's soldiers who thus gave life for liberty.
Eest! soldier for thy country slain,
Sleep ! patriot true and brave ; For Honor decks thy burial place,
And Fame shall wreathe thy grave. There pilgrims oft in years of peace,
With reverent steps shall tread; Thy country's trial still repeat,
Thy name with Glory wed.
Green shall the turf that wraps thy breast,
By patriot love be kept; By freemen still thy praise be sung,
Thy loss by Freedom wept. Charmed is the air around thy grave
By Honor, and by Fame, While Glory still, a sunbeam, gilds.
The stone that holds thy name»
There Freedom will her striplings bring,
To learn the duty freemen owe. There patriots pause, there poets sing,
There age awhile renew youth's glow. Embalmed for aye on History's page,
Eest! patriot true, sleep! soldier brave, For Honor keeps thy memory green,
And Fame walks sentry at thy grave."^
It was not alone in furnishing troops for the battle-field, nor standing ready by day or by night to cheer with a breakfast, a dinner, or supper, served by Pittsburgh's fairest faces and whitest hands, the passing soldier, grim with the shock of battle, and weary with his march, that Pittsburgh's patriotism kept step in the line of duty; her heart was away in the camp, reaching out to the bi^ vouac, sorrowing beside the painful h ospital couch, or grieving over the wounded on the battle-field.
On June first, 1864, was opened the great Sanitary Fair, which for weeks was crowded by thousands on thousands of young and old, eager to contribute to the fund, to raise which the fair was p rojected. That effort was as glorious in its results as it was in its conception, and the object to which its profits were to be devoted. Like the story of '^ Pittsburgh soldier boys," the details of the Fair cannot be entered into in this volume, they must remain for the day when
♦From a War Poem by Geo. H. Thurston.
36 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
some able mind gathers into narrative all that can be told of Pittsburgh during the rebellion. It is sufficient here to record, that the amount of money receired from the fair was |361,516.l7. A portion of this patriotic fund unexpended during the war was devoted to the endowment of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, in the 12th ward of the city. The sum of ?)203,119.57 was handed over by the Board of Managers of the Pittsburgh Sanitary Soldiers Home, in cash and other articles ; it being a stipulation of the gift that Pennsylvania soldiers sick or infirm should always be admitted for treatment free of charge.
It was also after the battle of Shiloh that the great heart of Pittsburgh went throbbing with sympathy over the story of the wounded of that terrible day; nor rested until two well appointed steamboats sailed for Shiloh, carrying some of Pittsburgh's most manly-hearts and skillful surgeons to that distant battle- field, to gather into those boats, under the care of those surgeons and tender nurses, the wounded, and bring them to Pittsburgh for restoration to health. As the boats proceeded up the river, those of the wounded who desired it were left at cities and landings as near their homes as possible. Fifty-four were brought to Pittsburgh; of whom eight belonged to Iowa regiments, seventeen to Illinois, seventeen to Michigan, three to Ohio, three to Missouri, two — who were prisoners of war — to Alabama, and three whose State or regiment was not re- corded. Of these eight died in the hospital; being two from Iowa, two from Illinois, and four from Michigan. Forty-two were regularly discharged on recov- ering, and helped on their way with tickets to their homes.
Sunday evening, June 14, 1863, began another especially noticeable episode in Pittsburgh's military record ; on that evening dispatches were received by Major General Brooks, then commanding the department of the Monongahela, from Secretary Stanton and Maj. Gen. Halleck, stating that the city was in emi- nent danger from the rebel forces, and advising him that no time was to be lost in putting the city in a state of defence. .
A meeting of the more prominent manufacturers, and other citizens, was at once called by Gen'l Brooks for consultation. It being Sunday evening, many of those whose advice was desired were at church and were called out by special messengers. The meeting continued in session until a late hour. At midnight it was determined that the work-shops sliould all be closed, and the men employed throwing: up earth works around the city, under charge of the government engineers, who had been sent from Washington to lay out the defences. This was done; and for two weeks time Pittsburgh bore much the aspects of a beleagured city. During that time thousands of men were busy constructing rifle-pits, and earthworks for the mounting of cannon. From fif- teen to sixteen thousand men were at times laboring in the entrenchments, which extended from Saw Mill run, now in the 36th ward of Pittsburgh, along the range of hills running up the south side of the Monongahela, to about opposite the Four Mile run, in the 23d ward of Pittsburgh ; across the city from the Mo- nongahela to the Allegheny, and on the Allegheny side along the Ohio river.
In the Centennial Year. 37
The day succeeding that Sunday evening meeting the following dispatch was received by Hon. Thos. M. Howe, then and for some time previous A. A. Adjutant
General of the State of Pennsylvania:
Harrisburg, June 15, 1863. Hon. T. M. Howe.
The following received from Chambersburg, eight P. M.; make it public and arouse the people: ''Lieut. Palmer, of Purnell's cavalry, has just came in; had to fight his way through two miles this side of Greencastle; reports enemy advancing in three columns — one toward Waynesboro and Gettysburg; one di- rect to Chambersburg; and one toward Mercerburg and Cove Mountain; not known whether they will proceed in separate columns or concentrate here. Large fire seen in direction of Greencastle. Palmer reports column at Green- castle about five thousand strong, principally cavalry, supported by infantry and artillery." A. G. Curtin,
Governor of Pennsylvania,
On the lYth the following spirited order was issued by Gen'l Howe:
Headquarters Penn'a Militia, Western District,
Pittsburgh, June 17, 1863. Reliable advices having been received at these headquarters that a force of the enemy at eleven o'clock this morning had advanced twelve miles westward from Cumberland, giving unmistakable indications of their purpose to invade this neighborhood, I desire again* to call upon all good citizens in Western Pennsylvania capable of bearing arms, to enroll themselves immediately into military organizations and to report to me for duty.
If we would stay the march of the invader, we must be prepared to admon- ish him that we are fully organized and ready to receive him in a manner be- coming freemen who cherish the time honored institutions, in defence of which so many of our sons and brothers have already offered their lives a willing sac- rifice. Let us emulate their glorious example, and never let it be written of us that we proved recreant in the hour of danger. Whenever companies are duly enrolled and reported to these headquarters, they will be called and assigned to duty by Maj. Gen. Brooks, whenever and as the emergency may seem to de- mand, and who will be prepared to furnish arms and equipments.
Thomas M. Howh, A. A. Adjutant General State of Penna.
The extent and strength of those fortifications constructed in two weeks* time, is best shown by the following extract from a report made by Captain Craighill, an United States engineer officer in charge of the work, to the Com- mittee of Public Safety before mentioned. Says the report, ''It is well known that when Gen. Barnard arrived here, the city was not supposed to be threatened by anything more serious than a raid of a few thousands of cavalry or mounted
*In connection with this order it is proper to mention that the entire handling and movements of the volunteer and drafted troops of Western Pennsylvania in their preliminary organizations were through General Howe's orders and oversight, in the performanca of his duties as a member of Gov. Curtin's staff, and as A. A. Adjutant General of the Western District of Pennsylvania. Enjoying throughout the entire period of the war the fullest confidence of the General aud State Govern- ments, the great labors of his office were performed by him without compensation or wish for rec- ompense, satisfied with the conscientiousness of fully rendering that patriotic service prompted by his high 8ense of personal duty to his country in its hour of peril.
38 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
infantry, accompanied by light artillery. The instructions from Washington under which we acted looked to securing the city against attack. This has been done. We are, moreover, in a condition to make a vigorous defence against an army." During those two weeks all business was for several days suspended under the orders of the Committee of Public Safety. The necessity of those expenditures of time and money has frequently been questioned by those not fully acquainted with all the circumstances. There is little or no doubt that the capture of Pittsburgh was contemplated by the rebels. Its geographical position, its resources, and the vast arsenal that it was, and could be made, all rendered it a strong strategetical point, whose possession or destruc- tion was most important. At the time the city was fortified, General Lee was marching into Pennsylvania, while the rebel forces were being massed along the frontier line of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. An advance guard of rebel cavalry occupied Morgantown, and another body of horse were sweeping up the valley between the ranges of the Allegheny mountains toward Bedford and Johnstown. A force of rebels occupied McConnellsburg, and held the .telegraph office there. By these messages were exchanged with the operators of the Western Union Telegraph Company at Pittsburgh, in which the rebels stated their intention of reaching the city, and were in turn informed of the prepara- tions making to receive them. A body of the cavalry advance, at Morgantown, had crossed the Cheat river to proceed to Pittsburgh, which, by cross country roads, was less than a sharp day's ride, when word was received by the leaders, through messengers sent by spies, that the city was being strongly fortified. Upon which information they retreated across the river, and finally fell back from Morgantown.
Had the result at Gettysburg been different, there is no doubt that Pitts- burgh would have been attacked. This is apparent from the forces which gathered at Morgantown and the vicinity, and were concentrating at McCon- nellsburg and that section.
The information received of the work being done to fortify Pittsburgh, caused a delay, in which time ihe defeat of Lee changed the plans of the rebel leaders. At Washington, among the loyal men in position to know, in West Virginia, and among those fully informed at Pittsburgh, there existed no doubt, that the city was in eminent peril ; that, the following dispatch from the Secretary of War, dated four days before dispatches already mentioned as sent to Gen'l Brooks, shows:
War Department, 11:45, P. M.,
Washington, June 10, 1863.
To Hon. Thos. M. Howe: ht • /^ n t> i i r^ i, xi_- • r
Maj. Gen'l Brooks left here this morning for
Pittsburgh to take command of the Department of the Monongahela. He is an
able and resolute officer, but will need all the assistance you and your people
can give. I wish you would go on his staff. The latest intelligence indicates
that you have no time to lose in organizing and preparing for defense. All the
In the Centennial Year, 39
•field artillery on hand at Watertown has been sent by express to Pittsburgh. Whatever aid can be given here you shall have. Edwin M. Stanton.
Had the city been taken by the rebels, the result of the contest for the pre- servation of the Union might have been different. The East and the West would have been severed.
Pittsburgh's position is one that admitted of being strongly fortified, and an area enclosed that would amply support a large body of troops; while the facil- ities the Ohio river gave for fitting out armed flotillas commanded the western waters. Only about one hundred miles from the Lakes, with a railroad thereto, admirable opportunities for supplies from England through Canada would have been open. But sixty miles from the Virginia line as the base of supplies from their own territories, with railroad and water transportation a portion of the dis- tance, it would have required large forces and severe fighting to have broken the barrier that would then have been erected between the West and the East. The loyal North would thus have been cut in two, with a result it is easy to conceive, though diflacult to depict, in the happy failure of the plans of the rebels. This is not the place to present the strategetical importance of Pittsburgh. There can be no doubt that the government felt the importance of the preservation of Pittsburgh ; and it is more than probable, that the action of fortifying the city detained the body of cavalry detailed for its capture, until too late to accomp- lish their purpose. Had it been captured, there is but little doubt, the rebels would have endeavored to have held the city. Its admirable facilities for the manufacture of munitions oi war : the opportunities of receiving supplies from Canada j its capabilty of being strongly fortified ; a capability so great, that a Commissioner of U. S. Engineers, wuo made an examination on this point in June, 1861, pronounced it the strongest position they knew in the country; its strategetical power as severing ibe West and the East, and thus rendering diffi- cult the movement of troops between the two sections, would all have made it important for the Confederates to nave held the city if possible ; and succeeding therein, caused, perhaps, a different ending of the civil war.
The fortifying of Pittsburgh was by many looked upon as a ''Scare," and many of her own citizens have been accustomed to so pronounce it. If it was a scare, it was participated in by the government from a knowledge of the importance of the pLicc as a military supply point, as well as the gate between the East and the West, through which the military intercourse of the two sec- tions was maintained, and supplies and armies received and distributed. It was a scare on the part of those who knew the intentions of the rebels, and of a few who were aware that the fall preceding the outbreak of the war, a most thor- ough military and engineering reconnoissance was made, with ulterior objects, by a person in the interests of the Confederates, and that at the time of the -advance of Lee's army into Pennsylvania, this reconnoissance, with a map showing all the details of the topography of Pittsburgh, was in the hands of 'the Confederate government.
40 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
Throughout the war Pittsburgh continued to furnish soldiers^ to nurse the sick and wounded, supply the camps, and manufacture munitions of naval and land warfare. In the chapter allotted to the consideration of Pittsburgh as a naval and military arsenal, those manufactures are more fully spoken of, and the brief index here made of Pittsburgh's military record is closed, feeling that,, perhaps as it is, too much of detail has crept in, yet satisfied that less were not suflBcient to fill the requirements of the title of the chapter,
In the Centennial Year, 41
CHAPTER III.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION
From the time the white man first set foot in the western valleys, the geo- graphical position of Pittsburgh has rendered it a marked point; and until the war of the Revolution severed it from any claim of ownership by European pow- ers, its site was a subject of contention between England and France, and was regarded by the statesmen of those nations as an important position.
