Great Cities of the United States
by Gertrude Van Duyn Southworth · English · Gutenberg #44854 · 309,924 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Great Cities of the United States
Author: Gertrude Van Duyn Southworth
Stephen Elliott Kramer
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES ***
[Illustration: BUILDING A SKYSCRAPER]
GREAT CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES
HISTORICAL, DESCRIPTIVE, COMMERCIAL
INDUSTRIAL
BY
GERTRUDE VAN DUYN SOUTHWORTH
AUTHOR OF "BUILDERS OF OUR COUNTRY," BOOKS I AND II, "THE STORY OF THE
EMPIRE STATE," AND "A FIRST BOOK IN AMERICAN HISTORY"
AND
STEPHEN ELLIOTT KRAMER
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
IROQUOIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY
GERTRUDE VAN DUYN SOUTHWORTH AND STEPHEN ELLIOTT KRAMER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
316.3
PREFACE
Just as the history of a country is largely the history of its great men,
so the geography of a country is largely the story of its great cities.
How much more easily history is grasped and remembered when grouped
around attractive biographies. With great cities as the centers of
geography-study, what is generally considered a dry, matter-of-fact
subject can be made to attract, to inspire, and to fix the things which
should be remembered.
This book, "Great Cities of the United States," includes the ten largest
cities of this country, together with San Francisco, New Orleans, and
Washington. _In it the important facts of our country's geography have
been grouped around these thirteen cities._ The story of Chicago includes
the story of farming in the Middle West, of the great ore industry on and
around the Great Lakes, and of the varied means of transportation.
Cotton, sugar, and location are shown to account largely for the
greatness of New Orleans. In a similar way, the stories of the other
cities sum up the important geography of our country.
Enough of the history of each city is given to show its growth and
development. The distinctive points of interest are described so that one
feels acquainted with the things which attract the sight-seer. The
commercial and industrial features are made to stand out as the logical
sequence of fortunate location for manufacturing, for securing raw
materials, for markets, and for convenient means of transportation.
In order to make uniformly fair comparisons, local statistics have been
ignored and all data have been taken from the latest government reports.
The authors wish to express their sincere appreciation to the historical
societies, to the chambers of commerce, to those in the various cities
who have furnished material and reviewed the manuscript, and to all
others who have rendered assistance.
It is hoped that by the use of this book our country, in all its
greatness, will mean more and will appeal more to the boys and girls of
America than ever before.
To the publishers of Allen's "Geographical and Industrial Studies: United
States" we are indebted for the use of the map appearing at the end of
the text.
THE AUTHORS
CONTENTS
PAGE
NEW YORK 3
CHICAGO 41
PHILADELPHIA 67
ST. LOUIS 89
BOSTON 105
CLEVELAND 137
BALTIMORE 155
PITTSBURGH 171
DETROIT 189
BUFFALO 207
SAN FRANCISCO 227
NEW ORLEANS 245
WASHINGTON 265
REFERENCE TABLES 299
INDEX 305
LIST OF MAPS
PAGE
The Boroughs of New York--Entrances to her Harbor 10
Manhattan Island and the City Parks 20
New York's Subway and Bridge Connections 29
Where Chicago was Founded 44
Chicago's Canals 48
Chicago To-day 60
Location of Philadelphia 69
Philadelphia To-day 80
Louisiana Purchase 90
St. Louis and her Illinois Suburbs 92
Map of Boston and its Vicinity 106
The City of Boston 118
Boston's Land and Water Connections 120
Cleveland and her Neighbors 140
The City of Cleveland 144
The City of Baltimore 164
Location of Baltimore 168
The Pittsburgh District 173
The City of Pittsburgh 179
The Great Lakes 190
The City of Detroit 201
New York's Canals 209
The Site of Buffalo 212
The City of Buffalo 218
The Site of San Francisco 232
The City of San Francisco 234
Where New Orleans Stands 246
The City of New Orleans 250
The District of Columbia 268
The City of Washington 270
Some of the Great Railroads of the United States 303
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING]
GREAT CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES
NEW YORK
"Drop anchor!" rang out the command as the little Dutch vessel furled her
sails. On every side were the shining waters of a widespread bay, while
just ahead stretched the forest-covered shores of an island.
[Illustration: INDIANS VISITING THE _HALF MOON_]
All on board were filled with excitement, wondering what lay beyond.
"Have we at last really found a waterway across this new land of
America?" they asked. There was only one way to know--to go and see. So
on once more, past the island, glided the _Half Moon_. From time to
time, as she sailed along, the redskin savages visited her and traded
many valuable furs for mere trifles.
But at last the _Half Moon_ could go no further. This was not a waterway
to India, only a river leading into the depths of a wild and rugged
country. Sick with disappointment, her captain, Henry Hudson, turned
about, journeyed the length of the river which was later to bear his
name, once more passed the island at the mouth of the river, and sailed
away. All this in 1609.
[Illustration: "MY BROTHERS, WE HAVE COME TO TRADE WITH YOU"]
Manhattan was the Indian name for the island at the mouth of the Hudson
River. Tempted by Henry Hudson's furs, the thrifty Dutchmen sent ship
after ship to trade with the American Indians. And as the years went by,
these Dutchmen built a trading post on Manhattan, and a little Dutch
village grew up about the post. Soon the Dutch West India Company was
formed to send out colonists to Manhattan and the land along the Hudson.
A governor too was sent. His name was Peter Minuit.
[Illustration: PETER STUYVESANT]
Now Peter Minuit was honest, and when he found that the Dutch were living
on Indian land to which they had helped themselves, he was not content.
So he called together the tribes which lived on Manhattan and, while the
painted warriors squatted on the ground, spoke to them in words like
these: "My brothers, we have come to trade with you. And that we may be
near to buy your furs when you have gathered them, we wish to live among
you, on your land. It is your land, and as we do not mean to steal it
from you, I have asked you to meet me here that I may buy from you this
island which you call Manhattan." Then, in payment for the island, Peter
Minuit offered the Indians ribbons, knives, rings, and colored
beads--things dearly loved by the savages. The bargain was soon closed,
and for twenty-four dollars' worth of trinkets the Dutch became the
owners of Manhattan Island.
[Illustration: NEW YORK IN OLDEN TIMES]
The Dutch settlement on Manhattan was called New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam
was a pretty town, with its quaint Dutch houses built gable end toward
the street and its gardens bright with flowers. Dutch windmills with
their long sweeping arms rose here and there, and near the water stood
the fort.
But though New Amsterdam grew and prospered in the years after Peter
Minuit bought Manhattan, life there did not run as smoothly as it might.
In time Peter Stuyvesant came to be governor, and a stern, tyrannical
ruler he was. He always saw things from the Dutch West India Company's
point of view, not from the colonists'. Disagreement followed
disagreement till the people were nearly at the end of their patience.
Then, one day in 1664, an English fleet sailed into the bay. A letter was
brought ashore for Governor Stuyvesant. England too, so it seemed, laid
claim to this land along the Hudson River, and now asked the Dutch
governor to give up his colony to the Duke of York, a brother of
England's king. This done, the Dutch colonists could keep their property,
and all their rights and privileges. In fact, even greater privileges
would then be given them.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON TAKING THE OATH OF OFFICE]
In a towering rage Governor Stuyvesant tore the letter into bits and
stamped upon them and called upon his colonists to rise and help him
repulse the English. But the colonists would not rise. They felt that
there was nothing to gain by so doing. The English promised much, far
more than they had had under the rule of tyrannical Peter Stuyvesant and
the Dutch West India Company.
What could the governor do? Surely he alone could not defeat the English
fleet. So at last, sorrowfully and reluctantly, he signed a surrender,
and the Dutch Colony was given over to the English.
Once in possession, the English renamed New Amsterdam, calling it New
York. Now followed a hundred years of ever-increasing river, coast, and
foreign trade, of growing industries, of prosperity. And then--the
Revolution.
When the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, George
Washington and his army were in New York, guarding the city from the
English. But before the close of the year he was forced to retreat, and
the English took possession. By the close of the Revolution, in 1783, the
English had robbed the city of much of its wealth and had ruined its
business.
[Illustration: THE FIRST TRAIN IN NEW YORK STATE]
After the war the thirteen states who had won their freedom from England
joined together, drew up a constitution for their common government, and
chose their first president. Then came the thirtieth of April, 1789. The
streets were crowded, and a great throng packed the space before New
York's Federal Hall. This was Inauguration Day, and on the balcony stood
General Washington taking the oath of office. It was a solemn moment.
The ceremony over, a mighty shout arose--"Long live George Washington,
president of the United States." Cheers filled the air, bells pealed, and
cannons roared. The new government had begun, and, for a time, New York
was the capital city.
Already New York was recovering from the effects of the war. Her trade
with European ports had begun again, and it was no uncommon sight to see
over one hundred vessels loading or unloading in her harbor at one time.
New York harbor is one of the largest and best in the world. Add to this
the city's central location on the Atlantic seaboard, and it is no wonder
that a vast coasting trade grew up with Eastern and Southern ports.
Without doubt, however, the greatest business event in the history of New
York City was the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. The canal joined the
Great Lakes with the Hudson River, making a water route from the rich
Northwest to the Atlantic, with New York as the natural terminus. So with
nearly all of the trade of the lake region at her command, New York soon
became a great commercial center, outstripping both Boston and
Philadelphia, which up to this time had ranked ahead of New York.
A few years later the building of railroads began. The first railway from
New York was begun in 1831, and it was not long before the city was the
terminus of several lines and the chief railroad center of the Atlantic
coast. As the railroads did more and more of the carrying, and the Erie
Canal lost its former importance, New York did not suffer from the
change, but still controlled much of the trade between the Northwest and
European nations. Besides, as time went on, she built up an immense
traffic with all parts of the continent, being easily reached by rail
from the north, east, south, and west.
[Illustration: THE BOROUGHS OF NEW YORK--ENTRANCES TO HER HARBOR]
The first half of the nineteenth century saw the arrival of many thousand
immigrants from Europe. These, with the thousands of people who came from
other parts of America, attracted by the city's growing industries, made
more and more room necessary. First, about 13,000 acres across the Harlem
River were added to the city. Then, in 1895, the city limits were
extended to the borders of Yonkers and Mt. Vernon. And finally, in 1898,
New York, Brooklyn, Long Island City, and some other near-by towns were
united under one government, forming together Greater New York, the
largest American city and the second largest city in the world.
New York to-day covers about 360 square miles, its greatest length from
north to south being 32 miles, its greatest width about 16. The city is
divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and
Richmond. The Borough of Manhattan, on the long narrow island of that
name, lies between the Hudson and the East River. North and east of
Manhattan, on the mainland, lies the Borough of The Bronx. Just across
the narrow East River, on Long Island, are the boroughs of Queens and
Brooklyn; while Staten Island is known as the Borough of Richmond.
[Illustration: NEW YORK SKYSCRAPERS]
As more and more people came to the city the business area on Manhattan
proved too small, and with water to the east, to the west, and to the
south, there was no possibility of spreading out in these directions.
Yet business kept increasing, and the cry for added room became more and
more urgent. Finally, the building of the ten-story Tower Building in
1889 solved the difficulty. It showed that, though hemmed in on all
sides, there was still one direction in which the business section could
grow--upwards. And upwards it has grown. To-day lower Manhattan fairly
bristles with huge steel-framed skyscrapers which furnish miles and miles
of office space, twenty, thirty, forty, in one case even fifty-five,
stories above the street level. The supplying of office and factory space
is not the only use that has been made of these steel buildings. Great
apartment houses from twelve to fifteen stories high provide homes for
thousands. Mammoth hotels covering entire city blocks furnish temporary
homes for the multitudes which visit the city each year. Fifteen of the
largest of these can house more than 15,000 guests at one time--a
good-sized city in itself. Thus has Manhattan become one of the most
densely populated areas on the globe. In the boroughs of Queens and
Richmond, on the other hand, large tracts of land are given over to farms
and market gardens.
[Illustration: HOW A SKYSCRAPER IS MADE]
Manhattan is at once the smallest and the most important borough in the
city. Here are the homes of more than 2,000,000 people, the business
section of Greater New York, and the chief shipping districts.
[Illustration: A MAMMOTH HOTEL]
When building the narrow irregular streets of their little town on lower
Manhattan, the inhabitants of New Amsterdam little dreamed that they
would one day be the scene of the enormous traffic of modern New York.
Those old, narrow, winding streets to-day swarm with hurrying throngs
from morning till night and are among the busiest and noisiest in the
world.
The newer part of the city from Fourteenth Street north to the Harlem
River has been laid out in wide parallel avenues running north and south.
These are crossed by numbered streets running east and west from river to
river. Fifth Avenue runs lengthwise through the middle of the borough,
dividing it into the East and West sides. On the East Side you will find
the crowded homes of the poorer classes, where many of the working people
of Manhattan live. On the West Side are many manufacturing plants,
lumber yards, and warehouses. On the upper stretch of Fifth Avenue, and
on the streets leading off, are the homes of many of New York's
wealthiest residents. Opposite Central Park are some of the most costly
and beautiful mansions in the city.
[Illustration: FIFTH AVENUE FROM THIRTY-FOURTH STREET]
In this regular arrangement of streets, Broadway alone is the exception
to the rule. Beginning at the southern end of the island, it runs
straight north for more than two miles, then turns west and winds its way
throughout the whole length of the city. About its lower end, and on some
of the neighboring streets, center the banking and financial interests.
Here are many of the city's richest banks and trust companies.
[Illustration: BROADWAY CROSSING SIXTH AVENUE]
Wall Street, running east from Broadway about one third of a mile from
the southern end of Manhattan, was named from the wall which the Dutch,
in 1683, built across the island at this point, because they heard that
the English were planning to attack them from the north. Though only half
a mile in length, Wall Street probably surpasses all others in the extent
of its business.
[Illustration: WALL STREET]
North of the banking center is the great wholesale region, where
merchants from all parts of the country buy their stock in large
quantities, to sell again to the retail merchants. Beyond the wholesale
region are the large retail stores--New York's great shopping district.
In these retail stores the merchants who have bought from the wholesalers
sell direct to the people who are to use the goods. In this middle
section of the island are also most of the better-class hotels,
restaurants, clubs, and theaters, which have been gradually making their
way further and further uptown, crowding the best resident section still
further north.
The customhouse, where the government collects duties on goods brought
into the port of New York from other lands, was built at the extreme
southern end of the island, where Fort Amsterdam used to stand. The
United States Sub-Treasury, in Wall Street, stands on the site of Federal
Hall, where Washington was inaugurated. Here are stored large quantities
of gold, silver, and paper money belonging to the government. In and
about City Hall Park are the post office, the courthouse, and the Hall of
Records. The new public library, on Fifth Avenue between Fortieth and
Forty-second streets, is the largest library building in the world.
[Illustration: CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE]
The city's parks are many. Central Park, in the center of Manhattan,
ranks among the world's finest pleasure grounds. It is two miles and a
half long and one-half mile wide, and has large stretches of woodland,
beautiful lawns, gleaming lakes, and sparkling fountains. Here, too, are
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Cleopatra's Needle--an obelisk
thousands of years old, presented to the city by a ruler of Egypt. And
here are reservoirs which hold the water brought by aqueducts from the
Croton River, about forty miles north of the city. This river was for
many years the sole source of Manhattan's water supply. In 1905, however,
the city began work on an immense aqueduct which is to bring all the
drinking-water for all five boroughs from reservoirs in the Catskill
Mountain region.
[Illustration: NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY]
[Illustration: METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART]
[Illustration: MANHATTAN ISLAND AND THE CITY PARKS]
The tomb of General Grant is at the northern end of Riverside Park, which
is on a high ridge along the Hudson River above Seventy-second Street.
Riverside Drive, skirting this park, is one of the most beautiful
boulevards in the city.
Then there are Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and Pelham Bay and Van
Cortlandt parks in The Bronx. The city zoo and the Botanical Gardens are
in Bronx Park. And in addition to all these there are more than two
hundred smaller open spaces and squares scattered over the city.
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF GENERAL GRANT]
Columbia University, New York University, Fordham, the College of the
City of New York, and Barnard College are among the most noted of New
York's many educational institutions.
About five million people live in this wonderful city, and to supply them
all with food is a tremendous business in itself. During the night
special trains bring milk, butter, and eggs; refrigerator cars come laden
with beef; and from the market gardens of Long Island fruits and
vegetables are gathered and taken to the city during the cool of the
night that they may be sold, fresh and inviting, in the morning.
[Illustration: WHERE THE SEALS LIVE IN BRONX PARK]
Great numbers of New York's inhabitants are from foreign lands. Several
thousand Chinese manage to exist in the few blocks which make up New
York's Chinatown. A large Italian population lives huddled together in
Little Italy, as well as in other sections of the city. Thousands upon
thousands of Jews are crowded into the Hebrew section on the lower east
side of Manhattan. There is also a German and a French colony, as well as
distinct Negro, Greek, Russian, Armenian, and Arab quarters. Most of
these are in lower Manhattan, and in consequence lower Manhattan is by no
means deserted when the vast army of shoppers, workers, and business men
have gone home for the night.
[Illustration: THE ELEPHANT HOUSE IN BRONX PARK]
[Illustration: VISITING THE BIRDS IN BRONX PARK]
[Illustration: THE OLD AND THE NEW]
The necessity of carrying these shoppers, workers, and business men to
and from their homes in the residence sections of the city and in the
suburbs gradually led to the development of New York's wonderful
rapid-transit system. Within the borders of Manhattan itself, horse cars
soon proved unequal to handling the crowds that each day traveled north
and south. So the first elevated railway was built. Then six years later,
a second line was constructed. Others soon followed, not only in
Manhattan but also in Brooklyn and The Bronx. Raised high above the busy
streets by means of iron trestles, and making but few stops, these
elevated trains could carry passengers much faster than the surface cars,
and for a time the problem seemed to be solved.
[Illustration: A NEW YORK ELEVATED RAILWAY]
The traveling public was rapidly increasing, however, and before the
close of the nineteenth century both the surface cars, now run by
electricity, and the elevated trains were sorely overcrowded during the
morning and evening rush hours. More cars were absolutely necessary, and
as there was little room to run them on or above the surface, New York
decided to make use of the space under the ground, just as it had already
turned to account that overhead.
[Illustration: NEW YORK'S FIRST TWO-STORY CAR]
[Illustration: A SUBWAY ENTRANCE]
The work was begun in 1901. A small army of men was set to blasting and
digging tunnels underneath the city streets,--a tremendous task,--and in
1904 the first subway was opened. Electric cars running on these
underground tracks carry passengers from one end of the island to the
other with the speed of a railroad train.
[Illustration: SUBWAY TUNNELS]
[Illustration: A FERRY BOAT]
But what of the means of travel for those living outside of Manhattan?
Years back, business men living on Long Island had to cross the East
River on ferry boats. This was particularly inconvenient in winter, when
fogs or floating ice were liable to cause serious delays. Besides, as New
York grew, such numbers crossed on the ferries that they were
overcrowded. Relief came for a time when, in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge
was built over the East River from Brooklyn to New York. This bridge is
over a mile long. Across it run a roadway, a walk for foot passengers,
and tracks for elevated trains as well as for surface cars. Two even
longer bridges, the Williamsburg Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge, have
since been built between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Then, too, there is the
Queensboro Bridge, between Manhattan and the Borough of Queens.
Though thousands and thousands daily crossed the East River over
these bridges, men soon foresaw that the time was not far distant
when ferries and bridges together would be unable to take care of the
ever-growing traffic. Further means of travel had to be provided, and
the success of the city's underground railway suggested a practical idea.
