USA > Pennsylvania > A geography of Pennsylvania : containing an account of the history, geographical features, soil, climate, geology, botany, zoology, population, education, government, finances, productions, trade, railroads, canals &c. of the state : with a separate description of each county, and questions for the convenience of teachers : to which is appended, a travellers' guide, or table of distances on the principal rail road, canal and stage routes in the state > Part 21
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Agriculture is the principal employment of the people of this county : its productions are wheat, rye, Indian corn, oats, buck-
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GEOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
wheat, grass, &c. The principal forest trees are several species of oak, hickory, chestnut, pine, ash and poplar. A large amount of timber is annually sold, which is used in different parts of this county and the adjoining parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
The manufacture of carriages is carried on extensively in Gettys- burg : they are mostly sold in Maryland and Virginia. The weaving of coach lace; the manufacture of saddle trees, paper, cotton and woollen goods, and of flour, employ a large amount of capital and industry.
The value of real and personal property assessed for county purposes in 1842, was $4,330,360. The actual value of real estate is perhaps from a third to a half more than the assessed value. County tax, $14,390: State tax, $6,101.
The turnpike and common roads are generally good. The prin- cipal turnpikes are those leading from Chambersburg and Carlisle towards Baltimore, and that from York to Gettysburg. There are no canals in the county, and but one unfinished rail road, the famous " Gettysburg extension," which was designed to connect the Philadelphia and Columbia rail road with the Baltimore and Ohio rail road, and the Chesapeake and Ohio canal near Williams- port in Maryland.
The state of education among the people generally may be said to be tolerably good. There are 18 school districts, in 16 of which the common school system has been in operation since 1835. The number of school houses is about 100, of brick, stone, and wood. The schools are kept open on an average about 5 months in the year; but for want of suitable teachers are not in the best condition. They are, however, perhaps equal to those of most of the other counties in the State.
Pennsylvania College is located at Gettysburg, and is in a very flourishing condition. During the last year it had in the collegiate and preparatory departments about 190 students. The faculty consists of a president and four professors; it has, besides, two tutors, and a lecturer on anatomy. The library contains 1200 volumes and is increasing yearly. The library of the president contains 1500 volumes, and those of two literary societies con- nected with the college, about 800 each. Connected with the Lutheran Theological Seminary is a library of 7000 volumes. There is a flourishing female seminary at Gettysburg.
This county was originally a part of Lancaster; but after the erection of York county, in 1749, it formed a part of that county. In 1800 it was laid off as a separate county under the name of Adams.
The first settlers came principally from Lancaster and Chester counties, and many foreigners, chiefly from Ireland and Scotland, were afterwards added to their number. Within the last 30 or 40 years, the original stock have been very much supplanted by Ger- mans or their descendants; and the German language is now commonly spoken in several parts of the county.
How is Adams county bounded ? What is said of the face of the country, mountains, &c. Mention the principal streams. Describe the rock forma-
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tions. In what part of the county is variegated marble found ? What ores and minerals occur ? What is said of the different soils? Of the climate and the extremes of heat and cold ? What is the name of the county town, and how situated ? Mention some of the villages in this county. The agricultural productions. Forest trees. Manufactures. Turnpikes and rail roads. What is said of the state of education, and of the common schools ? What college and seminaries are in this county ? When was Adams county established, and to which did it originally belong ? From whence came the first settlers and emigrants from foreign countries ?
2. ALLEGHENY COUNTY.
The county of Allegheny is bounded on the north by Butler ; on the east by Westmoreland; south and south-west by Wash- ington, and north-west by Beaver. Population 81,235.
The face of the country near the rivers and principal creeks is much broken, being furrowed into deep ravines and hollows. As we recede from these, the surface becomes more level ; but a large portion of the upland is of the kind called rolling, which is generally much prized by the farmers. But little of the land in this county can be called flat, excepting the alluvial or bottom lands along the rivers and creeks. Although some of the counties in Pennsylvania are more highly cultivated, and many have scenery more imposing and grand, yet few can present landscapes more pleasing. The river scenery, always beautiful on the Ohio and its tributaries, is almost equalled in beauty by the views presented from a thousand elevated spots, from which may be seen in varied succession, hills and dales, woods and thickets, orchards and farm houses, herds of cattle and cultivated fields.
