USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania, colonial and federal : a history, 1608-1903, Volume Three > Part 35
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In the year 1877, the interest of a small legacy left by F. Andre Michaux became available for use in the creation of proper forestry sentiment among our people. It is quite true that the most of the subject matter of those lectures was only faintly tinctured with forestry. It is amusing now to recall the criti- cism which the Michaux forestry lectures received. One dis- tinguished scientist, since gone to his reward, lamented that so good an opportunity for teaching abstract science should be given to the popularizing knowledge, which he despised. Another equally distinguished scientist considered that these lectures should not be called forestry lectures at all, and suggested several bet-
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ter purposes to which the money could be applied. Neither of these gentlemen realized that the public, which the testator wished to reach, cared nothing for either high science or pure forestry, and that it was better to lecture to large audiences, in a popular way, than to empty seats, in a scientific way. But the criticism availed nothing. The speaker kept serenely on lectur- ing to ever increasing audiences, until after the fourteenth and final annual course was delivered, when it was not difficult to see that by some means the public had absorbed and welcomed the forestry idea.
Already at this early period the newspapers of our State had lent the new movement their unqualified support. This they have continued to do. Without their aid progress would have been slow indeed.
It was a hopeful sign that the people, while recognizing the rights of the land owner, were also recognizing the fact that he was under a moral responsibility not to despoil the State by waste of timber resources, and thus entail hardship and needless bur- dens upon the children who succeeded him. It was commenc- ing also to be recognized that it was a legitimate function of the State to interfere and to see that he did not do so. Herein was probably the foundation upon which the people rested when they began to demand that certain portions of the State should again become the property of the Commonwealth, and disregarding individual benefits, be managed in such a way as to promote the prosperity of all. These State reservations were to be, in addi- tion, the outing grounds for all and upon which no one could ever acquire exclusive privileges. To anticipate, it may be well here to remark that the near future will probably prove that in establishing such reservations, the State has done its most benefi- cent work in preventing spread of pulmonary tuberculosis and in curing it when started.
New York began her system of State forest reservations earlier than Pennsylvania, and had already secured about a mil-
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lion of acres of land before the State of Pennsylvania began to acquire land for this purpose.
The spring of 1886 brought a new force into the forestry
field. Some public-spirited ladies in Philadelphia took meas- ures looking to organizing a Pennsylvania Forestry associa- tion. At present, 1902, 'there are nearly two thousand mem- bers in this society. It represents the most active public spirit of the State. There is not a county in which its influence is not felt. To its credit be it said that, during the sixteen years since the society was founded, it has always been wisely aggressive for the forestry movement. It has never awakened active hos- tility by rash, impolitic or harsh measures.
The Pennsylvania Forestry association has published. once in two months, a modest little journal, "Forest Leaves," which has been widely distributed and done an important work. There never has been a lack of material for its pages, though it never has paid for contributions. In 1892 the association had gained strength enough to employ a general secretary, who was to devote his entire time to the forestry work.
In January, 1893, D. Smith Talbot, of Chester county, in- troduced into the legislature a measure for the Pennsylvania Forestry association. It was entitled "An Act Relative to a Forestry Commission and Providing for the Expenses There- of;" this act became a law, and the commission appointed by Governor Pattison published its report in 1895 and was imme- diately thereafter discharged.
Meanwhile the legislature of 1895 had created the State De- partment of Agriculture. In this department a division of for- estry was placed on a permanent basis, having an officer designated as the Commissioner of Forestry, whose duty it was to report upon the various forest conditions of the Common- wealth and to assist in creating an interest in forestry.
The following session ( 1897) of the legislature witnessed most important advances. First of all a permanent committee
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on Forestry was authorized in both the House and Senate. Be- fore this all forestry measures were referred to the committee on Agriculture, which, having already heavy burdens, could hardly be expected to recognize fully the claims of forestry. No more important advance in forestry for this State has been made than by the appointment of these conimittees. That same ses- sion, constables of townships were made ex-officio fire wardens and were charged with the duty of suppressing forest fires and authorized to call out men to do the work. The compensation allowed was fifteen cents an hour for constables and twelve cents an hour for the workmen. This never was considered an ideal law by those who urged its passage. It was only accepted as the best attainable when the bill offered by the commissioners of forestry in 1895 had been killed in the Senate committee on Agriculture, after it had passed the House by a small majority and a desperate struggle.
There had long been a law on the statute books which made it the duty of the county commissioners to appoint detectives to ferret out and bring to punishment those who created forest fires, but it was generally disregarded because there was no punish- ment specified for failure to make these appointments. This was corrected by the legislature of 1897 and a penal clause was attached to the law. It is now more effective and an increasing number of arrests are made and convictions had each year.