As early as 1908, the subway was continued and carried under the East
River to Brooklyn. Several tubes have since been built under the Hudson,
connecting Manhattan with the New Jersey shore. To-day New York is
building many miles of new subway under various parts of the city as well
as under the Harlem and East rivers. Carrying passengers under water has
proved as great a success as carrying them underground.
[Illustration: NEW YORK'S SUBWAY AND BRIDGE CONNECTIONS]
[Illustration: BROOKLYN BRIDGE]
Over and above all these means of rapid transit, Greater New York has at
its service ten of America's great railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad
has an immense station in New York, one of the finest of its kind.
Tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers carry its trains to New Jersey
and Long Island.
[Illustration: THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD STATION]
[Illustration: THE GRAND CENTRAL STATION]
The new Grand Central Station is the greatest railroad terminal in the
world. The station is a beautiful building of stone and marble, large
enough to accommodate thirty thousand people at one time. Between
railroads and tunnels, bridges and ferries, surface cars, elevated
trains, and subways, New York's rapid transit system is one of the best
in the world.
With such advantages as a receiving and distributing center, it is small
wonder that the city has become the nation's chief market place. It is
without a rival as the center of the wholesale dry-goods and wholesale
grocery businesses. More than half of the imports of the United States
enter by way of New York's port, and its total foreign commerce is five
times that of any other city in the country.
Rubber, silk goods, furs, jewelry, coffee, tea, sugar, and tin are among
the leading imports. Cotton, meats, and breadstuffs are the most
important exports.
Besides being the principal market place of the United States, New York
is also its greatest workshop, as it makes over one tenth of the
manufactures of the country. In the manufacture of clothing alone, more
than a hundred thousand people are employed. There are comparatively few
large factories for carrying on this work, as much of it is done in
tenement houses and in small workshops. The growth of this industry has
been largely due to the abundance of cheap unskilled labor furnished by
the immigrant population of the city.
Second in importance is the refining of sugar and molasses, carried on
chiefly in Brooklyn along the East River, where boats laden with raw
sugar from the Southern states and the West Indies unload their cargoes.
New York City leads in the refining of sugar as well as in its
importation.
[Illustration: THE BATTERY]
Added to these, printing and publishing, the refining of petroleum,
slaughtering and meat packing, the roasting and grinding of coffee and
spices, the making of foundry and machine-shop products, cigars, tobacco,
millinery, furniture, and jewelry are the leading industries of the many
thousands which have grown up in the city. All this is largely due to the
ease with which raw materials can be obtained and finished articles
marketed. Thanks to its commercial advantages, New York leads all
American cities in the value of its manufactures and surpasses them in
the variety of its products.
[Illustration: LOWER MANHATTAN]
[Illustration: NEW YORK CITY DOCKS]
[Illustration: LOADING A FREIGHT STEAMER]
At the southern end of Manhattan Island is the Battery. In the old days
the Battery was a fort. Now it is used as an aquarium. From the Battery
New York's docks extend for miles along both sides of lower Manhattan and
line the Long Island and New Jersey shores as well. The wharves are piled
high with bales and bags, boxes and barrels. Ships from the South come
with cargoes of cotton, others bound for England take this cotton away.
Tank steamers from Cuba bring molasses; similar ones are filled with
petroleum destined for the ends of the earth. Cattle boats take on live
stock brought from the West, grain ships load at the many elevators built
at the water's edge, and vessels from all the larger ports of the world
put ashore goods of every description. Along both shores of the Hudson
River are the piers of the great trans-Atlantic steamship companies, the
landing places of the largest and fastest passenger vessels in the world.
Here also are the docks of the many river and coastwise lines which
carry passengers to and from the cities and towns on the Hudson and the
Atlantic coast. Half the foreign trade and travel of the United States
passes over the wharves of lower Manhattan.
[Illustration: A DOCK SCENE]
The entire harbor includes the Hudson and East rivers and the upper and
lower New York Bay with the connecting strait known as The Narrows. The
upper bay, New York's real harbor, can be entered from the ocean in three
ways--a narrow winding channel around Staten Island, a northeast entrance
through Long Island Sound and the East River, and an entrance through The
Narrows from the lower bay.
[Illustration: A GREAT OCEAN LINER]
Among the islands in the upper bay is Ellis Island, where immigrants are
inspected before being allowed to enter our country. On another island
stands the splendid bronze statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World,"
given to the United States by the people of France. It is now America's
greeting to her future citizens as they sail up the harbor.
[Illustration: NEW YORK HARBOR]
What a different picture the harbor presents to-day from the one Hudson
saw over three hundred years ago! The quiet undisturbed waters of that
time are now alive the year around with craft of every sort, from the
giant ocean liner to the graceful sailboat. Vessels freighted with
merchandise, tugs towing canal boats, ferries for Staten Island, barges
loaded with coal, river steamers, excursion boats, and battleships from
far and near, day and night, pass in an endless procession where the
solitary Indian used to glide in his silent canoe.
[Illustration: THE STATUE OF LIBERTY]
When the Dutch bought Manhattan it was a beautiful wooded island
inhabited by Indians who supplied their simple wants by hunting and
fishing. What a change the island has undergone since that time! The
Indians have disappeared with the forest. In their place live and
struggle vast armies of human beings gathered together from all the
corners of the earth. Where squaws used to pitch their wigwams, giant
skyscrapers tower up toward the clouds. The stillness of the forest has
been succeeded by the noise and bustle of a busy city. The lazy
monotonous life of the savage has given way to a ceaseless activity and
hurry.
The twenty-four dollars which bought the whole island--less than three
hundred years ago--would not now buy a single square inch in the center
of the city. The hunting and fishing ground of the red men has become the
heart of the greatest city of the Western Hemisphere.
=NEW YORK=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), nearly 5,000,000 (4,766,883).
First city in population in the United States.
Second city in population in the world.
Divided into five sections, called boroughs.
Carries on more than half the foreign trade of the United States.
Leads all American cities in the value of its manufactures.
One of the best harbors in the world.
Connected by great railway systems with all parts of America.
Connected with the Great Lakes by the Hudson River and the Erie Canal.
A city of skyscrapers.
Wonderful system of underground, overhead, and surface transportation.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. Why did the Dutch settle on Manhattan Island? How did the Dutch
governor secure the land from the Indians?
2. What great ceremony connected with the establishment of the
government of the United States took place in New York? Why was
this ceremony held in New York?
3. What was the most important event in advancing the business growth
of New York?
4. What effect did the arrival of vast numbers of immigrants have
upon the city?
5. Why are there such tall buildings in New York?
6. Name some of the principal streets and their chief features; name
some of the colleges and universities.
7. Give some facts about Central Park, The Bronx, and Riverside Drive.
8. Give some idea of the size of New York, its population, and the
nationalities that comprise it.
9. Give a brief account of the means of transportation.
10. In what respects does New York rank first of all the cities of
the United States?
11. What are its principal exports and imports?
12. What commercial advantages does New York enjoy?
13. What are the chief manufactured products of New York City, and
how can it produce so much without many great factories?
14. Compare the harbor and city of to-day with that of three hundred
years ago.
15. From a New York newspaper find out the foreign countries and the
cities of this country to which vessels make regular sailings from
New York.
16. Name all the railroads entering the city.
CHICAGO
"Chicago is wiped out." "Chicago cannot rise again." So said the
newspapers all over the country, in October, 1871. And well they might
think so, for the great fire of Chicago--one of the worst in the world's
history--had laid low the city.
The summer had been unusually dry. For months almost no rain had fallen.
The ground was hot and parched, the whole city dry as kindling wood. Then
about nine o'clock on a windy Sunday night, the fire broke out in a poor
section of the West Side. It seemed as if everything a spark touched,
blazed up. While the firemen stood by, helpless to check the flames, rows
of houses and blocks of factories burned down.
In a short time the lumber district was a great bonfire, the flames
shooting hundreds of feet into the air. On and on swept the fire along
the river front. Then the horror-stricken watchers saw the flames cross
to the South Side. All had thought that the fire would be checked at the
river, but the wind carried pieces of burning wood and paper to the roofs
beyond.
The business section was burning! The firemen worked desperately, but in
vain. Hundreds of Chicago's finest buildings--stores, offices, banks, and
hotels--were swallowed up by the flames. The city had become a roaring
furnace, and the terrified people rushed madly for safety.
[Illustration: AFTER THE FIRE]
Once more the fire crossed the river, this time to the North Side, with
its beautiful residence districts. Here too wind and flame swept all
before them till Lincoln Park was reached, where at last the fire was
checked in its northward course; there was nothing more to burn. It had
raged for two nights and a day, laying waste a strip of land almost four
miles long and one mile wide.
[Illustration: Courtesy of Central Trust Company of Illinois, Chicago
HOME OF JOHN KINZIE]
Tuesday morning saw seventeen thousand buildings destroyed and one
hundred thousand people homeless. The best part of Chicago lay in ruins.
What wonder that men everywhere thought the stricken city could not rise
again!
At the time this terrible disaster happened, Chicago had been a city for
a little less than thirty-five years.
The mouth of the Chicago River had been a favorite meeting place for
Indians and French trappers long before permanent settlement began. In
1777 a negro from San Domingo, who had come to trade with the Indians,
built a log store on the north bank of the river. This store was bought
in 1803 by John Kinzie, another trader and Chicago's first white
settler.
The next year the United States government built Fort Dearborn on the
south side of the river, not far from the lake. Though Fort Dearborn was
nothing more than a stockade with blockhouses at the corners, a little
settlement gradually grew up around it.
[Illustration: WHERE CHICAGO WAS FOUNDED]
During the War of 1812 the Indians attacked the fort, burned it to the
ground, and either massacred or captured most of the settlers while they
were fleeing to Detroit for safety.
Fort Dearborn was rebuilt after the war, but settlers were slow in
coming. By 1830 there were scarcely a hundred people in Chicago, then a
little village of log houses scattered over a swampy plain. Fur trading
was still the chief occupation.
A change was soon to come. The southern part of Illinois was by this time
being settled and dotted with farms, and each year larger crops were
produced. The farmers saw that they must get their products to the
Atlantic coast if they wished to prosper, and the Great Lakes were the
most convenient route over which to send them.
Lake Michigan extended into the heart of the fertile prairie lands, but
its shores were almost unbroken by harbors. Men early saw the
possibilities of the mouth of the Chicago River. It could be made into an
excellent harbor with little expense, and if once this were done, Chicago
would be the natural port of the rich Middle West.
In 1833 the government began improvements by cutting a channel through
the sand bar across the mouth of the river and building stone piers into
the lake to keep out the drifting sand. Vessels were soon entering the
river instead of anchoring in the lake as formerly. Lake trade increased.
More and more boats were bringing goods from the East to be distributed
among the farmers of Illinois. The new harbor made intercourse with the
outer world easy.
The growth of trade, however, was hindered by the absence of good roads.
Farmers who wished to bring anything to the Chicago market had to cross
the open prairie, which was wet and marshy near the town. Such a ride was
an unpleasant experience, as often the wagon would stick in the deep mud,
and the poor driver had no choice but to wait until help should happen
along. Many preferred to take their crops to the cities farther south,
where better roads had been built.
[Illustration: AN EARLY CHICAGO DRAWBRIDGE]
"We too will have roads," said the people of Chicago, anxious for more
trade, and they set about building them with a will. Soon good roads
entered the town from all directions, and over them the rich products of
the surrounding country came pouring into Chicago.
Business and wealth increased, and more and more settlers arrived. Most
of them came by way of the lakes, but many came in prairie schooners, as
the immigrants' great covered wagons were called. By 1837 the population
had risen to four thousand, and Chicago became a city.
Its growth from this time was marvelous. Its location at the head of Lake
Michigan, its fine harbor, the resources of the rich back country, all
combined to make it the chief commercial center of the Middle West.
[Illustration: WHERE THE STAGECOACH STARTED]
In the early days, when Chicago was only a tiny village, there had been
talk of connecting Lake Michigan at Chicago with the Illinois River by
canal. As the Illinois flows into the Mississippi, this would furnish a
water route from the East down the entire Mississippi valley. In 1836 the
canal was actually begun. A few years later hard times came, and the work
was stopped for a while, but it was finished in 1848. This was known as
the Illinois and Michigan Canal. It extended from La Salle, on the
Illinois River, to Chicago--a distance of over ninety miles--and offered
cheap transportation between Chicago and the fertile farm lands to the
south.
[Illustration: CHICAGO'S CANALS]
Though the canal was a success, railroads did even more for the city. The
year that saw the canal completed also saw the first train run from
Chicago to Galena, near the Mississippi, in the heart of the lead
country.
Four years later, in 1852, came railroad connection with the East, when
the Michigan Southern and Michigan Central railroads entered the city.
Other lines soon followed, and it was not long before Chicago was one of
the important railroad centers of the country.
But while Chicago was fast becoming rich and big, it was not a pleasant
place in which to live. The site of the city was a low and marshy plain,
almost on a level with the lake, and the problems of drainage of such a
location had to be met and solved.
In the beginning, to keep the houses dry, they were built above the
ground and supported by timbers or piles. Cellars and basements were
unknown, and the city streets were a disgrace. In spring they were
flooded and swimming with mud. Even in summer, pools of stagnant water
stood in many places. For years wagons sticking fast in the mud were
common sights.
Cholera, smallpox, and scarlet fever swept the city again and again.
People, knowing only too well that unsanitary conditions brought on these
diseases, did their best to remedy matters. They saw that Chicago would
be clean and healthy if only they could find a way to carry off her
wastes.
First they decided to turn the water into the river by sloping all the
streets towards it. Then came a severe flood which did much damage and
showed the folly of digging down any part of the city. Chicago was too
low already.
So the people hastened to raise their streets again by filling them in
with sand, and this time they made gutters along the side to carry off
the water. Heavy wagons soon wore away the sand, however, and the streets
were as muddy as before.
Finally, an engineer advised the people to raise the whole city several
feet; then brick sewers could be built beneath the street to carry the
sewage into the river. At first many refused to listen to such a
proposal. The undertaking was so great that it frightened them.
But as things were, business and health were suffering. Something had to
be done, and at last the city determined to raise itself out of the mud,
and work was begun. Ground was hauled in from the surrounding country,
streets and lots were filled in, the buildings were gradually raised, and
sewers were built sloping toward the river. It was a gigantic task and
cost years of labor, but when it was done, Chicago was, for the first
time, a dry city. It must be remembered that the area of Chicago at that
time was but a small part of the present city.
Another source of trouble was the drinking-water, which was taken from
Lake Michigan. The sewage in the river flowed into the lake and at times
contaminated the water far out from the shore, thus poisoning the city's
supply. It was therefore decided to build new waterworks, which would
bring into the city pure water from farther out in the lake. A tunnel was
built, extending two miles under Lake Michigan. At its outer end a great
screened pipe reached up into the lake to let water into the tunnel. Over
the pipe a crib was built to protect it. On the shore, pumping stations
with powerful engines raised the water to high towers from which all
parts of the city were supplied.
[Illustration: CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL, 1856]
The first tunnel was completed in 1867. With the growth of the city other
tunnels and cribs have been built, farther out in the lake, to supply the
increasing need.
By 1870 Chicago had become one of the largest cities in the country. In
1830 the settlement at the mouth of the Chicago River had barely twenty
houses. Forty years later it had over three hundred thousand inhabitants.
The wonderful resources of the upper Mississippi valley had been largely
responsible for the city's growth, and the rapid development of the
entire West promised Chicago a still greater future.
Then came the fire, and to the homeless people looking across miles of
blackened ruins it seemed that Chicago had no future at all. Had not the
fire undone the work of forty years?
[Illustration: CLARK STREET IN 1857]
The first despair gradually gave way to a more hopeful feeling. Truly the
loss was great--the best part of the city lay in ruins. But was not the
wealth of the West left, and the harbor and the railroads? These had
built up Chicago in the beginning, and they would do so again.
The rebuilding began at once. At first little wooden houses and sheds
were constructed to give temporary shelter to the homeless. Help came to
the stricken city from all sides. Thousands of carloads of food were
sent, and several million dollars were collected in Europe and America.
Two thirds of the city had been built of wood. Now the business blocks,
at least, were to be as nearly fireproof as possible. Tall buildings of
brick and stone were planned. But such structures are heavy, and if they
were built directly on the swampy ground underlying the city, there would
be danger of their settling unevenly and possibly toppling over. So
layers of steel rails crossing each other were sunk in the ground, and
the spaces between them were filled in with concrete. Upon this solid
foundation the first skyscrapers of Chicago were built.
To-day concrete caissons are constructed on bed rock, often from 100 to
110 feet below the surface, and upon these rest the steel bases of the
modern Chicago skyscrapers.
Work went on quickly. In a year the business section was rebuilt. In
three years there was hardly a trace of the fire to be seen in the city,
which was larger and more beautiful than before.
After the rebuilding, the water question came up for discussion again. In
spite of all that had been done to protect the water supply, the
increasing sewage of the city, carried by the river into the lake, at
times still made the water unfit to drink. The one way of getting pure
water was to prevent the river from flowing into the lake. This could be
done only by building a new canal, large and deep enough to change the
flow of the river away from the lake. Such a canal was finally completed
in 1900, after eight years' work and at a cost of over $75,000,000. It is
28 miles long, 22 feet deep, and 165 feet wide, and it connects the
Chicago River with the Des Plaines, a branch of the Illinois River. A
large volume of water from Lake Michigan continually flushes this
immense drain, carrying the sewage away. The Chicago River no longer
flows into the lake, and at last the danger of contaminated
drinking-water from this source is past.
[Illustration: BUSY SCENE AT ENTRANCE TO CHICAGO RIVER]
One dream of the builders of the canal has not yet been realized. They
called it the Chicago Drainage and Ship Canal, in the hope that it might
some day be used for shipping purposes as well as for draining the river.
This cannot happen, however, till the rivers which it connects are
deepened and otherwise improved.
Such has been the history of the growth of Chicago--to-day the greatest
railroad center and lake port in the world. It is now the second city in
size in America and ranks fourth among the cities of the world.
The port of Chicago owes much to the Chicago River, which has been
repeatedly widened, deepened, and straightened. It is to-day one of the
world's most important rivers, commercially considered. After extending
about one mile westward from the lake, the river divides into two
branches, one extending northwest, the other southwest. Many docks have
been built along its fifteen miles of navigable channel, and its banks
are lined with factories, warehouses, coal yards, and grain elevators.
[Illustration: Courtesy of Central Trust Company of Illinois, Chicago
CHICAGO'S FIRST GRAIN ELEVATOR]
These grain elevators are really huge tanks where the grain is stored and
kept dry until time to reship it. There are many of them along the river,
and they bear witness to the fact that Chicago is the world's greatest
grain center.
In 1838 the city received only seventy-eight bushels of wheat. This was
brought in by wagons rumbling across the unbroken prairie. Canal boats
and railroads have taken the place of the wagons of early days and every
year bring hundreds of millions of bushels of grain from the West to the
elevators along the Chicago River.
Though much of the grain remains here but a short time and is then
shipped to other points, a great quantity is made into flour in the
city's many flourishing mills.
[Illustration: A GRAIN ELEVATOR OF TO-DAY]
Of equal importance with the Chicago River harbor is the great harbor in
South Chicago at the mouth of the Calumet River. Here ships from the Lake
Superior region come with immense cargoes of ore. This ore, together with
the supply of coal from the near-by Illinois coal fields, has developed
the enormous steel industry of South Chicago.
Vast quantities of steel are turned out. Some of this is shipped to
foreign countries, but most of it is used in Chicago's many foundries for
the making of all kinds of iron and steel articles, in the city's immense
farm-tool factories, and in the shipyards for building large steamships.