Allegheny county is situated within the great western coal basin of Penn- sylvania, and it is to an inexhaustible supply of the finest bituminous coal, that Pittsburg principally owes its prosperity as a manufacturing city. It is this which supplies steam power and fuel for the foundries, steam engine manufactories, rolling mills, nail works, cotton factories, and the vast va- riety of other industrial operations in manufactures and arts where heat is required ; and which has in less than fifty years enabled the industry and enterprise of her people to convert a village of a few log huts into a great manufacturing and commercial city.
The lowest rock visible in the neighbourhood of Pittsburg is a soft red and blue shale of considerable thickness, on which rests a small seam of coal about a foot thick, surmounted by a stratum of limestone which con- tains abundance of fossil remains, chiefly encrini, producta, terebratula, &c. Next succeeds a thick series of slate, shale and sandstone layers ; above which is the sandstone rock that affords so abundant a supply of building stone for the city of Pittsburg, and of which have been constructed the western penitentiary, the new court house, and other public and private buildings. Over this is a bed of shales, slates and sandstones, supporting a band of limestone about three feet thick, of a yellowish colour, which breaks by joints into square or rhomboidal fragments. Immediately over- lying this is another series of variously coloured shales, supporting another thin bed of limestone resembling the one last mentioned, separated by ten or twelve feet of red and yellow shale from a fourth limestone band, from three to five feet thick. The next rock in the ascending order consists of thin sandstones, separated by bands of slate and shale, and upon which rest the limestone strata immediately beneath the great Pittsburg coal
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seam. This limestone is of a blue or blackish colour, and consists of a number of layers separated by shale.
The bed of coal, which supplies Pittsburg and its neighbourhood with such immense quantities of fuel, is situated towards the summit of the hills that lie around the city, and is one of the most important and extensively useful coal deposites in western Pennsylvania, yielding coal of the purest and best kind. It extends from some miles north of Pittsburg, southward over the whole valley of the Monongahela, being found in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties. 'The main bed of workable coal in this seam is from 53 to 9 feet in thickness; being in Allegheny county generally about six feet, and enlarging to the south-east- ward. Above this, and separated from it by a thin layer of black clay shale, is a portion of the seam consisting of coal several feet thick, but so inter- mixed with thin bands of slate that it is generally rejected, on account of the trouble of separating the coal from the slate.
The elliptical conformation of the basin causes this coal, together with the accompanying rock strata of the series, to ascend and crop out towards the east and north-east, and also towards the north and north-west; and to descend gently towards the south. Hence we find the shales and sand- stones that overlie this coal, and which form the summits of the hills around Pittsburg, covered in the southern part of the county by a deposite of limestone which is still higher in the series. This extensive and highly useful bed of limestone spreads over most of the southern part of Alle- gheny, generally capping the summits of the hills ; but further southward it sinks below their tops, and is found in the hill sides and ravines, or form- ing the beds of the streams. It is of variable thickness, and consists of numerous layers of blue or dark coloured limestone, with interposed thin bands of calcareous shale. This bed of limestone is better adapted for burning into lime than most of the other strata in this region ; and when the value of lime as a manure for the soil shall be properly understood in our south-western counties, it will afford a source of inexhaustible advan- tage to the agriculture of this part of the State.
That part of Allegheny county which lies east and south of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, generally abounds in limestone and has an excellent soil. In that portion which lies west and north of those rivers, limestone is less abundant, and the soil is generally clayey. Here, however, the farmers who properly manure and cultivate their lands are well rewarded for their labour. The hill sides near the principal streams are generally too steep to be culti- vated by the plough; but having a rich deep soil, those which have a southern or eastern exposure are admirably suited for gar- dens and graperies. From the success which has recently attended the cultivation of the grape, it is probable that before long many of the hill sides in this county will be devoted to the production of this delightful and wholesome fruit.
