USA > Indiana > Jefferson County > Madison > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 6
USA > Kentucky > Jefferson County > Louisville > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 6
USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 6
USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 6
USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 6
USA > Ohio > Muskingum County > Zanesville > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 6
USA > Ohio > Scioto County > Portsmouth > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > The western address directory : containing the cards of merchants, manufacturers, and other business men, in Pittsburgh, (Pa.) Wheeling, (Va.) Zanesville, (O.) Portsmouth, (O.) Dayton, (O.) Cincinnati, (O.) Madison, (Ind.) Louisville, (K.) St. Louis, (Mo.) , 1837 > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
The United States' Arsenal is located in the village of Lawrenceville, adjoining the city, about 2 miles easterly of the old limits. It is handsomely situated in an enclo- sure of about SO acres, on a gently sloping declivity,
*In some of the states, it is a rule of court not to permit a jury to cat, until a verdict is agreed upon-I am not informed whether such a rule exists here.
Pittsburgh-its Statistics in 1836. 75
extending from the turnpike to the Allegheny river, the lot surrounded by a stone wall of good masonry. This is the general depot of the West and South West .- Here are deposited numerous pieces of ordinance, hand- somely arranged, some of which were captured on the fields of Ticonderoga and York ; and there are also many which never were, and it is hoped never will be, captur- ed. About 70,000 stand of small arms are in the armo- ry, displayed in the most fanciful style, some are brons- ed, and others with barrels of the brightest lustre, all ready for use at a moment's warning.
The Water Works are seated on the bank of the Al- legheny river, and were erected by the city in 1828 .- The water is forced by steam machinery through the main shaft, 2,439 feet in length, and 15 inches diameter, to the top of Grant's hill, which is 116 feet above the Allegheny river, where it is discharged into a basin, the capacity of which is 1,000,000 of gallons, at the rate of 1,544 gallons a minute, the wheel making, ordinarily, within that period, 14 revolutions, and sometimes 15 .- About 90 bushels of coal are used per day. The basin is eleven feet in depth, and contains a partition wall for the purpose of filtration. From this reservoir the city is at present plentifully supplied with water; and above half of the various mills, factories, &c., within the city proper, use it, paying an annual tax for the consideration, the total amount of which, for the last year, was $13,000. The tax to some families is $3, and is graduated ac- cording to the demand-some of the manufacturing es- tablishments paying as high as $120. Fire plugs are conveniently located, that recourse may be had to them when needed. As the city increases in extent and po-
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pulation, and a greater supply of water becomes requi- site, the basin will probably be changed to a point farther east, which the corporation has already secured, on a more elevated site, made larger, and of course will have a greater head.
" The Gas Works are situated on the bank of the Mo- nongahela at the base of Ayres' (or Boyd's) hill, and are intended to be put into operation the approaching spring. The stock belongs to a company. The pipes, for conveying the gas through the streets, are now being laid : hitherto the streets have not been lighted, and on some nights their darkness partakes of an Egyptian temperament.
The Fire Department is not, perhaps, as well organ- ized as it ought to be-there are ? engine and hose companies.
The Bridges over the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, are of wood, covered, and shut in-resting upon substantial abutments and piers of free stone, construct- ed upon such principles of masonry as to insure their durability, and to guard the superstructure against the ice and such other floating substances as are the conse- quences of the breaking up of the ice of those rivers, at certain seasons. That over the Monongahela, which is nearly three-fourths of a mile above its junction with the Allegheny, is 1,500 feet in length by $7 in width, and rests upon seven piers. It was erected in 1818, by a company, costing $102,450, the state taking S40, 000. The lower bridge, over the Allegheny, is about half a mile above its junction with the Monongahela, also co- vered in, is 1,122 feet in length, 38 in width, and rests upon five piers. This bridge, which is 38 feet above
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the ordinary level of the river at low water, belongs also to a stock company. It was built in 1819, and cost 95,249 dollars, the state also taking to the amount of $40,000 of the stock.