Close to the water front, too, are extensive lumber yards, for Chicago is
the largest lumber market in the United States. Here boats can be seen
unloading millions of feet of timber from the great forests of Michigan
and Wisconsin, sent to Chicago's lumber yards to be distributed far and
wide over the country. Large quantities are also taken to the factories
in the city, to be cut and planed and made into doors, window frames,
furniture, and practically everything that can be made of wood.
In addition to her inner harbors, Chicago has a fine outer harbor. This
is now being enlarged by the extension of its breakwaters, and a
$5,000,000 pier is under construction which will be more than half a mile
in length and will greatly increase the shipping facilities.
With all these advantages as a shipping point, thousands of vessels come
to Chicago every year. Steamers connect it with the states along the
Great Lakes and with Canada and the outer world. Its trade with Europe is
large, corn and oats being the chief exports. New York alone in America
surpasses Chicago in the total value of its commerce.
Of Chicago's nearly 2,500,000 inhabitants a large percentage are foreign
born, Germans, Poles, Irish, and Jews having settled here in great
numbers. About forty languages are spoken, and newspapers are regularly
published in ten of them.
With its suburbs, Chicago stretches nearly 30 miles along the shore of
Lake Michigan and reaches irregularly inland about 10 miles. The city
limits inclose an area of over 191 square miles, which the two branches
of the Chicago River cut into three parts, known as the South, West, and
North sides. The three divisions of the city are connected by bridges and
by tunnels under the river.
[Illustration: COURTHOUSE AND CITY HALL]
Though business is spreading to the West Side, the central business
section is still on the South Side and extends from the Chicago River
beyond Twenty-sixth Street. Most of the great wholesale and retail
houses, banks, theaters, hotels, and public buildings are crowded into
this area, and here is the largest department store in the world, in
which over 9000 people work. The automobile industry alone occupies
nearly all of Michigan Avenue for two miles south of Twelfth Street.
Surrounding this crowded business section are most of the terminals of
Chicago's many railroads. These connect the city with New York, Boston,
and Philadelphia in the East; with New Orleans, Galveston, and Atlanta in
the South; as well as with San Francisco and the other large cities of
the West. The courthouse and city hall and the new Northwestern Railway
Station are among the city's finest buildings.
Elevated railways and a freight subway have been built in recent years
and have somewhat relieved the crowded condition of the streets. This
subway, opened in 1905, connects with all the leading business and
freight houses, and carries coal, ashes, garbage, luggage, and heavy
materials of every kind to and from them.
[Illustration: THE NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY STATION]
Five miles southwest of the city hall are the Union Stockyards, the
greatest market of any kind in the world, covering about five hundred
acres. When Chicago was only a small village, herds of cattle were driven
across the prairies to be slaughtered in the little packing houses which
grew up along the Chicago River. As the raising of cattle and hogs
increased in the state, most of them were sent to the Chicago market,
and the stockyards continued to develop until to-day they can hold more
than four hundred thousand animals at once.
[Illustration: CHICAGO TO-DAY]
Near the yards are the famous packing houses of Chicago, where over two
thirds of the cattle, hogs, and sheep received in the city are
slaughtered and prepared for shipping. The use, during the last forty
years, of refrigerator cars has made possible the sending of dressed
meats to far-distant points, and a great increase in Chicago's packing
business has resulted.
[Illustration: WHERE CARS ARE MADE]
Beef, pork, hams, and bacon from Chicago are eaten in every town and city
of America and in many parts of Europe. Other products are lard, soups,
beef extracts, soap, candles, and glue, for every bit of the slaughtered
animal is turned into use.
[Illustration: THE SKELETON OF A PULLMAN CAR]
In a district of South Chicago, known as Pullman, are the shops of the
Pullman Palace Car Company and the homes of its army of workmen. Cars of
all sorts are manufactured by the Pullman company, which owns and
operates the dining and sleeping cars on most American railroads.
[Illustration: THE CAR COMPLETED]
There is no one striking residence quarter in Chicago, but beautiful
homes are found in many parts of the city. Among the finest streets are
Lake Shore Drive, along the lake front on the North Side, and Drexel and
Grand avenues.
[Illustration: MICHIGAN BOULEVARD]
The parks of Chicago are nearly one hundred in number, the most important
being Lincoln, Washington, Humboldt, Garfield, Douglas, and Jackson.
These are connected by boulevards, or parkways, forming a great park
system, sixty miles in length, which encircles the central part of the
city. Lincoln Park borders the lake on the North Side and covers hundreds
of acres, its area having been doubled by filling in along the shores of
the lake. Jackson Park, on the lake shore of the South Side, was the site
of the World's Columbian Exposition, which celebrated the four-hundredth
anniversary of the discovery of America. This park is connected with
Washington Park by what is known as the Midway. Grant Park has been
recently constructed on made land facing the central business portion of
the city. Here is to be located the Field Museum of Natural History.
Bordering the Midway are the fine stone buildings of The University of
Chicago, opened in 1892. Its growth, like that of Chicago, has been
marvelous. Already it is one of the largest universities of the country.
[Illustration: © The University of Chicago
THE LAW SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO]
But with all its parks, its boulevards, its splendid water front, and its
many other advantages, the people of Chicago are not yet satisfied.
To-day they are working to carry out a splendid plan which will give the
city more and larger parks and playgrounds, better and wider streets, and
a really wonderful harbor. All this is being done "that by properly
solving Chicago's problems of transportation, street congestion,
recreation, and public health, the city may grow indefinitely in wealth
and commerce and hold her position among the great cities of the world."
=CHICAGO=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), over 2,000,000 (2,185,283).
Second city in population.
Second only to New York in value of manufactures.
The leading market in the world for grain and meat products.
A great iron and steel center.
Chief lumber and furniture market of the United States.
Greatest railroad center in the country.
Most important lake port in the country.
Has had a remarkable growth in industries and in population.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. Tell what you can of Chicago's early history.
2. What great disaster befell Chicago in 1871?
3. Give five causes for the wonderful growth of Chicago.
4. What part has the Chicago River played in the development of the
city?
5. Describe a grain elevator. Why are they necessary in handling
grain?
6. Name the advantages which Chicago enjoys on account of its
location.
7. What are the great wheat-growing states of the United States?
8. Give reasons for the development of the following industries in
Chicago:
Iron and steel industries
Meat packing
Lumber trade
9. What are the advantages of water transportation over rail
transportation?
10. In what respects is rail transportation better than water
transportation?
11. Why was Chicago willing to spend millions of dollars to improve
her water supply? How was this done?
12. Where are the workers secured to carry on the great industries of
Chicago?
13. Make a table, by measurement of a map of the United States,
showing the distance from Chicago to the following places:
New York City Denver
Boston Seattle
Washington, D.C. San Francisco
New Orleans St. Louis
14. In what respects does Chicago stand first of American cities, and
in what two things does she lead the world?
15. Compare Chicago and New York as to exports and value of commerce.
16. What is the benefit of parks to a city? What has Chicago done to
make her parks among the best in this country?
PHILADELPHIA
In early days, when there was no United States and our big America was a
vast wilderness inhabited mostly by Indians, people who came here were
thought very adventuresome and brave.
At that time there lived in England a distinguished admiral who was a
great friend of the royal family. The king owed him about $64,000, and at
his death this claim was inherited by his son, William Penn. Now William
Penn was an ardent Quaker, and because of the persecution of the Quakers
in England he decided to found a Quaker colony in another country. King
Charles II, who seldom had money to pay his debts, was only too glad to
settle Penn's claim by a grant of land in America. To this grant,
consisting of 40,000 square miles lying west of the Delaware River, the
king gave the name Pennsylvania, meaning "Penn's Woods." The next year,
1682, William Penn and his Quaker followers entered the Delaware River in
the ship _Welcome_.
Penn believed in honesty and fair play. He was generous enough not to
limit his colony to one religion or nationality. All who were honest and
industrious were welcome. The laws he made were extremely just, and land
was sold to immigrants on very easy terms.
[Illustration: PENN'S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS]
Soon after his arrival in America, Penn wisely made a treaty with the
Indians whose wigwams and hunting grounds were on or near the banks of
the Delaware River. Beneath the graceful branches of a great elm he and
the Indian chief exchanged wampum belts, signifying peace and friendship.
In the center of the belt which Penn received are two figures, one
representing an Indian, the other a European, with hands joined in
friendship. This belt is still preserved in Philadelphia by the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
[Illustration: PENN'S WAMPUM BELT]
[Illustration: LOCATION OF PHILADELPHIA]
In 1683 Penn laid out in large squares, between the Delaware and
Schuylkill rivers, the beginning of a great city. This city he called
Philadelphia, a word which means "brotherly love." At that time the
so-called city had an area of 2 square miles and a population of only
400. To-day Philadelphia has an area of nearly 130 square miles and a
population of more than a million and a half. It is America's third city
in population, and it ranks third among the manufacturing cities of the
United States. Philadelphia is on the Delaware River, a hundred miles
from the ocean, but it has all the advantages of a seaport, for the river
is deep enough to let great ocean steamers navigate to the city's docks.
Philadelphia's easy access to the vast stores of iron, coal, and
petroleum, for which Pennsylvania is famous, its location on two
tidewater rivers,--the Delaware and the Schuylkill,--and its important
railroads, all have helped to make it a great industrial and commercial
center. One half of the anthracite coal in the United States is mined in
Pennsylvania. Much of it is shipped to Philadelphia and from there by
rail and water to many other states and countries.
[Illustration: THE OLD STAGE WHICH JOURNEYED FROM PHILADELPHIA TO
PITTSBURGH]
Some of the greatest manufacturing plants in the United States, in fact
in the world, are in Philadelphia. In certain branches of the textile, or
woven-goods, industry Philadelphia is unsurpassed. In the making of
woolen carpets she leads the world. This industry goes back to
Revolutionary times, when the first yard of carpet woven in the United
States came from a Philadelphia loom. In 1791 a local manufacturer made a
carpet, adorned with patriotic emblems, for the United States Senate.
Other important industries of the city include the manufacturing of
woolen and worsted goods, hosiery and knit goods, rugs, cotton goods,
felt hats, silk goods, cordage, and twine and the dyeing and finishing of
textiles. The largest lace mill in the world is in Philadelphia.
[Illustration: OLD IRONSIDES]
Philadelphia is also noted for the manufacture of iron and steel. The
largest single manufactory in Philadelphia is the Baldwin Locomotive
Works, which is the greatest of its kind. Pictures of the old Flying
Machine, a stagecoach which made trips to New York in 1776, and of Old
Ironsides, the first locomotive built by Matthias W. Baldwin in 1832,
seem very queer in comparison with the powerful 300-ton locomotives built
in Philadelphia to-day. Old Ironsides weighed a little over 4 tons and
lacked power to pull a loaded train on wet and slippery rails; hence the
following notice which appeared in the newspapers: "The locomotive engine
built by Mr. M. W. Baldwin of this city will depart daily when the
weather is fair with a train of passenger cars. On rainy days horses will
be attached."
Besides the American railroads using Baldwin locomotives, engines built
in this plant are in use in many foreign lands. There is hardly a part of
the world to which one can go where a Philadelphia-made locomotive is
not to be seen.
[Illustration: THE FIRST TRAIN ON THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD]
Philadelphia holds an important place in the construction of high-grade
machine tools. She has great rolling mills, foundries, and machine shops,
and one of the most famous bridge-building establishments in the world.
Her people smile at being called slow; in fourteen weeks a Philadelphia
concern made from pig iron a steel bridge a quarter of a mile long,
carried it halfway around the world, and set it up over a river in
Africa.
Shipbuilding in Philadelphia began with the founding of the colony. It
was the first American city to build ships and was also the home of the
steamboat. The first boat to be propelled by steam was built by John
Fitch in Philadelphia in 1786. This was more than twenty years before
Robert Fulton had his first steamboat on the Hudson River. Robert
Fulton, who was a Pennsylvanian by birth, also lived at one time in
Philadelphia. Shipbuilding, to-day, is one of the city's great
industries.
[Illustration: A PRESENT-DAY LOCOMOTIVE]
The art of printing has been practiced in Philadelphia since the very
beginning of its history. William Bradford, one of the first colonists,
published an almanac for the year 1687. This was the first work printed
in Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin entered the printing business in
Philadelphia in 1723, and six years later published the _Pennsylvania
Gazette_. This was the second newspaper printed in the colony, the first
being the _American Weekly Mercury_, the first edition of which was
printed in Philadelphia in 1719. Both of these papers were very small and
would appear very odd alongside of the daily papers of to-day. The first
complete edition of the Bible printed in the United States was published
by Christopher Saur in Germantown, which is now a part of Philadelphia,
in 1743. Philadelphia ranks first among the cities of the United States
in the publication of scientific books and law books. One of the large
publishing houses of the city now uses over a million dollars' worth of
paper each year. It is interesting to know that when the Revolutionary
War began there were forty paper mills in and near Philadelphia. At that
time, and for many years after, it was the great literary center of the
country.
[Illustration: IN FAIRMOUNT PARK]
When William Penn founded his Quaker town in the wilderness, he made
little provision for parks, as at that time the town was so small and was
so surrounded by forests that no parks were needed. But Philadelphia now
possesses the largest park in the United States. This is known as
Fairmount Park, which covers over three thousand acres of land. Splendid
paths and driveways give access to every section of this park. On all
sides one sees beautiful landscape gardening, fine old trees, and
picturesque streams and bridges. Here is a great open amphitheater where
concerts are given during the summer months; here are athletic fields,
playgrounds, race courses, and splendid stretches of water for rowing;
and here also for many years were located the immense waterworks which
pumped the city's water supply from the Schuylkill River.
[Illustration: ONCE THE HOME OF WILLIAM PENN]
Among the famous buildings in the park are Memorial Hall and
Horticultural Hall. They were erected at the time of the great Centennial
Exhibition, which was held in Philadelphia in 1876 to celebrate the
hundredth birthday of American independence. Memorial Hall is now used as
an art gallery and city museum. Horticultural Hall contains a magnificent
collection of plants and botanical specimens, brought from many different
countries.
Another interesting building in Fairmount Park is the little brick house
which was once the home of William Penn. It is said to have been the
first brick house erected in Philadelphia. It stood on a lot south of
Market Street, and between Front and Second streets. Some years ago it
was moved from its original site to Fairmount Park, where thousands of
people now visit it. Here too, before the Revolutionary War, was the home
of Robert Morris, the great American financier, who, during that war,
time and again raised money to pay the soldiers of the American army.
[Illustration: LOOKING NORTH ON BROAD STREET]
Many statues of American heroes ornament the driveways and walks of
Fairmount Park. At the Green Street entrance stands one of the finest
equestrian statues of Washington in the country. The carved base, which
is made of granite and decorated with bronze figures, is approached by
thirteen steps, to represent the original thirteen states.
[Illustration: BALLOON VIEW OF FAIRMOUNT PARK AND THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER,
1000 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND]
[Illustration: PHILADELPHIA'S WASHINGTON MONUMENT]
The streets of Philadelphia, while not broad, are well paved, and many of
them are bordered by fine old trees. It was William Penn who named many
of the streets after trees. The names of several of the streets in the
oldest part of the town are recalled in the old refrain:
Market, Arch, Race, and Vine,
Chestnut, Walnut, Spruce, and Pine.
Philadelphia is a city of homes. Besides its splendid residential
suburbs, it has miles of streets lined with neat attractive houses where
live the city's busy workmen.
[Illustration: THE CITY HALL]
Perhaps the city hall is the most striking of the notable buildings. It
is a massive structure of marble and granite and stands at the
intersection of Broad and Market streets. This immense building covers
four and a half acres and is built in the form of a hollow square around
an open court. The most attractive feature of the building is the great
tower surmounted by an immense statue of William Penn. This lofty tower
is nearly 548 feet high and is 90 feet square at its base. It is 67 feet
higher than the great Pyramid of Egypt and nearly twice as high as the
dome of the Capitol at Washington. The Washington Monument exceeds it in
height by but a few feet. The great statue of Penn is as tall as an
ordinary three-story house and weighs over 26 tons. It is cast of bronze
and was made of 47 pieces so skillfully put together that the closest
inspection can scarcely discover the seams. Around the head is a circle
of electric lights throwing their brilliant illumination a distance of 30
miles. To one gazing upwards, the light seems a halo of glory about the
head of the beloved founder of the city.
[Illustration: THE CITY-HALL STATUE OF PENN]
Philadelphia has many fine schools, both public and private. The two most
noted educational institutions are the University of Pennsylvania and
Girard College. The University of Pennsylvania was founded largely
through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin. It now occupies more than fifty
buildings west of the Schuylkill River and is widely known as a center of
learning.
[Illustration: PHILADELPHIA TO-DAY]
Girard College was the gift of Stephen Girard, who, from a humble cabin
boy, became one of Philadelphia's richest benefactors. The college is a
charitable institution devoted to the education of orphan boys, who are
admitted to it between the ages of six and ten. Girard left almost his
entire fortune of over $7,000,000 for the establishment of this great
educational home for poor boys. Two millions of this sum were for the
erection of the buildings alone.
[Illustration: THE UNITED STATES MINT]
Other prominent educational institutions are the Penn Charter School,
chartered by William Penn; the Academy of Fine Arts; The Drexel Institute
for the promotion of art, science, and industry; the School of Industrial
Art; the School of Design for Women; and several medical colleges which
are among the most noted in the country.
When the United States became an independent nation it was necessary to
have a coinage system of its own. In 1792 a mint was established in
Philadelphia to coin money for the United States government. All of our
money is not now made in Philadelphia. The paper currency is made in
Washington, and there are mints for the coinage of gold, silver, and
copper in San Francisco, Denver, and New Orleans as well as in
Philadelphia.
[Illustration: OLD CHRIST CHURCH]
A visit to the Philadelphia mint is most interesting. Visitors are
conducted through the many rooms of this great money factory and are
shown the successive processes through which the gold, silver, nickel,
and copper must pass before it becomes money.
We first see the metal in the form of bars or bricks. In another room we
find men at work melting the gold and mixing with it copper and other
metals to strengthen it. Coins of pure gold would wear away very rapidly,
and so these other metals are added. The prepared metal is cast into long
strips, about the width and thickness of the desired coins. In still
another room these strips are fed into a machine which punches out round
pieces of the size and weight required. These disks are then carefully
weighed and inspected, after which they are taken to the coining room to
receive the impression of figures and letters which indicates their
value. One by one the blank disks are dropped between two steel dies. The
upper die bears the picture and lettering which is to appear upon the
face of the coin, and the lower, that which is to appear on the reverse
side. As the disk lies between them the two dies come together, exerting
an enormous pressure upon the cold metal. The pressure is then removed,
and the bright disk drops from the machine, stamped with the impression
which has changed this piece of metal into a coin of the United States.
All coins are made in much the same way.
[Illustration: INDEPENDENCE HALL]
In our brief visit we see many wonderful machines for counting, weighing,
and sorting the thousands of coins which are daily produced in this busy
place. At every step we are impressed with the great precautions taken to
safeguard the precious materials handled.
The old parts of Philadelphia are even more interesting than the mint,
because of their historic associations. Within the distance of a few
squares one may visit famous buildings whose very names send thrills of
pride through the heart of every good American.
[Illustration: THE LIBERTY BELL]
Old Christ Church, whose communion service was given by England's Queen
Anne in 1708, is perhaps the most noted of Philadelphia's historic
churches. In this old church Benjamin Franklin worshiped for many years,
and when he died he was buried in its quaint churchyard. And here too
George Washington and John Adams worshiped when Philadelphia was the
capital city.
Carpenters' Hall and Independence Hall ought to be known and remembered
by every boy and girl in America. When the Massachusetts colonists held
the Boston Tea Party, England undertook to punish Massachusetts by
closing her chief port. This meant ruin to Boston. All the English
colonists in America were so aroused that they determined to call a
meeting of representatives from each colony, to consider the wisest
course of action and how to help Massachusetts. It was in Carpenters'
Hall that this first Continental Congress met, in September, 1774. The
building was erected in 1770 as a meeting place for the house carpenters
of Philadelphia--hence its name.