During the summer the thermometer ranges generally from 750 to 85° ; though some days occur on which it reaches 90° or 950. In the winter it seldom falls below 150; but there are few winters in which there are not some days of extreme cold on which the mercury falls to 0°, and sometimes as low as 10º or 15° below. The spring season is sometimes cold and wet until after the begin- ning of May, and frosts occasionally occur early in September. The autumn usually affords much delighful weather, with a tem- perature of 60° to 75°, until November. The winter does not commonly set in with severity until about the first of January,
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though sometimes much earlier. A general thaw, clearing the ground of frost, commonly takes place about the middle of March ; but some sharp frosts are usual after this period, and indeed it is seldom that the month of May passes without frosts in the early part of it.
This county is traversed by the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers : the two first mentioned uniting at Pittsburg and there form- ing the Ohio. The Allegheny is remarkable for the clearness of its waters and the general beauty of the stream, being studded with many islands and flowing through a highly picturesque country. During high and middling stages of water, it is navigable for steamboats of light draught as high as Olean, in the State of New York. The benefit of the trade on this river to our western counties, and indeed to many of the western states, is incalculable. Out of it has been floated nearly all the pine timber, boards and shingles that have been used in the valley of the Mississippi from Pittsburg to New Orleans. From three to six steamboats now run on this river from Pittsburg to Freeport, Kittaning, Franklin and Warren; and in the summer season, when the river is low, small keel and flat boats are employed to do the carrying trade. About 400 large arks, or flat boats, from 65 to 120 feet long, come down the Allegheny annually, loaded with lumber and produce. These boats are generally sold at Pittsburg to the coal merchants, who reload them with coal for Cincinnati, Louisville, Natchez and the intermediate ports.
The ascending trade of the Allegheny consists chiefly of Pitts- burg manufactures, groceries, and foreign and domestic goods for the supply of the upper country : but the descending trade is much greater, embracing a vast amount of all kinds of lumber, logs and shingles, pot and pearl ashes, whisky, cheese, cabinet ware, patent tubs and buckets, hay, oats, potatoes, hoop poles, bark, &c. a large quantity of salt from the Kiskiminetas, and of pig metal from the great iron establishments in Venango and Armstrong counties.
The Monongahela, in appearance, offers a striking contrast compared with the Allegheny. Its waters are scarcely ever clear, and it has few or no islands in it. It flows through a picturesque, as well as highly cultivated country, and from its smooth and gentle current is well adapted to navigation. The trade on this river is also important, and to facilitate its navigation during the season of low water, a company has been incorporated to improve it by means of dams and locks. When this improvement shall have been completed, boats drawing four feet of water can pass at all seasons from Pittsburg to Brownsville.
Of the Ohio it may be said that no stream in the world of the same length (and it is nearly 1000 miles long) exceeds it either in . beauty or usefulness. Its smooth and gentle current; its ever- varying but always beautiful scenery ; the high state of cultivation of the country through which it flows; the growing and already noble cities, thriving towns, and numberless comfortable and occa- sionally splendid dwellings on its banks; its adaptation to steam
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navigation, and the value of the products carried upon it-make it altogether the most interesting river in the world.
Besides these rivers, Allegheny county is watered by a number of considerable streams, such as Chartier's, Pine, Bull, Turtle, Peters' and Deer creeks, on all of which are flouring and saw mills ; as well as a number of smaller streams on which there are some similar improvements.
View of Pittsburg from the mouth of Saw-mill run, on the Ohio.
The city of Pittsburg, being the capital, not only of this county, but of Western Pennsylvania, seems from its importance to require, in a work like this, a somewhat extended notice. We shall there-, fore preface our account of its present state by a brief history of its first settlement, rise and progress, abridged from " Harris' Direc- tory," a valuable work to which we are indebted for many facts relating to Pittsburg and its vicinity.
