Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 11

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192

USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 11

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It was estimated that during the year 1818 $1,500,000 was paid to the people of this State by outsiders for the item of transportation of products alone, much of which was received at Pittsburg. "It is, in fact, the support of all the country from this (place) to Chambersburg" (b).

On March 3, 1818, an act passed the Assembly to incorporate the Pitts- burg and Steubenville Turnpike Road Company, and on June 5th the commis- sioners, Henry Baldwin, Dennis S. Scully and Andrew Scott, opened books for the subscription of stock thereto. William Brown, Samuel E. Marks, Andrew McCurdy, James Beatty and Alexander McFarland were appointed commissioners to open books of subscription. In 1818 an appropriation of $30,000 was made to clear the navigation of the Monongahela from Brownsville to Pittsburg.

In September, 1818, the commissioners of the Greensburg and Pittsburg Turnpike Road Company, James Irwin, Robert Stewart and William B. Foster, called for proposals for the erection of toll houses and gates and the employment of three tollgate keepers. During the winter of 1818-19 a petition to the Legisla- ture was circulated throughout Western Pennsylvania and extensively signed, praying that body to complete "a good and substantial road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg," to be free of toll for broad-wheeled wagons engaged in trans- porting between those two places. In this petition it was stated that already offers were made to transport goods from New York to Pittsburg for $5 per hundredweight, while the existing rate from Philadelphia to Pittsburg varied from $6 to $8 per hundredweight. This petition was signed by about 200 merchants and manufacturers of Pittsburg, and was presented to the Legislature by Mr. Forward, who at the same time read another from this place praying for an appropriation to aid in improving the navigation of the Ohio from Pitts- burg to the State line.

The New Alexandria and Pittsburg Turnpike Road Company began opera- tions before the spring of 1819. In 1819 the Legislature was flooded with peti- tions in the interest of turnpikes in all parts of the State; 200 petitions of this kind were presented and referred to the appropriate committee. The Harris-

(a) Gazette, June, 1818. (c) Gazette, June 23, 1818. (b) Gazette, October 2, 1818.

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

burg and Pittsburg Northern Route Mail Stage began running January 29, 1819, leaving each place on Tuesdays and reaching the other end of the line on Mondays. The line via Clark's Ferry, Limestone, Huntingdon, Blair's Gap, Armagh and New Salem once per week, and the through fare was $14 and way passengers were charged seven cents per mile. In August, 1819, D. H. Blaine and James Kinkead began running a line of coaches three times a week between Pittsburg and Washington.

"The march of improvement in the West has been rapid and grand; it has outstripped calculation and even gone beyond the sanguine anticipations of our wildest enthusiasts. A gentleman (d) of the first respectability in our country, some forty years ago, in a large company in Philadelphia (about 1778-Ed.), predicted that within thirty years a post would pass between that city and Pittsburg once in two weeks. This gentleman, who viewed our country with the eye of a philosopher, and who was one of the first explorers of the Mississippi, lived to see his wild predictions more than verified. He lived to see a mail stage passing his own door west of Pittsburg three times a week on the route to Lexington, in Kentucky. If he had hinted anything about two bridges and a penitentiary we presume that a writ of lunacy would have been taken out against him" (e).

The Pittsburg and Butler Turnpike Road Company was projected in 1819. The commissioners were Henry Baldwin, William Robinson, Robert Campbell, Hugh Davis, Dunning McNair, John David, William Campbell and John Gilmore. The Pittsburg and Uniontown Turnpike Road via Birmingham, Eliz- abethtown and Perryopolis, was begun in 1819, and books were opened for sub- scription. The commissioners were William Wilkins, Philip Gilland, Thomas Duncan, George A. Bayard, John Withrow, Thomas Irwin, George Steward, George Sutton, James Brice, Joseph Barnitz, John Lyon and Henry W. Beason.