Pittsburgh is situated in latitude 40° 35^ north, longitude 89° 38^ west, and occupies the position of a western capital of Pennsylvania.
Located at the head waters of the Ohio, at the junction of the Mononga- hela and Allegheny rivers, she commands an inland navigation of many thou- sands of miles.
Pittsburgh combines more geographical advantages of position than any in- land city or town in the United States. Distant only from 300 to 400 miles from three of the most important seaboard cities of the Union, and but a summer day's ride from either, for the purposes of exportation or importation she possesses many of the advantages of the cities lying immediately upon the sea coast.
About 150 miles from the great chain of inland seas, to whose shores access is had in a few hours ride, she partakes of the advantages of the Lake cities for intercourse with the Canadas ; and for outlet through the lake route to the ocean ; while by her rivers she commands another and an easy access to the ocean and foreign nations. Thus having the choice of three avenues whereby she may ex- port beyond the borders of the United States her manufactures, or receive the products of other countries.
Situated in the heart of the bituminous coal formation of the Appalachian field, and equally advantageously located as to the deposits of iron ore, her geo- graphical relations to the staple materials of Pennsylvania, as well as of the Union, are unequaled. Her location to the whole extent of country bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Gulf of Mexico on the south, the Mississippi river on the west, and the Lakes upon the north, is so nearly central, that when yiewed with reference to her natural means of intercourse with the States within those boundaries, she stands in the position of a geographical centre. Describing upon an accurately proportioned map of the United States a circle, with a radius of 400 miles from Pittsburgh, it embraces therein the following States entire, and in parts : Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Tenne- see, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Canada West, part of Illinois, and the north- ern portion of South Carolina. This circle embraces every variety of climate, and nearly, if not quite all, the staples of the various sections of the Union; for
42 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
the products, and the business of which, Pittsburgh, as the centre of the circle, reaches but 400 miles on either hand.
As a geographical centre of such an available business territory, it is not without interest to note the increase in the wealth of the portion of this territory embraced in the Ohio valley, only, in the past twenty years. In 1850 the valua- ation of property, real and personal, of the seven Ohio States was $2,089,002,652. In 1870 the census states it at |10, 726, 839, 301, or an increase of over five hundred per cent. Under the same ratios the valuation of the same species of properties will be in 1890, only fourteen years from now, over thirty-two thousand million \ this is allowing the increase from 1870 to 1880 to be the same as from 1860 to 1870, and from 1880 to 1890, only one-half. To this immense aggregation of wealth the geographical position of Pittsburgh is one of control, if only ordinary- business activities are used to maintain markets, and hold trade.
In the same period the property of the sea coast States, real and personal, would, under the same ratios, be thirty thousand million. As before stated, to the most of those States, as to those of the Ohio valley, Pittsburgh stands as a geo- graphical centre. By that same geographical position, Pittsburgh holds a grasp upon the products and wants of the Mississippi valley States, as well ; which showing by the census of 1870, a valuation of personal and real properties, of nearly four thousand million of dollars, notwithstanding the losses consequent on the civil war, and an increase, notwithstanding, of quite fifty per cent, over the Taluation of 1860, which in 1890, under the same ratios of increase should not Tdc less than eight thousand million of dollars. Within the four hundred miles of reach on either hand from the centre of her circle, will be accumulated in fourteen years from now quite seventy thousand million of dollars of real and personal property. And allowing, as before stated, the increase from 1870 to 1880 to be as from 1860 to 1870, and from 1880 to 1890, one-half that ratio, what opportunities for business ; what room of enterprise ; what probabilities for the accumulation of wealth does not the geographical position of Pittsburgh to these riches suggest to capital, the enterprising man of business and the skillful mechanic, seeking location for the employment of their respective business forces ; for to this extent of country the manufacturing advantages that Pittsburgh and its neighborhood possess must always prove a magnet, attracting business and population.
Beyond her qualities as a manufacturing community, Pittsburgh possesses another attractive feature — she is the gateway of the West. From her situation at the head of the Ohio, such articles as have a preference for water carriage, either on account of demanding low freights, or from a desirability to be but little handled, will pass through, Pittsburgh to reach such a channel for distribution throughout the West.
This will be of yet greater power in increasing the population of Pittsburgh, its business and its wealth, in the future than in the past, presenting another consideration to the man of capital, the active, enterprising, far-seeing business man, and the skillful, ambitious mechanic, to locate at Pittsburgh.
In the Centennial Year, 43
In years past the use of the Ohio as a transportation facility has been limited by the occurrence of seasons when low water interrupted the continuous use of the river, and deprived it of the force of a daily reliable facility for transporta- tion. The improving of the navigation of the Ohio has, in the past three years, been strongly pressed upon Congress by a Board of Commissioners for the seven Ohio river States. A plan for its radical improvement has been adopted by the United States engineers, and an appropriation made by government to begin the construction of the first adjustable dam. By a series of these dams it is proposed to secure the desideratum of never less than six feet of water at all seasons, insuring a continuous daily navigation of the Ohio by boats carrying a thousand tons and upwards.
The increasing demand for cheap transportation, and in fact all transportation arising out of the multiplying wants of the growing populations of the various sections of the nation, must at an early day cause the Ohio to be made as fully available for transportation as it is possible by engineering skill to render it. How greatly that will strengthen the already strong geographical position of Pittsburgh is easily seen. Distant but twelve hours time by railroad travel from the great sea ports of Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, and by the new route now projected, twenty hours to Boston, or a similar time via. Washington to Richmond, Pittsburgh holds the key to the commercial intercourse between the West and those ports.
Situated at the head of such a great inland water highway, with its conse- quent powers of cheap carriage-, Pittsburgh must become a great produce centre and trans-shipment and distribution point, not only of the western products needed by the Atlantic States, but also of the importations from Europe or eastern products required by the West. Some few statistics will show how probable this is. The sixteen sea coast States even now depend on the West for two-thirds of their food, and the question of their supply assumes in the future under the increasing ratios of population an overwhelming magnitude. Cheap transpor- tation is therefore one of the provisions required for the future comfort and cheap sustenance of the people of those States. How distinctly the geographical position of products and consumers of food in the United States suggests the central route of the Ohio valley as the line of a cheap transportation facility, and the advantages of water for cheap carriage indicates the Ohio river as that facility. The position of Pittsburgh at the head of the Ohio, and her direct and short railroad routes to the Atlantic coast, tells in a word what, under the full use of that river as a cheap carrying power, the city must be.
By the census ratios it appears, that in fifteen years the sixteen sea coast States will require one hundred and thirty-eight million bushels of wheat alone beyond what they produce per annum, or over three million tons. Grain can be carried on railroads for one and a half cents per ton per mile. On the Ohio river it can be carried for three mills per mile. Under these figures the one hundred and thirty-eight million bushels of wheat carried to Pittsburgh from St. Louis
44 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
by rail, a distance of eight hundred miles, would cost for transportation thirty-six million eight hundred and forty thousand dollars; but, carried by river, a dis- tance of one thousand, one hundred miles, would cost only ten million, one hun- dred and thirty-one thousand dollars; a saving to the consumer in the Eastern States of nearly twenty-seven million of dollars in one year's expenditures for wheat alone. Without entering into the figures that all other supplies, whether brought from the West to the East or the East to the West, would create, it is evident that, as before observed, that under the increasing population of the country and its growing wants, the Ohio must at an early day be made as fully and comprehensively available for cheap transportation as it is possible for engi- neering skill to render it. What possibility, what probabilities of population, of business development, of increased values in real estate, does not this contain for Pittsburgh? Reaching by five distinct railroad routes the five principal sea coast cities, she figuratively lays her hand, of which the five railroads are the fingers, upon their produce trade ; while by eighteen thousand miles of river transpor- tation her boats can distribute from and gather at her wharves, at cheap rates, the interchanges arising from the wants and industries of millions of people.
The geographical position of Pittsburgli has been of powerful influence in causing her growth ; it must still exert a power, which under the improvement of the Ohio river as briefly indicated, cannot be overestimated.
Reaching through natural avenues of travel the following States and coun- ties by steamboats, without transhipment of goods, no one can, viewing in con- nection with our railway system these great river facilities, dispute to any extent the propriety of allowing to Pittsburgh the title of '^ The gateway of the West.''
By the Ohio river, from Pittsburgh to Cairo, touching every important point in West Virginia, Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Illinois. By the Mississippi, the towns and counties bordering upon that river in Louisiana, Mi&sissippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. By the Missouri river, Central Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Decotah, and Montana. By the Arkansas and White rivers, Central, Southern, and Northern Arkansas. By the Red river. Central Louisiana. By the Wabash, Central Indiana. By the Tennessee, Western Tennessee, Kentucky and Northern Alabama. By the Cumberland, interior of Kentucky, and Northern counties of Tennessee. By the Big Black and Yazoo rivers, inland Mississippi. By the Minnesota, the interior of Minnesota. By the Illinois river, the interior of Illinois. By the Muskingum river, the interior of Ohio. By the Allegheny, the Northern portion of Pennsylvania, and the South-western of New York. By the Monongahela, South-western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Thus reaching by river navigation eighteen States and two territories — not only the border counties thereof, but the interior of those States as well, — afford- ing unparalleled facilities for reaching from the 46th degree of northern latitude to the 30th; from the 1st degree to the 22d longitude west from Washington, embracing an area of 1,052,000 square miles of territory.
In the Centennial Year, 45
Of this extent of countrj, the Ohio river passes along the borders of 6 States, watering the shores of 71 counties, viz: 2 in Pennsylvania, 12 in Virginia, 13 in Ohio, 25 in Kentucky, 14 in Indiana, and 5 in Illinois. The Mississippi traverses the boundaries of 10 States, and gives navigation to 95 counties, viz: 6 in Minnesota, 10 in Iowa, 8 in Wisconsin, 17 in Illinois, 14 in Missouri, 2 in Kentucky, 5 in Tennessee, 10 in Mississippi, 6 in Arkansas, and 17 in Louisiana. The Missouri washes the shores of 3 States, 24 counties in Missouri, 11 in Nebraska, and 6 in Kansas. The Tennessee gives water transportation to 3 States, and outlet to 14 counties, viz: 2 in Alabama, 6 in Tennessee, and 6 in Kentucky. The Cumberland affords Avater carriage through 2 States, and to 9 counties, viz : 6 in Tennessee and 3 in Kentucky. The Illinois and Kaskaskia give to 24 counties in Illinois navigation ; and the Wabash similar privilege to 6 counties in Indiana and 5 in Illinois. The Arkansas affords to 12 counties in that State a like advantage, and the Red river the same to 9 counties in Louisiana. The White river gives carriage by water to 9 counties in Arkansas and 5 in Missouri. The Yazoo, the Sun Flower and Big Black, afford to 11 counties in Mississippi travel by river communication. The Hatchee and Obion the same facilities to 6 counties in Tennessee. The Kentucky and Green rivers egress to the Ohio to 14 counties in Kentucky. The Osage and Maramec rivers, steamboat navigation to 8 counties in Missouri. The Platte river to 4 counties in Nebraska. The Des Moines and Iowa rivers give to 11 counties of Iowa access to the Mississippi by water; and the Wisconsin and Bock rivers the same facilities to 11 counties in Wisconsin. The Muskingum to 3 counties in Ohio. The Alle- gheny gives 2 States, and 8 counties in Pennsylvania and 1 in New York, commu- nication by water to market for their productions ; and the Monongahela similar Advantages to 2 States and 5 counties in Pennsylvania and 1 in Virginia — being 383 counties to which Pittsburgh has direct communication — forming portions, as before observed, of eighteen States and two territories, by the rivers named.
In view of this unequaled river system, giving Pittsburgh thus direct access to the very hearts of eighteen of the finest States of the Union, can there be any doubt of the future of the Iron City as a commercial and shipping, as well as a manufacturing point. The contemplated improvement of the Ohio may be for a brief time delayed, but the very necessities of the country will force the expendi- ture of the money requisite to render this great highway of transportation all it can be made, and which its location to producing and consuming populations of the country indicate it must be. Not only will the constantly increasing wants of the people for cheap transportation require this, but the steadily growing bulks requiring transportation will render it necessary, and such improvement* of the navigation of all connecting rivers, as will make most available to those twenty States this system of inland navigation, without a parallel in any nation or in any country, whose value the following table shows :
STATISTICS OF THE CENSUS OF 1870
Of the Principal Rivers Navigable from Pittsburgh to their Head Waters without
Transportation of Freights.
Elvers.
Allegheny, i
Arkansas, . Big Black, .