The session of 1897 also authorized the purchase by the com- missioner of Forestry of lands which were sold by the county treasurers and commissioners for non-payment of taxes, when these lands could be had at a price not in excess of taxes due and costs. In this way the first lands for the State Forestry reser vations were obtained. Forestry reservations were first author- ized by the session of 1897. Further allusion to this will be made later.
The session of 1899 enlarged the power of the commissioner of Forestry by authorizing him to purchase lands other than
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those sold for taxes, with the consent of the Governor and the Board of Property, when these lands could be had at suitable prices. But few purchases were made under this act, as it was soon practically superseded by Governor Stone completing the commission which was authorized by the act of 1897 to create, by purchase of lands, three State Forestry reservations of not less than forty thousand acres each, one of which was to be lo- cated upon the head waters of each of the chief rivers of the Com- monwealth, namely, the Delaware, the Susquehanna and the Ohio.
It was reserved for the legislature of 1899 to take the final step which gave direction and dignity to the forest policy of Pennsylvania by creating a separate department of Forestry, the equal in standing with the department of State or the de- partment of Public Instruction. No other State has so com- pletely recognized the importance of the forestry movement. Even the general government has been unable to free forestry from other entangling alliances.
In some respects the State of New York is in advance of Pennsylvania in her forestry work. For example, her reserva- tions are several times larger than those of our State and she has in prosperous operation a college of forestry at Cornell univer- sity. But on the other hand there are greater possibilities in store for Pennsylvania, because the act of February 25, 1901, which created the department of Forestry, placed it and the State reservations in the hands of a commission with almost un- limited power to act in the direction of progress, and only limit- ing that commission in its power to work an injury. For exam- ple, the New York authorities are prevented from undertaking any general lumbering on the lands of the State, though it would be clearly to the benefit of the forests themselves if this could be allowed. The Pennsylvania forest authorities may cut timber, or lease the right to cut it. Or they may, under certain restric- tions, lease land to other parties for mining purposes. They may appoint the necessary force to do any necessary work.
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It is but fair to say here that from the time of Governor Hartranft down, each succeeding Governor, regardless of his political affiliations, has recognized more clearly how important this forestry work is to the Commonwealth and each one has given it the weight of his favorable consideration and influence. This surely was to have been expected in a State which in 1880 stood second in its lumber production, and whose output for that year was 1,733,844,000 feet, board measure, whose forest prod- ucts for the same period were worth $22,457,359, and to obtain which $2,918,459 were paid to the laborers of the State.
The most serious problem left us is that of forest fires. It is certain, however, that these will become less frequent and less serious as the growing public sentiment crystallizes against those who create them. Natural forces alone would reforest the State in time, if these fires were stopped. It does not follow, however, that the crop so produced would come as promptly, or be so desirable, as if nature were assisted by scientific forestry.
In conclusion we may claim that the forestry cause in Penn- sylvania is practically won. The movement has gone too far to be abandoned. It has taken too deep hold upon the public to be neglected. The healthfulness of its growth and the meas- ure of its usefulness will depend mainly upon the honesty and in- telligence of those who are placed at the head of the work.
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE PLANTING OF THE CITIES1
I T has been said that the early settlement of the interior locali- ties of the States east of the Mississippi was due largely to the construction and operation of canals and railroads, and that the subsequent chartered cities were the natural result of these internal improvements. To a limited extent this statement is true regarding the cities of Pennsylvania, and when it is under- stood that the major portion of them have attained their corpo- rate character within the last half century, it will be seen that other causes than the opening of canals and railroads have been controlling factors in establishing municipalities and centers of importance in this great Commonwealth. That canals and railroads, State highways and turnpike companies have done much to populate the interior regions of the State is unques- tioned, yet the chief cause of establishing commercial and manu- facturing cities has been the development of the natural resources with which Pennsylvania is more abundantly provided than any other State in the east, and nearly all of which have been brought into their most systematic operation and made a part of business life within the last fifty years. Deposits of iron and coal were known to exist in certain localities for more than a century ago,
1In cxplanation of that which is written in this chapter relating to the "Planting" of the cities, it is proper to state that it is not the purpose of the article to enter into a detailed narrative history of each of these
cities from beginning to end, but rather to furnish the reader with a brief account of their origin, the events leading to their in- corporation, and, incidentally, to trace something of their subsequent growth.
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but their production for the markets did not really begin until many years later ; and oil and gas in vast quantities are discov- eries of the last fifty years.