The Aqueduct of the Pennsylvania canal is a noble piece of work, of much novelty to strangers, and of in- terest to thousands. Including the chamber, or northern entrance, it is 1,140 feet long, 4 feet deep, 17 feet wide at bottom, and 18 at top-all made of wood, covered and shut in as the bridges, having a tow path for horses on one side, and a foot way for passengers on the other -the whole resting on six piers, the abutments at each end powerfully strong, and of the most substantial stone work. Its capacity is 489,814 gallons. Its southern " terminus connects with recesses, or basins, sufficiently capacious for the canal boats to lie without difficulty alongside of an extensive range of warehouses, into which their upward cargoes are passed, and from which they also receive their downward freight. These canal boats are owned by houses formed for purposes of trans- porting merchandize on the Pennsylvania canal. . There . are 14 regular lines; and the warehouses are provided for the temporary storage of such articles as are not im- mediately called for, and to keep all secure that might otherwise be removed improperly or injured by the wea- ther. The canal, however, is continued across the southern part of the city, affording in its course other fa- cilities, until it reaches Grant's hill, through which is a tunnel, and from thence to the shore of the Monongahe- la. The tunnel, in fact, terminates its course for the present; for, although chambers and locks have been constructed, and capable of being used, there appears
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to have been no occasion as yet for calling them into ac- tive operation.
Two other bridges across the Allegheny are in con- templation-they are to be a short distance yet farther up. Some progress is made in the lower one, so far as to have completed its abutments; and its four piers are peering above the surface of the water at low water mark.
There were two hundred and forty-three " retail deal- ers in foreign merchandize," who took out licenses the present year ; and those with whom I have conversed concur in the report, that the season has been a good one. Retail prices vary very little from those in the At- lantic cities. Business is rather slack now, as it usually is at this season, when the navigation is about to be closed-[the canal was closed early this month, and the water drawn off.] The manufacturers, however, are never idle-the materials for steam boats and engines, and gearing for factories, engage their constant atten- tion. Seventy-three flat boats, laden with coal, carry- ing from three to six thousand bushels, went down the river a few days since, bound to Cincinnati, Louisville, and to different points down the Mississippi-some of them to New Orleans. Suppose each boat averaged four thousand five hundred bushels, which, it is said, is pretty correct, three hundred and twenty-eight thousand five hundred bushels would be the total. Some of the coal was contracted to be delivered at New Orleans at $1 25 per bbl. of 3 bushels each, which cost on board probably not exceeding 2 1-2 to S cents a bushel !
Independent of the general use which is made here of coal, as well for culinary as for all other purposes for
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producing heat, it is an article of merchandize down the river, as we see by the instance cited. The dealers in the article here say, it is preferred by those who are ac- quainted with it in the western markets, to the quality that is to be met with lower down, on the Virginia and Ohio shores, as it contains less of the sulphur, which is offensive, and less of slate and iron. However, we who have been to market, know that all who take their com- modities there for sale, are desirous of getting them off. This coal makes a quick and excellent fire; but unfortu- nately the propensity which every body has here of leav- ing the doors open after him, notwithstanding the mer- cury may be nearly down to zero, destroys all the en- joyments of a fire side, and you have naught else to do but keep turning, or following every one who enters or departs, and shut the door.
This coal differs from the Richmond (Virginia) article, inasmuch as it is quarried in large blocks, and instead of a sulphurous smoke and smell, sends forth a smoke of a lead or ash color, not offensive, and the coal ignites more readily than the other. It is formed in layers, and, as soon as it gets hot, separates in flakes, like slate. I have reflected, while noticing the drifts of it in the vicinity of this city, on its uniform association with slate, and the tendency of the latter to clay, why some new writer on geology and mineralogy did not suggest the idea, that all coal formations were slate in its chrysalis state; and that as soon as Nature, by an alchyinical pro- cess, in her subterranean laboratory, abstracted the bitu- niinous and other coal properties, it put on the character of clay slate; and that again, in time, by the action on the latter of atmospheric air, or some other natural
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agency, or a combination of agencies, it put off the slate character and turned to clay-impalpable clay !* Such a theory would very properly be ridiculed by the scien- tific portion of mankind; but theories, based upon as weak foundations, have before made converts to their te- nets, and it would only require a name associated with " the first of the learned," to arrest the attention -- and he whose attention is arrested, doubts-and he who doubts, is converted. I believe nature has never disclos- ed to us yet the process of converting food to chyle.
The price of coal in the fall season, when the contracts are generally made, is 4 1-2 cents a bushel, delivered at any place in the city where ordered-it now sells from 8 to 9 cents a bushel. Wood is seldom or never burn- ed, except by confectioners-indeed it is very scarce.