CumberFd, |
Des Moines, Green, . . Hatchee, . Illinois, . . Iowa, . . . Kaskaskia, Kentucky,
Missouri, .
Maremee, . . Monon'hela < Muskingum,
Mississippi,
Ohio,
Osage, Obion, Platte, Red,. . Rock, . Sunflower,
Tennesee, .
Wabash, . <
White, . . . Wisconsin, . Yazoo, . . .
States
Pa. N. Y.
Ark.
Miss. Tenn
Kj. Iowa
Ky.
I Tenn
I 111.
ilowa
|lll.
Ky.
Neb.
Mo.
Kan.
Mo.
Pa.
W.V.
Ohio
Ark.
Iowa
111.
Ky.
La.
Mo.
Miss.
Tenn
Wis.
Minn
Ind.
111.
Ohio
Ky.
Pa.
w.y.
Mo.
Tenn
Neb.
La.
HI
Miss.
Ky.
Tenn
Ala.
111.
Ind.
Ark.
Wis.
Miss.
Totals,
Same territory, 1850 Increase in 20 years,
|
Population. |
|
|
o- |
|
|
8 |
505,999 |
|
1 |
43,909 |
|
12 |
117,159 |
|
4 |
79,028 |
|
6 |
142,181 |
|
3 |
32,712 |
|
1 |
147,819 |
|
1 |
94,820 |
|
4 |
68,890 |
|
18 |
404,650 |
|
4 |
73,371 |
|
6 |
138,501 |
|
7 |
73,730 |
|
11 |
72,480 |
|
24 |
790,678 |
|
6 |
11,925 |
|
3 |
35,081 |
|
4 |
216,373 |
|
1 |
13,547 |
|
3 |
105,858 |
|
6 |
42,889 |
|
10 |
280,214 |
|
17 |
438,545 |
|
2 |
14,914 |
|
17 |
366,637 |
|
14 |
182,269 |
|
10 |
129,482 |
|
5 |
118.234 |
|
8 |
126,468 |
|
6 |
115,129 |
|
14 |
252,124 |
|
5 |
46,017 |
|
13 |
693,571 |
|
25 |
424,845 |
|
2 |
298,342 |
|
12 |
130,557 |
|
5 |
42,243 |
|
2 |
29,290 |
|
4 |
11,413 |
|
9 |
111,664 |
|
5 |
147,455 |
|
1 |
14,569 |
|
6 |
66,568 |
|
6 |
78,652 |
|
2 |
23,097 |
|
5 |
70,828 |
|
6 |
120 960 |
|
9 |
72,111 |
|
6 |
168,295 |
|
6 |
58,736 |
|
377 |
7,834,908 |
|
4,600,426 |
|
|
3,234,582 |
|
Cash Value Per- sonal and Real Estate. |
Cash Value Farms. |
Cash Value Farm Products |
|
466,559,891 |
134,109,995 |
19,189,794 |
|
20,620,578 |
22,914,176 |
5,224,297 |
|
46,717,249 |
11,915,701 |
9,737,231 |
|
17,217,641 |
8,460,130 |
7,675,788 |
|
99,594,035 |
2,984,353 |
7,320,624 |
|
8,615,440 |
4,154,292 |
2,389,414 |
|
70,172,314 |
42,408,488 |
12,088,227 |
|
76,553,755 |
15,207,468 |
6,563,663 |
|
27,523,662 |
9,994,930 |
6,213.823 |
|
294,109,666 |
171,352,947 |
35,847,671 |
|
44,559,300 |
28,774,948 |
8,029,545 |
|
94,719,512 |
42,624,517 |
12,526,686 |
|
31,156,717 |
21,119,829 |
5,656,039 |
|
38,759,779 |
18,873,549 |
5,450,525 |
|
781,580,770 |
161,705,310 |
38,122,565 |
|
38,997,189 |
13,964,477 |
4,588,272 |
|
15,458,520 |
7,464,692 |
2,022,517 |
|
175,442,325 |
119,031,064 |
13,776,920 |
|
4,445,727 |
4,724,358 |
1,161,916 |
|
52,476,159 |
34,250,070 |
6,738,055 |
|
22,303,582 |
5,699,945 |
4,834,456 |
|
171,893,476 |
88,114,903 |
24,695,042 |
|
307,910,775 |
167,216,820 |
42,141,477 |
|
5,755,571 |
3,172,584 |
1,410,622 |
|
249,194,823 |
31,266,079 |
20,963,613 |
|
121,178,520 |
46,883,095 |
13,207,193 |
|
44,092,210 |
22,620,138 |
16,686,602 |
|
61,242,891 |
17,594,456 |
18,752,485 |
|
71,922,260 |
28,299,010 |
10,058,448 |
|
73,436,276 |
27,630,190 |
10,272,324 |
|
151,372,179 |
57,449,434 |
13,282,795 |
|
17,410,560 |
5,573,869 |
2,265,663 |
|
565,135,553 |
143,896,281 |
27,478,685 |
|
262,330,888 |
80,762,422 |
21,027,194 |
|
389,246,865 |
60,646,521 |
• 6,502,355 |
|
67,395,785 |
27,964,932 |
5,888,622 |
|
17,100,000 |
7,127,978 |
2,196,192 |
|
10,055.882 |
4,388,101 |
3,092,877 |
|
9,473,733 |
2,557,727 |
4,489,543 |
|
22,394,847 |
11,256,425 |
11,440,665 |
|
9,747,797 |
60,915,264 |
14,276,561 |
|
6,191,200 |
6,002,270 |
3,818,040 |
|
20,165,447 |
8,187,035 |
1,588,080 |
|
18,564,598 |
7,800,849 |
4,469,930 |
|
6,745,207 |
1,884,223 |
1,488,678 |
|
36,390,528 |
17,972,443 |
5,309,294 |
|
87,950,086 |
56,711,788 |
8,528,248 |
|
25,719,823 |
- 6,084,961 |
6,659,337 |
|
111,748,770 |
52,461,314 |
15,362,820 |
|
37,893,421 |
16,523,247 |
14,342,529 |
|
5,408,292,792 |
1,953,519,698 |
522,833,759 |
|
601,312,416 |
218,992,007 |
|
|
1,352,207,272 |
303,841,752 |
Cash Value Farm Stock.
14,328,980 4,192,525 4,051,731 2,954,47e 5,234,56r 1,493,17& 9,638,004 4,126,972 2,650,037
25,509,535 6,090,578 6,333,922 4,312,076 3,781,176
26,794,071 2,837,86r 1,023,96a
10,937,032
71,260'
4,420,775
1,687,667
16,830,325
24,078,02a 663,784 5,099,870" 9,482,765 4,948,541 3,600,871 6,213,177 5,202,64r 7,928,265 1,113,369-
16,085,167
13,934,08^' 4,591,501 3,924,395 1,799,292 1,733,770 690,594- 3,521,096:
10,654,091 798,862 2,708,193". 3,149,334 810,013- 3,210,430 5,555,958: 2,541,125 8,451,978 4,006,599
316,498,908
87,413,443
In the Centennial Year, 47
CHAPTER IV.
THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF PITTSBURGH.
By reference to a map it will be seen that the Pittsburgh Railway sys- tem is, taking into view the scope of its connections, one of great value.
Seated midway between, as has been before observed, an empire of popula- tion on the East and an empire of people on the West, Pittsburgh's facility for railroad communication with the trade of either section by railway is direct^ comprehensive and well sustained.
Eastwardly by the Pennsylvania Rail Road, to Philadelphia, it attaches to New York, and the North-east by the New Jersey Rail Roads, and to Baltimore and the south, by the Northern Central Rail Road, which connects with the Pennsylvania Rail Road at Harrisburg.
The value of this communication with the great cities of New York, Phila- delphia and Baltimore, by such direct routes and in such brief time, needs na comment. At a time when the manufacturers of the United States are essaying^ and with success, to secure a share in the trade of foreign markets, for articles which England has sold heretofore, a direct connection with three such great sea ports within twelve hours time, acquires additional value in view of Pittsburgh's manufacturing ability. Nor must the fact be overlooked that Pittsburgh is the natural point of refining of that great staple oil which has attained already the third rank in our foreign exports, and of which the chief supply is from the two or three counties of Western Pennsylvania which lie just at Pittsburgh's door.
North-eastwardly by the Allegheny Valley Rail Road, the great trunk lines of the lake routes are reached, and a second direct connection with New York obtained.
South-eastwardly by the PiTTSBURan and Connellsville Rail Road, at pres- ent known as the Pittsburgh Division of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, a second direct connection, by the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, from Cumberland, to which point the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Rail Road reaches, is secur- ed with Baltimore.
The value of a direct communication between Pittsburgh and so important a sea board city as Baltimore, need not be pointed out. It is of itself suggestive. Neither is it necessary to dwell upon the importance of the connection thus made with the southern Atlantic States. The road brings Baltimore 31 miles nearer the Ohio river, (a great desideratum to heavy freights,) than she now is placed by her Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road route to Wheeling; and from the
48 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
character of the route of this road, having but one summit, the gradients are all level or descending eastwardlj and westwardly ; therefore it will attract travel and freights by its ability, from these causes, to carry cheap.
Thus, by her Eastern railways two direct connections are available with New York, and two with Baltimore; while the admirable advantages of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad give every facility to reach Philadelphia. There is no city whose railway system so comprehensively grasps, in a days travel, the three great sea ports of the nation ; or to reverse the statement, no location where the three so great and important cities concentrate by their lines of railroads, traversed in iuch few hours, upon one community, so advantageously situated to distribute by water or by rail to the West. The advantages of this eastward portion of Pittsburgh's railway system, the city has not yet begun to feel; its power for increasing her commerce and her wealth is yet awaiting its hour in the future, and is a reserve whose value is not yet comprehended.
Westwardly, by the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne and Chicago Railroad, to Chi- cago, it embraces in its connections the entire net-work of roads which corei the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and reaches by various roads, through the States of Missouri and Iowa.
By the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad not only is a second avenue to Chicago and the North-west secured, but a direct route to St. Louis, 140 miles shorter than that by way of Buffalo and Cleveland. By this road a second and different connection is formed with the net of roads which so thor- oughly intersect the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and the States beyond the Mississippi. It needs but a glance at a rail road map to see how great are the facilities possessed by Pittsburgh through these two western rail roads to distribute to nearly every county in those three great States, and to the Missis- sippi river towns, her manufactured products, or to receive from all those agricultural districts, their products.
Northwardly, by the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Rail Road, the Pittsburgh railway system reaches the Lakes at Cleveland, and by the steam boat routes on them, with which this road forms close connections, the rail roads of Chicago and Detroit, and thence westwardly. As a northern route this one is extremely- valuable to Pittsburgh ; affording an outlet to a vast expanse of country for her coal and her manufactured products. Nor will the facilities thus had be over- looked, to receive from the regions of Lake Superior and Canada their copper and iron ores, which Pittsburgh uses so largely.
By the Pittsburgh and Erie Railroad another direct Northern route is had, as well as a second connection with the great East and West Lake lines of rail road, giving yet another facility for reaching the East, as well as the West and North.
Of the Western Trunk lines, the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago is the oldest completed route of the system. In its course it runs through and into the territory of four States, and gives by its own direct line transportation to twenty-
^■■^fUi2;jEU/-7tai^c 'f^'h^tr'/o,
LIBRARY HALL, PITTSBURQH.
.^A^:me>/:J?/u^^t.a!^^ «#<^ Jt^A^
SIXTH STREET SUSPENSION BRmGE.
