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hundred and seventy thousand bushels are consumed annually. It costs six cents a bushel at your door, and is said to be equal to any in the world. Our rough hills are filled with it, and our rooms in winter feel the effects of its warmth and cheerfulness. Wood, as an article of fuel, costs two dollars a cord, delivered. The abundance and cheapness of coal will be peculiarly advantageous to Pittsburg in her progress in arts and manufactures. Coal Hill, on the south side of the Monongahela, abounds in coal; and a pit in it is said to have taken fire about the year 1765, and continued burning for eight years; and another pit on Pike run, which burned for ten years. This is a high and steep hill, and its top affords a handsome prospect of the town and rivers below it.

"From the immense quantity of coal burnt there arises a cloud of smoke which hangs over the town in a body, and may be seen at two or three miles distance; when in the town, this cloud of smoke is not discovered, and the place soon becomes familiar to the eye, while the ear is occupied with the mixed sounds of the implements of industry, from four o'clock in the morning till ten at night.

"Pittsburg is a place of general deposit for goods going from the seaports to the westward. By an act of Congress it is made

a port of clearance for all goods, wares, etc.

"From the year 1802 to 1805 the following vessels were lauched at the ship-yards: The ships Pittsburg, Louisiana, General Butler, and Western Trader; Brigs, Nanina, Dean, and Black Walnnt; Schooners, Amity, Allegheny, and Conquest. The Monongahela Farmer and brig Ann Jean were built at Elizabeth

town.

The Pittsburg of 1879 presents an amazing contrast with the Pittsburg of seventy years ago. Next to Philadelphia, it is the leading city in the great state of Pennsylvania, with a population in 1870 of 86,076. Its site is that of a vast amphitheater, the rivers flowing in channels from four hundred and fifty to five hundred feet below the highest peaks of the adjacent hills, which are full of bituminous coal, easily mined, and contributing to it the immense manufacturing facilites for which it is world-renowned. From the lofty spurs of the hills and mountains surrounding it the views and scenery are most picturesque and grand. The city is

Ulster, Albany, Tryon, Charlotte, Cumberland and Gloucester. The year 1790 witnessed the amicable adjustment of the difficulties between New York and Vermont, and the former state, within its present limits, unshackled by sectional or territorial animosities, entered upon its incomparable career of civil and commercial grandeur. July 26, 1788, it ratified the constitution, it being the eleventh state to indorse that instrument. After the close of the American revolution the western portion of the state was rapidly settled by an enterprising and energetic population. The first colonial governor was Joris Adrian (Dutch) 1623, and the first under the constitution was George Clinton, from 1789 to 1795. It was named in 1664 in honor of the Duke of York and Albany. Popular name, "The Empire or Excelsior State."

PENNSYLVANIA.

Pennsylvania, one of the original thirteen states, named by Charles II. in honor of William Penn, in view of her central position, her immense and inexhaustible natural resources and her many systems of transit-lines, occupies a commanding position among the great commonwealths of the Union. The state has a maximum breadth of 176 miles and an extreme length of 303 miles, furnishing an area of 46,010 miles or 29,446,400 acres. Population, 1790, 434,373; 1800, 602,365; 1810, 810,091; 1820, 1,047,507; 1830, 1,348,233; 1840, 1,724,033; 1850, 2,311,786; 1860, 2,906,215; 1870, 3,521,951.

"The surface of the state is level in the southeast, hilly and mountainous in the interior, and generally level or arable in the west. The Allegheny mountains occupy all the central part, covering with their ramifications more than half of its area. Their ridgy tracts all tend northeast and southwest, those east of the Allegheny range being abrupt and precipitous, while west the surface

*William Penn, the illustrious founder of Pennsylvania, was a native of England; born in London October 13, 1644; emigrated to America in 1682; returned to England the second time in 1711, burdened and encumbered by debts; sought to negotiate the sale of Pennsylvania to the Crown for 12,000 pounds, but in this measure was interrupted by illness, and died July 29, 1718, at Ruscombe, Berkshire county, England.

inclines toward the Ohio river and Lake Erie in graded slopes. The passes of this inner range are about 2,000 feet above sea level, the lower valleys of the Ohio, where it leaves the state and the plain skirting Lake Erie, being about 800 and 650 feet respectively. The inner valley, by which the Susquehanna flows, has but an inferior elevation above the sea, and it takes up a large area, dividing the mountainous belt. The mountains of Pennsylvania are components of the great Appalachian chain, and form a succession of ridges, running in parallels, generally in a direction southwest to northeast, and presenting, in some parts, summits elevated 3,000 feet. The principal valleys of the mountain region are those of Chester, Wyoming, Lackawanna, Juniata, Cumberland and Monongahela. The chief rivers are the Susquehanna, traversing the center of the state, and the largest stream flowing into the Atlantic in the United States; the Delaware, with its affluents, the Lehigh and Schuylkill; the Juniata, tributary to the Susquehanna; and in the west, the Allegheny and Monongahela, uniting at Pittsburg to form the Ohio."*