[Illustration: THE HOME OF BETSY ROSS]
On Chestnut Street stands the old statehouse, which is called
Independence Hall because it was the birthplace of our liberty. Here it
was that, when all hope of peace between the colonies and England had
been given up, the colonial representatives met in 1776 in the
Continental Congress and adopted the Declaration of Independence, which
declared that England's American colonies should henceforth be free and
independent. While the members of Congress discussed the Declaration and
its adoption, throngs packed the streets outside, impatiently waiting to
know the result. At last the great bell rang out--the signal of the
joyous news that the Declaration of Independence had been adopted.
Independence Hall was built to be used as a statehouse for the colony of
Pennsylvania. The old building has been kept as nearly as possible in its
original condition and is now considered "A National Monument to the
Birth of the Republic." This sacred spot is under the supervision of the
Sons of the American Revolution and is used as the home of many historic
relics. Among these may be found the Liberty Bell, which hung in the
tower of the statehouse for many years. It was later removed from the
tower and placed on exhibition in the building. It has made many journeys
to exhibitions in various cities, such as New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago,
Charleston, Boston, St. Louis, and San Francisco. The old bell is now
shown in a glass case at the main entrance to Independence Hall.
[Illustration: THE FIRST UNITED STATES FLAG]
On Arch Street, not far from Independence Hall, is the little house where
it is claimed the first American flag was made by Betsy Ross.
For ten years, from 1790 to 1800, Philadelphia was the capital of the
United States. In this city Washington and Adams were inaugurated for
their second term as president and vice-president, and here Adams was
inaugurated president in 1797.
Philadelphia to-day is a great city: great in industry, great in
commerce, and great in near-by resources. Every street of the old part of
the town is rich in historic memories. William Penn dreamed of a
magnificent city, and the City of Brotherly Love is worthy of her
founder's dream.
=PHILADELPHIA=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), over 1,500,000 (1,549,008).
Third city in rank according to population.
Place of great historic interest:
Founded by William Penn.
Home of Benjamin Franklin.
First Continental Congress met here in 1774.
Declaration of Independence signed here in 1776.
Capital of the nation from 1790 to 1800.
First United States mint located here.
A great industrial and commercial center.
Ranks third in the country as a manufacturing city.
Principal industries:
Leads the world in the making of woolen carpets.
Has the largest locomotive works in the United States.
Manufactures woolen and worsted goods.
Ranks high in printing and publishing, the refining of sugar,
and shipbuilding.
Deep-water communication with the sea.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. When, how, and by whom was the site of Philadelphia acquired?
2. Compare the city of 1683 with that of to-day.
3. How does Philadelphia rank in size and manufactures among the
great cities of the United States?
4. Name several advantages which have helped to make the city a great
industrial and commercial center.
5. What are the leading exports of the city?
6. Name some of the important industries of Philadelphia.
7. Tell what you can of Philadelphia's great iron and steel works.
8. Tell something of the history and the present importance of
printing in Philadelphia.
9. Give some interesting facts about the city's great park.
10. State briefly some of the things which may be seen in a visit to
the mint.
11. What events of great historical interest have taken place in
Carpenters' Hall and Independence Hall?
ST. LOUIS
Soon after Thomas Jefferson became president of the United States, he
bought from France the land known as Louisiana for $15,000,000. This sum
seemed a great deal of money for a young nation to pay out, but the
Louisiana Purchase covered nearly 900,000 square miles and extended from
the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico
to Canada. So when one stops to think that the United States secured the
absolute control of the Mississippi and more than doubled its former area
at a price less than three cents an acre, it is easier to understand why
Jefferson bought than why France sold.
When Louisiana became part of the United States in 1803, St. Louis was a
straggling frontier village, frequented mostly by boatmen and trappers.
It had been established as a trading post back in 1764 by a party of
French trappers from New Orleans, and had, from the first, monopolized
the fur trade of the upper Mississippi and Missouri River country. Here
hunters and trappers brought the spoils of distant forests. Here the
surrounding tribes of Indians came to trade with the friendly French.
Here countless open boats were loaded with skins and furs and then
floated down the Mississippi.
[Illustration: LOUISIANA PURCHASE]
Notwithstanding this flourishing trade, the growth of the settlement was
slow. In 1803 the population numbered less than one thousand, made up of
French trappers and hunters, a few other Europeans and Americans, and a
considerable number of Indians, half-breeds, and negro slaves.
But as soon as Louisiana belonged to the United States, a new era began
in the West. Emigrants from the Eastern states poured over the
Appalachian Mountains. St. Louis lay right in the path of this overland
east-to-west travel. From here Lewis and Clark started, in 1804, on their
famous exploring trip of nearly two years and a half, up the Missouri
River, to find out for the country what Louisiana was like. It was here
that emigrants headed for the Oregon country stopped to make final
preparations and lay in supplies. The remote trading post of the
eighteenth century was suddenly transformed into a wide-awake bustling
town.
[Illustration: MISSISSIPPI RIVER BOATS]
Furs were now no longer the only article of trade. The newly settled
Mississippi valley was producing larger crops each year. Because of the
poor roads, overland transportation to the markets on the Atlantic was
out of the question, and trade was dependent on the great inland
waterways. Early in the century, keel boats and barges carried the
products of field and forest down the Mississippi. Then came the arrival
of the first steamboat, the real beginning of St. Louis' great
prosperity, working wonders for this inland commerce whose growth kept
pace with the marvelous development of the rich Middle West.
[Illustration: ST. LOUIS AND HER ILLINOIS SUBURBS]
St. Louis, lying on the west bank of the Mississippi, between the mouths
of the Ohio and Missouri rivers and not far from the Illinois, became the
natural center of this north-and-south river traffic. By 1860 it was the
most important shipping point west of the Alleghenies.
[Illustration: THE MUNICIPAL COURT BUILDING]
Meanwhile railroad building had begun in the West. Ground was broken in
1850 for St. Louis' first railway, the Missouri Pacific. Other roads were
begun during the next two years. In a short time the whole country was
covered with a network of railroads, and a change in the methods of
transportation followed. The steamboats were unable to compete with their
new rivals in speed--a tremendous advantage in carrying passengers and
perishable freight--and their former importance quickly grew less.
St. Louis lost nothing by the change. Many of the cross-continent
railroads, following the old pioneer trails, met here. To-day more than
twenty-five railroads enter the city, connecting it with the remotest
parts of the United States as well as with Canada and Mexico.
[Illustration: THE CITY HALL]
St. Louis now has about 700,000 inhabitants and occupies nearly 65 square
miles of land, which slopes gradually from the water's edge to the
plateau that stretches for miles beyond the western limits of the city.
The city is laid out in broad straight streets, crossing each other at
right angles wherever possible and numbered north and south from Market
Street.
The shopping district lies mainly between Broadway,--the fifth street
from the river,--Twelfth Street, Pine Street, and Franklin Avenue. The
financial center is on Fourth Street and Broadway, while Washington
Avenue, between Fourth and Eighteenth streets, is one of the greatest
"wholesale rows" in the West.
Besides its public schools--which include a teachers' college--and
private schools, St. Louis has two higher institutions of learning,
Washington University and St. Louis University.
Among the most important public buildings in the business section are the
municipal court building, the city hall, the courthouse, and the public
library.
[Illustration: THE NEW CENTRAL LIBRARY]
The St. Louis Union Station, used by all railroads entering the city, is
one of the largest and finest stations in the world. Pneumatic tubes
connect it with the post office and the customhouse, while underground
driveways and passages for handling bulky freight, express, and mail
matter radiate from it in all directions.
Almost directly west of the business section, on the outskirts of the
city, lies Forest Park, the largest of St. Louis' many recreation
grounds. It covers more than thirteen hundred acres of field and forest
land, left largely in a natural state. Here is the City Art Museum, which
was part of the Art Palace of the world's fair held in St. Louis in 1904
to celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase.
[Illustration: THE UNION STATION]
The beautiful Missouri Botanical Garden, generally known as Shaw's
Garden, is open for the use of the public. Compton Hill Reservoir Park,
on the South Side, though small, is one of the finest in the city. Its
water tower and basins are a part of the municipal water system, costing
more than $30,000,000. The city water is pumped from the Mississippi
River and purified as it passes into great settling basins.
Though St. Louis' attractive houses are found almost everywhere outside
the strictly business quarters, the real residence section has gradually
been growing toward Forest Park, and many of the city's business men have
built homes in the suburbs beyond the western limits of the city. One of
these suburbs, University City, bids fair to become America's most
beautiful residence town.
Unlike most of our large cities, St. Louis has no sharply defined factory
district. Its manufacturing establishments are distributed over nearly
the whole city. An important part of its manufacturing interests centers
on the eastern bank of the Mississippi in the city's Illinois suburbs.
[Illustration: THE ART MUSEUM]
The industrial development of these Illinois suburbs was greatly
increased by the opening of the Eads Bridge in 1874. Before this time
there had been no bridge connection over the Mississippi. Passengers and
freight ferries had plied regularly between St. Louis and her suburbs
across the river, but there were seasons when floating ice made the river
impassable, sometimes cutting off communication between the two shores
for days.
The Eads Bridge is 6220 feet long and is so built that the railroad
tracks cross it on a level lower than the carriage drives and foot paths.
With its completion, communication between opposite sides of the river
became as easy as between different parts of the city.
[Illustration: THE EADS BRIDGE]
Other bridges have since been built. In 1890 the Merchants Bridge, used
solely by railroads, was built across the Mississippi three miles to the
north of Eads Bridge, and now there is the McKinley Bridge between the
two. In addition to these the city is building a bridge which, when
completed, will be open to traffic without toll charges.
[Illustration: SHAW'S GARDEN]
[Illustration: A PUBLIC BATH]
Among the Illinois suburbs thus brought into closer touch with the
western side of the river are East St. Louis,--a growing city of about
75,000,--Venice, Madison, Granite City, and Belleville. Being principally
manufacturing communities, these cities contribute in no small degree to
St. Louis' importance as an industrial center.
[Illustration: A MISSOURI COAL MINE]
St. Louis' importance, however, is mainly due to the city's favorable
location at the heart of one of the world's richest river valleys. The
vast natural resources of the Middle West are at her command. Raw
materials of every kind abound almost at her door. Missouri ranks high
as an agricultural and mining state. Its position in the great corn belt
makes hog raising a highly profitable industry. The prairies to the north
furnish extensive grazing areas for cattle. The Ozark Mountains to the
southwest afford excellent pasturage for sheep and yield lumber as well
as great quantities of lead, zinc, and other minerals. In addition, the
state has large deposits of soft coal, while only the Mississippi
separates St. Louis from the unlimited supply of the Illinois coal
fields. As a result, the cost of manufacturing is low and the city's many
and varied industries thrive. Chief among these is the manufacture of
boots and shoes. Though this business is comparatively young in the West,
St. Louis already ranks among the three leading footwear-producing
cities of the country, turning out over $50,000,000 worth of boots and
shoes yearly. Most of these are of the heavier type made for country
trade, but the output of finer footwear is steadily increasing.
[Illustration: MAKING SHOES]
Next in importance are the tobacco, meat-packing, and malt-liquor
industries. St. Louis is one of the leading cities in the country in the
manufacture of tobacco. The meat-packing establishments, including those
in East St. Louis, hold fourth place among America's great packing
centers. Its mammoth breweries lead the country in the output of beer.
Flour mills, foundries, and sugar refineries also do an immense business.
Street and railroad cars, stoves of all kinds, paints, oils, and white
lead are made in scores of factories, while hundreds of other industries
flourish in the city, making it one of the greatest workshops in the
United States.
[Illustration: MULES IN A STOCKYARD]
Important as St. Louis is as a manufacturing city, it is even more noted
as a distributing center, its location making it the natural commercial
metropolis of the Mississippi valley. It markets not only its own
manufactures but products which represent every section of the country.
The vast territory to the west and southwest depends almost entirely on
St. Louis for its supply of dry goods and groceries. Other staples are
boots and shoes, tobacco, hardware, timber, cotton, breadstuffs, cattle,
and hogs.
In the handling of furs St. Louis leads the cities of the world. She also
holds a high place among the great grain markets. In this country her
annual receipts of corn, wheat, and oats are exceeded only by those of
Chicago and Minneapolis. Shipments of grain and breadstuffs to Central
and South America, Cuba, Great Britain, and Germany constitute the city's
leading exports.
As a live-stock market it is no less important. The National Stockyards,
located on the Illinois side of the river, contain several hundred acres.
Though packing houses and slaughtering houses occupy some of this land,
the main part is covered with sheds, pens, and enclosures for the
reception and sale of live animals. Millions of cattle, hogs, and sheep
are handled here every year. St. Louis also buys and sells hundreds of
thousands of horses and mules, being the largest market for draft animals
in the world.
Just as the frontier trading post of the eighteenth century grew into the
thriving river port of the nineteenth, so the river port of the
nineteenth century has developed into one of the leading railroad and
commercial centers of the twentieth. And the fourth city of America in
size is now St. Louis.
=ST. LOUIS=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), nearly 700,000 (687,029).
Fourth city according to population.
Well located; center of the Mississippi valley, between the mouths of
the Missouri and Ohio rivers.
Important shipping point by rail and water.
A great railroad center.
The leading market in the world for furs and draft animals.
One of the greatest boot-and-shoe-manufacturing centers.
One of the chief markets in the United States for grain, flour, and
live stock.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. Why did Jefferson buy the country included in the Louisiana
Purchase?
2. Give a brief account of the Louisiana Purchase; from whom
purchased, the cost, the territory included.
3. Tell what you know of St. Louis before the Louisiana Purchase.
4. What brought about the sudden and rapid growth of St. Louis after
the purchase?
5. What effect did the railroads have upon St. Louis' water
transportation? Why?
6. Describe the St. Louis Union Station.
7. What three bridges were built across the Mississippi at St. Louis,
and why?
8. To what does St. Louis owe her importance as an industrial center?
9. In what lines does St. Louis lead the world?
10. Name some of the products sent to St. Louis from the neighboring
country.
11. What are some of her most important industries?
12. Name some of the things which St. Louis supplies to other
sections of the country.
13. In what business has St. Louis held an important place from its
beginning?
14. By consulting a map, find what great railroad systems run to St.
Louis.
BOSTON
Let us take a trip to New England and visit Boston. Boston is New
England's chief city in size, in population, in historic interest, and in
importance. It is the capital of Massachusetts and the fifth city in size
in the United States.
If we were going to visit some far-away cousins whom we had never seen,
we should surely want to know something about their age, their
appearance, and their habits. Would it not be just as interesting to find
out these things about the city we are to see on our journey?
In the early days the Indians called the district where Boston now stands
Shawmut, or "living waters." The first white man to come to Shawmut was
William Blackstone, a hermit who made his home on the slope of what is
now Beacon Hill. Though Blackstone liked to be alone, he was unselfish.
So when he heard that the settlers of a Puritan colony not far away were
suffering for want of pure water, he went to their governor, John
Winthrop, "acquainted him with the excellent spring of water that was on
his land and invited him and his followers thither." Blackstone's offer
was gladly accepted. The Puritans purchased Shawmut from the Indians
and in 1630 began their new settlement, which they named Boston in honor
of the English town which had been the home of some of their leading men.
[Illustration: MAP OF BOSTON AND ITS VICINITY]
Originally Boston was a little irregular peninsula of scarcely 700 acres,
entirely cut off from the mainland at high tide. It did not take the
colonists long, however, to outgrow these narrow quarters. They soon
filled in the marshes and coves with land from the hills. They spread out
over two small islands and made them part of Boston. Then, one by one,
they took in neighboring settlements. And from this start Boston has
grown, until to-day it has an area of about 43 square miles and a
population of nearly 700,000.
We must get a clear idea of these various districts of Boston. If not, we
shall be puzzled to meet friends from Roxbury or Dorchester and hear them
say that they live in Boston. There is Boston proper, the old Boston
before it annexed its neighbors; East Boston, comprising two islands in
the harbor which joined Boston in 1635 and 1637; then, annexed from time
to time, come Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown,--the scene of the Battle
of Bunker Hill,--West Roxbury, and Brighton; and last, Hyde Park, which,
by the vote of its people and the citizens of Boston, joined the city in
November, 1911. These have all kept their original names, but have given
up their local governments to share Boston's larger privileges and
advantages. So remember that when we meet friends from Roxbury, West
Roxbury, Dorchester, Brighton, East Boston, South Boston, or Hyde Park,
they are all Boston people. The children from these districts would
resent it if they were not known as Boston boys and girls just as much
as those who live in the very heart of the city.
[Illustration: THE WASHINGTON STREET TUNNEL]
While we have been reading all this, our boat has been drawing closer to
the city, and now we must gather up our wraps and bags and be ready to
start out. We see a very busy harbor, its noisy tugs drawing the
sullen-looking coal barges; its graceful schooners loaded to the water's
edge with lumber; and its fishing boats with their dirty sails, not
attractive but doing the work that has placed Boston first in importance
as a fishing port. Crowded steamers and ferryboats pass swiftly by, while
huge ocean steamships may be seen poking their noses out from their docks
at East Boston and South Boston or heading toward the city with their
thousands of eager passengers.
As we hurry along with our fellow travelers we must decide how best to
reach our hotel. There are taxicabs and carriages for some; electric
cars, both surface and elevated, for the many. Boston has excellent car
and train service. The Boston Elevated Railway Company controls most of
the car lines in the city as well as in the outlying towns. This makes it
possible for us to ride for a nickel an average distance of at least five
miles.
[Illustration: A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF BOSTON]
A line of elevated trains running across the city connects West Roxbury
on the south with Charlestown on the north. Some of these trains pass
through the Washington Street tunnel, from which numerous well-lighted,
well-ventilated stations lead directly to the shopping and business
section of the city. On this elevated road are two huge terminal
stations, into which rush countless surface cars, bringing from all
points north and south the immense crowds of suburbanites who come to
Boston proper each day, to work or on pleasure bent.
Chelsea folks come to the city by ferry or by electric car, while those
from East Boston have two ferry lines as well as a tunnel for cars under
the harbor.
The city proper has two immense union railroad depots, the North and the
South station, where hundreds of local, as well as long-distance, trains
leave and arrive each day. The railroads entering Boston are the Boston &
Albany, which, by means of the New York Central lines, connects with the
West; the Boston & Maine, leading northward to Maine and Canada; and the
New York, New Haven & Hartford, which connects by way of New York with
various points in the South.
All these transportation advantages have made Boston an excellent place
in which to live, as its suburbs afford the benefits of country life
while yet they are within a few minutes' ride of a big city.
There are several ways in which we can see Boston. We may climb into one
of the great sight-seeing autos and ride from point to point while the
man with the megaphone calls our attention to the interesting landmarks
and gives their history; we can engage a guide who will take us from
place to place; or we can simply follow the directions of our guide book.
[Illustration: THE SOUTH STATION]
No trip to Boston is complete without a visit to the State House, or
capitol, whose gilded dome is seen glittering in the sunlight by day and
sparkling with electric lights by night. It is situated on Beacon Hill,
the highest point of land in the city proper. Up to 1811 one peak of the
hill was as high as the gilded dome is now, and on its summit a beacon
was set up as early as 1634, to warn the people in the surrounding
country of approaching disaster. It seems, however, that the beacon was
never used, and during the Revolution the British pulled it down and
built a fort in its place.