In pursuance of the scheme formed by the French governor of Canada for connecting that country with Louisiana, which then belonged to the same nation, a military post, called fort Venango, had been established at the mouth of French creek, where the town of Franklin now stands. The governor of Virginia, alarmed by the progress of the French, sent George Washington to fort Venango to demand an explanation of their designs from the French commandant. Preparations had also been made by the French to take possession of " the Forks" at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, the spot now covered by the city of Pittsburg. Washington visited this place on his way to fort Venango, and carefully examined it, with a view to its loca- tion as a military post. This was in November, 1753, and it does
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not appear that there was then a single white resident within the limits of the present city.
The Virginians, in the ensuing spring, commenced the erection of a fort in order to enable them to take possession of the country ; but before being completed it was captured by a large body of French and Indians. It was named Fort Du Quesne, and re- mained in possession of the French from 1754 to 1758. From this place arms and ammunition were distributed to the Indians, and they were incited to those murderous attacks upon the fron- tier settlements of Pennsylvania, which so long harassed and dis- turbed the settlers. Measures were taken to expel the French from this post, among which was the unfortunate and unsuccessful expedition of General Braddock in 1755. A formidable army having assembled at Carlisle, under the command of General Forbes, in 1758, the capture of Fort Du Quesne was again at- tempted, and Major Grant was despatched in advance with 800 men. Having arrived near the fort, on the hill which now bears his name, he was surrounded and attacked by the enemy, losing above 300 men in killed and prisoners, being himself captured. General Forbes, however, pressed forward with the main body,- but on his approach the French set fire to the fort and abandoned it.
A temporary stockaded fort, to contain 220 men, was constructed on the bank of the Monongahela, about 300 yards from the point where Fort Du Quesne stood, and was named Fort Pitt, in honour of the distinguished statesman of that name. In 1759, General Stanwix began to construct another fort, between the site of Fort Du Quesne and the temporary Fort Pitt, to which the name of the latter was given. This was a formidable work, and is stated to have cost the British government about 60,000 pounds sterling.
In 1763, when most of the forts to the north-west were taken by the Indians, Fort Pitt was also besieged; but was relieved by Colonel Bouquet, who marched from Carlisle and completely routed the Indians. A treaty was made in 1764, by which peace was restored. About this time " the old military plan," being that portion of the city between Water and Second streets, and between Market and Ferry streets, was laid out. In 1764, the brick redoubt was built, which may still be seen a little west of Stanwix street and north of Penn street. This is the only remaining monument of British industry within the limits of the city, and has on its south side a stone block with the inscription "Col. Bouquet, A. D. 1764."
From this time until the close of the revolutionary war, but little improvement was made at Pittsburg. In 1775, the number of dwelling houses within the limits of the present city did not exceed twenty-five or thirty. The land where the city stands, and the country eastward of it and south of the Monongahela, con- taining about 5,800 acres, was a manor belonging to the Penn family, and remained as their property after the revolution. Arrangements were made in the spring of 1784, by the agent of the Penns, to lay out and sell town lots and out lots on this manor ; and these having been surveyed, seem to have been rapidly pur-
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GEOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
chased. From this time improvement commenced: mechanics and traders composed a great portion of the population.
In 1786, the first number of the Pittsburg Gazette was published, and in an article contained in it, the number of houses in the town was stated to be about one hundred. Pittsburg was then in West- moreland county, and the inhabitants had to travel about thirty miles to attend court. In 1788, an act was passed creating the county of Allegheny out of parts of Westmoreland and Washing- ton counties. The courts were to be held at Pittsburg until cer- tain trustees named in the act should erect suitable buildings on the reserved tract opposite Pittsburg; but in 1791 this provision was repealed, and the trustees authorized to purchase lots in Pitts- burg for a court house and jail. The creation of a new county, and the establishment of the seat of justice at Pittsburg, had an effect in promoting the improvement of the town. A more im- portant event, however, in the early history of Pittsburg, was the Western insurrection, in 1794, which compelled the government to send a large number of troops to this neighbourhood. These being mostly volunteers, active enterprising young men, many of them were so well pleased with Pittsburg and the surrounding country, that on their return home they made immediate prepara- tions for emigration and permanent settlement there.
