USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 83
USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 83
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316
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.
provided on the publie ground by Mr. Rahm. The commissioners deposited in the stone copies of the following-mentioned documents :
Charter of Charles II. to William Penn.
Declaration of Independence. Constitution of Pennsylvania, i"7G. Articles of Confederation and perpetual union between the several Santes.
Copy of so much of an act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, by which indemnity was made to the heirs of William Penn for their interest in Pennsylvania.
Treaty of prace, and acknowledemient hy Great Britain of the inde- pendence of the United States
Constitution of the United States, 1787.
Constitution of Pennsylvania, 1720.
Acts of the Legislature of Pennsylvania by which the seat of govern- ment was removed from Philadelphia to I aneasier and Harrisburg, and the building of a State capitol at the Istter place authorized.
A list of the names of the commissioners, architects, stonecutter. and chief musuns; likewise a list of the theu officers of the government of Pennsylvania, embracing the Speakers of the two Houses of the Legis- lature, the Governor, the heads of department the judgesof the Supreme Court, and attorney-general, with the names of the President and Vice- President of the United States.
The capitol was rapidly pushed forward to comple- tion, and in December, 1821. was ready for oceu- paney. On Wednesday, the 2d of January, 1822, the Assembly took possession of the building.1 The members of both branches of the Legislature met in the morning at ten o'clock at the ohl State-House (court-house), from whence they proceeded in pro- cession to the capitol in the following order :
The Architect and his Workmen, two and two. Clergy. Governor and Heads of Departments. Officers of the Senate. Speaker of the Senate.
1 It may be interesting to know the expense uf the State capitol and other buildings at that period erected:
By " an act to erect the State capitol, passed the 19th of March, 1816," there was appropriated. $50,000
By " a supplement to an act providing for the erection of a State capitol, approved the 27th of January,
1819," there was appropriate 1. 20,000 With the provision that saul capitol building should nut cost more than $120,000
By a further supplement, pissed the 24th of March, Isto, for the purpose of constructing the columns andI capitals there- of of hewn stune, and to cover the roof of the dome, etc., there was appropriated. 15,000
Whole cost of capitol. $135,000
By the fourth section of a supplement to the art, approved the 27th January, 1819, the sums appropriated were directed to be paid to the builder and architect, as follows :
First payment $50,000
Second payment. 30,1KM) Third payment
Fourth payment
10,000
Making. $120,000 The fourth payment of Sto,fxm, by Act of Assembly hereafter recited, was divided into two parts, for what reason is not atatel; the first of $300u, and the last of $7000.
The entire cost of the public buildings and grounde np to January, 1819, was as follows :
Cost of executive offices northwest and southeast of capitol building
l'uit of capitol. 1 15,00 Cost of arsenal. 12,000
Public grounds, its inclosure and embellishment. 35,000
Total $275,000
Members of the Senate, two and two. Officers of the House of Representatives. Speaker of the House of Representatives. Members, two and two. Judges. Civil Authorities of Harrisburg. Citizen -.
In front of the capitol the architect and his work- men opened into two lines, and admitted the proces- sion to pass between them and the capitol. The service was opened by an impressive prayer by Rev. Dr. Lochman, of Harrisburg, quite lengthy, and a brief discourse by Rev. D. Mason, of Dickinson Col- lege, who, after alluding to the aborigines who in- habited this locality, coneluded his remarks by this reference to Harrisburg: " In the room of all these there has started up, in the course of a few year-, a town respectable for the number of its inhabitants, for its progressive industry, for the seat of legislation in this powerful State. What remains to be accon- plished of all our temporal wishes ? What more have we to say? What more can be said, but go on and prosper, carry the spirit of your improvements through till the sound of the hammer, the whip of the wag- oner, the busy hum of man, the voices of innumerable children issuing from the places of instruction, the lofty spires of worship, till richly-endowed colleges of education, till all those arts which embellish man shall gladden the banks of the Susquehanna and the Delaware, and exact from admiring stranger- that cheerful and grateful tribute, 'This is the work of a Pennsylvania Legislature.'"
CHAPTER VI.
Harrisburg in 1818-Visit of Gen. Lafayette-Reception at the Capitol -Extension of Borough Limits in 1938-The Harrison Nominating Convention-" American Notes."