Even if there were no gilded dome on the State House, the building itself
is handsome enough to attract attention. It was designed in 1795 by
Charles Bulfinch, a famous architect. The front of the building to-day is
the historic Bulfinch front. But as Boston grew, so also did the State
House, and additions were made in 1853, in 1889, and in 1915, until now
we have the impressive building we are about to enter.
[Illustration: DRILLING ON THE COMMON]
But stop after climbing the main steps, turn around, and look at the
green field before you. This is Boston Common, the famous Boston Common
where the people of long ago used to pasture their cows; where the
British in the early days of the Revolution set up their fortified camps
during the siege of Boston; and where, at the present time, the admiring
relatives of the high-school boys assemble yearly to see them go through
their military drill. Situated as it is in the very heart of the city,
Boston Common is the resting place, the breathing place, for thousands.
It is the people's playground. Fireworks, band concerts, public speaking,
all prove that its public character has never been lost, and that it is
now as much of a Common as it was in 1649, when it was first laid out. By
a wise clause in the city charter, this Common cannot be sold or leased
without the consent of the citizens.
[Illustration: A CORNER OF THE COMMON, SHOWING THE SHAW MEMORIAL]
The Common contains many memorials erected by a grateful people. The most
conspicuous is the Army and Navy Monument, which reaches far above the
trees. Directly opposite the State House is the Shaw Memorial, a
wonderful bronze bas-relief by Saint Gaudens, showing the gallant Colonel
Shaw and his colored regiment.
The sight of Shaw's earnest young face amid his dusky followers prepares
us for entering Doric Hall in the State House, set apart as a memorial
for those who died in their country's cause. We look with awe and
reverence on the flags whose worn and tattered edges tell plainly of the
struggles of their bearers and defenders.
[Illustration: THE STATE-HOUSE CODFISH]
Let us peep into the Senate chamber and into the hall of the House of
Representatives with its historic codfish suspended from the ceiling, a
reminder of a most humble source of Massachusetts' wealth. We will then
climb to the dome and see Boston before a cold east wind sweeps suddenly
in, covering the city with fog and making all misty and uncertain. As we
reach the highest point, it really seems as if the fog had rolled in, but
it is only a fog of smoke from the many chimneys of the city's countless
factories.
[Illustration: THE STATE HOUSE]
As our eyes get accustomed to the view, the mist seems to roll away, and
the city lies before us. That blue line to the east is the harbor, and
between us and the harbor is the business section of Boston, the noisy,
throbbing heart of a big city. Directly back of us as we stand facing the
water is the West End, once a fashionable section where Boston's literary
men held court, now a district largely given over to tenements and
lodging-houses. To the north and south lie the North and South ends; the
former, the oldest of the city and the great foreign district of the
present time, where children from many lands have their homes.
[Illustration: BUNKER HILL MONUMENT]
That broad winding stream of water that we see is the Charles River. Just
beyond it to the north is Charlestown, its Bunker Hill Monument towering
up for all to see. The city of Cambridge is just across the Charles River
to the west, and next to it, skirting the southern bank of the river, is
the district of Brighton. South Boston, Roxbury, West Roxbury, Hyde Park,
and Dorchester lie toward the south. Among the many islands in the
harbor, East Boston is the most crowded and the closest to the city
proper. Towards the southwest, between us and the Charles, lies Back Bay,
once tidewater but now filled in and made into land. Look around you and
notice how the surrounding parts of Boston form a chain about their
parent, a chain broken only by Cambridge--the seat of Harvard
University--and Brookline,--Massachusetts' wealthiest town,--which
refuses to become a city or to join its larger neighbor.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON STREET]
As we leave the State House, a few minutes' walk brings us to the heart
of Boston's great shopping district and to Boston's leading business
street. You will be glad to know that this street is called neither Main
Street nor Broadway, but Washington Street. Originally, part was known
as Orange, part as Marlborough, and part as Newbury. But when, at the
close of the Revolution, Washington rode through the city at the head of
a triumphal procession, the people renamed the street along which he
passed, Washington, and so it is called to-day in all its ten miles of
length. Washington Street is very narrow in parts, and as it is lined on
both sides with some of Boston's largest and finest department stores, it
presents a very animated appearance on a week-day afternoon.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF BOSTON]
Stop for a moment on busy Newspaper Row. Here a bystander may read the
news of the world as it is posted hourly upon the great bulletin boards
of the various newspaper offices.
Parallel to Washington Street, and connected with it by many short
streets, is Tremont Street, another old historic road. Originally Tremont
Street was a path outlined by William Blackstone's cows on their way to
pasture; now it is second only to Washington Street in importance.
Washington Street is really the main dividing line between the retail and
wholesale parts of the city. The water front is the great wholesale
section. Here there is a constant odor of leather in the air, and great
heavy wagons laden with hides are continually passing to and from the
wharves and stations. When we stop and consider that Boston and the
neighboring cities of Brockton and Lynn are among the largest
shoe-manufacturing cities in the world, then we do not wonder at the
leather we see. It is no vain boast to say that in every quarter of the
world may be seen shoes that once, in the form of leather, were carted
through the streets of Boston.
[Illustration: BOSTON'S LAND AND WATER CONNECTIONS]
What is true of leather is also true of cotton and wool. Lowell, Fall
River, and New Bedford are calling for cotton to be made into cloth in
their busy mills, while Lawrence is the greatest wool-manufacturing city
in the country. Boston, with its harbor and great railroad terminals, is
constantly receiving these materials and distributing them to these
cities.
The finished cloths often return to Boston to be cut and made into
clothes, and an army of men and women cut and sew from day to day on
garments for people far distant from Boston as well as for those near
home.
One glance at the wharves along Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street and
our glimpse of busy Boston will be ended. Here are wharves and piers
jutting out into the harbor, where are boats of every kind from every
land. New York alone among American cities outranks Boston in the value
of her foreign commerce. From one large steamer thousands of green
bananas are being carried. They will be sold to the many fruit dealers,
from those whose show windows are visions of beauty, to the Greek or
Italian peddler who pushes his hand cart out into the suburbs.
Some of the steamers are already puffing with importance as if to hasten
the steps of travelers who are on their way to board ship for different
ports in the South, for Nova Scotia and other points north, or perhaps to
cross the Atlantic.
Two of the wharves--T Wharf and the new fishing pier--are devoted to the
fishing industry. From the banks of Newfoundland and the other splendid
fishing grounds along the coast from Cape Cod to Labrador, fishermen are
constantly bringing their catches to Boston, their chief market. In
addition, Gloucester and other fishing ports re-ship most of the fish
brought to them to the Boston market. Is it any wonder that Boston ranks
first of all the cities of the United States in the fish trade? In 1910
Boston received and marketed $10,500,000 worth of fish--more than any
other American city, and exceeded by only one other port in the world.
[Illustration: A FISHING FLEET]
In this neighborhood too is a tablet marking the site of Griffin's Wharf,
where the Boston Tea Party of the Revolution took place. We remember how
the people of Boston refused to pay the tax on tea; how the shiploads
of tea sent from England remained unloaded at the wharf; and how,
finally, after an indignation meeting had been held at the Old South
Meeting House, a band of men and boys, disguised as Indians, boarded the
vessels, ripped open the chests, and emptied all the cargo into the
harbor. It was rightly called the Boston Tea Party.
[Illustration: © Dadmun Co. Boston
BOSTON'S NEW CUSTOMHOUSE]
As we are so close to the North End, we may as well go there at once. The
North End is the oldest section of Boston. It was here that Samuel Adams,
John Hancock, Paul Revere, and other patriots had their headquarters
during the troublous times before the Revolution. Paul Revere, of whose
famous ride we have all read in Longfellow's poem, lived and carried on
his business in this very district. If we wish, we can see his home as
well as the famous Old North Church, where his friend hung the lanterns
warning him of the movements of the British.
[Illustration: OLD NORTH CHURCH]
But to-day there is little else to remind us of the past. As we cross
North Square and see the gesticulating, dark-skinned men, the stout,
gayly kerchiefed women in the doorways, and the hordes of dark-eyed
children on street and sidewalk, we wonder if by mistake we have not
entered some city in southern Europe. To-day the North End of Boston is
the great foreign section of the city. Here live the Jews, Italians, and
Russians. They tell us that more than one third of the entire population
of the city are foreigners.
[Illustration: THE NORTH END]
But when a group of boys rushes toward us, each begging to be our guide
to the Old North Church, to Paul Revere's house, or to the famous Copp's
Hill Burying Ground,--all for a nickel,--we are sure we are in America
and gladly follow our leader through the narrow, crooked streets.
From among the parents of these children come the fruit peddlers, the
clothing makers, the street musicians, and the great army of laborers
which helps to keep the city in repair.
[Illustration: PAUL REVERE'S HOUSE]
Are we tired of the noise and confusion of the crowded tenement district?
If so, let us go to the broad streets and beautiful parks of the Back
Bay, the abode of the wealthy. The Back Bay, as its name suggests, was
originally the Back Cove, and where these houses now stand, the waves
once danced in glee. But Boston filled in the marshes and coves and
laid out fine streets on the newly made land. Here is the famous
Beacon Street, and parallel to it is Boston's most beautiful
thoroughfare,--Commonwealth Avenue,--two hundred and twenty feet wide,
with a parkway running through the center. See the children with their
nurses, playing on the grass or roller skating on the broad sidewalks,
apparently no happier than the little ones of the North End.
But it is not merely its fine streets and homes that make the Back Bay
the handsomest part of the city. In this section are many of Boston's
finest public buildings. Come to Copley Square, the most beautiful in the
city. Here stands Trinity Church,--Phillips Brooks' church,--a
magnificent structure of granite with sandstone trimmings. Phillips
Brooks was for a brief year the Protestant Episcopal bishop of
Massachusetts. He was loved by those of all denominations. After his
death the citizens of Boston united in erecting a splendid memorial, in
token of their love for him and their gratitude for his services. The
statue is by Augustus Saint Gaudens and is considered one of the greatest
works of that great sculptor.
[Illustration: COMMONWEALTH AVENUE]
On Copley Square we see also the New Old South Church and the Boston
Public Library.
Boston is very proud of her public library, and rightly so, for it is not
only one of the finest buildings in Boston but also one of the finest
libraries in the country. Look at the magnificent marble staircase, the
curiously inlaid floor and ceiling of the entrance hall, the graceful
statues, the wonderful paintings, and the fine courtyard with its
sparkling fountain. On the floors above are the children's room with its
low tables and chairs and rows upon rows of interesting books; Bates
Hall, a most attractive reading room; Sargent's mystical paintings; and
Edwin A. Abbey's series of paintings, which are called "The Quest of the
Holy Grail."
[Illustration: PHILLIPS BROOKS' MEMORIAL]
Besides the main library there are branch libraries or reading rooms in
every section of the city. Altogether the Boston Public Library contains
over one million volumes, making it the largest circulating library in
the United States.
But there are other buildings in the Back Bay which rival those on Copley
Square. We should see the Christian Science church with its massive dome;
the Boston Opera House; and Symphony Hall, the home of the famous Boston
Symphony Orchestra, known the country over.
[Illustration: BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY]
The Boston Museum of Fine Arts stood originally on Copley Square, but in
1909 a new and magnificent building was opened, farther out in the Back
Bay. Not far from the new museum stands the Harvard Medical School, an
imposing group of five white-marble buildings.
But now we are tired of buildings, so come into the Public Garden--the
gateway to the Back Bay--and while you rest I will tell you about
Boston's parks. Sitting in the beautiful Public Garden, it will not be
hard for you to believe that the park system of Boston is the finest in
the country. The first park was, as we have seen, the Common. For many
years the Common was not a place of beauty. Edward Everett Hale spoke of
it as a "pasture for cows, a playground for children, a training ground
for the militia, a place for beating carpets." Many changes have taken
place on the Common since the old days, but two of the characteristics
still remain. Boston Common is still a playground for children, and
military drills are still to be seen there from time to time.
The Common is just across Charles Street from the Public Garden--the
second great park to be laid out in Boston. This Public Garden was
reclaimed from the marshes, and at present covers about twenty-four and a
half acres. It is truly a garden, and during the spring, summer, and fall
nearly every species of beautiful flower, plant, and shrub may here be
seen--a riot of color and beauty.
But the people of Boston did not stop even with the Public Garden. The
city of Boston has, besides, numerous small squares at intervals through
the city. She also has vast tracts of rural land, which, unlike the
Public Garden, are left to their own wild beauty. Owing to Boston's
expanse of water front, it is possible for her to have both inland and
ocean parks, where may be found all kinds of open-air sports and
recreations.
Some of the most important of these parks are Franklin Park, the Fens,
the Arnold Arboretum, Marine Park, and the Charles River Basin. In the
Arnold Arboretum, the property of Harvard College, are rare shrubs and
trees. Fortunate is the one who can visit it in lilac time, when scores
of varieties of lilacs, both white and many shades of violet, scent the
air with their delicate perfumes.
The best example of the ocean parkways is Marine Park. There one finds
extensive bathhouses, a good beach, lawns, and a long pier extending
several hundred feet out into the water. Connected with Marine Park by a
long bridge is Castle Island, the site of Fort Independence.
The Charles River Basin is a popular promenade. This river, until
recently, showed for many hours of the day the uncovered mud flats of low
tide. Now by means of a dam it has been turned into a great fresh-water
lake. Cambridge and Boston have laid out parkways on either side of the
river, and before long further improvements will make this basin even
more attractive.
Through the influence of Boston the surrounding cities and towns have
given certain large areas of great natural beauty to form the
Metropolitan Park System. This Metropolitan Park System consists of 3
forest reserves of 7000 acres of woodland, 30 miles of river park, 10
miles of seacoast, and 40 miles of connecting parkways.
Two great ocean parks in the system are Revere Beach and Nantasket, both
favorite summer resorts, while the most noted inland reservations are the
Blue Hills and the Middlesex Fells.
A Roman matron of long ago, when asked to show her jewels, pointed to her
sons with pride, saying, "These are my jewels." And so it is with Boston.
She is proud of her history, her fine public buildings, her busy
thoroughfares, her parks, her great centers of industry, and her
commerce; but most of all, she is proud of her more than ninety thousand
school children.
From the earliest times Boston's schools have ranked among the best in
the country. The first public school in America was established in
Dorchester, and some of the greatest educators, such as Horace Mann and
Charles W. Eliot, have been associated with Boston or its suburbs.
[Illustration: © Leon Dadmun, Boston, 1903
THE HARVARD YARD]
Boston is the home of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a famous
training college in applied sciences; Simmons College for women; the
Harvard Medical College; Boston College (Roman Catholic); Boston
University; the Normal Art School; the Conservatory of Music; the Emerson
School of Oratory; and other schools of high standing. Harvard, the
oldest and largest university in the country, has its home in Cambridge.
Radcliffe, a college for women, whose pupils receive the same courses of
instruction as the students in Harvard, is also in Cambridge. Tufts
College is in the neighboring city of Medford, while in the beautiful
hill town of Wellesley, a suburb of Boston, is Wellesley College, a
woman's college of high rank.
But now, if we hurry, we shall be just in time to see the children
flocking in crowds to one of their many playgrounds. Here they find
swings and other apparatus for sport; and here they may play tennis,
baseball, or football in the spring, summer, and fall. In the winter
months they may make use of the ice, which is kept in good condition for
the skater. In the various districts, also, are swimming pools and indoor
gymnasiums, where old and young meet for recreation as well as for
physical training.
Having seen Boston at work and at play, we now ask ourselves where the
food comes from to feed this vast multitude. Its meats, flour, and grain
of all kinds are brought into its huge freight stations from the West.
Its great ocean trade with the ports in the South as well as in Europe
and Asia supplies other food necessities and luxuries. New England is a
great dairy center, and much of the city's milk, butter, and other dairy
products comes to Boston each morning from New Hampshire, Vermont, and
western Massachusetts. The purity of the milk is carefully watched, and
it is impossible to buy even a pint of milk in anything but a sealed jar.
Boston's drinking-water is equally well guarded. The water, as well as
the sewage, is under the control of the Metropolitan Water and Sewage
Commission. There is a high-pressure distributing station at Chestnut
Hill, which gives power sufficient to force water to the highest of
Boston's buildings.
The sewage of the down-town sections of the city is collected in a main
drainage system, pumped through a tunnel under Dorchester Bay to Moon
Island, held in large reservoirs, and discharged into the water when the
tide is going out. The sewage of the outlying districts is conveyed to
various places in the harbor and discharged into the water at a depth of
thirty or forty feet, where it can be quickly carried out to sea.
Our stay in Boston is now at an end. Not only have we traveled over many
miles of her streets and visited her famous State House, her busy
wharves, and her interesting playgrounds, but we have reviewed many
events of her thrilling history. What of all we have seen or heard is it
most important for us to remember? First, that Boston is the fifth city
in size in the United States; second, that she is the capital city of
Massachusetts; third, that she is the chief trade center of New England;
and fourth, that among America's cities she ranks second only to New York
in foreign commerce. Then we must not forget the important place she
holds in the early history of our country.
As we traveled into Boston, so we will journey out again. And with the
last of the great city fading from our view, we call to mind the
large-hearted Blackstone and say to ourselves, "Quite a change from the
hermit's home on the sunny slope of Beacon Hill."
=BOSTON=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), nearly 700,000 (670,585).
Fifth in rank according to population.
Ranks first among American cities in fish and wool trades.
Chief trade center of New England.
Principal industries (as measured by value of products):
Printing and publishing; manufacture of boots and shoes, of
clothing, of foundry and machine-shop products.
Place of great historical interest.
One of the leading educational centers of the United States.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. Tell something of the settlement and the early history of Boston.
2. Tell of the Boston Tea Party.
3. Tell the story of the naming of Boston's leading business street.
4. Why is Boston's chief park called the Common?
5. Compare the North End during Revolutionary times with the same
district to-day.
6. What is there of interest in Back Bay? in Copley Square?
7. Describe some of the busy scenes which may be observed along the
wharves of the city.
8. Tell something about the street railways and other means of
transportation.
9. Give a brief description of the Boston Public Library.
10. Tell what you know of Harvard University. What other noted
schools are in or near Boston?
11. Name some of the advantages which Boston enjoys on account of her
splendid harbor.
12. Give some facts about the commercial importance of Boston.
13. In the manufacture of what three products does Boston, with her
neighboring cities, rank high?
14. Why is a codfish suspended in the hall of the House of
Representatives in the State House?
CLEVELAND
In the days that followed the Revolution, Connecticut claimed certain
lands south of Lake Erie. A large part of these she sold to the
Connecticut Land Company, who wanted to colonize the country and
establish New Connecticut.
It was in 1796 that the Connecticut Land Company sent General Moses
Cleaveland west, to survey the land and choose a site for a settlement.
After surveying about sixty miles, Cleaveland fixed on a plateau just
south of Lake Erie, where the Cuyahoga River runs into the lake. Soon the
settlement was laid out with a square and two main streets and was very
properly called Cleaveland. The name was spelled with an _a_, just as
Moses Cleaveland spelled his name. There is no _a_ in the city's name
to-day, the story being that the extra letter was dropped, and the new
spelling adopted, in 1831, through a newspaper's claiming that the _a_
would not fit conveniently into its headline.
At first the new settlement did not prosper. The soil was poor, and
commerce along the Ohio River attracted immigrants into the interior.
Those that stayed in Cleveland had a hard struggle with fever. The mouth
of the Cuyahoga River was frequently choked with sand, making the water
in the river's bed stagnant and furnishing a breeding place for
malaria-carrying mosquitoes. During the summer and autumn of 1798 affairs
were in a desperate condition. Every one in the settlement was miserable.
There was no flour, and for two months Nathaniel Doan's boy was the only
person strong enough to go to the house of one James Kingsbury, on the
highlands back of the town, for corn. This he carried to a gristmill at
Newburgh, six miles to the south, and had it ground into meal for the
sick.