It was found that the carriage of Western products through Pittsburg to Philadelphia from Ohio and Kentucky could be effected in most instances cheaper than to New Orleans. With a good turnpike wagoners could haul immense loads both ways. In consequence of this state of things enormous quantities of products accumulated at Pittsburg, and thence found their way to Philadelphia. When the turnpikes were first opened-the northern and southern routes-the weight of articles for several years conveyed from the Atlantic cities to Western points in Pennsylvania exceeded that returned by about one-half, the weight going West being about 21,000,000 pounds annually, and that going East about 10,000,000 pounds. In 1822 the Western freightage cost about $600,000, while that going East cost about $100,000. It was thought that this vast trade would be lost through the Cumberland road. The toll paid on a trip to Philadelphia and back, for six horses and a broad-wheeled wagon, was $19.20, and on a narrow-wheeled wagon (1822) and six horses, $29.30- an average of about $24 on each load in toll-and was about 21 per cent. of the wagoners' whole receipts. The Cumberland Road paralleled the prin- cipal Pennsylvania turnpike and extending about thirty miles south of it. The cost of the whole road from Harrisburg via Chambersburg to Pittsburg up to this time was $1,150,000; and the cost of the road via Huntingdon, nearly completed, would be, it was estimated, about $570,000. Of the stock in these two roads the State held $920,000 and individuals $470,000. The two roads covered 412 miles (f).

"In Pennsylvania, however, rent by parties and impelled or impeached by factions in what is commonly called politics, a strong disposition exists to

(d) George Morgan of Morganza. (e) Gazette, 1818.

(f) Report of House Committee; Mr. Stevenson, chairman, 1821-2.

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

encourage domestic industry and extend facilities to internal navigation by roads, bridges and canals" (g).

In the spring of 1821 freight by wagon from Philadelphia to Pittsburg was $II per hundredweight, but during the summer and fall, when the roads were good, was much lower. The Senate committee's report made to that body March 23, 1822, stated that when the work then in progress on the State highways was finished there would be two stone roads running from Philadel- phia to Pittsburg, each 300 miles long, one of which was finished, and one continuous road from the latter city to Erie, passing via Butler, Mercer, Mead- ville and Waterford. At this time the State was well advanced in its immense system of internal improvement.

The State Treasurer was required by law (h) to publish a list of all banks, individuals and associations issuing orders or notes in the nature of banknotes; and accordingly, in January, 1822, he published the same, together with a list of unlawful banks, individuals and corporations issuing orders, etc., among which were the Greensburg and Pittsburg Turnpike Company, the Pittsburg and New Alexandria Turnpike Company and the city of Pittsburg.

"It is well known to all persons acquainted with the settlement and improve- ment of the country lying beyond the Appalachian Mountains, that the first line of communication with it passed through Pennsylvania; and that from the doubtful and devious footpath, through each successive stage of improvement, up to the regular and costly turnpike, Pennsylvania, to the year 1820, possessed the best and most attractive road. The Legislature, convinced at an early period of the advantages to be derived from the settlement of the West, and desirous of facilitating and securing to her citizens the highly productive and valuable carrying trade between the Atlantic and the waters of the Ohio, and of fixing the point of exchange between the East and West within her limits, and actuated by the most honorable and enlightened views of State policy, did, at successive periods, make large appropriations for encouraging objects of such unquestionable advantage to the Commonwealth. The fostering care of the Legislature and public spirit of our citizens induced a vast portion of the emigration and property destined to the West to pass through our State" (i).

This report, continuing, said, that at that date (1822) a barrel of flour was carried from Pittsburg to Philadelphia for $2; that if the farmer himself were to do this, it would require a team of five horses to convey fifteen barrels, would con- sume thirty-five days, and if he received $6 per barrel he would be out of pocket $20 on his return1; that prompt action should at once be taken to retain the immense carrying trade between the two cities-whisky, flour, pork, hemp, tobacco, cotton, glass, cordage, paper, linen, spun yarn, etc.

"Had it not been that the turnpike road from Huntingdon to Pittsburg was finished about the time foreign iron fell to $90 per ton, all the manufactories in the middle counties must have inevitably closed, as it would have continued to cost them $60 per ton to reach their market; whereas they now reach Pitts- burg at an expense of $30 per ton by taking twice the former load and making the trip in less time" (i).

The Cumberland Road threatened the extinction of the revenue derived from the transporting trade, and although the State had aided in the construc- tion of this highway, Pittsburg, as a measure of self-defense, discountenanced such aid and opposed the completion of the road. The construction of this thoroughfare was the hobby of that day. Congress assisted, and so did Penin- sylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Pittsburg felt that the building of the road

(g) Niles Register, November 3, 1821. (h) Act of March 21, 1814.