IN 1818, James Flint, of Edinburgh, Scotland, passed through Harrisburg. In his "Letters from America," published in 1822, we have the following notes :
" Sept. 21, 1818. The coach stopped at Elizabethtown Inst night for three hours, and started again before three u'clock. We were near Mul- dletown (eight miles on our way) before the light disclosed to our eyes a pleasant and fertile country.
" It was near Middletown that we got the first peep of the river Sus- quehanna, which i- bere about a mile in breadth. The trees on the past bank confining the view to the right and left, produced an illusory effect almost impressing on the mind a lake instead of the river The highly transparent state of the air, and the placi surface of the water united in producing a most distinct reflection of the bold banks on the opposite sile, cliffs partially concetled by a luxuriant growth of trees sprung from the detritus below, and by smaller ones routed in rifted rocky. Over these a rising background is laid out in cultivated fields. The eye is not soon tired of looking on a scene w richly furnished and -o Zay.
" Harrisburg, the seat of legislation of Pennsylvania, isa small town which stands on a low bott an by the river ; a pleasant situation Op- Tonite to the town is a small island in the river connected with the east- ern and western shores by very long wooden bridges. The waters of the Susquehanna are limpo but shallow at this place, and ill adaptel to navigation, except In times of dood "
317
CITY OF HARRISBURG.
The years 1824 aud 1825 are made memorable in the history of America by the visit of (ten. Lafayette, who had so greatly assisted in securing the independ- ence of the United States. Everywhere he was received with great ovation and hailed with delight. Most of the general ofbeers of the Revolution had passed away, but there were in every section of the country representatives of that gallant band of heroes who had achieved our liberty. Upon his arrival at Philadelphia, Governor Shulze, with the Dauphin Cavalry as an escort, went there to receive him and welcome him to Penn-vivania. While there the gen- eral promised to visit Harrisburg before his return to France.
On Sunday, the 30th of January, 1825, notice was received that Gen. Lafayette and suite were on their way to Harrisburg ; whereupon Messrs. Hawkins and Baker, of the joint committee of the Legislature, and M. C. Rogers, Esq., Secretary of the Commonwealth, proceeded from town in carriages towards York, by the way of Middletown, tor the purpose of meeting the general's party. Dinner was prepared for them at Middletown, and an outrider sent forward to ascer- tain if the general was upon that road. At about half-past ten, the general, accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette, and secretary, Gen. Spangler, Col. Spangler, and Dr. King, a committee deputed to escort him from York, were received at Middletown, and took dinner. At about five c'elock they arrived in Harri-burg. and were hailed by the expecting crowd with great enthusiasm. The general and suite were then e-corted to the Governor's resi- dence, in consequence of an invitation which had been forwarded to him for that purpose.
A committee from the Dauphin Cavalry waited on the general at the Governor's, and tendered a renewal of their respeets paid to him in Philadelphia as the Governor's late escort to that city. He recognized them, and informed them it would give him great pleasure to see them all at his lodgings that evening. After which the members of the troop, who resided in town generally, with many other citizens, paid their respects to him, and were highly delighted.
He remained at the Governor's that night, and on the next morning he was waited upon by the legisla- tive committee of arrangements, on behalf of whom Mr. Hawkins welcomed the general to the seat of government in a neat and feeling address, to which the general made a happy response.
The following reminiscence of that eventful day may be interesting to our readers : An open carriage was wanted to convey the illustrious visitor. To con- stitute a barouche an old carriage belonging to Wil- liam Calder, Sr., was cut down, making it as open as desirable; and to get mettle horses a bay of Gabriel Hiester's, with one eye, and one of Mr. Calder's, with- out any eye, made the team,-just one eye to the pair. They were right good-looking, however, as they stood pawing the earth in front of Governor Shulze's resi-
dence on the river-bank, awaiting the distinguished guests for the parade. " It was a remarkable livery," says an eye-witness.
About eleven o'clock the general and his party were conducted to the Executive Chamber in the capitol. where the greater part of the members of the Legis- lature and many others were introduced to him. A little after ten o'clock the members of the Harrisburg bar waited upon him in a body, when George Fisher, Esq .. on their behalf, made an appropriate address, to which the general replied. At two o'clock he returned to the Governor's residence, and at eight o'clock in the evening he visited Perseverance Lodge of Masons, and remained there about an hour.