I
m m
8
In the Centennial Year,
49
one counties through whose area its rails run. On its direct connections, which are so immediate as to be only a fork in the line, it intersects nine other counties, being thirty counties whose trade, travel and products it grasps direct. Omit- ting any mention of all the others the road has access to by other connections, the value of those counties are shown by the following table :
|
State. |
J a 1 11 8 1 21 |
Cash Value Personal aad Real Estate, 1870. |
Populati'n 1870. |
Cash Value Farms, 1870. |
Cash Value Farm Products |
Cash Value Live Stock. |
|
Pennsylvania, Ohio, .... Indiana, . . . Illinois, . . . |
34,065,895 244,931,060 121,161,500 575,000,000 |
36,148 293,853 126,754 349,966 |
14,198,713 123,114,044 58,905,714 22,873,349 |
2,069,312 23,212,080 9,492,236 4,033,256 |
1,576,277 15,676,342 7,017,227 2,612,441 |
|
|
Total, . . . |
995,157,455 |
906,721 |
219,091,810 |
38,806,884 |
26,882,307 |
By connection at Gallion, with the Cleveland, Columbus & Indiana Railway
|
State. |
i |
Cash Value Personal and Real Estate, 1870. |
Populati'n 1870. |
Cash Value Farms, 1870. |
Cash Value Farm Products 1870. |
Cash Value Live Stock, 1870. |
|
Ohio, .... Indiana, . . . |
4 1 |
86,751,281 15,000,000 |
92,238 19,030 |
42,596,611 10,025,183 |
8,634,074 1,746,273 |
5,763,343 1,187,038 |
|
Total, . . . |
5 |
101,751,281 |
111,268 |
52,621,794 |
10,380,247 |
6,950,381 |
By connection at Indianapolis with Indiana & Vincennes Rail Road.
|
State. |
1 6 |
Cash Value Personal and Real Estate, 1870. |
Populati'n 1870. |
Cash Value Farms, 1870. |
Cash Value Farm Products 1870. |
Cash Value Live Stock, 1870. |
|
Indiana, . . . |
4 |
40,723,375 |
74,801 |
24,729,016 |
5,612,688 |
4,074,552 |
The second Western trunk is the Pittsburgh, St. Louis & Cincinnati Rail EoAD. The value of this direct Western route is seen by a glance on a com- plete rail road map. In its direct course it passes through and into six great States, and thirty-one counties of those States. The value of the population, wealth and products of those counties, and the importance of the route as in-
50
Pittsburgh and Allegheny
stanced by the value of personal and real estate, value of farms and farm pro- ducts, as stated by the census of 1870, is shown in the following table:
|
States. |
i 6 1 1 13 9 6 1 31 |
Cash Value Personal and Real Estate. 1870. |
Population. 1870. |
Cash Value Farms. 1870. |
Cash Value Farm Products, 1870. 4,526,239 347,055 35,852,054 16,612,261 10,515,962 3,566,487 |
Cash Valuer Live Stock,. 1870. |
|
Pennsylvania, . West Virginia, . Ohio, .... Indiana, . Illinois, . . . Missouri, . . . |
69,288,390 4,060,127 425,885,906 233,819,990 88,307,356 511,035,000 |
48,483 4,363 472,805 266,156 123,316 351,189 |
39,015,600 2,317,814 200,454,673 105,025,363 42,573,200 28,409,635 |
3,938,335 218,84a 22,121,605 12,400,111 6,084,888 1,333,793 |
||
|
Total, . . . |
1,332,396,763 |
1,276,312 |
417,796,285 |
71,420,047 |
46,097,572- |
This trunk route, by its direct connection with the Columbus, Chicago & Indi- ana Central, reaches eleven other counties in Indiana, other than those in the table above, which had, in 1870, a population of 134,025 ; personal and real estate- to the value of $99,221,323 ; farms of a cash value of $55,476,850 ; producing farm products to the value of |11,657,183, and live stock worth |8, 782, 514. By its- connection with the Toledo, Peoria & Wabash E,AiLROAD,|nine more counties, other than those previously given, are reached direct, having, in 1870, a popula- tion of 262,118, with personal and real estate of the cash value of $176,582,022, "with farms of a cash value of $108,350,561, yielding farm products worth, at eash valuation, $23,825,592, and with live stock worth $19,850,000, cash.
The value of these two trunk western lines, with their four distinct and direct connections, — as shown by these statistics of the very elements that go to sup- port railways, consume manufactures and create commerce, is very great; not to mention in the slightest the many indirect connections, whose similar- resources also tend to these trunk lines, and to Pittsburgh. It would appear that the population is, in the aggregate, 2,765,845, the value of real estate and personal of $2,745,323,809, or more than the entire national debt, while the value of the farms was $878,066,316, the cash value of the farm products $161,702,641, or more than the annual interest upon the national debt, while the value of the live stock was $103,854,712. These statistics are those of the census of 1870, six years ago. With two trunk lines running their daily trains through such immense wealth, it needs not much comment to show the value of Pittsburgh's railway system as a sustainer of her business and a promoter of her growth. When to these is added that of the balance of her contemplated trunk lines, it is evident that Pittsburgh's continued prosperty, with a railway system giving access to such wealth, in addition to the other enormous sums shown by the cen- sus of 1870 to lie along the course of her accessable river, can be a subject for no doubt, hawever it may be temporarily effected by those periodical depressions of business to which the country has been subject.
In the Centennial Year.
51
But to return to the exhibit of the statistics of the trunk routes of the Pitts-- burgh railway system. The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railway runs through^ four counties of Ohio having, a population of 220,987, a cash value of real and personal estate of $195,703,000, with farms $75,939,385 cash value, yielding, $10,521,143 of products, and having |7, 041, 313 of live stock.
The Pittsburgh and Erie Rail Road, running through three counties of Pennsylvania, is sustained by a population outside of Pittsburgh of 143,239, whose real and personal estates was valued in 1870 at $105,163,728 cash, having farms whose cash value is given at $57,653,950, which produce farm products, at a cash value, of $9,854,845, and held live stock to the value of $7,088,019.
The statistics of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Rail Road, running through but three counties of Pennsylvania, and connecting at Cumberland with the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, shows that, by the census of 1870, those three counties had a population of 130,239, real and personal estate to the value of $125,802,365, farms worth in cash $58,505,499, yielding $9,129,959 of farm products, and having live stock to the value of $6,789,758. While this shows the money value of the three counties through which it runs, the figures are not a fair representation of the value of this trunk line, which it is to the east and south-east, in connection with the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road.
The Allegheny Valley Rail Road is the sixth trunk line of the Pittsburgh system, which piercing a diverse section from the other lines, pours her trade into Pittsburgh, and is not only aiding to sustain the prosperity of the past, but working to increase it in the future.
The route of this road is chiefly in Pennsylvania, although it penetrates into New York, and there forms connections with the New York system of roads.
The following table shows the statistics and population, and product values of this line :
|
State. |
a |
Cash Value Personal and Keal Estate, 1870. |
Cash Value Farms, 1870. |
Populat'n 1870. |
Cash Value Farm Products 1870. |
Cash Value Live Stock, 1870. |
|
Pennsylvania, . New York, . . |
8 1 |
188,415,130 48,607,170 |
97,023,894 33,061,755 |
276,905 59,227 |
17,308,583 6,103,495 |
13,580,359 4,880,586 |
|
Total, . . . |
9 |
237,022,300 |
130,085,549 |
336,122 |
23,412,078 |
18,460,945 |
By direct connection with the Oil Creek Rail Road, it also reaches two other counties in Pennsylvania, whose population is 27,907, have real and personal property to amount of $14,175,395, and farms of a cash valuation of $7,596,072, yielding $1,847,742 of farm products, and having $1,190,617 of live stock. These figures but poorly show the money importance of this line. Running through the great oil region, the staple of that section is not givcH in the farm products, although the oil is taken from those very farms. Upon this point it is
52 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
sufficient to state that the exports of this article now rank third on the list of exports from the United States, and that in addition to this is to be computed the entire consumption of the United States. For the carriage of this mineral, the Allegheny Valley Rail Road gives most admirable facilities for its transpor- tation to Pittsburgh for refining and shipment thence to the east for exportation. Of the present value of this trade to Pittsburgh the chapter on her oil trade pre- sents the facts.
The seventh trunk line is the Pennsylvania Rail Road. By this road and its branches, full access is had to the interior of the State. Running for a distance of 350 miles through the heart of the State, it affords a great facility for the re- ception of the metal from the numerous furnaces of Pennsylvania, the lumber of the mountain regions, and for eastward shipments to New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, either of home manufactures, or those products of other States, seek- ing eastern and European destinations, which are transported by the rivers to Pittsburgh.
These are the leading trunk roads of the Pittsburgh railway system, and are sufficient to indicate its power in Pittsburgh's future, to increase her growth and aid her business.
There are several minor roads whose future is yet undeveloped, which belong to the same system of roads. Among these is the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Rail Road. This road, running southwardly up the course of the Monongahela river, is designed to connect the points its name indicates, and form a connection with the southern net work of rail roads, as the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago and Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis does with the West. In so doing it will open to Pittsburgh a great facility for reaching the rich iron ores of Virginia, and also communicate with a very valuable lumber district, especially for ship timber. When completed, it will be — in the facilities it will afford to Pittsburgh of reaching southern markets with her manufactures, and receiving from them their staples — one of the most important of her trunk roads.
Of the various projected roads, it is not requisite here to speak; as of their routes or their trade statistics no data could be given. That several of these will hereafter add to the railway facilities of Pittsburgh is one of the cer- tainties of the city's future.
This brief exposition that is here given of Pittsburgh's railway system shows its power. Its lines reaches to the East, North-East, South-East, South, West, North-West, and North ; it reaches the great sea ports of the Atlantic coast with a singular directness and force ; it lays hold on the great lakes as strongly ; it reaches into and covers the West with a wonderful grasp, and, as shown, is pre- paring to lay a similar broad hand on the South. This presentation of Pitts- burgh as a railway centre suggests at once a greatness for the city increasing with the wants and products of the greater portion of the union.
In the Centennial Year. 53
CHAPTER V,
HALF A CENTURY OF MANUFACTURING.
Progress of Manufactures from 1804 to 185 7.
The expression, "Pittsburgh Manufactures," is one of the utmost familiaritj, all over the West and South-West, and hardly less so in the East. In the large cities and in the growing towns, the announcement of "Pittsburgh Manufac- tures" appears in the daily advertisements of the merchants; and at the stores of the cross roads of the fresh grown village, it is a conspicuous item upon the signs of their proprietors. Before entering into an exposition of their present value, it will be interesting to trace their early growth.
In 1804, Cramer's Almanack says, "Do not be surprised when you are in- formed that the averaged value of the articles manufactured in Pittsburgh for 1803, amounts to upwards of $350,000." From the same book the following table is extracted verbatim :
A View of the Manufacturing Trade of Pittsburgh, with the Average
Amount op Each Article, as Made from Raw Material and
Fit for the Market, for the Year 1803.
Glass, window bottles. Jars, decanters, tumblers, blue glass, . . . $12,500 00
Glass-cutting — N. B. equal to any cut in the states of Europe, . . 500 00
Tin ware— 320 boxes, 40 dollars each, 12,800 00
Barr iron, mill, ship-work, axes, hoes, plough irons, &c. — 50 Tons,
at 17 cts per lb, . 19,800 00
Brass hand irons, still cocks, &c., 2,800 00
Cutlery, augers, chisels, hackles, planing bits, drawer knives, «fec., . 1,000 00
Cut and hammered, nails, 40 tons, 18 cts. per lb, ■ . 16,128 00
Bells, cow, . 200 00
Guns, rifles, &c., 1,800 00
54 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
Clocks, silversmith work, 3,000 00
Screens for small grain — 3, 40 dollars each, 120 00
Scythes and sickles, 1 500 00
Cut stones, grind, tomb stones, &c., 2,000 00
Cabinet work, much exported, 14,000 00
Carpenters Planes, 850 00
Wagons, carts, &c., ..'... 1,500 00
Barrels, tubs, and buckets, 1,150 00
Kentucky and keel bottom boats, ships of burden, and barges, . . 40,000 00
Windsor chains — 180 doz., 15 dollars per doz., 2,700 00
Spinning wheels — 400, 3 dollars each, 1,200 00
Pumps, 500 00
Carpenter work, 13,500 00
Candles— 12,000 lbs., 20 cts. per Hb., 2,400 00
Soft soap — 800 bbls., 4 dollars per bbl., 3,200 00
Beer and porter — 900 bbls., 5 dollars per bbl., 4,500 00
Bread and biscuit flour — 1400 bbls., 6 dollars per bbl., 8,400 00
Shoes — 5180 pairs, 75 cts. per pair, 9,065 00
Boots — 550 pairs, 6 dollars per pair, 3,300 00
Saddles — 450, 15 dollars each, 6,750 00
Bridles — 1,500, 50 cts. each, 2,250 00
Harness work, 500 00
Buck-skin breeches, and dressed skins, 2,300 00
Cloaths, price of labor only, 5,950 00
Segars, snuff, and pigtail tobacco, 3,000 00
Ropes, cables, beds cords, &c., 2,200 00
Matrasses — 19, 20 dollars each, 380 00
Dyed cotton, and flaxen yarn (labor) . 450 00
Carded and spun cotton by the carding engine and spinning jenny, . 1,000 00
Woved striped cotton — 5,500 yards, 1 dollar per yard, 5,500 00
Linen, 700, — 3000 yards, 40 cts. yer yard, 1,200 00
Tow linen-;-1500 yards, 25 cts. per yard, 375 00
Lindsey woolsey — 3,500 yards, 60 cts per yard, 2,100 00
Carpeting, rag — 1,200 yards, 75 cts per yard, 900 00
Stockings, wove, 500 00
Coverlid and diaper weaving, 500 00
Weavers' reeds, 200 00
Hats, wool and fur— 2,800, 5 dollars each, 14,000 00
Chip hats— 90 doz., $7.50 per doz., 67500
Leather, tanned, 10,000 00
Brushes all kinds, Russia bristles, 2,500 00
Bricks — 1,250,000, 4 dollars per thousand, 5,000 00
Crockery ware, 3,500 00
In the Centennial Year. 55
-Mason work, 10,500 00
Plastering and painting, 3,500 00
Paper made up into books, 1,000 00
Total, $266,403 00
The Following Articles of Country Manufactures may be Considered thb Principal in which the Bartering Trade is Carried On in this Plach.