The number of teams, (wagons,) having 4, 5, or 6 horses each, employed in constantly hauling coal, for the factories, and others with whom contracts have been made, is about one hundred-fifty bushels are generally hauled at a load. The number of drays and carts for ordinary purposes is two hundred and fifty-and hacks for conveying passengers can also be procured; but . make a bargain, as to price, before engaging one.
I was surprised to find there was no marine hospital or alms house in this city, the more especially as it is a
*Dr. Comstock might ridicule this theory, probably, were he to meet with it ; but it is not " designed for the use of schools"-nor would it be more absurd, if it were, than what the professor states with reference to the source of the Chesapeake river-and that the river "Susquehannah and its tributaries are discharged into the Potomac !" [Comstock's Outlines of Geology, 2d edition, page 183-4.]
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port of entry,* and the numerous persons engaged on board the steamboats would sometimes, by sickness or accident, become disabled, and therefore very proper subjects or tenants of such humane establishments. The surveyor of the port, John Clark, Esq., informed me that he was in correspondence with the secretary of the treasury on the subject of the former, and he was in hopes his eforts would be successful.
There are not a sufficient number of good Hotels to ac- commodate travellers at certain seasons of the year .- The Exchange is the principal one, and is, it is said, well kept. The tables are properly furnished with genteel ware, plate and cutlery, the latter of proportionable di- mensions and in time losing by the effects of friction .- The tables also, it is further stated, are well supplied with the varieties of the seasons, as the markets general- ly present them, and that the dormitories are cleanly, and in keeping with the tables and other attractions of the house. There is likewise good attendance, and the fatigued guest is not annoyed in his bed, at an unseason- able hour, by the noise of wooden or iron bound shoes, thumping the hall floor, as a domestic passes his door, to one farther on, with another guest who has just arrived, or perchance to arouse one for his departure in the stage which awaits him at the door. But, as soon as the hour for general sleep arrives, the servant's heavy shoes or boots are exchanged for light ones or slippers, for the express purpose, that he might not disturb the hurried slumbers of those whose two or three previous days and
*The first and only entry of foreign merchandize, made at the custom house, at this port, was in 1835-in this year there were five.
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nights have been passed in unbroken watchfulness .- The charge per day at the Exchange, is $1.50-at the other hotels, $1.25. As good boarding and lodging, equally respectable, may be procured, however, at board- ing houses for one half the hotel prices, if the applicant purposes remaining a week, or longer.
The home, or provision market, is generally well sup- plied. The following are the present prices : Beef, Ib. 6 to 8 cts .; Pork, do .; Shote, or Veal, per quarter, 372 cts .; Fowls, per pair, 15 to 19 cts .; Ducks, do. 25; Tur- keys, each, 373 to 50 cts .; Geese, do. 25 cts. ; Butter, lb. 123 to 19 cts .; Potatoes, bush. 40 cts .; Apples, do. 25 ; Flour, bbl. $7.50 ; Corn Meal, bush. 50 cts .- Oys- ters, from Baltimore, brought in canisters, in their own liquor, retail at respectable establishments, at $1 1-4 cts. per dozen -- stewed 574 cts. - the condiments included.
The Pork dealers are paying $6 per 100 lbs. for hogs weighing from 200 to S00 lbs. each. The number slaughtered will not be as many this season, however, as heretofore. In that of 1834, the quantity thus cured amounted to 6,000,000 pounds, a fourth of which was owned by Mr. Reuben Miller, Jr .- In 1835, there was not exceeding a third of that quantity. This season, the business is confined principally to Mr. Miller and anoth- er, and the hogs slaughtered will not exceed 10,000 ; the amount of Bacon arising from them will not be much over 2,000,000 pounds. Some slaughtered hogs are brought to market, which will serve principally for home consumption. The pork is packed away in bulk, in country salt, brought from the Kiskiminetas river and its tributaries, from 40 to 50 miles distant, by way of the Pennsylvania canal ; and although it requires somewhat
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of a larger quantity to preserve it, its flavor is not the less sweet, nor is there less of the essence when brought upon the table. It finds a market in Philadelphia and Balti- more.