The first act for the incorporation of the borough of Pittsburg, was passed April 22, 1794. The act to incorporate the city of Pittsburg, was passed March 18, 1816.
In considering the present condition, manufactures, trade and resources of Pittsburg, it will be proper to include the adjoining city of Allegheny, and boroughs of Manchester, Birmingham, Law- renceville, and other suburban dependencies, which, although not within the city proper, yet so far as general business interests are concerned, may be considered as belonging to the same community. Many of the large manufacturing establishments are located in these suburbs, and have their warehouses, owners or agents with- in the city proper, that being the place where the greater part of the business is transacted.
According to the census of 1840, the city of Pittsburg contained a population of 21,115, Allegheny, 10,089; and including the boroughs above mentioned and the thickly peopled districts around, it may be assumed that the total population of this community of Pittsburg is not less than 40,000.
The interests of this community, like those of all large towns, are essentially manufacturing and commercial; but in no town in the United States, of the same population, is so large a portion of the inhabitants engaged in manufactures. It is to her advantages as a manufacturing town that we are mainly to attribute her rapid increase in wealth and population.
Pittsburg and its suburbs contain 11 iron foundries and steam engine manufactories, 8 rolling mills and manufactories of bar iron and nails, 8 glass works, 6 cotton factories, 3 steel factories, 3 steam flouring mills, 6 steam saw-mills, 2 extensive rope walks, an oil floor cloth manufactory, extensive smith shops, plough, carriage-
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and wagon factories, establishments for boat building, and for the manufacture of leather, hats, caps, paper, cabinet furniture, and a vast variety of other useful and fancy articles.
The position of this city, at the head of the Ohio river and at the termination of the Pennsylvania canal,-commanding also the trade of those two noble rivers, the Allegheny and Monongahela, -also ensure to it advantages as a commercial place, equalled by few others. Of the steamboats employed on the Ohio and the contiguous rivers, 89 in number, amounting to 12,436 tons, are owned either wholly or in part at Pittsburg.
The new court house is a splendid edifice, situated on Grant's Hill, at an elevation which commands an extensive view of the three rivers, with the hills, valleys, towns and villages in the neighbourhood. The building is 165 feet long, and 100 feet wide ; having in the rear a spacious and well constructed prison. The architecture is of the Doric order, and the building is surmounted by a dome 37 feet in diameter at the base, the top of which is 148 feet above the level of the street. This court house was about five years in the progress of erection, and cost nearly $200,000.
The Western Penitentiary is in Allegheny city, and is a good specimen of prison architecture in the Gothic style. It contains separate cells for the purpose of solitary confinement; and is ma- naged with a view to the moral culture and reformation, as well as the punishment of the guilty.
The Presbyterian Theological Seminary is also in Allegheny city, built upon a commanding eminence, and is 140 feet long, by 50 feet wide; the central part being four, and the wings three stories high.
The Western University, the Orphan Asylum, the Third Pres- byterian church, and several of the banks, as well as the two noble hotels, the Exchange Hotel and the Monongahela House, are also worthy of notice, as extensive and well constructed buildings.
There are in Pittsburg and its environs, 55 places of public worship, belonging to different denominations, viz. Presbyterian 20, Baptist 4, Roman Catholic 3, Episcopalian 5, Associate and Associate Reformed 6, Lutheran 2, Congregationalist 2, Disciples 2, Church of God, Unitarian, German Protestant, and German Re- formed one each, Welsh 3, Coloured 4.
The theological seminaries are three : The Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian church, which has three professors, a library of about 6000 volumes, and has connected with it a large work shop for manual labour. 2. The Theological Seminary of the Associate Reformed church, which also has a valuable library and a commodious lecture room, 3. The Allegheny Theological Institute, organized in 1840 by the General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian church. It is intended to erect a large edifice in Alle- gheny city, for the accommodation of this Institute.
Associations for the promotion of religious, moral and charitable objects are numerous in Pittsburg, Allegheny and the neighbour- ing districts. The cause of temperance has no where more ear- nest and untiring advocates, and perhaps in no place have their.
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GEOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
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