As early as 1790, in view of the fact that in that year 150,000 bushels of grain were transported down the Susquehanna river and thence to Philadelphia markets, it was proposed to open a navigable water way from the city just mentioned to Presque Isle on Lake Erie, utilizing the waters of the Schuylkill, Swatara creek, the West Branch of the Susquehanna, the Sinnamahoning and Conewango rivers. This proposed measure stimulated similar action for the benefit of the south part of the State and resulted in a survey for another water way between the same ter- mini by utilizing the waters of the Schuylkill, Swatara creek, the Susquehanna, Juniata, Conemaugh and Allegheny rivers, and other smaller streams, and connecting them all with navigable canals. In 1791 still further canal legislation was proposed, and while none of the projected schemes was immediately carried into effect, the discussion of the period influenced settlement in the localities sought to be affected and accomplished much good in developing the resources of the State as then known, but no cities were founded until after the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. In the course of time several lines of canals were opened, and some of them still are in operation, but it was not until after the construction of railroads, the production of iron and coal, and the establishment of large manufacturing enter- prises that the interior towns began to assume the dignity and character of cities.
Returning from this digression to the proper subject of this chapter, naturally attention must first be directed to the great metropolis of the Commonwealth, the oldest city, third in point of population among the cities of America and in many respects the equal of any of them. The city of Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by the direction of William Penn, who particularly in- structed the commissioners who laid it out to establish a "green
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country town," with ample space around every house. The town was planted on the Delaware river, and between that stream and the Schuylkill, in a locality which bore few evidences of previous Indian occupancy, although further north and west the natives were found in tribal villages. With these dusky inhabitants the deputy, Governor Markham, and his followers sought to estab- lish relations of friendship, and at their hands received many favors. English settlers in numbers first arrived in the town in 1681, and there is evidence tending to show still earlier occu- pancy of the locality as part of the colony of New York. Penn himself prepared the charter in 1701, and this was continued in force until the Revolution. In 1789 the legislature granted a new charter, which in subsequent years was frequently amended and modified by supplemental acts necessitated by constant growth and increase in commercial importance. In 1854 the "consol- idation act" was passed and the city was made to include the entire county. By that act the municipal districts of Southwark, Northern Liberties, Moyamensing, Spring Garden, Kensington, West Philadelphia, Penn, Richmond, and the several boroughs and townships, lost their identity and were merged in the greater city.
Under the present laws Philadelphia is the only city of the "first class" in the State. The act of classification was passed May 23, 1874, as a conformity to the constitution of 1873. Un- der the act cities of the first-class included only those of more than 300,000 inhabitants, and under the amendatory act of 1889 (May 8) the minimum population in cities of the first class was increased to 600,000. In 1790 the population of Philadelphia was 28.522 ; 1800, 41,220; 1810, 53.722; 1820, 63,802: 1840, 93.665 : 1880, 847, 170; 1890, 1,046,964; and in 1900, 1,293,697.
These figures from the census reports furnish an idea of the constant growth of the city, but it may be said that Philadelphia has not been merely an accumulator of population and interests where there was no thought of the higher aims and requirements
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of human existence, for more than a century ago there were many evidences of pursuits belonging to a higher life. Indeed, the founder himself previous to his departure from England had de- clared his purpose to lay out a plot of ground "for a large town or city," and it was named from a Greek word which signified brotherly love.
Penn's time was ended with the dissolution of the proprie- tary as an element of civil government, yet the modern city of the
Reading in 1840
From an old print
Twentieth Century owes much to his wise forethought and gen- erous provision in laying out thoroughfares of ample width. Of the institutions founded by him and by his successors there can be no mention in this place, yet in the city to-day there is much which reflects the men and the times in which the proprietor gov- erned the town. It cannot be inferred from this that the city is in any sense non-progressive, for its scheme of government, its institutions of every kind, and its commercial interests are in quality and kind equal to those of any city in the world.
At the confluence of Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, on the rich alluvial bottom lands which almost a century and a half ago attracted the attention of a mixed population of Englishmen,
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Germans and Scotch-Irish, now stands the great industrial city of Pittsburg, a city of three hundred and fifty thousand1 inhabit- ants whose energies are devoted to manufacturing enterprises and the other vast interests which naturally are associated with industrial pursuits. As a manufacturing center Pittsburg has enjoyed an enviable reputation for more than fifty years, but it cannot be claimed that the founders of the earliest enterprises in the city ever dreamed that their pioneer efforts would lead to the establishment of one of the greatest producing centers in the world.
Well authenticated record says that the region around Pitts- burg was first explored with a view to settlement as early as 1748, by a colony of Englishmen from Virginia, who believed the lands of the locality were a part of the territory of that col- ony, and that a contention arose respecting the conflicting claims, but that the near approach of an outbreak between the English and French for a time put an end to the controversy. During that war the locality was the scene of important events, among which was the memorable battle in which Braddock met with dis- astrous defeat and his men were only saved from almost total annihilation by the timely action of Washington.