On Tuesday, at twelve o'clock, he was conducted again to the capitol, escorted by a corps of dragoons. under the command of Maj. I. M. Forster, and com- panies of volunteers from the counties of Cumberland, Lebanon, and Dauphin, and the firemen of the bor- ough. His arrival at the capitol was announced by a salute of thirteen guns, under the direction of Lieut. Weise, of Carlisle.
He was introduced to the Senate by Mr. Hawkins, and the Speaker, Mr. Marks, welcomed him by an eloquent address, to which the general made an ap- propriate reply. He was then invited to a seat at the Speaker's right band, and presently afterwards the Senate adjourned. A number of gentlemen and ladies were then introduced to himn.
At one o'clock he was introduced to the House of Representatives by Mr. Baker, when the Speaker, Gen. Sutherland, welcomed him by an eloquent ad- dress, commencing as follows :
" Dear General,-About half a century ago, one of the purest of the patriots of the Revolution, the ven- erahle John Hancock, occupied the chair from which you have just risen."
To which the general returned an appropriate reply. ' commencing as follows :
" Mr. Speaker und Gentlemen of the House of Repre- sentatives .- Amidst the patriotic recollections which the sight of the Presidential chair of my venerable friend, John Hancock. could not fail to excite, and which have been described by you, Mr. Speaker, in a manner adequate to the sublime theme. it is hardly permitted to indulge private remembrance- ; yet, en- couraged as Fam by the kindness of this House in my behalf, I beg leave to acknowledge before you the emotions connected with the thought that from this chair also he signed my early admission as a soldier in the American army."
He was then invited to a seat at the Speaker's right hand, and presently afterwards the House adjourned. At two o'clock he was waited upon by the students of Dickinson College with an address, to which he re- plied. About three o'clock he returned, escorted as before, to the Governor's.
At four o'clock a subscription dinner was given to the general at Matthew Wilson's hotel at Third and
318
HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.
Walnut, by a number of the members of the Legisla- ture, at which his Excellency the Governor, the heads of department, Judge Gibson, George W. Lafayette, the committee from York, a few veterans of the Revo- lution, and a number of the residents of the borongh were present. Mr. Speaker Marks presided. The most cordial hilarity prevailed on the occasion. At the particular request of the general, " Hail Columbia". was sung by himself and the whole company standing. After the cloth was removed, a number of patriotic toasts were given, among which were the following : " Gen. Lafayette: Our fathers hailed him as a de- fender ; we rejoice to welcome him as a guest."
The general rose and after having expres-ed to the members of the Legislature the grateful sense he bad of their kind welcome, gave the following toast:
" The State of Pennsylvania : First founded upon the basis of justice and philanthropy. now governed by universal antfrage on the unalloyed principle of equal rights; may it long preserve these dignified and fruitful ble -- ings."
The Governor and Gen. Lafayette retired about eight o'clock, and the company presently afterwards broke up.
The students of the school at Shoop's Church, about three miles from the borough, sent a written patriotic address to the general, which was handed to him at his lodgings, to which the general replied a few days after by letter from Washington.
On Wednesday morning the volunteers were pa- raded in Market Square and reviewed by the general, supported by the Governor, after which they saluted him at his quarters. At eleven o'clock he took his departure for York, accompanied by his suite, two of the committee of arrangements of the Legislature, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
On the 16th of April, 1838, the General Assembly passed an act extending the borough limits. The seventeenth section of that act recites, "The north- western boundary line of the borongh of Harrisburg shall be, and the same is hereby extended and en- larged as follows: Extending along the river litie to the upper line of the land of the late William Mac- lay on said river; thence to Paxtang Creek ; and thence along said creek to the northwestern corner of the present boundary," thus annexing that district north of South Street which went by the name of Maclaysburg (extending to now Herr Street), from the river to Paxtang Creek. The eighteenth section of the same act gave its inhabitants the privileges and subjected them to the same liabilities as if they had been originally included within the corporate limits of the old borough.
and John Tyler. In 1839 the body met in the then unconsecrated Lutheran Church on Fourth Street. and was composed of many of the prominent Whigs in the country. At that time Harrisburg was a borough of about four thousand inhabitants, and pre- sented a very dull and ancient aspect as compared with its business and buildings now. Of the candi- dates nominated for President and Vice-President in thi- eity, William Henry Harrison died within a I month after assuming the duties of the chief magis- tracy of the nation.