Whiskey— 2,300 bbls., 12 dollars per bbl., $27,600
Linen, YOG — 28,000 yards, 40 cts per yard, 11,200
Lindsey woolsey — 4,000 yards, 50 cts per yard, 2,000
Tow linen— 9,000 yards, 25 cts per yard, 2,250
Twilled bags— 3,000, at $1 each, 3,000
Striped cotton, — 3000 yards, 80 cts. per yard, 2,400
•Raw cotton from Tenn. — 30,000 pounds, 25 cts per pound, 7,500
Maple sugar — 15,000 pounds, 12 cts. per pound, . . . . 1,800
Lake salt, Onidago— 1000 bbls., 12 dollars per bbl., 12,000
Castings — 50 tons, 100 dollars per ton, 5,000
Barr iron — 80 tons, 160 dollars per ton, 12,800
Plax, hemp, oats, cheese, &c. — say, 5,000
Total, $92,505
The following is from Cramer's Almanack, of 1806: ''We feel peculiar pleasure in noticing the improvements of our town; two very important manu- factories have been lately erected and are now in operation. The one a cotton manufactory, which can spin 120 threads at a time, with the assistance of a man and boy. The big cylinder of the carding machine has on it 92 pair of cards -attended by a boy ; the reeling is done by a girl. The other is an air foundry, for the purpose of casting iron pots, kettles, mill irons, &c. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * We also learn that a machine for carding wool is about to be erected." The same page contains the following: "Mr. Lintot has been engaged some time in t)uilding a boat to go up stream with the assistance of horses. If the plan succeeds it will be atteuled with many important advantages to those concerned in the trade of the rivers."
1807. It is mentioned that "this town is growing rapidly into importance." The following manufactories are recorded: "O'Hara's glass factory, producing .yearly $18,000; Kirwin & Scott's cotton factory; M'Clurg's air furnace; Poter's Stringer's and Stewart's nail factories, producing 40 tons annually. Two exten- sive breweries (O'Hara's and Lewis',) whose beer and porter is equal to that so .much celebrated in London; two rope walks (Irwin's and^Davis'); three copper and tin factories, (Gazzam's, Harbeson's and Bantin and Milterberger's.j"
56
Pittsburgh and Allegheny
1808. There were in the town the following '^master workmen in each par- ticular branch of business carried on in Pittsburgh:"
1 Cotton Factory,
1 Green Glass works,
2 Breweries,
1 Air Furnace,
4 Nail Factories,
7 Coppersmiths,
1 Wire Manufactory,
1 Brass Foundry, 6 Saddlers,
2 Gunsmiths,
2 Tobacconists, 1 Bell maker,
1 Scythe and sickle maker 5 miles up the Allegh'y
2 Soap boilers and tallow chandlers,
1 Brush maker, 1 Trunk maker,
5 Coopers, 10 Blue dyers, 13 Weavers,
1 Comb maker, Y Cabinet makers,
1 Turner,
6 Bakers,
8 Butchers,
2 Barbers, 6 Hatters,
4 Physicians,
2 Potteries,
2 Straw Bonnet makers,
1 Reed maker.
1 Wool and Cotton Cord
manufacturer, 4 Plane makers,
6 Milliners,
12 Mantua makers, 1 Stocking weaver,
1 Glass cutter,
2 Book Binderies,
4 House and sign painters 2 Tinners,
1 Sail maker,
2 Mattress makers,
1 Upholster,
3 Wagon makers,
5 Watch and Clock ma- kers and Silversmiths,
5 Brick Layers,
4 Plasterers,
3 Stone Cutters,
5 Boat Builders,
2 Ship Builders,
1 Saddletree maker, 1 Flute and Jewsharp ma- ker, 1 Pump maker,
1 Bell hanger,
2 Looking-glass makers, 1 Ladies' lace "
1 Lock maker,
7 Tanners,
2 Rope walks,
2 Spinning Wheels,
17 Blacksmiths, 1 Machinist and White- smith, 1 Cutter and tool maker.
32 House Carpenters and Joiners,
21 Boot and Shoe makers^ 1 Ladies' shoe maker, 5 Windsor chair makers, 1 Split-bottom chair ma- ker,
13 Tailors,
3 Spinning-wheel spindle- and crank makers,
1 Breeches maker, 1 Glove maker, 12 School Mistresses,
33 Tavern keepers,
50 Store keepers or mer- chants,
4 Printing offices,
1 Copper plate printer^
5 Brick yards,
3 Stone masons,
2 Booksellers,
1 Harness maker,
1 Horse farrier,
1 Starch maker,
1 Gardner and seedman^
3 Board & lumber yards..
Some of the comments upon the various occupations, as given in the account
from which we copy, are illustrative of the times, viz : The cotton factory is
« mentioned as producing cotton yarns, <fec. '' to the great credit and profit of its
industrious proprietor." The comb maker ''wants horns, and gives for good
ones |3 per 100." "Two rope walks (at which hemp is much wanted)." The
machinist is announced as '' equal if not superior to any workman in the United
States."
In the Centennial Year. 57
In addition to the manufactories enumerated in 1808, there were in 1809,
1 " White Glass Works, Messrs. Robinson & Ensell, in which is manufactured
all kinds of Glass-ware of a good quality."
1 ''Bell-metal Button manufactory, bj Thomas Neal — the buttons well made
and sell as manufactured — 60 cents per gross. He gives the highest price for
old pewter, brass and copper."
1 Pipe manufactory by Mr. Price. 1 Cotton " by Mr. Scott,
1 Patent boot and shoe maker. "The heel and soal is tacked — without a
stitch — and are strong. Abel Smith is the patentee."
1810^. According to "A cursory view of the principal manufactures in and
adjacent to Pittsburgh" there were in the town —
Three Glass Works ''in handsome operation," producing flint glass to
value of $30,000
Producing Bottles and window glass, to value of 40,000
Two Cotton Mills '• are working 60 spindles, the other contemplates work- ing shortly 234 spindles." Their manufactures are set down at a
value of 20,000
"Their machines are set in motion by the power of horses."
One Air Furnace, which "lately cast 70 tons of cannon balls for the United States."
One Iron grinding mill, "recently got into operation."
"A manufactory of white metal buttons to the extent of 40 or 60 gross a week."
Of Ironmongery, there were made "of chisels, claw hammers, steel-yards, shingling hatchets, drawing knives, cutting knives, shovels, tongs, hackels, gimlets, augers, squares, door handles, Jack screws, files, stock locks, spinning-wheel irons, axes, hoes, chains, kitchenware, &c." to amount of 15,000^
Of Nails, there were " manufactories of these in town which make about 200 tons cut and wrought nails of all sizes annually."
It is mentioned of bri41e bits and stirrups, that "a manufactory of these has been recently established."
Of tin, copper and Japan ware there were " six manufactories briskly
carried on," manufacturing to amount of . . 30,000
Wire weaving was carried on to a considerable extent.
Of Glass cutting it is recorded, "The business has been recently estab- lished by an ingenious German, (Eichbaum,) formerly glass cutter to Louis XVI, late King of France. We have seen a six light chandelier with prisms of his cutting which does credit to the workman and reflects honor on our country, for we have reason to believe it is the first ever cut in the United States. It is suspend- ed in the Ohio Lodge^ No. 113, in the house of Mr. Kerr, innkeeper."
58 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
About 52,800 yards were annuallj woven of linsey-woolsey, cotton, and
linen mixed, averaging 6Q cents per yard, worth 38,848
Of Linen, Cramer's Almanack says, ''About 80,000 yards of flaxen linen, coarse and fine, are brought to the Pittsburgh market yearly." The average price appears to have been about 60 cents.
Of this article the same publication says: ''We feel a pleasure in having seen a fine piece of linen made by Mrs. James Gormly of this place ; it is spun six dozen cuts to the pound, and is 1600 in quality, it sold for $1.50 per yard." * ^^^^^^^ii Let it no longer be foolishly and roundly asserted that American flax will not make, nor that American women cannot spin fine linen."
In connection with this it will not be out of place to say, that all the publica- tions of about this date, contain articles, and many from distinguished citizens, urging the manufacture of linen, and attention to the culture of flax. Pittsburgh appears to have been then looked to as the most important point for the estab- lishment of such factories.
Says one publication of the manufacture of fine thread: "We are happy to find that fine and beautiful thread is now spun and brought to our market. We have seen some of twelve dozen cuts to the pound, about the quality of No. 28 imported."
Of Rope Walks there was but one, and that on a small scale.
3,000 pounds of rappee snufi" and 800,000 segars were manufactured princi- pally from Kentucky tobacco, at that date.
We quote the writer in full upon the two articles, flour and whisky: "Of these articles a vast and unknown amount is made throughout this country. There is too little foreign demand for the former and too great a home consump- tion of the latter."
Of boat and ship building, the publication from which we extract. Bays: ^'Kentucky and New Orleans boats, keels, barges, skiff's, &c. are made in great numbers on all our rivers. And there is a vessel of 150 tons now building on the Allegheny, by Mr. Robbins."
At that date one steam mill had been erected by Ow^n and Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, at a cost of $14,000. "She is calculated for three pairs of stones, which it is expected will make 100 barrels of flour in the 24 hours."
In that year it was estimated that within sixty miles of Pittsburgh, "abou* 4,000 tons of bar iron, 18,000 tons of pigs and castings, and 400 tons of slat iron were made annually. Exclusive of what is made at these forges, there are about 500 tons of rolled and bar iron come to our market annually from forges in the mountains."
The business of saddlery is " carried on briskly to the value of about $40,000."
The account of boots and shoes says "there are made in this place to the Amount of 45,000 pairs of shoes and 15,000 pairs of boots, annually."
In the Centennial Year.
59
In 1812, an article for Cramer's Pittsburgh Magazine Almanack of that year, ■set down the manufactures of Pittsburgh as follows, from the enumeration by
the marshal, in 1810:
One steam grist mill, manufac- tures 60,000 bushels of grain. Three carding and spinning mills
manufacture to value of |514,248 One flat iron mill, manufacture
to value of 2,000
Two distilleries, make 600 bar- rels of whisky. Four brick yards, make to
amount of 13,600
One rope walk, makes to amount
of 2,500
Two air furnaces, make 400 tons,
to amount of 40,000
Three red lead factories, . . . 13,100 Six nailories, make to amount of 49,890
Three glass works, 62,000
Two potteries, 3,400
Two gunsmitheries 2,400
-Sixteen looms, manufacture 19,- 443 yards of cloth.
Three tobacconists, ....
Six tanneries,
Seventeen smitheries, ....
Four cooperies,
Saddles, boots and shoes, . .
Ten batteries,
Four silversmiths and watch- makers,
Six copper, brass and tin facto- ries,
Three stone cutters, ....
Three boat and ship builders.
Two wagon makers, ....
Three chandlers,
One button manufactory, . .
One stocking weaver.
One cutlery,
One glass cutting,
One wire weaving establishment.
Three printing establishments.
One book bindery.
11,500 15,500 34,400 2,250 65,878 24,507
9,500
25,500 8,800
43,000 2,872
14,500 3,000
3,000 1,000
Upon this statement the writer of the article remarks that some of the eati- mates are too low for the time, especially in the saddlery line, which was ascer- tained in 1807, with some degree of accuracy, to amount to $40,000. In the same year, boots and shoes were made to amount to $70,000. The value of the abore manufactures is given at $2,000,000. The same article also mentions that the manufacture of coffee mills and locks by James Patterson, an English artist, has lately commenced.