Besides the suffering caused by fever, there was danger of Indian attacks
and the ever-present dread of the wolves and bears which prowled about
the settlement, so that no one dared go out at night unarmed, and no door
was left without a loaded musket to guard it.
But in spite of the dangers of these early years, the settlers for the
most part led a busy, happy life. The women especially had their hands
full--keeping their houses clean and neat; doing the cooking and baking;
spinning, weaving, cutting out, and sewing the clothes for their families
(usually large) and knitting their stockings. Then there were the sick to
be visited and nursed, and the neighbors to be helped with their
quilting.
When a new settler arrived, all the men would pitch in and help in the
"cabin raising," finishing the work in short order. They often ended up
with a jolly dance, though the music was sometimes nothing more than the
whistling of the dancers.
For the first ten years Cleveland was only a hamlet of a few dozen
people. Still it continued to exist, and in 1815 was incorporated as a
village. Another year saw the first bank started, and before long its
first newspaper was printed. This paper was supposed to be a weekly, but
often appeared only every ten, twelve, or fifteen days, at the
convenience of the editor.
Already, in supplying her own needs, Cleveland was laying the foundation
for some of her future industries. In fact, soon after the settlement was
founded, Nathaniel Doan built a blacksmith shop on what is now Superior
Avenue. Though the shop was only a rude affair built of logs, it deserves
the name of Cleveland's first manufacturing plant. Here Nathaniel Doan
not only shod the few horses which needed his services but made tools as
well. A gristmill and sawmill came next, and then began the building of
small schooners.
In the early years of the nineteenth century there was practically no way
of communicating with the settlements on the Ohio River. And except for
an occasional party of French and Indians, there was no means of hearing
from Detroit. In 1818, however, regular stage routes began to be opened.
One line went to Columbus, one to Norwalk, and one to Painesville. This
last route advertised that its stage would leave Cleveland at two on
Friday afternoon and would reach Painesville on Saturday morning at
eight--a journey which to-day can easily be made by automobile in a
little more than an hour. Turnpikes soon displaced these rough stage
routes, and over them great six-horse wagons drew freight into Cleveland.
Though all these things helped Cleveland, it was still nothing more than
a village--and so primitive a village that when two hundred dollars was
voted for improvements, one of the old citizens asked, "What on earth
can the trustees find in this village to spend two hundred dollars on?"
[Illustration: CLEVELAND AND HER NEIGHBORS]
Finally, came two events which were the making of Cleveland. In 1827 the
Ohio Canal was opened from Cleveland to Akron and later to the mouth of
the Scioto River, which flows into the Ohio at Portsmouth; and in 1828 a
channel was cut through the bar at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.
Consider what this meant to Cleveland. The Ohio Canal connected the
village with the Ohio River, thus putting Cleveland in touch with the
rich coal, iron, oil, and coke lands of western Pennsylvania. Travelers,
too, found the canal boats much better to journey on than the old
stagecoaches.
[Illustration: A RIVER SCENE]
The deepening of the mouth of the Cuyahoga River gave Cleveland a harbor
and a place to build the enormous docks which to-day line the river's
shore for the last few miles of its length. A few years earlier an effort
to protect lake vessels had been made by building a pier out into the
lake near the sand bar. The lake soon tore the pier to pieces, however,
and the vessels still had to be hauled over the bar to safety. But with
the sand bar cut, boats could sail in and out of the river at their
pleasure.
Splendid results followed. The population increased, frame houses
gradually came to take the place of log cabins, business greatly
improved, and in 1836 Cleveland became a city.
[Illustration: AN ORE STEAMER ENTERING CLEVELAND'S HARBOR]
The year 1851 saw a great celebration in Cleveland over the opening of
the first railroad. This brought added prosperity to the city. Then, too,
iron ore began to arrive by water from the Lake Superior mines. At the
same time more and more coal was being received. The manufacturers
commenced to appreciate the tremendous advantages of living at a natural
meeting place of these two great necessities. Cleveland awoke to a new
business activity.
[Illustration: COAL DOCKS]
Then came the Civil War, and the manufacturing of iron products for the
government crowded Cleveland's factories. During the years of the war
the refining of coal oil developed into one of the city's leading
industries. It was then that the great Standard Oil Company was
organized. Many came to the city, attracted by these growing industries,
so that what proved a disastrous period in many sections of our country
was really a time of growth for Cleveland.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF CLEVELAND]
Soon after the war East Cleveland was annexed to the city, and in 1873
Newburgh too became a part of Cleveland. Then, in 1893, West Cleveland
and Brooklyn were taken in, and when Cleveland celebrated the anniversary
of its founding in 1896, it had become a city of great importance in the
country.
[Illustration: HUGE VIADUCTS SPAN THE VALLEY]
At present Cleveland extends for over 14 miles along Lake Erie and covers
more than 50 square miles. The larger part of the city lies to the east
of the Cuyahoga River. The valley of this river is filled with car
tracks, lumber yards, car shops, coal sheds, ore docks, and shipyards.
Being in the valley, these are partially hidden from the city. Huge
viaducts span the valley and unite the east and west sides of Cleveland.
[Illustration: THE HEART OF THE BUSINESS QUARTER]
The heart of the business quarter and the center of the street railway
lines is Monumental Square, which lies about a mile from the lake shore.
From this square radiate the streets in a fan shape, at every angle from
northeast to west. Euclid Avenue is Cleveland's most famous street,
having for years enjoyed the reputation of being one of the country's
finest avenues. The lower end is taken up with business, but farther out
are many splendid residences surrounded by extensive and beautifully kept
lawns. Cleveland is called the Forest City, and it is to the old trees
which grace its parks and line both sides of Euclid Avenue that it owes
its name. Another important business street is Superior Avenue, which
runs through the main business portion of the city.
[Illustration: MONUMENTAL SQUARE]
[Illustration: LOOKING UP EUCLID AVENUE]
Though Cleveland is a beautiful city, its importance really lies in the
fact of its occupying just the position that it does. Being on Lake Erie
puts it in touch with the copper fields of Michigan, the iron mines of
Minnesota and Michigan, and the huge forests along the Great Lakes.
Through railroad connections it is also in touch with the coal, oil, and
iron supplies of western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Thus, lying in the center
of eastern and western commerce, Cleveland has become a great
manufacturing center, and the Cleveland district is the largest ore
market in the world. Lake vessels bring the ore to Cleveland's enormous
docks, where huge machines quickly transfer it to cars waiting to carry
it to Pittsburgh and other cities.
[Illustration: ORE DOCKS]
[Illustration: WHEELING & LAKE ERIE BRIDGE]
Cleveland, also, has several blast furnaces and immense factories of iron
and steel supplies. It holds first rank in America for the making of wire
and nails. More ships are built in the Cleveland district than anywhere
else in the world except in the shipyards on the Clyde River in Scotland.
Then, too, Cleveland makes steel bridges and buildings, automobiles,
and gas ranges. Quantities of women's clothing are made in Cleveland.
Slaughtering and the wholesale meat-packing business are other important
industries.
[Illustration: THE UNIVERSITY CIRCLE]
It is a simple matter to ship Cleveland's manufactures in every
direction. The main lines of the New York Central and the Nickel Plate
pass through Cleveland, and it is a terminal city of the Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Chicago, & St. Louis Railroad,--commonly known as the Big
Four,--the Pennsylvania, the Erie, the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Wheeling
& Lake Erie railroads. More than this, Cleveland is the center of a vast
network of interurban electric railways that carry both passengers and
freight and keep the city in hourly communication with the many smaller
cities of northern Ohio.
Cleveland gets its water supply from Lake Erie through tunnels built out
under the lake, which connect with two intake cribs, one of which is five
miles from the shore. Natural gas, pumped through large mains from the
gas fields of West Virginia, more than 200 miles away, is sold to the
people of Cleveland at 30 cents a thousand. The street railway service is
among the best in the country, and the fare is lower than in any other
large American city.
[Illustration: A DRIVE IN GORDEN PARK]
Cleveland has excellent educational advantages. Western Reserve
University, founded in 1826, is especially noted for its law and medical
schools. In Cleveland, also, are the Case School of Applied Science, the
Cleveland School of Art, St. Ignatius College, the Homeopathic Medical
College, and the University School. The public schools of the city are
among the best.
[Illustration: THE CITY HALL]
[Illustration: THE NEW COURTHOUSE]
Cleveland has a beautiful park system. The different parks are connected
by boulevards, which form a great semicircle through the residence
districts. There are also numerous small parks and playgrounds in the
more congested districts. A plan for grouping the city's public buildings
about a broad parkway is being carried out. Several of the buildings are
already completed. When finished, this will be one of the most beautiful
and most imposing spectacles in America.
All of these things, added to the great possibilities for occupation
offered by the city's many lines of work, have given Cleveland a
population of over 560,000. To-day the little settlement of Cleaveland,
made in 1796 at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, has become the second of all
lake ports and the sixth city in size in the United States.
=CLEVELAND=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), over 500,000 (560,663).
Sixth city in rank according to population.
Important manufacturing center.
Center of the largest ore market in the world.
Ranks first in America in making wire and nails.
Great shipbuilding center.
A center of trade in copper, iron, lumber, coal, and oil.
Important railroad center.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. Give the history of the name and the settlement of Cleveland.
2. Tell something of the dangers and difficulties of the first
settlers of Cleveland.
3. What was Cleveland's first manufacturing plant, and what others
did it soon have?
4. What means of communication with other cities did Cleveland have
in the early days of its history?
5. To what two events does Cleveland chiefly owe its rapid growth?
Why?
6. What two products found a meeting place at Cleveland, and with
what results?
7. How did the Civil War help the growth of the city?
8. What benefits does Cleveland derive from its location on Lake Erie?
9. What are the most important industries of the Cleveland district?
10. What railroad facilities has Cleveland to-day?
11. Mention some of the things that make Cleveland a pleasant place
in which to live and a good place for business.
BALTIMORE
Near the head of Chesapeake Bay stands Baltimore, the largest of our
Southern cities and the seventh city in size in the United States.
Because of her importance as a Southern railroad center and her excellent
harbor on the largest bay of the Atlantic coast, Baltimore is called "The
Gateway to the South." Great ships from all parts of the world unload
their cargoes at her docks and take in return products from nearly every
section of the United States.
The railroads bring to Baltimore vast quantities of iron, coal, and grain
from the West, and up from the South ships and trains come laden with raw
sugar, tobacco, fruits, and vegetables. Here the oysters, fish, and crabs
from Chesapeake Bay and the products of the rich farm lands of Maryland
and Virginia find a ready market.
Knowing these things, one can surmise what the city's leading industries
and exports must be. Baltimore is the world's greatest oyster market, she
leads the world in the canning of vegetables and fruits, she is one of
the country's largest banana markets, and more corn is exported from this
city than from anywhere else in America.
Baltimore is a great sugar-refining center, she leads the world in the
making of straw hats, and among her foremost industries are the
manufacture of clothing and the making of tobacco goods.
[Illustration: AN OYSTER BOAT]
Thanks to the coal and iron she receives, Baltimore builds cars, ships,
and almost everything made of iron and steel. Then, too, the city has the
largest copper-refining plant in America.
If this story had been written a few years ago, it would tell you that
Baltimore's streets were narrow, that miles of them were paved with
cobblestones or were not paved at all, and that the city generally was
developing very slowly. But to-day we have a quite different Baltimore.
[Illustration: THE BALTIMORE FIRE]
On February 7th and 8th, 1904, a great fire swept the business section of
the city, destroying $125,000,000 worth of property. While the ruins were
still smoldering, the courageous people, refusing all help from outside,
began to plan a bigger and better Baltimore.
The work began in the burned part of the city. The narrow down-town
streets were widened and paved, and new and better buildings took the
place of the burned ones. Most of these new buildings are three or four
stories high, though a few tall ones range from ten to sixteen stories.
Fortunately three of Baltimore's oldest and most imposing buildings
escaped the fire--the post office, the city hall, and the courthouse.
[Illustration: THE BURNED PART OF THE CITY]
Two important streets cross this newly built business section--Charles
Street, running north and south, and Baltimore Street, running east and
west. Baltimore Street is the chief business thoroughfare, and north and
south of it are the wholesale, financial, and shipping districts.
[Illustration: PIER 4]
[Illustration: ONE OF THE NEW WHARVES]
The city owned little wharf property of importance before 1904, but the
fire made it possible to buy all the burned district fronting the harbor.
This the city purchased and laid out in a wonderful system of public
wharves and docks open to the commerce of the world.
[Illustration: THE POST OFFICE]
Pier 4, at the foot of Market Place, has been set aside for the use of
market boats, and here small crafts bring much of the fruit, vegetables,
fish, crabs, and oysters which make the markets of Baltimore among the
most attractive in the United States. There are eleven of these markets,
and on market days they are a most interesting sight with their busy
jostling crowds all eagerly buying or selling.
[Illustration: THE CITY HALL]
But these great improvements in the business center and along the water
front are only part of the good results which have followed the fire. In
past years Baltimore had many miles of open sewers, an unhealthful
arrangement which caused much sickness. The very year after the fire,
work was begun to do away with this evil, and to-day the city has a
sanitary, up-to-date sewer system.
[Illustration: LEXINGTON MARKET]
[Illustration: FALLSWAY]
Another important work of the city-betterment plan has to do with a
stream called Jones Falls, which used to flow in an open channel right
through the center of the city. This stream now flows through great
concrete tubes, over which is a broad highway running diagonally across
the city, all the way from the docks to the railroad terminal. Then, too,
the city has a new water system, great enough to supply the entire city
with purified water from Gunpowder River. And besides all these a great
dam, the third longest in the world, has been built across the
Susquehanna River at McCall Ferry, furnishing electric power which lights
the streets, runs the cars, and supplies power for many of the city's
factories.
[Illustration: McCALL FERRY DAM]
From the harbor Baltimore stretches away to the north and west, covering
thirty-two square miles. Within the city are green hills and pleasant
valleys, and a chain of beautiful parks with many splendid old trees
bordering the boulevards which connect them. Two of these parks, Mount
Vernon Place and Eutaw Place, are near the center of Baltimore. The
former is cross shaped, and here stands the famous monument to George
Washington, the first statue erected to his memory in this country. Eutaw
Place is a long parkway made beautiful with statuary, flowers, fountains,
and winding walks, and on either side stand handsome residences.
Covering seven hundred acres of picturesque rolling land is Druid Hill
Park, with its miles of driveways, its ancient oak trees, its athletic
grounds, tennis courts, botanical palace, zoo, and a large reservoir
lake. The rugged scenery of Gwynn's Falls Park challenges Druid Hill's
claim to unequaled beauty. In Patterson Park there is the largest
artificial swimming pool in the United States.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF BALTIMORE]
Besides its many swimming pools and indoor baths, the city has organized
a system of portable baths--small houses which are moved from corner to
corner in the crowded sections, supplying hot- and cold-water shower baths
to many thousands each year.
[Illustration: THE FIRST WASHINGTON MONUMENT]
[Illustration: PATTERSON PARK SWIMMING POOL]
Baltimore has won a reputation as an educational center through the
splendid equipment and wonderful accomplishments of Johns Hopkins
University, which is noted throughout the world, especially for its work
along medical lines.
[Illustration: A PORTABLE BATHHOUSE]
[Illustration: A JOHNS HOPKINS BUILDING]
Goucher College, for women, ranks with the best women's colleges in the
South. The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery is the oldest college of
its kind in the world. The Walters Art Gallery, and the Peabody Institute
with its art gallery, conservatory of music, and library, afford
opportunities for the study of art, music, and literature.
With its more than 550,000 inhabitants, Baltimore, like Philadelphia, is
a city of homes and is renowned for its good old Southern hospitality.
Way back in 1634, a company of Catholic pilgrims came to America to
found a colony where their religion would not be interfered with. King
Charles I of England granted to these people a certain territory north of
the Potomac River, which he named Maryland in honor of his wife, Mary,
who was also a Catholic. The founder of the province was Lord Baltimore,
and from the very beginning, settlers of all beliefs were made heartily
welcome.
About one hundred years after the planting of this Catholic colony, sixty
acres of land on the north side of the Patapsco River was purchased and
laid out for a city. To honor the generous-hearted founder of Maryland,
the place was named Baltimore.
[Illustration: LOCATION OF BALTIMORE]
One of the most thrilling events in Baltimore's history led to the
writing of our national song--"The Star-Spangled Banner."
Francis Scott Key, of Baltimore, was a prisoner on a British man-of-war
in 1814, when the British attacked Fort McHenry. Fort McHenry guarded
Baltimore, and if the fort fell, the city too must go. All day the
English ships fired shot and shell at the fort. During all the night the
attack went on. Anxiously Key watched through the darkness. Could the
fort hold out against such a terrible bombardment? From time to time, by
flashes from bursting bombs, he could see the outlines of the fort. Then
came the dawn. In the early morning light Key saw our flag still waving,
and in his joy he wrote on the back of an old letter the words of the
song that has since become so famous.
A wide thoroughfare which follows the curve of the water front for
several miles is named in honor of Francis Scott Key. Key Highway, it is
called, and it leads to Fort McHenry, which the War Department has lately
given over to the care of the city of Baltimore.
=BALTIMORE=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), over 500,000 (558,485).
Seventh city in rank, according to population, in the United
States.
Located near the head of Chesapeake Bay.
Has a fine harbor and a splendid dock system.
An important railroad center.
Has a large and growing foreign commerce.
An important manufacturing center.
Ranks first among the cities of the United States as a canning and
preserving center.
The world's chief center for the manufacture of straw hats.
An important center for shipping oysters and crabs.
Associated with the writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. What advantages of location does Baltimore possess?
2. Why is Baltimore called the gateway to the South?
3. What are the leading exports of this city?
4. In what industries does Baltimore rank first in the United States?
5. What great disaster visited Baltimore in 1904, and how did the
people of the city make this great trouble result in a better city?
6. What educational institution has won a splendid reputation for
Baltimore?
7. Tell something of the settlement of Maryland and the city of
Baltimore.
8. Tell the story of the writing of a famous song of which Baltimore
is justly proud.
9. Find by inquiry or by consulting time tables the time required to
reach Baltimore from the following places:
New York City Atlanta
Philadelphia Norfolk
Washington, D.C. Richmond
Pittsburgh New Orleans
PITTSBURGH
Pittsburgh and New Orleans--both of vast commercial importance--are
connected by one of the greatest water highways in the world. Never were
two cities more unlike. New Orleans, near the mouth of the Mississippi,
with its French and its Southern population, might be termed the Paris of
our country--this gay, fashionable town, with its fine opera houses, its
noted restaurants, and its brilliant Mardi Gras pageants. Pittsburgh, on
the other hand, at the head of the Ohio River, in the heart of a famous
coal-and-iron region, is well named the "workshop of the world."
Many years ago, when the governor of Virginia sent George Washington to
drive the French from the Ohio valley, there stood, where the Allegheny
and Monongahela rivers unite to form the Ohio River, a small fort which
the French called Fort Duquesne. This fort was captured in 1758 by the
British and renamed Fort Pitt, in honor of England's great statesman,
William Pitt. To-day the place is known as Pittsburgh, and is the center
of the most extensive iron works in the United States.
At first the little settlement was important as a break in
transportation, for here cargoes were changed from the lighter boats
used on the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers to the heavier barges on the
broad Ohio. Even then Pittsburgh was recognized as a gateway of the West.
Gradually the settlement became a trading center, which soon developed
into a big, busy, manufacturing city. Now Pittsburgh has a population of
over half a million and is the eighth city in size in the Union.
[Illustration: FORT DUQUESNE]
In her countless factories, her mammoth steel mills, and her huge
foundries, she uses the products of the rich surrounding country as well
as an enormous amount of iron ore from the Lake Superior mines.