But it is not of these things that we would write in this brief sketch. Within a few years after the close of the last French and English war a settlement was planted on the city site. In its civil history Pittsburg dates from about the year 1765. It then was a part of Westmoreland county and made little prog- ress until 1788, when it became the seat of justice of the new county of Allegheny. At that time and for several years pre- vious thereto, its inhabitants were chiefly Scotch-Irish, and in their domestic life there was little to attract settlement to the
1The act of 1874 provided that all cities under 300,000 and exceeding 100,000 popu- lation should belong to the second class, and in 1889 the minimum of first class cities was fixed at 600,000. The State now
has three cities of the second class-Pitts- burg, Allegheny and Scranton. Pittsburg had acquired 300,000 population previous to 1900, and between 1890 and that year in- creased nearly 83,000 inhabitants.
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town; but after the location of the county buildings a new ele- ment of population appeared and a new order of things was es- tablished. So rapid, indeed, was the development of the place during the next four years that a borough incorporation was ef- fected in 1794 (April 22), and a little more than twenty years later-March 18, 1816-the borough became a chartered city. At that time its business interests were such as were usual to any county seat, it was without manufactures of any conse- quence, yet its importance as a center of river traffic was known throughout the State and even beyond the boundaries of the Com- monwealth.
The formative period of Pittsburg history virtually ended with the completion of the State canal, and from that time its growth and development have been steady and at times rapid. Previous to 1840 the city gained the pleasant distinction of be- ing the "metropolis of the West," and was to this State as was Buffalo to the State of New York. This prestige never has been surrendered, but all its early importance has been retained and vastly increased until to-day Pittsburg ranks with the foremost cities on this continent and with the greatest centers for the manufacture of products of iron and steel in the world. Its popu- lation in 1900 was 321,616, and in 1902 is conservatively esti- mated at 350,000.
On the north side of Allegheny river, opposite Pittsburg, is the city of Allegheny, the residence locality of many prominent business and professional men of the greater municipality. In its individual history Allegheny dates back to the early years of the last century, and in its relation to the history of the State during the colonial period the region was the scene of many important events which are narrated in another part of this work. When Pittsburg began to take rank with the manufacturing, mining and railroad centers of the country, many of its wealthy business and professional men established splendid residences across the river, and thus Allegheny became noted as a "city of homes" in Penn-
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sylvania. Even before this time, however, several prominent institutions of learning had been founded here, and in later years the acquisition of others gave the locality a special standing and added materially to its population and wealth. For many years it has been known as a city of art, education, culture and refine- ment.
Allegheny became a borough April 14, 1828, and was granted a city charter April 13, 1840. From that time its growth has been continuous and healthful, and it ranks third in population among the cities of the State, being second only to Philadelphia and Pittsburg. In 1880 the inhabitants numbered 78,682 and in 1900 the number had increased to 129,896.
About sixty years ago a faithful chronicler of Pennsylvania history, in treating of the boroughs of Luzerne county, made in- cidental mention of the fact that there were several pleasant vil- lages and hamlets in the locality, but at that time there appears to have been no evidence of municipal life in the vicinity of the splendid modern city of Scranton, now fourth in point of popula- tion in the State and in the very front rank among the coal producing, railroad and manufacturing cities of the country. Previous to 1840 this locality was not more than a sparsely settled farming section of indifferent quality, and was known by the Indian name of Capouse. Settlement is said to have begun in the region as early as 1788 by Philip Abbott, who built a cabin, also a saw mill, and made some attempt at clearing the land. Soon afterward other settlements were made and the locality took the name of Slocum Hollow, in allusion to one of its families, but not until 1840 did the place begin to show signs of life and future growth. About this time it took the name of Harrison and later on was changed to Lackawanna Iron-Works, from the establish- ment there of the mills for the manufacture of iron and its various products. Soon afterward there came into the life of the town, which had been laid out in 1840, three men-Col. George W., Selden T. and Joseph Scranton-who were the real founders of
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the city, and for whom it was first named Scrantonia and after- ward Scranton. Thus it appears that the present city had its beginning in the iron works and that the greater industry of mining and shipping of coal to markets was a later acquisition. This came with the construction of railroads across the State, and when the great outlet to the northward into New York State was furnished Scranton took rank with the best coal producing and iron manufacturing cities of the land. The extension of the now known Lackawanna railroad and its operation as a trunk line between New York city and Buffalo was of the greatest benefit to all local interests and since that time the growth of the city in every direction has indeed been remarkable. It is chiefly noted as a mining, manufacturing and railroad center, and as such com- pares with the best cities in the country, in this State standing second only to Pittsburg.
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