(i) Report of House Committee on Domestic Manufactures, December 24, 1822.

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

meant, to a large degree, the decadence of this point as a distributor and the obliteration through here of an immense carrying trade to and from the great West. Why, then, should this State be so willing to help build the Cumber- land Road? And why be so slow to keep in repair the State road east from Pittsburg? Here was a large military depot, and on Lake Erie was a large naval station, and why should not the State improve the great roads connecting the East with those points instead of assisting a road which would divert the carrying trade from Pittsburg and pour its benefits into Baltimore instead of into Philadelphia? In short, the building of the road was looked upon with dismay by this city, and was bitterly opposed by mass meetings, petitions and memorials.

As a matter of fact the turnpike east of Pittsburg was in a deplorable con- dition-impassable in some places, while the bridges were poor and often washed away. Rocks and other impediments in the Ohio below Pittsburg needed removal. Western merchants, shipping via Pittsburg, threatened thereafter to use the Cumberland Road. This was the spur which set the steed of State legislation at last in motion.

The National or Cumberland Road was first proposed in 1797, and Henry Clay became one of its warmest supporters. The act for its construction was passed in 1806, and the first coach bearing the United States mail passed over it August 1, 1818. Toward the close of 1818 it was finished as far west as across the Alleghanies, and later over it passed the greatest stage travel and traffic in the country. Thousands upon thousands of emigrants poured west- ward over its splendid roadbed, while Pittsburg was obliged to accept such as were willing to come over the execrable Pennsylvania turnpike. But, in spite of all, the water facilities and the location of Pittsburg alone gave it a fair share of the transporting trade.

The building of the Cumberland Road was regarded from the commence- ment as a step hostile to the interests of Pittsburg. It was correctly seen at the outset that it was destined to drain the trade of Ohio, Kentucky and other West- ern points into the markets of Washington and Baltimore, and that Wheeling might thus win the coveted distinction of being the "head of navigation. Immense appropriations for that road by Congress were viewed with chagrin by citizens here, who fancied they could already see the largest part of the trade of the West go east over this road to Baltimore, or east to New York via Lake Erie and the Erie Canal. The newspapers of Pittsburg and their correspondents did not hesitate to denounce the lethargy of Pennsylvania in permitting such a result, when the natural route to the seaboard east for all the Northern country was through this State via Pittsburg. The Cumberland Road was built by the Government. When, it was asked, had so much been done for Pennsylvania? Why should Pennsylvania or Pittsburg perinit the deflection to other points of the trade which was rightfully hers? Even the mail from Baltimore and Washington, bound for Pittsburg, passed over the Cumberland Road to Washington, Pennsylvania, and thence across the country to its destination, thus delaying it at least one day. The injury likely to result to Pittsburg was so manifest that in September, 1818, a petition was prepared and extensively signed and addressed to the General Assembly, praying that body to remonstrate with Congress against granting any further public money toward the construction of that road. The petition recited that when Ohio was admitted into the Union it was provided that two per cent. of the proceeds of the sale of public lands in that State should be applied toward making a road from the river Ohio to the navigable waters of the Atlantic watershed; that this expenditure had continued until the money had been expended; that Congress had then advanced a large sum on the credit of this fund; that the

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

whole delegation of Pennsylvania in Congress had protested against this course; that from 1807 to 1816 operations had been suspended; that in 1816 other appropriations to the amount of over $600,000 were made for construction pur- poses; that other large amounts would be required to put the road in condition for travel; and ended by praying that all portions of the country might be placed on a footing of equality as regards appropriations of public money, and that a lavish expenditure of money should not be made for construct- ing this road, the main design of which was to annihilate all the benefits Pennsylvania might derive from Western trade through the Ohio and its tributaries (j).

"Why should the Union be taxed to make a road from Cumberland to Wheeling? It is no more a national object than a road from Pittsburg to Bedford. It does not go within 140 miles of the seat of government; does not lead to nor touch an arsenal, naval or military depot. But it gives the Western trade to Baltimore and Wheeling-takes it from Philadelphia and Pittsburg. It takes the profits of the carriage from Pennsylvania and gives it to Maryland. ..... Pennsylvania has nearly finished a turnpike of 300 miles ; the Government has not contributed a dollar. Yet, if there is a national road, it is this. It was the route of business, of travelers and of emigration, and will continue so if the unlimited expenditure of public money does not force it in another direction. . Our State has a right to complain that the funds of the Union are exclusively applied to local objects. Not another road can have one dollar, not another State partake of this bounty" (k).