Although western Pennsylvania too furnishes iron ore, its chief
contribution to Pittsburgh is a vast amount of coal, which the city in
turn supplies to the world.
Pittsburgh leads the world in the manufacture of steel and iron,
glassware (including plate and window glass), armor plate, steel cars,
air brakes, iron and steel pipe, tin plate, fire brick, coke, sheet
steel, white lead, cork wares, electrical machinery, and pickles.
[Illustration: BLOCKHOUSE IN FORT DUQUESNE]
To carry on these important industries, Pittsburgh, the city of
McKeesport, the boroughs of Homestead and Braddock, and many other
places,--all together known as the Pittsburgh district,--have more than
5000 manufacturing plants and employ over 350,000 people. The amount paid
the laborers in these factories in prosperous times is over $1,000,000 a
day.
[Illustration: THE PITTSBURGH DISTRICT]
[Illustration: FILLING MOLDS WITH MOLTEN METAL]
The famous Homestead mills make armor plate for battleships. At Braddock
are steel works, where great furnaces turn out enough rails in a year
to span the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The great
Carnegie Steel Company has its headquarters in the city of Pittsburgh and
leads the world in the production of structural steel, steel rails, and
armor plate.
[Illustration: BLAST FURNACES OF THE CARNEGIE STEEL COMPANY]
[Illustration: MINERS AT WORK]
Perhaps your knife blade is made of steel manufactured in one of the huge
factories in this busy district. The car tracks of your town, the
street-car wheels, and the great locomotives, to say nothing of the heavy
steel beams and girders of your fireproof buildings, may all be products
of this mighty workshop.
[Illustration: IN A MODERN COAL MINE]
[Illustration: THE ENTRANCE TO A COAL MINE]
Pittsburgh coal is used all over the country. The near-by mines form a
great underground city, whose dark passageways, far below the surface of
the earth, are lighted by tiny electric lights. More than fifteen
thousand men find employment in this weird city. Day after day the brave
miners go down into the mines, never sure that they will see the sunlight
again, for many are the perils of mining. Who has not read of the
terrible disasters caused by suffocation from fire damp, by flood, the
falling of walls, or the explosion of coal dust? Small particles of coal
dust are constantly floating in the mines, and much is stirred up by the
cars used to carry the coal to the outside world. A tiny spark may ignite
this dust and cause it to explode with terrific force. Sometimes even the
presence of much oxygen in the air will make the dust explode, tearing
down great blocks of coal which bury the poor miners or stop up the
passageways so that there is no escape unless the victims are dug out
before they die.
[Illustration: SCENE IN A COAL MINE]
[Illustration: PITTSBURGH COAL IS SENT ALL OVER THE WORLD]
But the world must have coal, for, used for our great boilers, it drives
our powerful locomotives, sends mighty vessels plowing across the ocean,
and supplies the power which turns the wheels of industry, both great and
small. Yes, the world must have coal. So Uncle Sam, in pity for the
miners who brave these awful dangers, has bought a mine at Bruceton, a
short distance from Pittsburgh. There the government is making
experiments to find out the causes of explosion, aiming in this way to
protect the miners by lessening their dangers.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH]
Much of the coal is made into coke by burning out certain gases in
open-air ovens. Thousands of these ovens are located in the Pittsburgh
district, and their fires at night illuminate the country for miles. The
coke is used as fuel in the steel furnaces of Pittsburgh, Cleveland,
Chicago, and other cities.
[Illustration: THE BUSINESS DISTRICT]
A little more than fifty years ago petroleum, or rock oil, was discovered
near Pittsburgh, and although oil has since been found in many other
places, Pittsburgh is still one of the great centers for this product.
Crude petroleum as it comes from the earth is a liquid, formed from the
decay of plants and animals long ago buried underground. It is obtained
by sinking wells, or pipes, into oil-bearing rock, which is very porous.
Sometimes the pipes are sunk a quarter of a mile deep. The average yield
is from 50 to 75 barrels a day, and occasionally a pipe well is found
which yields as high as 1000 barrels.
Sometimes a well stops flowing. Then the oil must be pumped from the
earth or else forced out by the explosion of dynamite. Such a well is
spoken of as a "shot well." When a well is shot, a vast column of oil is
thrown into the air, just as water is thrown up in a geyser or hot
spring, by the action of gases under ground.
Pittsburgh makes great storage tanks for the oil, as well as apparatus
for drilling wells, and supplies these not only to our own country but to
every foreign land in which oil is found.
When petroleum is heated it gives off vapors, varying according to the
heat. These vapors are then condensed and form many products which are
now in every-day use, such as kerosene, gasoline, naphtha, and benzine.
Vaseline is what remains in the vats after heating the petroleum.
Paraffin is another product. Pittsburgh manufactures all these and
supplies them to the world.
The discovery of natural gas about twenty-five years ago, and its use as
a fuel, attracted the attention of the world to Pittsburgh as a center of
cheap fuel. Natural gas is found in and around oil fields, so it is
supposed that the gas and the oil have the same origin. The porous rock
in which the gas is found is usually covered with clay rock, or shale,
which prevents the gas from escaping. Natural gas, like petroleum, is
obtained by sinking pipes. When the gas is reached, it rushes out with
great force. Large quantities of it were formerly used in Pittsburgh's
glass factories and iron works, but its greatest use to-day is for
lighting and heating.
The city of Pittsburgh stretches for 7 miles along the Allegheny, about
the same distance on the Monongahela, and entirely covers the space
between. The city of Allegheny, across the Allegheny River, has recently
been annexed, thus giving Pittsburgh an area of 38 square miles. The two
cities, with the river between, remind us of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
[Illustration: WOOD STREET AT SIXTH AVENUE IN 1902]
The city's water supply is taken from the Allegheny River and is purified
in the largest single filtration plant in the world.
The main business section covers the V-shaped space between the two
rivers--known as the Point--and extends into the streets further back.
Still beyond are heights upon which are many beautiful parks, fine
residences, and splendid public buildings, including the Carnegie Museum,
Library, and Technical Schools, and the buildings of Pittsburgh
University.
Though the population of the "Steel City" was at first mainly
Scotch-Irish, it now includes citizens from almost every nation in
Europe. The workmen in its factories are of at least thirty
nationalities. Side by side stand English, Germans, Welsh, Irish, Scotch,
Negroes, Jews, Italians, Syrians, Swedes, Greeks, Slavs, Poles, and
Hungarians.
[Illustration: WOOD STREET AT SIXTH AVENUE IN 1915]
In one section of the city there is a distinct German center, whose
inhabitants speak German and have German newspapers. Another section has
received the name of Little Italy because of the number of Italians who
have come there to live. Six papers are published for these people in
their own tongue. In Little Italy are many of the fruit stands and market
places which in this country seem to furnish a favorite employment for
the sons of Italy.
In still another section, which is called the Ghetto, live the Jews,
whose conversation is largely carried on in Yiddish, and whose newspapers
are printed in that language. All of these foreign-born people have
adopted the dress of American citizens, and their descendants will soon
become Americanized in manners and language. To-day their foreign ways
make them the more interesting.
But the laborers are by no means the only inhabitants of Pittsburgh.
There are many wealthy residents, whose palatial homes, built beyond the
reach of the soot and smoke, far away from the noises of the great
business thoroughfares, are in great contrast to the workmen's simple
homes near the furnaces.
[Illustration: A FOREIGN QUARTER]
Pittsburgh can boast of many great men. It is the home of Andrew
Carnegie, whose reputation for wealth and benevolence is world wide. He
it was who conceived the idea of founding free libraries in different
cities, they in turn to support these libraries by giving an annual sum
for that purpose. His first offer was to his own city. In 1881 he
proposed to give Pittsburgh $250,000 for a free public library if the
city would set apart $15,000 each year for its care. The offer was
refused, and the library was given to Allegheny instead. Later
Mr. Carnegie gave Pittsburgh an Institute and Library combined, for the
support of which the city gives $200,000 each year. The Carnegie Institute
is a massive and beautiful building in Schenley Park. It covers 5 acres
of land and is filled with treasures of art and literature. To-day there
are nine Carnegie libraries in Pittsburgh, containing over 360,000
volumes.
[Illustration: AN INCLINED PLANE]
George Westinghouse was another Pittsburgh capitalist. His early days
were spent in making agricultural implements in Schenectady. He was
called Lazy George because he was always making pieces of machinery to
save doing work with his hands. Later, by his invention of air brakes for
trains, he became rich. Choosing Pittsburgh as his home, he established
in and near the city the great Westinghouse Electric Company. It was Mr.
Westinghouse who gave to Pittsburgh natural gas, conveying it through
forty miles of pipe from Murrysville.
Towering above Pittsburgh are high hills, which are reached from the
business districts by inclined planes. Passengers and freight are carried
up the inclines in cable cars. Up the steepest of these planes, the
Monongahela, whose summit is four hundred feet above the river, the
railroad runs through a tunnel and brings the passengers out upon a high
bluff.
[Illustration: FROM THE HEIGHTS ABOVE THE CITY]
From the heights above the city one views the surrounding country--a
wonderful panorama of hills and valleys, with the three great rivers,
spanned by seventeen splendid bridges, stretching away in the distance.
In every direction are towns called "little Pittsburghs," where live the
workers engaged in the gigantic industries of the Pittsburgh district.
And looking down, one sees the Point--the center of this great city, the
heart of the "workshop of the world."
=PITTSBURGH=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), over half a million (533,905).
Eighth city in rank, according to population.
Has the largest structural-steel plant in the world.
Has the largest glass-manufacturing plant in the United States.
Has the largest commercial coal plant in the United States.
Has the largest pickling plant in the world.
Has the largest electrical manufacturing plant in the world.
Leads the world in the manufacture of iron, steel, glass, electrical
machinery, steel cars, tin plate, air brakes, fire brick, white lead,
pickles, and cork wares.
Place of great historical interest in connection with the development
of the West.
One of the foremost commercial distributing centers.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. Compare Pittsburgh with New Orleans in location and in interests.
2. Tell how Fort Pitt grew into the great city of Pittsburgh and give
two causes for its growth.
3. Where does Pittsburgh get her iron ore, coal, and petroleum?
4. In what manufactures does the city lead the world?
5. What great advantages does its location on the Ohio River give
Pittsburgh?
6. Where are her great steel works, and what do they manufacture?
7. Describe the mine cities and the miners. Tell of their dangers and
how these are to be lessened.
8. How is petroleum obtained? What products in daily use are made from
it?
9. Give some facts about natural gas and its use in Pittsburgh.
10. Why is Pittsburgh called the "workshop of the world"?
11. Name two famous men of Pittsburgh and tell what they have done for
the city and for the world.
12. Examine a map and find what shipping ports are within easy access of
Pittsburgh.
13. Find by what route ore and other material shipped by way of the Great
Lakes reach Pittsburgh.
DETROIT
In population, Detroit is the ninth city of the United States.
In the value of its manufactured products, it is fifth.
In the value of its exports, it is the leading port on the Canadian
border.
With these facts in mind it will be interesting to learn something of the
history of Detroit; something of the goods it manufactures and the
reasons for its growth and prosperity.
During the years when the French governed Canada, manufacturing and
agriculture played a very small part in their affairs. Their business men
were chiefly interested in the fur trade; their governors were interested
mainly in extending the territory over which floated the banner of their
king; and the teaching of Christianity to the hordes of Indians who
inhabited the country seemed of the greatest importance to their priests
and missionaries.
So, because it served the purpose of each, all three classes--the fur
traders, the crown officers, and the missionaries--worked hand in hand in
exploring and in penetrating the wilderness in every direction. They
suffered every hardship, endured every privation, and very often fell
victims to the cruelty of the savages.
[Illustration: THE GREAT LAKES]
In those days of French rule, railroads were unheard of, and wagon roads
were almost as scarce. Travel was sometimes through the woods, along the
trails made by the Indians; but usually it was by the water courses, over
which the Indian canoes carried furs to be traded for the goods of the
French.
Now if you will look at a map which shows the Canadian border of the
United States and follow the course of the Great Lakes, you will see that
at four places their broad waters narrow into rivers or straits. These
places are first, the Niagara River; second, where the waters of Lake
Huron pass into Lake Erie; third, at the Sault Ste. Marie; and fourth, at
the Straits of Mackinac.
Between the East and the West, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River
formed the main artery of travel. To control the narrow rivers and
straits that connect the Great Lakes was to control the travel over
them, and as the French extended their rule from Quebec to the West, they
fortified these narrow places one by one.
Fort Niagara was built at the mouth of the Niagara River. Then on July
24, 1701, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac landed on the banks of the Detroit
River and began the work of building a palisade fort, almost where the
river widens into Lake Saint Clair.
Cadillac thought that at Fort Detroit he had found one of the garden
spots of the country. In the pine forests of the Michigan peninsula game
of every sort abounded, and their skins enriched alike the Indians and
the French. The waters of Lake Saint Clair swarmed with wild fowl. In the
woods wild grapes grew in profusion, and the rich lands bordering both
sides of the river assured plentiful crops, depending only upon the
industry of those who tilled the soil. However, in spite of his
enthusiasm over the beauty of the site, Cadillac proceeded to lay out a
very ugly little town with rude dwellings huddled along narrow muddy
streets.
Such as it was, Detroit remained under French rule for fifty-nine years,
becoming one of the most prosperous of the French outposts. The Indians
were, for the most part, friendly with the French, and in 1760 the place
had a population of 2500, which made it of great importance in the
sparsely settled West.
Then came the years of the French and Indian wars, and finally the
French, having lost Quebec, were obliged to surrender to the English. So
in November, 1760, Detroit was given up to Major Robert Rogers in command
of a detachment of British regulars and American militia.
The English were not allowed to remain long in undisturbed possession of
their new outpost. Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas and one of the craftiest
of all Indian warriors, was friendly to the French. In 1763, through his
immense influence with all the Western tribes, he organized a conspiracy
to drive the English from the territory which they had won with such
difficulty. Detroit was one of the first places to be attacked. The siege
lasted several months, but in spite of the cruelty and cunning of the
attack, the garrison held out until at last relief came. Thus by their
bravery they did much to prevent the success of Pontiac's Conspiracy, as
the uprising is called.
Then came the Revolution. At its close, the Treaty of Paris was signed in
1783. By the terms of this treaty, Detroit, together with the other
British outposts in the West, became the property of the United States.
However, it was not until 1796 that the place was actually occupied by
American troops.
Sixteen years later Detroit again passed into the possession of the
British. This was during the war of 1812 and followed the defeat of
General William Hull's ill-fated expedition into Canada. Falling back to
Detroit, Hull was attacked, and surrendered to the British after a
half-hearted resistance.
A little more than a year later, however, in October, 1813, Oliver Hazard
Perry won the famous battle of Lake Erie. This gave the Americans control
of the lake, and the British soon abandoned Detroit, which has since
remained in the possession of the United States.
Detroit had prospered but little since 1760. Its inhabitants were for the
most part easy-going Frenchmen. They were not suited to the strenuous
work of city building. Detroit, instead of growing larger, was becoming
smaller; and when, in 1820, the United States took a census of the place,
it had but 1442 inhabitants as against the 2500 that Major Rogers found
in 1760.
[Illustration: DETROIT IN 1820, AND STEAMER _WALK-IN-THE-WATER_ (From an
old print)]
But from 1820 the growth of Detroit has been continuous. In 1825 the Erie
Canal was opened, furnishing an easy means of communication from the East
to the West. Then came a great tide of immigration to all the states
bordering on the Great Lakes. Michigan was one of the first to profit,
and Detroit was the gateway to Michigan.
Most of the pioneers who sought homes in the West were farmers. The life
of cities and villages offered few attractions to them. The number that
stayed in Detroit was small as compared to the number that passed
through into the back country to clear the woodlands and take up the work
of agriculture.
But as the back country filled up, there came a demand for the things in
which cities deal, while at the same time there came the need of places
where the products of the farm could be gathered together ready for
transportation to the Eastern market.
[Illustration: A DRY DOCK]
In this way Detroit began its great growth. It bought the wool and wheat
which the Michigan farmers raised, and shipped them East. It bought from
the East the dry goods, hardware, and various other things which the
Michigan farmers needed, and distributed them. It grew prosperous as the
country back of it became more populated, and as this population became
richer and able to buy larger amounts and more expensive goods, Detroit
reaped the advantage.
[Illustration: A PASSENGER STEAMER]
Then too the traffic on the lakes became more important, requiring larger
and better vessels. Detroit has one of the best harbors on all the Great
Lakes, making it splendidly suited for the building and launching of
vessels. Always engaged more or less in shipbuilding, Detroit improved
its shipyards and kept pace with the demand. To-day it builds all types
of vessels, from magnificent passenger steamers to the great steel ore
ships which carry the iron ore of the Lake Superior districts.
It was in 1860 that Detroit began to take its place among the industrial
cities of the country. Now it is fifth among the cities of the United
States in the value of its manufactured products. Let us see what its
chief industries are.
[Illustration: A LAKE VESSEL BUILT IN DETROIT]
First of all comes the manufacture of automobiles and the parts of which
they are made. It is estimated that more than half of all the automobiles
made in the United States are built in Detroit factories. Until 1899
there was not a single automobile factory in the city. To-day there are
over thirty, many of them covering acres of ground.
As few of the automobile factories make all the parts of their machines,
there are in Detroit many shops for the manufacture of steel, aluminium,
and brass castings, and of gears, wheels, and various other automobile
parts.
Another of Detroit's important industries is the manufacture and repair
of steam- and electric-railroad cars. These are largely freight cars,
although many passenger cars are also made.
Other lines of business include foundry and machine-shop products, the
making of druggists' preparations, the manufacture of flour, the packing
of beef and pork, and the preparation of other food stuffs.
[Illustration: WHERE AUTOMOBILES ARE MADE]
Then Detroit makes great quantities of soda ash and alkalies. This
industry Detroit owes to the fact that here are found both limestone and
salt, which is obtained from wells driven along the river bank. Both of
these materials are required in the manufacture of soda ash.
The printing-and-publishing business gives employment to thousands; so
does the manufacture of paints and varnishes. In stoves, ranges, and
furnaces, Detroit leads every other city in the country. It is
interesting to know that Detroit makes great numbers of adding machines,
that it is the largest producer of overalls in the country, that it is a
center of the brass industry, that it turns out more than 300,000,000
cigars each year, and that it is one of the largest producers of
wrought- and malleable-iron castings.
The entire business of a city is, of course, never wholly manufacturing.
Part of its business is always the distribution of things to supply the
needs of its inhabitants and of the people who live in the surrounding
country.
When these goods are sold in large quantities to merchants who in turn
sell them to the person using them, the business is known as a wholesale
business. When they are sold by the merchant directly to the user, he
does what is called a retail business.
The wholesale business of Detroit is very large. Its merchants do the
larger part of the wholesale business through the entire state of
Michigan and in parts of northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and
Minnesota. They even furnish certain supplies to some parts of Canada.
Dry goods, drugs, hardware, and groceries are the principal things in
which Detroit wholesalers deal.
Detroit has also many large retail stores, which supply not only the
people who live in the city of Detroit but those in the surrounding
country as well. Thanks to the many suburban electric railroads and the
many steam roads, the people who live in the smaller places are able to
come to Detroit to purchase things they want.
Now let us take our map again and notice the location of Detroit in
relation to the rest of the country, for location, as you know, has very
much to do with the growth of cities.
[Illustration: THE DETROIT RIVER TUNNEL]
We find in the first place that it is separated from Canada by only the
width of a river. So we are not surprised to hear that Detroit is one of
the principal points for the exchange of goods between the two countries.