In 1813, there were five glass factories in the town, producing flint and green glass to amount of $160,000; two large air foundries, M'Clurg's & Beelen's, casting about 600 tons a year, worth $54,000 ; also, one small one, carried on by Mr. Price, for casting butt hinges, &c. ; one extensive edge tool and cutlery manufactory, Messrs. Brown, Barker &; Butler; one steam works, carried on by Messrs. Foster & Murray, for making shovels, spades, scythes, &c. ; one rolling mill (erecting) by C. Cowan, with a capital of $100,000; one lock factory (Pat- terson's) ; one factory (Updegraff) for files, door handles, &c. ; two steam engine works (Stackhouse & Rodger's and Tustin's) ; one steel furnace (Tuper & M'Kowan); one wool carding machine factory (James Cummins); one woolen factory (James Arthurs); one flannel and blanket factory (Geo. Cochrane); one
60
Pittsburgh and Allegheny
cloth steam machine factory (Isaac Wickersham) ; two manufacturers of stirrup irons and bridle bits ; one wheel iron factory (Stevenson & Youard) ; one wire mill, (Eichbaum & Sons); one button factory (Reuben Neal); one knitting needle factory (Frithy & Pratt); two silver platers (Benj. Kindricks and Mr. Ayers) ; one morocco factory (Scully & Graham); one white lead factory (Beelen); one suspender factory (William Gore); one brass foundry (Thomas Cooper) ; one trunk factory (J. M. Sloan) ; one brush factory (Mr. Blair) ; six saddle factories ; two breweries; one steam flour mill; one rope walk (John Irwin & Co.); eleven copper factories, and three plane factories (Wm. Scott and Lithgrow).
The following account of manufactures carried on in the city and vicinity was collected under the direction of Councils, and reported to them in January, 1817, by their Committee:
|
Business. ] |
^0. |
Hands |
.. Amount |
Business. No. |
Hands |
. Amount |
|
Auger maker, . |
1 |
6 |
$ 3,500 |
Plane maker, ... 3 |
6 |
57,600 |
|
Bellows maker, . . |
1 |
3 |
10,000 |
Potter fine ware, . . 1 |
5 |
8,000 |
|
Blacksmith, . . . |
18 |
U |
75,100 |
Rope maker, ... 1 |
8 |
15,000 |
|
Brewers, .... |
3 |
17 |
72,000 |
Spinning machine |
^ |
|
|
Brush makers, . . |
3 |
7 |
8,000 |
maker, . • . . 1 |
6 |
6,000 |
|
Button maker, . . |
1 |
6 |
6,250 |
Spanish brown manu- |
||
|
Cotton spinners, . . |
2 |
36 |
25,518 |
factory, ... 1 |
2 |
6,720 |
|
Copper and tin smiths, |
11 |
100 |
200,000 |
Silver plater, ... 1 |
40 |
20,000 |
|
Cabinet makers, . . |
1 |
43 |
40,000 |
Steam engine makers, 2 |
70 |
125,000 |
|
Currier, |
1 |
4 |
12,000 |
Steam grist mills, . 2 |
10 |
50,000 |
|
Cutlers, |
2 |
6 |
2,000 |
Saddlers, .... 6 |
60 |
86,000 |
|
Iron foundries, . . |
4 |
87 |
180,000 |
Silversmiths, &c., . 5 |
17 |
12,000 |
|
Gunsmiths and bit |
Shoe and boot makers, 14 |
109 |
120,000 |
|||
|
makers,. . . . |
3 |
14 |
13,800 |
Tanners, .... 7 |
47 |
58,860 |
|
Flint glass factories. |
2 |
82 |
110,000 |
Tallow chandlers, . 4 |
7 |
32,600 |
|
Green glass factories. |
3 |
92 |
130,000 |
Tobacconists, . . 4 |
23 |
21,000 |
|
Hardware merchants, |
2 |
17 |
18,000 |
Wagon makers, . 5 |
21 |
28,500 |
|
Hatters, |
49 |
44,640 |
Weavers, ... 2 |
9 |
14,562 |
|
|
Locksmith, . . . |
7 |
12,000 |
Windsor chair makers, 3 |
23 |
42,600 |
|
|
Linen manufactory, |
20 |
25,000 |
Woolen manufacturers, 2 |
30 |
17,000 |
|
|
Nail manufactory, . |
47 |
174,716 |
Wire drawer, . . 1 |
12 |
6,000 |
|
|
Paper maker, . . . |
40 |
23,000 |
White lead factory, . 1 |
6 |
40,000 |
|
|
Pattern maker, . . |
2 |
1,500 |
Making 148 manufactories, employing 1280 hands, and producing $1,896,366 worth of articles.
In the Centennial Year, 61
In addition there were the following trades returned by committee, of which no details of hands and products were furnished by ''conductors:"
Chair makers, 3 Printers, 6
Currier, 1 Plane makers, 1
Cabinet makers, 2 Blacksmiths, 21
Cotton carder, 1 Shoemakers, 23
Comb maker, 1 Saddlers, 2
Coach maker, 1 Silk Dyer, ......... 1
Copper plate printer, 2 Stone cutters, 6
Book binders, 3 Tallow chandlers, 3
Hatters, 4 Tanners, 5
Oilder, • . 1 Weavers, 15
Machine makers, .2 Wire worker, ........ 1
Nailers, 5 Coffee mill maker, 1
These latter employing 357 hands, and produce $700,000 of manufactures. Being 259 factories, employing 1637 hands, and producing $2,266,366 of manu- factures.
In 1825, the Gazette of November 19th says, there are seven rolling mills, eight air foundries, six steam engine manufactories, and one extensive wire man- ufactory.
In the same year, and at the same date, Niles' Register states that window glass is made to the amount of 27,000 boxes, having a value of $135,000, and flint glass to the value of $30,000— about $100,000 of which is exported.
In 1829, the Pittsburgh Gazette says, "There are in Pittsburgh nine foundries that consume 3,500 tons of metal, and employ 225 hands; eight rolling mills, using 6,000 tons of blooms, 1,500 tons pig iron, and employing 300 hands; nine nail factories, employing 150 hands and producing eighteen tons of nails; seven steam engine factories, employing 210 hands, and that the total consumption of iron was 6,000 tons pig and an equal quantity of blooms."
In 1830, there were 9,282 tons of iron rolled and 100 steam engines built.
In 1831 there were eight glass houses, four flint glass, 32 pots, four window glass, employing 102 hands, using 7,000 cords of wood, 700 tons of sand, 1,000 barrels of salt, 40,000 pounds of potash, 150,000 bushels of coal, producing about $500,000.
Twelve foundries in and near Pittsburgh which consumed 87,000 bushels of coal; cast 2,963 tons of metal; employed 132 hands; produced to value of $189,614.
62
Pittsburgh and Allegheny
There are the following rolling mills and nail factories :*
Mills. Weight of Metal.
Union, 720,000
Sligo, 400,000
Pittsburgh, 782,887
Grant's Hill, 500,000
Juniata, 500,000
Pine Creek, 457,000
Miscellaneous, 360,000
There were in operation 37 Steam Engines.
Value. $43,000 32,000 86,544 20,000 30,000 34,100 28,200
In 1836 there was given bj authority quoted,! the following statement of rolling mills :
Mill. Kensington, Pennsylvani Juniata, . Sligo, . .
Bowen,
|
Firm. |
Tona Pigs. |
Tons Blooms. |
Bush. Coal and Coke. |
Hands. |
Engines. |
|
|
Leonard, Semple & Co., |
2,500 |
500 |
250,000 |
170 |
2 |
|
|
Miltenberger & Brown, |
3,500 |
1,500 |
360,000 |
110 |
2 |
|
|
G. & J. H. Shoenberger, |
4,000 |
180,000 |
90 |
2 |
||
|
Lyon, Shorb & Co., . . |
4,600 |
220,000 |
90 |
— |
||
|
Lippincott & Bro., . . |
800 |
75,000 |
50 |
— |
||
|
Smith, Royer & Co., . |
2,500 |
500 |
250,000 |
150 |
— |
|
|
Bissell & Co., . . . |
2,450 |
1,100 |
200,000 |
100 |
— |
|
|
Beelen & Co., . . . H. S. Spang & Son, |
} |
4,500 |
41,500 |
240 |
- |
Nine mills; 28,000 tons of pig and blooms; 1,000 hands; 2,000,000 bushels of coal, and $4,160,000 product.^
Eighteen foundries, engine and machine shops, consuming 500,000 bushels of coal and coke, 12,000 tons of pig metal, 3,000 tons of sheet and boiler iron; employing 1,000 hands; produce $2,130,000 manufactures. Of these, McClurg, Wade & Co., Arthurs, Stewart & Co., Robinson & Minnis, Arthurs, Nicholson & Co., Bemis & Co., Stackhouse & Tomlinson, Warden & Benny, Freeman & Miller, Kingsland & Lightner, are nine of the firms — four being engine manufacturers, four foundries for all description of castings. The eight used 6,500 tons of pigs, and employed 780 hands. Four of the engine shops turned out in the year 56 engines and 158 boilers.
* Peck and Tanner's Guides, 1831, f Lyford's Western Directory.
X In this valuation is included bar and sheet iron, shovels, axes, hoes, saws, steel, nails, spikes, wire, Ac.
In the Centennial Year.
6S
The following establishments are given from data collected from Lyford's and Harris' Directory, 1837, and other publications: •
Glass Works.
Style.
Stourbridge, Pennsylvania,
Birmingham,
Firm.
Bakewell <fc Co., Flint,
Robinson, Anderson & Co., . . "
Whitehead, Ihmsen & Phillips, . "
'' "■ '' . Black,
C. Ihmsen & Co., Vial,
'^ Window
Park, Campbell & Hanna, . . . Flint,
O'Leary, Mulvany & Co., ... **
Curling, Robertson & Co., ... "
S. M'Kee & Co., Window,
W. M' Cully, ....... \
W. A. Buchanan, v Window,
F. Lorenz, ....... j
|
lands |
Value. |
|
65 |
% 9o,ooa |
|
114 |
120,000 |
|
32 |
60,000 |
|
32 |
38,500 |
|
36 |
38,500 |
|
40 |
50,000 |
|
45 |
60,000 |
|
50 |
70,000 |
|
40 |
38,500 |
|
62,55a |
Cotton Factories.
Style.
Phoenix, .
Pittsburgh.
Hope, . .
Eagle, . .
Union, . .
Globe, . .
Firm.
. Adams, Allen <fe Co. . . Blackstock, Bell k Co., . Marshall, M'C. & Co., . Arbuckle <fe Avery, . . George Beale, . . . Lewis Peterson, . .
Total, 6,
Bales Cotton.
1,100
1,500
1,500
1,300
450
350
6,200
|
Spindles. |
Hands. |
Looms |
. Value. |
|
5,000 |
220 |
76 |
1150,000 |
|
5,000 |
210 |
42 |
200,000. |
|
5,000 |
200 |
180,000 |
|
|
3,600 |
150 |
150,000 |
|
|
2,200 |
70 |
50,000 |
|
|
1,000 |
50 |
40,000 |
21,800
900 118 $770,000^
Lyford gives the spindles of the same factories at 28,900; operatives at 1,030, and states that 2,100,000 yards of brown sheetings are made.
Style. Point, . Pittsburgh, . Wainright's, Franklin, Allegheny, .
Breweries. Firm. Hands.
. G. J. & P. Shiras, 20
. Brown & Verner, ....... 21
. J. Wainwright, 4
. Coltart & Dilworth, 9
W. A. Irwin & Co 7
|
Barrels. |
Value. |
|
6,000 |
138,000 |
|
6,000 |
40,000 |
|
1,000 |
6,000 |
|
2,500 |
16,500 |
|
3,300 |
18,000 |
Total, 5,
61 18,800 $118,500
♦Harris' Directory, 1837.
64 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
Lead Factories,
» Kegs. Pounds. Value.
Avery & Ogden, 24,000 600,000 $60,000
H. Brunot, 8,000 200,000 22,000
B. M'Clean & Co., 6,000 150,000 18,000
Madeira & Aston, • 8,696 1H,000 24,000
J. Hannen, 5,600 140,000 16,000
Daniel King, 4,800 120,000 14,000
Porter & Breckenbridge, 7,000 175,000 21,000
Oregg & Hagner, 10,000 360,000 31,000
Total, 8, 74,496 1,819,000 $206,000
Rope Walks.
Tons Hemp, &c. Hands. Value.