In the winter season, when the navigation by steam- boats is obstructed by ice, Stages are in more request. The avenues through which they must pass, on leaving the city, are over the Allegheny or Monongahela bridges, or in a north-eastern direction by the U. S. Arsenal .- After leaving the city, the stage roads diverge, and pas- sengers are conveyed, I will not say safely, to places in- dicated by all points of the compass. The roads are- such as you may find them-for you cannot expect New England roads-and the fare in general averages about 64 cents a mile. The stages, which are driven out of the city, are generally better than those the traveller is put into when a change is made ; the teams are tolerably good, but progress slower than at the eastward. This practice, however, of keeping the best coaches and teams to drive out of, or into, a city, is not confined to Pitts- burgh-it is so every where in the United States, as I have been informed, and I dare say the practice owes its origin to a foreign stager.
The roadsted for the steamboats, is along the bank or wharfing, of the Monongahela river, extending from the bridge to the point. The water is of greater depth than in the Allegheny, the warehouses occupying a more ele- vated position, are not liable to have their contents in- jured by overflowings-and as the lumber, &c. is brought down the Allegheny, and the formation of the banks bet- ter adapted for receiving and yarding it than those of its neighboring stream-besides, on the Allegheny's margin,
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are many steam mills, factories, &c. all these considera- tions shew how far and in what manner different interests should be divided-and that the present is the most judi- cious arrangement which could have been made. A dock is constructed near the point, for receiving, examining, and repairing such boats as require that attention.
It would be advisable for persons visiting the western country, via this city, unless they intend making some weeks delay in it, to learn, before leaving their places of residence, that they cannot at all seasons procure pas- sages down the river ; for there are periods, beside those of winter, in which steamboats do not ply. Those pe- riods are from about the 13th July to the middle of Sep- tember, the water then being so low, that not more than 12 or 18 inches are to be found on some of the bars and shoals. There are occasionally exceptions ; for there may be swells, from rains, immediate or remote, but in general, the fact is as stated. The icy season, or closing of the navigation by winter, generally commences about Christmas, and rarely opens again until the latter part of February. The water is about 18 inches higher in win- ter, during its mean shallow depth, than it is in summer, within the period mentioned.
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LETTER IV.
Pittsburgh continued-Its municipal government-Character of the inhabitants-Observance of the Sabbath-Healthy properties of coal dust-Church yards and irregular order of the graves- Epitaphs-Native Sculptor-Newspapers.
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 15th, 1836.
We have traced the origin and progress of this cele- brated spot, from its chaotic state to its formation as a village-its vicisitudes, during infancy, as a town-the wonderful exertions and persevering industry of its in- habitants till it became a BOROUGH-and now, with the more pleasure, since it has reached its majority, can we, by developing its resources, see the pretensions it has to the character of a CITY !
I am indebted to the attention of the present efficient Mayor, Doct. Jonas R. M'Clintock, for the following article, politely furnished at my request. It is doubt- less as much a source of self-gratulation to that worthy and amiable man, that he is a native of the city over which he has the honor to preside, as it is to its citizens to have the government administered by so enlightened an officer.
" The town of Pittsburgh was first incorporated into a borough, on the 22d day of April, 1794 ; and on the 18th day of March, 1816, was constituted a body politic, by the name and style of " the Mayor, Aldermen and citi- zens of Pittsburgh "-the citizens whereof are required to meet in January of each year, and elect by ballot one person to be a member of the select council for three years, and five persons to be members of the common 8
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council for one year, from each of the wards into which the city is divided ; it being required that the person so elected shall be qualified to serve as members of the house of representatives of the commonwealth.
" The power of the corporation is vested in the select and common council ; and all acts passed by them, if published within fifteen, and recorded within thirty days, and that do not conflict with the constitution of Pennsyl- vania and the United States, are held to be good, and are sustained by our courts. They have all the power with- in the boundaries of the corporation, that the senate and house of representatives have within the limits of the state.
" The governor of Pennsylvania is charged with the appointment of the Recorder and twelve Aldermen, who shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall have severally and respectively all the jurisdictions, powers and authorities of justices of the peace, and jus- tices of oyer and terminer, and jail delivery.