The completion of the Cumberland Road in 1820 and its freedom from tolls, thus connecting Wheeling and the Western country with Baltimore and the Atlantic, was rightly considered a severe blow to the commercial interests of Pennsylvania. And what makes it harder to bear was the fact that the Govern- ment had spent $1,800,000 to construct that road, had removed the tollgate wholly, while Pennsylvania was obliged to construct her own turnpikes and harass commerce and travelers with toll. If the injury to Philadelphia was great, that to Pittsburg was greater. So great had become the carrying trade from the West through Pittsburg that the average annual amount of carriage money, it was claimed, paid to wagoners in Pittsburg for the years 1816, 1817, 1818 and 1819 .approximated $600,000, nearly the whole of which was drawn from the Western country and retained in Pennsylvania. Should this be diverted to Wheel- ing and Baltimore? was the question.

"Our rivers are so low as to render navigation very difficult, and at this moment there is probably near a million worth of merchandise lying along our shores. The Western merchants are lounging through our streets or moping in our taverns in restless anxiety. There is a belief among them that the Ohio is free from impediments below Wheeling, and that all the dangerous places lie between that place and Pittsburg. This belief is not founded exactly on fact, but it answers the purpose of threat when ill humor and disappointment hold domin- ion over the bosom. It is, therefore, very common to hear the names of Wheel- ing, Baltimore and the Cumberland Road murmured in no very inaudible tones. Indeed, from the serious disappointment and extraordinary delay which this class has met with this season, there is not the least doubt but that an immense portion of the Western goods will next year be purchased in Baltimore and trans- ported directly to Wheeling. The arrangement of the general postoffice has likewise interfered to increase our danger. The mail from Baltimore, Washing- ton, Alexandria, Hagerstown, etc., is now sent by this route, and actually arrives in Pittsburg by the Western carrier. Yes, Pittsburg and Philadelphia now depend

(j) Mercury, October 2, 1818. (k) Mercury, October 9, 1818.

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

upon a cross post-rider for all their important mail-the most important mails, probably, in America.

"The eastern portion of our State must depend upon their own exertions to avert the evil; they have the means and ought to exert them. Pittsburg and her neighborhood will have as much as they can execute in clearing out the river to Wheeling, a distance of 800 miles. This has been in agitation among us twenty years; it now becomes a task that can no longer be dispensed with" (1).

In 1818 it was openly boasted at Wheeling that by means of the Cumber- land Road that city would wrest from Pittsburg nearly all its Western trade:

"Poor Pittsburg! your day is over, the scepter of influence and wealth is to travel to us; the Cumberland Road has done the business."

"If the turnpike between Philadelphia and Pittsburg be made worthy of such a State as Pennsylvania, and the river cleared out to Wheeling, no mortal power can affect us" (m).

In 1826 the Greenville and Pittsburg Turnpike, in which the State owned $89,000 and individuals $73,000 stock, owed debts to the amount of $13,201; had received $11,634.98 in tolls and spent $9,747.51. In the Pittsburg and Alex- andria Turnpike, in 1826, the State owned $48,860; individuals $19,932.89; tolls received $2,118.38; expenses, $1,663.98 (o). In 1826 it was contended by the local press that the great increase in arrivals and departures of loaded keel-boats during a very low stage of water was due wholly to the improvements that had been made on the river below the city.

"During the late session of the Legislature, it was stated that $900,000 had been paid yearly in Pittsburg for carriage. We certainly are not inimical to canals, but when great questions are involved, it is improper, in order to carry a popular measure or to answer the views of a few, to misrepresent the most important data upon which the benefits of artificial navigation are to be decided. From the Ist of April, 1825, to the Ist of April, 1826, 3,460 wagons passed the turnpike gate. Averaging their weight of goods at 4,000 pounds each, the whole weight of goods transported would amount to 13,840,000 pounds. Allowing three cents per pound as the price of carriage (which is probably something higher than the general average would bear), the whole amount of carriage paid. during the last year would be $415,200. The amount paid for return carriage during the same period was about $103,800, making the total amount of carriage to and fro $519,000. It is certain that the amount of goods brought to Pitts- burg during the past twelve months was greater than that of any former period, and although the price of carriage falls far short of what it was stated to have been, still the sum actually paid is enormous, and is sufficient of itself to warrant the investment of moneys in the great system of internal improvement now pro- gressing in Pennsylvania" (p).