John Irwin & Son, 300 50 ^ $100,000
Smith & Guthrie, (new,) 400 50 120,000
Long & Co., 7 30,000
In 1836, Mr. Lyford, in his Western Address Directory, figures up the busi- ness of Pittsburgh as follows :
Steamboats, $ 960,000
Rolling Mills, proceeds of, 4,160,000
Iron Foundries, Engine and Machine Shops, proceeds of, .... 2,130,000
Plint Glass Works, proceeds of, 560,000
Window-Glass and Hollow ware, value of, 700,000
€otton Factories, proceeds of, 500,000
Rope Walk, " '' . . • : . . . 80,000
Pap^r Mill, " '' 20,000
Chemical Factories and Lead Works, proceeds of, 241,000
Linseed Oil, value of, 50,000
Ploughs, '' '' 174,000
All other manufactures, 6,000,000
Total, $15,575,000
In 1837, Harris' Directory sums up the manufactories of the city thus:
6 Cotton factories, $ 770,000
8 White lead factories, 206,000
Manufactories of Birmingham, 2,491,000
6 Iron manufacturing establishments and rolling mills east of Mo-
nongahela, 1,957,500
9 Iron foundries, 500,000
10 Steam engine factories, and foundries attached, 700,000
7 Glass manufactories, east of Monongahela, 430,000
In the Centennial Year. 65
3 Rope-walks, 250,000
3 Iron manufactories of saws, shovels, spades, hoes, axes, nails, &c., 230,000
Livingston's platform scale manufactory, 60,000
IngersoFs steam hat body manufactory, . . ' 11,250
All other manufactories .and mechanical productions of the city
and environs, 4,000,000
Total manufactories, &c., $11,606,350
The mercantile business is summed up at, 13,100,000
The commission business at, 5,875,000
The coal trade, 565,200
Making a total of, $31,146,550
In 1840 there were returned by the census of that year as in Pittsburgh, Alle- gheny and Birmingham :
28 Lumber yards, with a capital of f 226,300
27 Furnaces and 7 forges, with a capital of 1,500,000
10 Xrlass-houses and 6 glass cutting works, with a capital of . . . 220,000
5 Cotton factories with 17,270 spindles.
1 Pottery, 1 fulling mill, 6 tanneries, 5 breweries, 2 flouring mills, 1
oil mill, 1 rope-walk, all of which employed a capital of . . 2,111,390
In 1857 a volume entitled "Pittsburgh As It Is," publishing the trade statistics of the city in 1856, in which year the facts and figures were gathered, shows the business and manufactures of the city, so far as they could be obtained^ to be as given in the following tables and statements. This is exclusive of the retail trade. Much of the manufacturing business, like the making of bricks, gas, houses,^and such similar employments of the population, which, though part of its business and proper to be included, were not given, as the figures were unattainable, as were the statistics of other branches of trade for the same reason. Those com- pulsorily omitted would swell the sum total of the business of the city in 1856, greatly.
The information, so far as contained in the volume mentioned, states that that there were in Pittsburgh and Allegheny in 1856:
.25 Rolling Mills, having — ■
165 heating furnaces, 262 puddling furnaces, 448 nail machines; employ- ing 4,623 hands, whose yearly wages were $2,866,020.00; and consuming 140,000 pig iron, scrap and blooms.
16 Foundries, having —
30 cupalos and air furnaces, with a yearly capacity of 44,300 tons; con- suming 19,200 tons of pig iron; employing 860 hands, whose wages were $346,500.
66 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
1 Cannon Foundry, consuming —
600 tons pig metal; employing 28 hands, whose wages were $12,040.
16 Machine Shops, having —
12 Foundries, with 18 cupalos, of a yearly capacity of 22,600 tons, con^ suming 8,800 tons of metal a year; employing 131 hands, whose wages- were 1306,802.
1 Boiler Yards, employing —
1049 hands, whose yearly wages were $75,980; consuming 1470 tons of boiler and sheet iron. 4 Shovel and Axe Factories, employing —
495 hands, whose yearly wages were $231,660; consuming 3,743 tons iron and steel.
2 Forges, employing —
57 men, whose yearly wages were $29,600 ; consuming 1,950 tons iron.
1 Chain Factories and River Blacksmiths, employing —
48 hands, whose wages were $18,100; consuming 985 tons of iron. Also- 100 General Jobbing Blacksmiths, employing between 300 and 600 hands.
2 Hot Pressed Nut Factories, employing —
52 hands, whose wages were $19,344; having 12 machines and 5 heating furnaces.
1 Railroad Spike Factory, having —
3 machines employing 20 hands, whose wages were $9,360.
3 Iron Railway Screw and Machine Factories, employing — •
54 men, whose yearly wages were $15,460; consuming bar iron and other- material to amount of $38,485.
3 Safe Factories, employing —
65 hands, whose yearly wages were $28,600, and consuming material to amount of $59,700.
3 Cutlery Factories, employing —
29 men, whose yearly wages were $12,080; consuming material to amount of $5,335.
2 Smut Machine Factories, employing —
6 hands, and producing machines to amount of $30,000. 1 File Factory, employing —
15 hands, whose yearly wages were $6,240. 1 Boiler Rivet and Spike Factory, having —
4 machines with a capacity of 12,000 kegs yearly; employing 10 hands,, whose wages were $6,000 yearly.
1 Sickle Factory, producing —
3,000 doz. sickles annually.
2 Saddlery Hardware Factories, employing —
85 hands, whose wages were $22,800 yearly; consuming $15,402 of pig; iron, bar iron, silver and other material annually.
In the Centennial Year. 67'
i
1 Rivet Mill, employing 8 hands.
1 Wire Factory, employing —
15 hands, whose yearly wages were $7,020.
2 Gun Barrel Factories, employing —
30 men, whose yearly wages were $16,720; consuming material to amount of $8,620.50.
1 Rifle and Gun Factory, employing —
25 hands, whose yearly wages were $15,600.
1 Repeating Pistol Factory.
2 Domestic Hardware Factories, having —
6 cupalos, with a yearly capacity of 6,500 tons of pig iron a year; con- suming 2,200 tons of metal and other material to the value of $50,700; employing 500 hands, whose yearly wages were $15,600.
3 Plow Factories, having —
4 cupalos with a capacity of 5,300 tons; consuming 1,375 tons of pig and scrap iron, and other material to amount of $79,750; employing 120 hands, whose yearly wages were $71,760.
1 Life Boat Factory, employing —
10 hands, whose wages were $3,900 annually; consuming 10 tons of gal- vanized iron a year.
1 Copper Rolling Mill, of which no statistics were furnished in 1856.
28 Copper and Tin Smiths, employing —
150 hands,_whose yearly wages were $56,000; consuming 2,877 boxes of tin, 170,000 lbs. copper, and other material to amount of $40,000.
5 Cotton Mills, having —
33,666 spindles, 659 looms, 187 cards, using 12,600 bales of cotton, and employing 1,330 hands, whose yearly wages were $325,000.
3 White Lead Works, employing —
65 hands, whose yearly wages were $38,800 ; consuming material, includ- ing 2,066 tons of white lead, to amount of $392,380.
34 Glass Factories, employing —
1982 hands, whose yearly wages were $910,116, and consuming material to amout of $2,078,734.40.
1 Stained Glass Factory, employing 4 hands, whose wages were $1,872.
4 Looking Glass Factories, employing —
88 men, whose wages were $36,400, and consuming material to amount of
$152,740. 10 Brass Foundries, employing —
71 hands, whose yearly wages were $34,000; consuming material to
amount of $60,000. 1 Bell Foundry.
68 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
1 Japan Ware and Press Goods Factory, employing —
40 hands, whose yearly wages amounted to |16,600; consuming 2,500
boxes of tin. 1 Britannia Ware Factory, employing —
18 hands, whose yearly wages were $4,680.
1 Wire Cloth Factory, employing 4 men, whose wages were about 12,700.
3 Agricultural Implement Factories.
3 Keg Factories, employing 180 hands, whose yearly wages were $56,000.
2 'Railroad Car Factories, employing 61 hands, whose wages were $28,538. 1 Bucket Factory, employing 30 hands, making 320,000 buckets and tubs.
6 Coach and Carriage Factories, employing —
llY hands, whose wages were $60,800 annually; using material to the
value of $59,800. 29 Wagon Factories, employing —
225 hands, whose wages were $72,480; consuming material to amount of
$71,000, and produing 2,120 wagons and carts. 13 Tanneries, having —
447 vats, employing 132 hands, whose yearly wages were $54,902; tanning
108,720 ox, calf and sheep skins. 27 Breweries, employing —
199 hands, whose wages were $64,140; consuming 488,000 bushels of
grain and 304,000 lbs. of hops. 6 Cracker Factories, employing —
39 hands, whose yearly wages were $12,064; consuming 10,450 barrels
of flour. 6 Marble Works, employing —
71 hands; consuming 450 tons of marble; whose wages were $36,000
annually. 16 Cabinet and Chair Factories, employing —
504 hands, whose yearly wages were $96,500 ; consuming material to the
value of $107,792. 8 Soap and Candle Factories, employing —
102 hands, whose yearly wages amount to $2,920; consuming material
to amount of $36,850. 1_^Glue Factory, employing —
8 hands, whose wages were $156,000 yearly; using material to amount of
$3,500. 5 Lime Manufactories, employing 50 hands, whose wages amount to $17,200. 1 Slate Roofer, employing 15 hands, whose wages were $7,500 annually. 1 Steam Woolen Stocking Factory, employing —
100 hands, whose wages were $15,600: using yarn and dye stuffs to
amount of $25,500.
In the Centennial Year, 69
2 Match Factories, employing —
22 hands, whose wages were $3,482; consuming material to amount of $1,150. 1 Zinc Washboard Factory, employing —
5 hands, whose yearly wages were $1,500; consuming material to amount of $4,925.00.
1 Porcelain Teeth Factory.
1 Kid Glove Factory, employing 8 hands, whose wages were $1,250.
1 Alcohol Distillery, employing —
6 men, whose annual wages were $2,600; producing 15,000 barrels of alcohol, spirits and whisky.
1 Ethereal Oil Factory, employing —
3 men, whose wages were $1,500, and produce 22,000 gallons of oil.
3 Linseed Oil Factories, employing —
12 men, whose wages amounted to $4,368; consuming 32,000 bushels flax seed.
2 Lard Oil Factories.
2 Yarnish Factories, employing —
6 hands, whose annual wages were $2,496; consuming material to amount
of $38,621. lY Tobacco Manufactories, employing —
198 hands, whose yearly wages were $61,7*76. 2 Paper Manufactories, employing —
57 hands, whose wages were $15,912; consuming material to amount of
$59,720.
1 Book Binders Board Factory, employing 20 hands.
5 Flo,uring Mills, employing 44 hands, whose annual wages were $18,300.
2 Spice Mills, employing 13 hands, whose wages were $4,732. 2 Whip and Umbrella Factories.
2 Saddle-tree Factories, employing 5 men, whose wages were $3,628.
2 Coffee Extract Factories, employing 9 men, whose wages were $5,400.
5 Potteries, employing 58 hands, whose yearly wages were $21,112.
3 Brush Manufactories, employing 32 hands, whose wages were $7,80(^. 2 Blacksmith Bellows Factories.
6 Saddlery Harness Factories, employing —
106 hands, whose yearly wages were $35,152.
4 Trunk Factories, employing 36 hands, whose annual wages were $11,132. 2 Patent Leather Factories, employing —
75 hands, whose annual wages were $36,200; having a capacity of 23,000
hides a year. 1 Woolen Factory, employing 8 hands ; consuming 20,000 lbs. of wool. 1 Comb Factory. 1 Ice Chest Factory, employing 6 hands, whose wages were $2,496.
70 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
I Bobbin Factory, employing 4 hands, whose wages were $1,056. 1 Broom Factory, producing —
1,880 dozen brooms annually, and employing 5 hands, whose wages were
about $1,800.
1 Children's Carriage Factory, employing 8 hands.
2 Box Factories, employing 14 hands, whose wages were $2,496.
2 Pump Block Makers, employing 11 men.
6 Turners, employing 41 hands, whose wages were $17,500.
3 Rope Walks, employing 57 hands, whose wages were $17,784.
3 Upholsters, employing 85 hands, whose wages were about $20,000..
1 Oil Cloth Factory, employing 20 hands, whose wages were $8,000 a year.
17 Timber Yards.
8 Sash and Door Factories, employing 80 hands, whose wages were $33,280.
9 Planing Mills, employing 120 hands, whose wages were $76,584.
7 Saw Mills, employing 70 men, whose wages were $26,280. 1 Surveying Instrument Factory, employing —
7 hands, whose wages were about $6,000 yearly.
1 Gold Leaf Factory, producing 600 oz. leaf yearly.
35 Boot and Shoe Houses, employing 90 h^nds, whose wages were about $47,000.
9 Hat, Cap and Fur Houses, employing —
56 hands, whose yearly wages were over $20,000.
4 China Queensware Houses, employing —
15 men, whose wages were about $8,000 a year. 54 Clohthing Manufacturers, employing —
1,500 hands, whose earnings were over $400,000 a year. 11 Wholesale Druggists, employing —
102 hands, whose wages amounted to $61,200.
2 Trimming Stores, employing 17 hands, whose wages were
6 Wholesale Variety Goods Houses, employing —
23 hands, whose wages were $11,500 a year.
18 Wholesale Confectioneries, employing —
50 hands, whose wages were over $17,000 a year.
10 Book and Stationery Stores, employing—
29 hands, whose wages were about $12,000. 14 Large Jewelry Houses, employing —
42 hands, whose yearly wages were $21,000. 2 Saddlery Hardware Houses, employing —
11 hands, whose salaries were over $5,000 yearly. 4 Wall Paper Dealers, employing —
13 hands, and paying wages to amount of $5,300.