" The Mayor, until within the last four years, was elected by the two branches of the city councils, from amongst the board of Aldermen, in conformity with the requirements of the charter ; since which time the taxa- ble inhabitants have been privileged to elect him from their own number. Until my election in May last, the people continued the selection of Mayor from the board of Aldermen-immediately after, the state legislature passed an act, defining more particularly the powers and authorities of a citizen Mayor, and giving all the powers of a justice of the peace, except in civil cases.
" The Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen, or any four of them, (whereof the Mayor, or Recorder, for the time being, shall be one,) shall have full power and authority
Pittsburgh-in 1836. 87
to enquire of, hear, try, &c. all forgeries, &c. &c. com- mitted within the city limits-so far as the city is con- cerned, they have the same powers and authorities, as judges of the court of quarter sessions of the county.
" The Mayor has the appointment of his police, clerks of the markets, and city solicitor ; and has under his im- mediate control the management of the city watch *- draws from the city treasury money on his warrant-has the privilege of sending messages to councils directing their attention to any matters of public interest, but is not clothed with any veto power, to check their legisla- tion."
The other subordinate city offices, such as treasurer,
. various inspectors, &c. are appointed by the councils.
"The inhabitants of Pittsburgh, besides the native Americans, are a mixture of English, Scotch, German, French, Swiss and Irish-many of the foreigners are ar- tizans and mechanics. There are not many people of color, and those who are deport themselves generally with prudence. The character of the people is that of enter- prizing and persevering industry-every man to his bu- siness is the prevailing maxim : there is, therefore, little time devoted to amusements or the cultivation of refined social pleasures. Strangers are not much pleased with the place in point of hospitality merely; but those who have business to transact, meet with as many facilities as elsewhere. Great harmony subsists among all classes;
*An old respectable Pittsburgher, to whom I was reading this communication of the Mayor's, observed, when I reached this point, that it was to be regretted the Mayor had not the control of the city clock also, for then it would keep better timo and strike louder.
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and with every denomination of christians, there is a strict devotion to religious duties, and but few instances of gross vices or dissipation are heard of."-Cramer.
The Sabbath is almost literally, as far as I can learn, kept "holy"-and this circumstance appears the more remarkable, from the mixed character of the population. But the principles of the Trades' Union have not yet crossed the mountains, to taint and poison the minds of this virtuous people; and so long as their intercourse is confined within the sphere of their business, they never will. I know not what relaxation there may be in the moral habits of the younger portion of the population in the more genial seasons of spring and summer; but - Sunday school teaching with some, and church going with all, is the fashionable application of their time at this season.
Among all the other privileges with which the inhabi- tants of Pittsburgh are blessed, is that of good health. The winds from the mountain and hill tops are pure and refreshing, and calculated to impart a freshness to ani- mal as well as vegetable creation. And to a question, put a few days since to an eminent physician, "if the soot and coal dust did not injure the lungs, where so much was inhaled?" " No, sir, (said the doctor, ) they only go throat-deep, and are discharged again by saliva. Fire and smoke correct atmospheric impurities. Are we not all healthy? There are only fourteen physicians in the place; and where is there one who is rich?"
There is no bill of mortality published, nor could I learn that any account of the dead was taken. I ac- cordingly visited some of the cemeteries, not knowing
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but something might be learned "from the tombs;" and that "young children too might die."
On entering the church yard, in Sixth street, I was forcibly struck with the singular order in which the se- pultures for the dead were arranged-some at " heads and points," if I may be allowed the privilege of mak- ing light comparisons with grave subjects-and others, as a seaman would say, " athwart-hawse." There was not a living person present to answer why there was not more regard had to order in putting away the dead, had the question been asked; so I could only account for it by supposing, that the sexton, at each time, on opening a new grave, being permitted to exercise his own judg- ment, dug it in a line with the street which first met his eye, as he let fall the uplifted pickaxe, to remove the first clod .- The slabs appeared older than their inscrip- tions seemed to indicate, and, from the dilapidation of many of the tombs, I supposed the deposites to have been the first in the city. I could decypher the epitaph, how- ever, of only one octogenarian-George McGunnegle, died in 1821, aged 85. There reposed, however, the remains of Capt. Nathaniel Irish, a revolutionary officer, born in 1737, died in 1816-Capt. Richard Mathers, of the Royal Grenadiers, born in Westchester, (Eng.,) and died at Fort Pitt, 1762-and as many others as to show, that also in this region "Death was no respecter of , persons."
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