The inhabitants of the state are largely devoted to agriculture, the immense limestone formations assuring to the soil remarkable fertility and productive qualities. The anthracite region, which is composed chiefly of a rugged and forbidden surface, is sterile and unattractive. The valleys between the mountains are generally rich in their soils and suited to the cereals and grasses, while many of the elevations are cultivated to their summits. Westward of the mountains the soil is of deep mold, equal to any other section of the country, while to the eastward it amply rewards the labor of the husbandman. The climate of the state is intermediate, or between the extremes of the northern and southern sections of the country. The spring and autumn months are the pleasantest of the year, and during these seasons the weather is serene and delightful. The state is regarded as the most salubrious on the continent, and life, it is said, is of more than average duration.

The growth of forest trees varies according to elevation and location, but differ but little perhaps, in their character, from those *Zell's Encyclopedia.

western part of the state. An irregular line extending through the southerly counties forms the watershed that separates the northern and southern drainage; and from it the surface gradually declines northward, until it finally terminates in the level of Lake Ontario. The portion of the state lying south of this watershed, and occupying the greater part of the two southerly tiers of counties, is entirely occupied by these hills. Along the Pennsylvania line they are usually abrupt, and are separated by narrow ravines, but toward the north their summits become broader and less broken. A considerable portion of the highland region is too steep for profitable cultivation, and is best adapted to grazing. The highest summits in Allegany and Cattaraugus counties are two thousand to three thousand feet above tide.

"From the summits of the watershed the highlands usually descend toward Lake Ontario in series of terraces, the edges of which are the outcrops of the different rocks which underlie the surface. These terraces are usually smooth, and, although inclined toward the north, the inclination is generally so slight that they appear to be level. Between the hills of the south and the level land of the north is a beautiful rolling region, the ridges gradually declining toward the north. In that part of the state south of the most eastern mountain range the surface is generally level or broken by low hills. In New York and Westchester counties these hills are principally composed of primitive rocks. The surface of Long Island is generally level or gently undulating. A ridge one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high, composed of sand, gravel and clay, extends east and west across the island north of the centre."

The riparian system of the state supplies immense distances of inland navigation. The Hudson, the largest river, is a splendid water course, has a length of three hundred and twenty miles, a tidal flow of one hundred and fifty miles. Its sources are in the Adirondack group of mountains, the stream flowing in a southwardly direction toward the Atlantic ocean. The other more important rivers of the state are the Oswego, Genesee, Mohawk, St. Regis, Catskill, Oswegatchie, Chenango, Chemung, Black river, etc.; while the St. Lawrence, which carries to the ocean a larger body of water than any other river in the world, except the Ama

zon, and is the outlet of the great lake-chain of the north, constitutes a portion of the northern boundary of the state. The Allegheny, the Delaware and Susquehanna have their sources in this state, and in their first intention possess immense water-power. The cataracts, cascades and falls of many of the rivers are distinctive and distinguishing features of the streams. Prominent among these are the falls of Niagara; the falls of the Genesee, at Rochester; those of the Mohawk, at Cohoes; Fall Creek, Little Falls, Trenton Falls, Glenn Falls, Catskill Falls, etc.

Its principal lakes are those of Champlain, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, Canandaigua, George and Chautauqua, etc., all of which abound in fish, and are characterized by the most picturesque and magnificent scenery. The sea-coast of the state is chiefly comprised in the shores of Long Island. The great depot of commerce of New York is the bay and harbor, one of the most magnificent on the Atlantic coast. Those of Dunkirk and Buffalo, on Lake Erie, are important commercial stations.

The largest appendage to the state is Long Island, which reaches into the Atlantic, opposite the southern shore of Connecticut, a distance of nearly one hundred and fifty miles, its greatest breadth being about twenty miles, with an average breadth of ten. Its shape has been described as that of an immense whale, and a rocky ridge, called the spine, extends likewise nearly through it, and at the west end forms the heights of Brooklyn. At the mouth of New York harbor is Staten Island, fifteen miles long and eight miles broad, detached from Long Island by the bay and narrows.

The climate of the state does not easily admit of description, as its phenomena is controlled by locality. Its soils in the river depressions and valleys are remarkably productive, and the adoption of scientific modes of husbandry have imparted a vital stimulus to the agricultural industries of the state. The valleys of the Mohawk, Seneca and Genesee are renowned as remarkable wheatproducing districts, and where the lands are of inferior quality the substitution of grazing for tillage is accepted. The geology of the state has been scientifically explored by authority of the legislature, as well as its botanical and animal formations. Its mineral wealth is extensive and diversified, consisting of coal, iron, hem

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