7 Wholesale Leather Houses, employing —
33 hands, whose salaries were $16,500 yearly.
In the Centennial Year. 71
*l Pork Packing Houses, employing —
215 hands, whose wages were about $34,400. :2 Wholesale Straw Goods Houses, employing —
20 hands, whose salaries were nearly $6,000. ^2 Rectifiers and Liquor Houses, employing —
109 hands, whose average wages were $43,895. ^9 Feed Stores, employing 27 hands, whose yearly wages were about $11,000. 49 Wholesale G-rocery Houses. 20 Produce and Commission Houses.
10 Forwarding and Commission Houses. 4 Iron Commission Houses.
4 Ship Chandlers.
2 Wool Houses.
Which last 91 houses employ 340 hands, whose salaries amount to over .^200,000.
3 Wholesale Carpet Warehouses, employing —
14 hands, whose salaries were $7,500 yearly. 2 Auction Commission Houses. 2 Lithographic Establishments.
11 Daily Papers.
11 Job Printing Offices.
45 Wholesale and Retail Dry Goods Houses, employing —
311 hands, and paying out about $165,000 a year salaries. 15 Hardware Houses, employing —
57 hands, whose yearly wages was aggregated at $37,500.
4 Transportation Houses.
3 of these employ 500 men, whose wages were about $150,000 a year, and 96 canal boats, whose value was $83,400.
The smaller and less prominent business of the city are not, as before stated, given in the volume referred to. The population of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities and their adjoining boroughs was, in 1856, about 138,000, and as the sta- tistics of the retail trade of one city are the counterpart of those of another, «4ther increased or diminished by the number of its inhabitants, the aggregate •of that class of trade of Pittsburgh was, in 1856, it is to be safely assumed, the same in amount with any other city of a similar size.
The value of the business of the establishments named in the foregoing enumeration, are given as follows in the publication quoted. As they were the result of a personal canvas by the author of the volume, they are believed to be nearly correct, and represent the value at that day of the manufacturing and wholesale trade of the city:
72
Pittsburgh and Allegheny
Manufactures.
Kolling Mills, Coal, . . .
. fl0,'730,562 . . 6,336,'720
Lumber, 3,241,000
Glass Factories, 2,631,990
Boat Building, ..... 1,924,800
Cotton Mills, 1,269,655
Foundries, 1,248,300
Soap and Candles, .... 960,000
Flour Mills, 864,500
Breweries, 864,000
Axes and Shovels, .... 823,742
Machine Shops, .^ .... 836,300
Furniture, 503,000
Tanneries, 463,320
Domestic Hardware, . . . 450,000
Distillery, 450,000
Tobacco Factories, . . . 443,7*70
White Lead Factories, . . 443,390
Boiler Yards, . . ... . 305,000
Steamboat and River Black-
smiths,
261,000 250,000
Railroad Spikes, ... Copper Rolling Mill, ...
Forges,. . 224,500
Nail Factories, .....' 229,700
Wagon Factories, .... 204,500
Plow Factories, 192,000
Copper and Tin Smiths, • . 192,000
Saddlery and Harness, . . 181,000
Carriage Factories, . . . 175,000
Looking Glass Factories, . 170,000
Keg Factories, 156,000
Salt, 130,000
Rope Walks, 117,451
Safe Factories, ..... 116,000
Cracker Factories, .... 114,000
Paper, 86,000
Bucket Factories, . . . Patent Leather, .... Agricultural Implements,
Brass Foundries, .... 75,000
85,000 80,000 80,000
Oil Cloth Factory, . . Marble Works, . . . Upholstering, . . .' Linseed Oil, .... Railroad Cars, . . .
Lard Oil,
Coffee Extract, . . . Japan Ware, ... . .
Turners,
Woolen Stockings, . . Boiler Rivets, . . . Iron Railings,
Lime,
Varnish, ....'. Saddlery Hardware, .
Cannon,
Smut Machines, Wire Factory, Gun and Rifle Factory, Brush Factory, . . . Whip Factories, . .
Potteries,
Sickle Factories, . .
Cutlers,
Trunk Factories, . . Gun Barrels, .... Gilt Moulding, . . . Spice Factory, . . . Rivet Factory, . . . Britannia Ware, . . Ethereal Oil, .... Box Factories, . . .
Files,
Brooms,
Pumps and Blocks, . . Matches, ..... Blacksmith Bellows, . Life Boats, .... Survey Instruments, . Stained Glass, . . . Wire Cloth, ....
75,000 75,000
7o,ooa
71,500
65,000
60,000
60,000
60,000
55,000
50,000
50,000
52,000
48,000
46,500
44,000
40,000
40,000
40,000
40,000
40,000
34,000
33,000
30,000
30,000
30,000
28,875
25,000
25,000
20,000
18,000
20,000
12,480
12,000
11,000
10,000
10,752
10,000
10,000
10,000
10,000
10,000
In the Centennial Year.
73
7,500 Woolen Factories,
5,000
|
6,750 |
Saddle Trees, . . . |
. . 5,ooa |
|
6,000 |
Bobbins, |
. . 2,500 |
|
6,650 |
Combs, |
. . 1,000 |
Glue Factory,
Washboard Factory, . . . Children's Carriage Factory Kid Gloves,
The total of these figures are $39,431,717 of manufactures, so far as this list extends.
The same volume gives, as the sales of the wholesale trade :
Groceries, $5,812,000 Hats, Caps and Furs
Produce, 3,244,000 Leather, ....
Pig Iron, 3,255,150
Dry Goods, 2,843,230
Clothing, 960.000
Boots and Shoes, .... 806,000
Drugs, 725,000
Rectifiers and Liquors, Pork Packers
731,890 645,000
Hardware, 615,000
Jewelry and Watches, . . 375,000
Variety Goods, 284,000
Manufacturing Confectioners, 279,000 Soda, . . . . y . . . 270,000
Books and Stationery, Tin and Metals, . . Feed, ._ . . . . Saddlery Hardware, Carpets, .... Trimmings, . Straw Goods, . . Paper and Rags, China and Queensware Wall Paper, . . . Bonnet Factories, .
250,000 252,000 225,000 216,000 214,000 130,000 125,000 111,000 108,000 80,000 75,000 56,000 36,000
These figures give an aggregate of the wholesale trade in the branches given at $22,723,370. As the volume from whence the figures are quoted, regrets in- ability to obtain figures of some branches of manufactures, and there are other business not mentioned, which are properly to be classed with the manufactures of the city, it is probable that the manufactures and wholesale business of the city in 1856 was about seventy million of dollars. In 1837 the manufactures of the city was summed up at $11,606,350, and the coal trade at 565,200, or $12,- 175,550. In 1856, twenty years after, it is clearly $39,431,717 from actual figures given, an increase of over 300 per cent, in that time, although it was probably more for the reason given. The whole mercantile and commercial business in 1837 is given at $18,975,000, and that includes the retail trade. In 1857 the wholesale trade alone is, without the commission business, other than pig metal, $22,72.3,370. What per cent, of increase that may be, cannot be shown as in the figures of 1837, are included the retail trade of the city, while in those of 1856, the retail trade is omitted, and all of the commission business, with the exception of pig iron.
74 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
CHAPTER VI.
GROWTH OF POPULATION AT PITTSBURGH.
Frugality and industry are prominent characteristics of the inhabitants of Pittsburgh; consequently a large amount of conservatism is observable in all their transactions.
The industry of its population is not surpassed by that of any other city; a-nd there is, for all the wealth of its population, fewer gentlemen of leisure than in any city of the Union.
There are at the present time but few families in which the male members are not engaged in some occupation from day to day, of either a professional, mercantile or mechanical character; and there could not be pointed out half a dozen men of wealth who, themselves or their sons, lead the life of leisure which is usually led by persons equally wealthy, in other cities of the Union.
In the wealth of their population, Pittsburgh and Allegheny would probably •compare unfavorably with the large eastern cities as to the number of persons usually termed millionaires, implying the possession of $500,000 or over. Yet^ in point of persons who may be considered independent, and those possessing handsome fortunes and competencies, there is in all possibility no other city, for the same population, can compare favorably with Pittsburgh.
The wealth of the city is generally distributed — a result of the frugality and industry before mentioned, as well as of the opportunities here, for the accumu- lation of money.
The population of Pittsburgh, including Allegheny, is at the present time over 200,000, even leaving out precincts which might be truthfully classified in the city. There are many towns whose growth seems to have been more rapid than Pittsburgh, and probably for a short period has been so; yet, viewing the increase of Pittsburgh for a series of years, we find there has been, in the swell of population, a progress which has attracted but little attention, and is in its comparative ratio with the growth of other points, undervalued by even her own citizens.
That progress is best shown by progressional ratios. In 1800 the population of the portion of the western country to whose borders Pittsburgh has naviga- tion, as shown in the chapter on the geographical position of the city, was -385,647, while that of the city itself was 1,565, or a little over four-tenths of one per cent. In 1810 there were in the same territory 1,075,531 inhabitants, and in Pittsburgh 4,768, or nine-twentieths of one per cent. In 1820 the population of
In the Centennial Year, 75
the same section of the country was 2,541,552, and that of Pittsburgh 7,248, or not quite three-tenths of one per cent. In 1830 the same section of the Union had 3,331,298 inhabitants, and Pittsburgh 16,988, being over five-tenths of one per cent, of all. In 1840 there were 5,173,949 inhabitants in the western and southwestern States, while the population of Pittsburgh was 38,931, being iifteen-twentieths of one per cent. In 1850 the population of the section of the Union just mentioned, was 8,419,179, and that of Pittsburgh 79,873, being nineteen-twentieths of one per cent. In 1860 the population of the western and southwestern States was 11,489,318, and that of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, and their adjoining boroughs, whose population is really part of that of the two cities, was 124,844, being nearly one and one-tenth per cent. In 1870 there was in the section of the Union under comparison, 14,583,567 inhabitants, while in the community of Pittsburgh and Allegheny there was a population of 199,130, being one and nearly four-tenths per cent. Considering the location of Pittsburgh as a natural centre, as shown in the chapter on the cities' geographi- cal position, to the population of this great mass of the Union, it would be far from unsatisfactory, as showing her prosperity, if her population had increased in arithmetical proportions with that territory of which she is the centre; and jet more satisfactory if that increase of population was in corresponding ratios with that of the western and southern States, to which she has, in past years, looked for her markets, and to which she has access by her river transportation facilities. A brief comparison will exhibit Pittsburgh's vitality in this respect, and present in the most comprehensive and satisfactory form her growth.
In 1800, as previously stated, the population of Pittsburgh was four- tenths of one per cent, of that of the West and South.
To exhibit a steady growth with the population of the South and West, the ratio of four-tenths of one per cent, of that population is all that would be required to be maintained. In 1810 the population of the city was 4,786, or nine-twentieths of one per cent.; the ratio of four-tenths of one per cent, being only 4,300. In 1820 the population of the city was 7,248, being not quite three- tenths of one per cent.; the ratio of four-tenths requiring 10,164 inhabitants. At this period the business of the city was in a ruined condition in consequence of the reaction in the prices and activities of the war of 1812, under which Pitts- burgh had been very prosperous. In 1830 the maintaining of the ratio of four- tenths of one per cent, would require that Pittsburgh should have 13,324 inhabitants; it had at that date 16,988, or over five-tenths of one per cent. In 1840 the ratio of 1800 required a population of 20,692 ; there was 38,931, or fifteen-twentieths of one per cent. In 1850 the population of Pittsburgh was equal to nineteen-twentieths of one per cent, of that of the West and South, or 79,873, while the maintainance of the ratio of four-tenths would demand but 33,676. In 1860 the ratio of four-tenths of one per cent, required a population of 45,956, and there was 124,844, or one and nearly one-tenth per cent. In 1870, the community of Pittsburgh and Allegheny numbered 199,130, being one and
76 Pittsburgh and Allegheny
nearly four-tenths per cent, of the population of the West and South ; the ratio of 1800 only requiring 58,322 inhabitants, that being four-tenths of one per cent, of the then population of the southern and western States.
Although the early growth of Pittsburgh was retarded by the cloud over the Penn title and the foreign tenure of Louisiana, yet from these figures it is apparent that Pittsburgh has not only increased in population in the same pro- portion that her market has, but has largely compounded on those ratios.
From 1817 to 1825 the city was at a stand still, from effects produced by the termination of the war of 1812. In 1817 many factories stopped, and until 1821 there was a continual downward tendency in all business and property. In 1821 the distress appeared to have reached its height; manufactories, trade and industry were all prostrated. In May of that year the price