In 1843, Charles Dickens, the English novelist, was at Harrisburg. He came thither by stage from Balti- more. From his " American Notes," which were published upon his return to England, we have the following relating to our city of Harrisburg, then a plain country town :
" We crossed this river [the Susquehanna] by a wooden bridge rooted and covered in on all ei les, and nearly a mile in length. It was pro- foundly dark, perplexed with great beams crossing and recrossing it at every possible angle, and through the broad chinh, and crevices in the foor the rapid river gleamed far down below, like a legion of eye. We had ou lampa, and as the horses stumbled and foundered through this place towards the distant speck of dying light it seemed interminable. I really could not at first persuade myself as we rumbled heavily on, filling the bridge with hollow noises, and I held down my head to suve it from the ratters above, but that I was in a painful dream; for I have often dieabird of toiling through such places, and as often argued. even at the time, ' this cannot be reality.'
" At length, however, we emerzed upon the streets of Harrisburg, whose feeble lights, reflected dismally from toe wet ground, did not shine out upon a very cheerful city. We were soon established in a Bong hotel, which, though smaller and far less splendid than many we put up at, is raised above them all in muy remembrance hy having for its landlord the most obliging, considerate, and gentlemanly persoo I ever had to deal with.
"As we were not to proceed upon our journey until the afternoon, I walked out atter breakfast the next mioroing to look about nie, and was duly shown a model prison on the solitary system, just erected, and as yet without an inmate; the trunk of an old tree, to which Harris, the first settler here (afterwards buried noder it), was tied by hostile Iu- dians, with his funeral pile about him, when he was saved by the timely appearance of a friendly party on the opposite shore of the river ; the local Legislature (fur there was anuthier of those bodies here again. in full debate), and the other curiosities of the town.
" I was very much interested in looking over a number of treaties made from time to time with the poor Indians, signed by the different chief, at the period of their ratification, and preserved in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. These signatures, traced, of course, by their own hoods, are rough drawing, of the creatures or weapons they were called after. Thus the Great Turtie makes a crooked peu- und-iak outline of a great turtle; the Buffalo sketches a buffalo; War Hatchet sets a rough image of that weapon for his mark : su with the Arrow, the Fish, the Scalp, the Big Chove, and all of themn.
"I could not but think, as I looked at the feeble and tremulons pro- duction of hands which could draw the longest arrow to the head in a stontelk-horn how or split a bead or feather with a rifle-ball, of Crabdie's lunsings over the parish register, and the irregular scratches mad- with a pen by men who would plow a lengthy furrow straight from end to end. Nor conbl [ help bestowing many sorrowful thoughts upon the simjde warriors whose hands and hearts were set there in all truth and honesty, and wLo only learned in course of tune from white men how to break their faith and quibble out of forins nud bonds. I wondered, ton, how many times the credulous Big fortie or tru-tin; Little Hatchet had put his mark to treaties which were falsely read !. him, and had signed away he knew not what until it weat, and cast him loose upon the nen possessors of the land a savage indred.
Harrisburg had the honor of having been selected for the hokling of many State Conventions of the different political parties, but the number of national political conventions which met here is confined to "our host announced before our early dinner that some members if the legislative body propose to do us the honor of calling He held kinally yielded up to wa his wife's own little parlor, and when I bege d one, that which resulted in the nomination for Presi- dent and Vice-President of William Henry Harrison | that he would show them in t saw hun look with painful apprehensiont
319
CITY OF HARRISBURG.
at its pretty carpet. Through being otherwiw occupied at the time, the c.Mise ot his uneasiness did not occur to the. It cer unly would have been more pleasant to all parties concerned, and wohl but, I think, have compromised their independence in any mateual degree, if some of these gentleman had not only vielded to the prejudice in favor of spittoons, but had abandoned themselves for the moment even to the conventional absurdity of pocket-handkerchief .. "
That afternoon Dicken- left in a canal-boat for Pittsburgh. His remarks about the Indian treaties is very funny reading, and only go to show how some- body must either have deceived him or his senti- mentalism ran away with his better judgment.