"On the subject of navigation we cannot do more than recall to the recol- lection of our fellow citizens the unexampled bustle and activity exhibited at our wharves during the past spring (1826), and the immense shipping business done by our commission merchants. It is probable our steamboat proprietors have never before had such a long series of profitable running in one season. In fact, the continued high waters, the immense quantity of freight daily arriving, and the numerous travelers that are ever passing and repasssing, seem to have given a new and astonishing impulse to our navigation. From three to eight steam- boats have been constantly in port, notwithstanding the head of navigation is ninety miles below us, as our Wheeling friends would have it" (p).

(1) Gazette, October 27, 1818. (m) Gazette, December, 1818.

(o) Chambersburg Repository, March, 1827.

(p) Pittsburg in 1826 (adapted); Samuel Jones.

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

Vessels, Etc.

Arrived.

Departed.

Steamboats

Keel-boats

470

Flats

145

I45

Freight, west and south (tons):

7,190

Freight (tons)

15,250

"The Pittsburg Gasette of the 20th inst. gives a long and interesting account of the first ascent of the Allegheny River by a steamboat, the Albion, of fifty tons. The water was at the stage usual during the spring months when the Ohio is navigable. The boat proceeded fifty miles from Pittsburg, and might have proceeded further, but the experiment was thought sufficient. The progress of the boat upward was between four and five miles an hour, except at some of the rapids, which, however, were conquered; returning, the descent was ten miles an hour. Among the party on board the Albion was a gentleman (r) yet apparently on the right side of middle age, who claimed to be the first white male born west of the Allegheny River. It is supposed that the river may be navigated by ves- sels of fifty tons, while the Ohio is by vessels of 100 tons; and a plan has already been adopted for commencing the regular navigation of the Allegheny next spring by steamboats. It is said they may ascend to Franklin or Warren. The distance from Pittsburg is not stated, but by referring to the map, we suppose the last named to be at least 150 miles by the course of the river. What a noble canal is this! Warren, in a direct line, does not appear to be more than 40 miles from Portland, on Lake Erie. We must and will have our railroad from Baltimore to the Ohio. And that being made, whether by the Allegheny or the Ohio Canal, we shall be close to the shores of the lake just named, and the people of the distant West will become our neighbors. There must needs be enough of constitutional law in our country to profit by the bounties which Providence has bestowed" (s).

On July 13, 1827, the Messenger, Captain Baird, arrived here in a lower stage of water than any boat of her size had ever before navigated. From Feb- ruary 9th to July 13th she made nine voyages to Louisville and return, and one to Nashville, averaging 160 tons, or a total of 1,600 tons. Part of her freight for Pittsburg was 690 bales of cotton to Adams, Allen & Co., of the Phoenix Cotton Factory; 150 hhds. of sugar, 307 hhds. of tobacco, 108 bales of cotton for other houses, 40,000 pounds of lead to Allen & Grant, 55 hhds. of tobacco to John Turbitt, and 40 hhds. of tobacco to Miller & Robinson (t). From February 2, 1827, to July 1, 1827, the arrivals of steamboats here were 104 and the departures 120, the total tonnage of the latter being 14,200, an average of 135 tons to each boat. In the Pittsburg trade at this time, the total tonnage was 5,620. Of the boats which left here, fourteen were new, built either here or near here, and of these five were of the largest class, viz .: Fame, 300 tons; Columbus, 350; America, 300; New York, 300; Florida, 400 (u). A daily line of post coaches was run in 1828, by G. A. Dohrman, between Pittsburg and Wheeling, via Steubenville and Wellsburg, the fare being $3.25. In 1828 a new stage line was put in running operation between Erie and Pittsburg, running via Salem, Youngstown and . Beaver, and carrying passengers through in two days for $5 each. In the spring of 1828 freight to Louisville was 50 cents a hundred; iron and glass, $4 to $5 per ton; to Cincinnati, 45 cents a hundred; by carriage from Philadelphia, $2.50 to $2.75 per hundred pounds.

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Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 11

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co. Number of Pages: 1192

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192