The two most important Canadian railroads have terminals at Windsor, on
the Canadian side of the water, and also at Detroit. A very large part of
the United States finds Detroit the most convenient point from which to
send its products into Canada, since goods can so easily be brought to
Detroit by water or rail.
Statistics issued by the United States government show that of the
eighteen customhouses on the Canadian border the one at Detroit does the
largest volume of business.
Then too, by the lakes, Detroit can reach all of the American lake ports,
and from Buffalo, through the Erie Canal, it can even reach New York.
The many railroads which serve Detroit give it excellent communication
with all parts of the United States. The Michigan Central Railroad dives
under the river, from Detroit to Windsor, through one of the most
remarkable tunnels in the world. For years the cars of the Michigan
Central Railroad, both passenger and freight, were carried across the
river on ferryboats. This, of course, was a very slow way of crossing,
but a bridge was impractical for various reasons, so at last it was
decided to build a tunnel.
When the engineers studied the river bottom, they found that it was
covered with mud so deep that it was impossible to build a tunnel under
it. Instead they built the tunnel of steel on the river bank, and when it
was completed they sank it in sections and then fastened it together.
Two belt-line railroads, extending from the river bank, circle through
Detroit. One is some two miles from the center, the other, six. Along
these railroads are many factories which have switches directly into
their plants. This makes shipping a simple matter for the Detroit
manufacturers.
Now, having learned something of the history of Detroit, something of the
manufacturing which it does and the commerce it carries on, let us take a
look at the city itself.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF DETROIT]
The older parts of most great cities are badly laid out. In very few
cases do men realize that their little settlements are to grow into large
cities. And so they pay little attention to laying out streets, but in
building their houses follow the farm lanes and often the paths made by
the cows as they are driven to and from the pastures.
This is not always the case however. Washington was laid out long before
it ever became a city, and, in consequence, it has magnificent broad
streets and many parks.
[Illustration: NORTH WOODWARD AVENUE]
Detroit was one of the badly laid-out settlements, but in 1805 a fire
burned every house in Detroit with one exception. Now at that time Judge
Augustus B. Woodward was a prominent figure in the city government. When
the fire wiped out the old town, the judge thought that a plan should be
made for Detroit just as had been done for Washington. His idea was to
have a great circle, called the Grand Circus, in the center of the town.
Two streets, 120 feet wide, were to cross this circle, dividing it into
quarters, and from the circle other broad avenues were to radiate in all
directions. As the city grew, other circles were to be built with streets
radiating from them.
Unfortunately the citizens of Detroit did not have the belief in the
growth of their city that Judge Woodward had, and so his scheme was only
carried out in part. That part, however, gave to Detroit its Grand
Circus, its broad avenues, and its down-town parks, and did much to earn
for it the title of the City Beautiful.
Detroit to-day has many splendid and costly residences. It has also
street after street filled with comfortable medium-priced houses where
the workmen live, and its people are fond of boasting that it is a city
of homes.
Woodward Avenue, which is 120 feet wide, is named after Judge Woodward.
This avenue runs from the river bank right through the entire city. At
its lower end it is the principal retail street of the city, while
further out are many fine residences.
As the town grew, a boulevard was built, which, starting at the river,
runs completely around the city at a distance of some two and a half
miles from the center. This boulevard is known as the Grand Boulevard and
is more than 12 miles long and from 150 to 200 feet in width. In the
center is a narrow strip upon which are grown flowers, trees, and grass,
while upon either side run macadam roads.
[Illustration: AT BELLE ISLE]
The most popular of Detroit's parks is Belle Isle. This is on an island
of about 700 acres, directly opposite the city. Originally the island was
for the most part a swamp infested with snakes. In order to get rid of
the snakes a drove of hogs was turned loose on the island, and for a
long time it was known as Hog Island. Then the city bought it and turned
it into a park. The swamps were drained, and lakes and canals were built,
which in the summer time are covered with canoes and boats. In the winter
they make excellent places for skating. Playgrounds, baseball fields, and
picnic grounds were laid out and a zoo was built, as well as one of the
best aquariums in the country. And here, too, is a horticultural
building, where many rare plants and flowers are grown. A large part of
the island was covered with woods, and this was left in its native state,
with winding roads built through it. The island is connected with the
mainland by a broad bridge.
The health conditions of Detroit are excellent. Its water supply is taken
at a depth of 40 feet from the Detroit River, just where it leaves Lake
Saint Clair. The city has an ample sewerage system. It has many fine
public schools, and here also are the University of Detroit and the
Detroit colleges of law and medicine. In short, from every point of view
Detroit is a good place in which to live.
A short time ago prizes were offered to the public-school pupils in the
fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades for the five best essays on "Why
I am Glad I live in Detroit." Here is what one sixth-grade boy wrote
about his home city:
"What a beautiful city is Detroit," says the world-wide traveler, as
he passes along its broad avenues, in the shade of its magnificent
trees. "Detroit has a fine commercial center," says the enterprising
manufacturer as he surveys its busy wharves. "What an excellent
situation this city has," says the farmer, as he comes trudging to town
with his load of produce. "In Detroit life is worth living," says the
happy pleasure seeker, as he whiles away his time, either on the lake
or in its many parks and boulevards. "You can have loads of fun at
Belle Isle," whispers the small boy, as he thinks of the many pastimes
which so appeal to every child. "What an interesting history has
Detroit," says the historian, as he recalls its many struggles, first
with the Indians, then with the French, and last of all the English.
Many strangers will come to our city during the next few months, and
I know that after they have seen it and go to their homes again, they
will tell their neighbors and friends of our beautiful city, and I, who
live here, will be very proud of it.
=DETROIT=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), more than 450,000 (465,766).
Ninth city in rank, according to population.
Important shipping and manufacturing center.
Important center for trade with Canada.
Most important center in United States for the automobile industry.
Place of great historical interest.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. How does Detroit rank among our great cities in population,
manufactured products, and exports?
2. What were the ambitions of the French governors, traders, and
missionaries of Canada in the early days?
3. Why did the French build forts on the narrow rivers and straits
that connect the Great Lakes?
4. Describe Detroit and its surroundings in 1701.
5. How and when did the English first acquire Detroit?
6. How did the development of the farm lands about the city help the
growth of Detroit?
7. Tell about its growth since 1760, and give three causes.
8. Name and describe some of the industries of the city.
9. Tell something of its vast wholesale and retail trade.
10. Show how the location of Detroit influences its commerce and
contributes to its growth.
11. Name three products in the manufacture of which Detroit leads all
other cities in the country.
12. What conditions have made Detroit a great center for commercial
relations with Canada?
BUFFALO
About 1783 Cornelius Winne, a trader, built a little log store at the
mouth of Buffalo River, which empties into Lake Erie. That was the
beginning of Buffalo, the queen city of the lakes, the home to-day of
more than four hundred thousand people.
To understand the wonderful growth of this city we must go back to the
days of the Revolution and see New York in those early times. Almost all
the people of the United States then lived on the narrow strip of land
lying between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Highlands. The high
forest-covered mountains made a barrier that kept the colonial settlers
from attempting to push out toward the west.
But in New York State nature had left an opening between the mountain
ranges, along the courses of the Hudson and the Mohawk rivers. Settlers
had early followed these streams and built homes in their valleys. Beyond
lay the trackless hunting grounds of the Indians--the great West.
With the close of the Revolution things began to change. New York made a
treaty with the Indians, whereby they agreed to sell large tracts of
their lands. Pioneers pushed their way into the unknown wilderness of the
western part of the state and found a beautiful fertile country. Their
reports led hundreds to follow them. Soon central and northern New York
were dotted with settlements. More and more immigrants kept coming, all
seeking the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The great western
movement of the nineteenth century had begun.
[Illustration: A LOCKPORT LOCK]
Winne had built his trading post before this westward movement reached
Lake Erie. For some time he lived in his log cabin in the midst of the
forest, with no neighbors except the Indians with whom he traded. But
gradually other settlers came and built homes near him. By 1804 there
were about twenty houses in the little settlement, which, for a short
time, was called New Amsterdam.
[Illustration: Barge canals shown by solid lines; Erie and other canals
by dotted lines.
NEW YORK'S CANALS]
By 1812 the name had been changed to Buffalo, and the town had a
population of 1500. That year war with England broke out, and in 1813 a
body of British soldiers with their Indian allies crossed the Niagara
River during the night, took the Americans by surprise, and burned
Buffalo. Of its three hundred houses, just one escaped the flames. But
nothing daunted, the men began to rebuild their homes, and in a few years
no traces of the fire were to be seen.
In early times the Indians going from the seacoast to the Great Lakes had
followed the Hudson and Mohawk rivers and then gone on directly west to
Lake Erie. With the coming of the white man the Indian pathway grew into
a road, and in 1811 stagecoaches began to run over this road between
Buffalo and Albany.
But carrying passengers and freight by stagecoach was very expensive, and
a few men, headed by Governor De Witt Clinton, began to say that the
state ought to build a canal connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River.
Many laughed at this idea. They knew very little about canals and thought
it foolish to waste millions of dollars on a useless "big ditch," as they
called it.
[Illustration: TRAVELING BY CANAL]
However, those in favor of the scheme finally won, and the work of
building the Erie Canal was begun in 1817. It very nearly followed the
old trail between Albany and Buffalo and was 363 miles long. Eighty-three
locks raised and lowered the boats where there was a difference of level
in the canal. Lockport, a city 25 miles northeast of Buffalo, was named
after these locks, there being 10 of them there.
In 1825 the work was completed; the Erie Canal was opened, and at last
there was a waterway between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic. All the
towns along the canal held a great celebration. None had better reason
for rejoicing than Buffalo. In 1825 Buffalo was a little hamlet on the
frontier. Thanks to the Erie Canal, it was soon to become one of the
leading cities of the country.
It was not long before the "big ditch" was known as the "path to the
great West." A rush of emigration further west followed, and all these
travelers stopped at Buffalo, for here they had to change from the
flat-bottomed canal boats to the lake vessels. Hotels were crowded,
business flourished, and Buffalo became "a great doorway of the inland
sea."
[Illustration: THE BARGE CANAL NEAR BUFFALO]
During the first years after its completion little freight was carried
over the Erie Canal, but settlers kept flocking into the West, and before
many years these Western pioneers were raising far more grain than they
could use. Lake commerce began. Hundreds of ships brought wheat, lumber,
and furs to Buffalo from the West and returned laden with manufactured
goods. Buffalo was the chief lake port, and for many years shipping was
its leading industry.
Then came the railroads. The first railroad to Buffalo was completed in
1836. A few years later, trains ran between Albany and Buffalo, and in
time carloads of grain were shipped by rail. Though shipments by canal
continued and even increased for a time, the railroads gradually did more
and more of the carrying, and finally robbed the canal of much of its
former importance.
[Illustration: THE SITE OF BUFFALO]
Still, shipping by canal was cheaper. Improvements have been made in the
Erie Canal from time to time, and in 1903 the state voted $101,000,000
for the enlargement of the Erie, Oswego, and Champlain canals into the
1000-ton-barge canal. When this is completed it will be 12 feet deep and
will float much larger barges than did the Erie Canal.
But to return to Buffalo. The city's location naturally made it one of
the great centers of the country. Only the Niagara River separates the
city from the most thickly settled part of Canada, and it is therefore a
most convenient meeting place of the two countries. Already Buffalo's
trade with Canada amounts to over $50,000,000 a year.
Besides being one of the chief commercial centers of the country, Buffalo
is an important manufacturing town. Three things are necessary to success
in manufacturing--raw materials, power, and a market where the finished
goods can be sold. Buffalo has all of these near at hand. The country
round about is singularly rich in natural resources. Forests, fertile
farm lands, and rich iron and coal deposits are all within easy reach of
the city and supply it with raw material at small cost for
transportation.
No city in the world has greater advantages than Buffalo in the matter of
power. The Niagara Falls furnish an unlimited supply of electric power,
which is a substitute for coal and, for many purposes, more convenient.
Buffalo's nearness to the coal fields of Pennsylvania makes the cost of
both hard and soft coal low. Natural gas and oil furnish about one fifth
of the power now used in the city. Both are found near Buffalo, stored in
the pores and cavities of rocks. Holes are bored into the rocks, and the
petroleum or rock oil is pumped into huge tanks. The gas is carried by
underground pipes to the city, where it is used in heating and lighting
thousands of homes and factories.
Lastly, Buffalo does not have to ship its products far to find a market.
Within 450 miles of the city live almost 50,000,000 people, and lakes,
canals, and railroads offer cheap and rapid transportation to all parts
of the country. Thirteen steamship lines and 18 railroads enter the city.
There are 2 trunk lines from New England; 5 from New York; 1 from
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington; 1 from St. Louis; and 4 from
Chicago.
[Illustration: LACKAWANNA IRON AND STEEL COMPANY]
The richest iron mines in the world are located south of Lake Superior,
but there are no coal deposits in this region, and coal is necessary for
the manufacturing of iron and steel. As it was cheaper to ship the ore to
the coal than to carry the coal to the ore, there were men who, as early
as 1860, saw that iron and steel could be manufactured with profit in
Buffalo. Though blast furnaces were built from time to time, the industry
did not attract great attention until 1899. In that year the Lackawanna
Iron and Steel Company, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, moved to Buffalo and
built an immense metal-working plant. This plant is south of the city and
extends several miles along the shore of Lake Erie. The company has built
a ship canal over half a mile long, which the largest lake vessels can
enter. On one side of this canal are hundreds of coke ovens and the
storage grounds for coal; on the other side are the ore docks, a row of
huge blast furnaces, and the steel works with their numerous mills,
foundries, and workshops.
In the coke ovens millions of tons of soft coal are every year turned
into coke, which is really coal with certain things removed by heating.
This coke is used in melting the iron in the blast furnaces--so called
because during the melting strong blasts of air are forced into the
furnaces. These furnaces are almost a hundred feet high, are made of
iron, and lined with fire brick. Tons of coke, limestone, and iron ore
are dropped in from above by machinery, and the intense heat of the
burning coke melts the iron, which sinks to the bottom of the furnace
while the limestone collects the impurities and forms an upper layer. At
the bottom of the furnace there are openings where the fiery-hot liquid
runs off into molds, or forms, in which it cools and hardens. The waste
matter, called slag, is also drawn off at the bottom. More coke and ore
are added from above, and the smelting goes on night and day without
interruption until the furnace needs repair. After the iron has been
separated from the ore, it is taken to the foundries where it is made
into steel rails and many other kinds of iron and steel goods.
Other iron and steel companies have sprung up in Buffalo, and the city
and its vicinity is now manufacturing enormous quantities of pig iron,
steel rails, engines, car wheels, tools, and machinery.
[Illustration: THE ELECTRIC BUILDING]
Back in the first half of the nineteenth century New York was the leading
wheat-raising and flour-producing state. The first flour mill in the
Buffalo district was run by water power furnished by the Erie Canal. As
larger mills followed and steam took the place of water power, Buffalo
became an important flour-milling center. Later, wheat began to be raised
further west, and the Central States soon took the lead in wheat growing
and flour milling. But Buffalo had the advantage of an early start. Its
mills were already built and working. Grain from the West kept pouring
into the city to be stored in its great grain elevators, and the
production of flour increased. Larger mills were built, some of them
making use of the Niagara water power. To-day there are more than a
dozen companies in Buffalo operating flour mills which turn out over
3,000,000 barrels of flour in a year.
[Illustration: THE BUFFALO HOME OF THE NEW YORK TELEPHONE COMPANY]
Buffalo's slaughter-house products for a single year are worth millions
of dollars. There are two large meat-packing firms in the city,
slaughtering over a million cattle and hogs each year. They both had
small beginnings in the butcher business more than fifty years ago. In
1852 the first stockyards were opened, and the city's live-stock industry
began. Shipments of live stock from the grazing states of the West
increased until the city became the second cattle market in the world,
Chicago alone handling more live stock than Buffalo.
When first settled, the lake region was covered with forests, and lumber
was one of the first products sent eastward by lake steamers. Millions
and millions of feet of pine were towed down the lakes on barges and
transferred to canal boats at Buffalo, and the city became one of the
great lumber markets of the country. Although shipments from the Northern
forests have not been so great in the last twenty years, the lumber
industry continues to be of great importance to Buffalo. In addition to
pine from the lake region, the city receives hard wood from the South.
You see enormous piles of lumber in the yards of the city itself, and
Tonawanda, a suburb ten miles north of Buffalo, has the largest lumber
yards in the world. These yards carry on a large wholesale and retail
trade, and sawmills, planing mills, and many lumber industries have grown
up around them. Mill work, doors, mantels, piano cases, and furniture are
some of the things made in the Buffalo workshops.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF BUFFALO]
[Illustration: THE ARMORY]
While commerce and industry were thus developing, the city itself was
growing in size, population, and beauty. It extends about ten miles along
the shore of Lake Erie and the Niagara River. In the residence section
there are thousands of beautiful homes, set well back from broad streets
and surrounded by wide lawns and gardens. Delaware Avenue, with its
branching boulevards and parkways, is the finest of these residence
sections.
[Illustration: WADING POOL IN HUMBOLDT PARK]
[Illustration: A PUBLIC PLAYGROUND]
Several large parks and many smaller squares are scattered throughout the
city, while swimming pools, wading ponds, and public playgrounds delight
the hearts of the children. Lake breezes make the city cool in summer,
and altogether Buffalo is one of the cleanest, most healthful, and most
beautiful cities of the country.
[Illustration: THE ALBRIGHT ART GALLERY]
Through the southern part of the city flows the sluggish and winding
Buffalo River. In the early days the mouth of this stream was the only
harbor of the port, although it was then very shallow. Millions of
dollars have been spent in deepening and improving this inner harbor,
while a larger outer harbor has been made by inclosing a part of the lake
by breakwaters. The harbor of Buffalo is now one of the best on the Great
Lakes.
About two miles north of the mouth of Buffalo River is The Front, a park
overlooking the water and giving a beautiful view of Lake Erie, the
Niagara River, and the Canadian shore. It is a government reservation,
and here is Fort Porter. Further north the International Railroad Bridge
connects Canada with the city of Buffalo.
[Illustration: THE McKINLEY MONUMENT]
Delaware Park, in the northern part of the city, is the largest and most
beautiful of Buffalo's parks. Near the northeastern entrance is the
zoölogical garden, with a seal pool, bear pits, and many strange and
interesting animals. In the western part is the Albright Art Gallery, a
beautiful building of white marble. Here, too, is the Buffalo
Historical-Society Building, which was the New York State Building during
the Pan-American Exposition which was held in Delaware Park and on the
adjoining land in 1901.
[Illustration: NIAGARA FALLS]
In the center of Niagara Square stands the McKinley Monument, erected by
the state of New York in honor of President William McKinley, who was
shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, on September 6, 1901. It
was in this city that President Roosevelt took the oath of office after
President McKinley's death. It is also worthy of note that Buffalo was
the home of two of our presidents--Fillmore and Cleveland.
The business district of Buffalo is only a short distance from the
harbor. The most important business streets are Main Street and Broadway.
Twenty miles north of Buffalo the Niagara River plunges over a precipice
more than one hundred and fifty feet high, forming the world-famous
Niagara Falls. The width of the river, the beauty of the mighty waters as
they rush thundering over the edge of the precipice, the foam and spray
rising from the foot of the cataract, all combine to make Niagara Falls
the greatest natural wonder on the American continent. In the middle of
the stream lies Goat Island, which divides the Falls into the Horseshoe
Falls on the Canadian side and the American Falls on the New York side.
Hardly less interesting than the Falls are the power plants on both sides
of the river, which are making the force of Niagara do a mighty work. It
has been reckoned that the volume of water which passes over the Falls is
two hundred and sixty-five thousand cubic feet each second. Think of it!
This tremendous rush of water, the experts tell us, represents five
million horse power. T
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