CHAPTER VII.
Improving the Navigation of the Susquehanna-Steamboats thereon - Internal Improvement-Pack-Horse Trams and Conestoga Wagons- The Pennsylvania Canal-Harrisburg and Lancaster Railroad-The Cumberland Valley-The Pennsylvania Railroad.
THE subject of internal improvements wa- one which early commanded the attention of the citizens of Pennsylvania, and one bundred years ago, as now, communication with the Western country was the great aim of the business men of Philadelphia. The first effort was the removal of obstruetions in the various streams, and especially that of the Susque- hanna River ; and although a considerable amount of money was eventually spent in improving the navigation thereof. the result was far from satisfac- tory. Previous to the Revolution (1774). the atten- tion of the Provincial Assembly was called to this matter, and as a preliminary it was proposed to lay out a town or city on that stream. John Harris, the founder of our city. immediately gave notice of his intention of laying out a town, which seemed to quiet the movement of undoubted land speculator .. The Revolution coming on, such enterprises, if ever seriously considered, were abandoned.
As the settlements increased in the interior of the colony the Su-quehanna River became an im- portant avenue of transportation, at first by means of canoes, then by keel-bottom boats or "broad horns," as they were often called. Grains and other produce were the chief articles carried in those conveyances. Harris' Ferry and Middletown were noted marts for the storage and sale of grain at this period. In 1790 there were over one hundred and fifty thousand bushels of wheat brought down the Su-quehanna and passed through Middletown for the Philadelphia market.
About the year 1794 or 1795 the first vessel in the shape of an ark, but of small dimensions, arrived at Harrisburg from Huntingdon on the Juniata. It passed the Conewago Fall- in -afety. About the same time that arks were introduced, the Conewago Canal, at York Haven, was commeneed, and on its completion, in 1797 or 1798, keel-bottom boats were passed through, which caused a great portion of the
trade in grain to be diverted from Harrishurg and Middletown to Columbia. But in a few years after- wards boats ventured beyond the Conewago Fall-, and thus reached tide-water, when the grain trade was measurably diverted from both Middletown and ( t- lumbia, concentrating at Port Deposit.
Public attention was again directed to the naviga- tion of the Susquehanna about 1795. The Legislature, however, appears to have taken no definite action in relation to the matter until March, 1823, at which time an act was passed for the improvement of the river from Northumberland to tide-water, and ap- pointing Jabez Hyde, Jr., John McMeans, and Sam- huel L. Wilson, commissioners to superintend the work. . These commissioners, in a report made to the Legis- lature, Jan. 14, 1828, state .--
"That the contrat ts entered into for the improvement of the naviga- tion of the Susquehanna River, between the town of Columbia and tule, is nearly completed, and when the re-idur 1- finished, they believe all will be done that is necessary to perfect the descending navigation le- tween sandd ponts. Cratis will then be able to descend fron Colombia to the head of the Maryland Canal carrying from fifty to sixty tous, at a stage of water at which, previons to the improvementa, they could not arrive at the latter place with more than one-half that quantity.
" The commissioners further report on the improvement of the river between the towns of Columbia and Northumberland that the untin- ished contracts of the years 1825 and 1-20 are completed, but will not le of that infinite advantage until further improvements are made to correspond with those already finished, the Legislature having suspended the appropriation for the past year."
The total amount of expenditures made by the com- missioners for the improvement of the river from the town of Columbia to the town of Northumberla. d. np to Jan. 14, 1828, as stated in the report, was $1201.50, and that for improving the river between the town of Columbia and tide-water to the same period, $14,323.87, making the sum total of $15,- 524.87.
This action of the Legislature, together with the favorable report of the commissioners, induced a number of enterprising citizens of Baltimore to form a company for the purpose of testing the practica- bility of running steamboats on the Susquehanna. between the towns of York Haven and Northum- berland. The project was favorably received, and the stock of the company immediately subscribed. Three light-draught steamboats, named respectively the "Codorus," "Susquehanna," and " Pioneer," were constructed, all of which arrived for the first time at Harrisburg in the fall of 1825. The follow- ing extract- have reference to these boats :
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