A New Guide For Emigrants To The West Part 11

The portion of Pennsylvania lying west of the Alleghany ridge, contains the counties of Washington, Greene, Fayette, Westmoreland, Alleghany, Beaver, Butler, Armstrong, Mercer, Venango, Crawford, Erie, Warren, McKean, Jefferson, Indiana, Somerset, and a part of Cambria.

_Face of the Country._--Somerset, and parts of Fayette, Westmoreland, Cambria, Indiana, Jefferson, and McKean are mountainous, with intervening vallies of rich, arable land. The hilly portions of Washington, and portions of Fayette, Westmoreland, and Alleghany counties are fertile, with narrow vales of rich land intervening. The hills are of various shapes and heights, and the ridges are not uniform, but pursue various and different directions. North of Pittsburg, the country is hilly and broken, but not mountainous, and the bottom lands on the water courses are wider and more fertile. On French creek, and other branches of the Alleghany river there are extensive tracts of rich bottom, or intervale lands, covered with beech, birch, sugar maple, pine, hemlock, and other trees common to that portion of the United States. The pine forests in Pennsylvania and New York, about the heads of the Alleghany river, produce vast quant.i.ties of lumber, which are sent annually to all the towns along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It is computed that not less than thirty million feet of lumber are annually sent down the Ohio from this source.

_Soil, Agriculture, &c._--Portions of the country are excellent for farming. The _glade_ lands, as they are called, in Greene and other counties, produce oats, gra.s.s, &c., but are not so good for wheat and corn. Those counties which lie towards lake Erie are better adapted to grazing. Great numbers of cattle are raised here. Washington and other counties south of Pittsburg produce great quant.i.ties of wool. The Monongahela has been famous for its whiskey, but it is gratifying to learn that it is greatly on the decline, and that its manufacture begins to be regarded as it should be,--ruinous to society. A large proportion of the distilleries are reported to have been abandoned. Bituminous coal abounds in all the hills around Pittsburg, and over most parts of Western Pennsylvania. Iron ore is found abundantly in the counties along the Alleghany, and many furnaces and forges are employed in its manufactory. Salt springs abound on the Alleghany, and especially on the Conemaugh and Kiskiminitas, where salt, in large quant.i.ties, is manufactured.

The natural advantages of Western Pennsylvania are great. Almost every knoll, hill and mountain can be turned to some good account, and its rivers, ca.n.a.ls, rail and turnpike roads afford facilities for intercommunication, and for transportation of the productions to a foreign market. The advantages of this region for trade, agriculture, raising stock, and manufacturing, are great. The streams furnish abundant mill-seats, the air is salubrious, and the morals of the community good. Till recently, Pennsylvania has been neglectful to provide for common schools. A school system is now in successful operation, and has a strong hold on the confidence and affections of the people in this part of the State.

_Internal Improvements._--Pennsylvania has undertaken an immense system of internal improvements, throughout the State. The Alleghany portage rail-road commences at Hollidaysburgh, on the Juniata river, at the termination of the eastern division of the great Pennsylvania ca.n.a.l, and crosses the Alleghany ridge at Blair's Gap, summit 37 miles, to Johnstown on the Conemaugh. Here it connects with the western division of the same ca.n.a.l. It ascends and descends the mountain by five inclined planes on each side, overcoming in ascent and descent 2570 feet, 1398 of which are on the eastern, and 1172 on the western side of the mountain.

563 feet are overcome by grading, and 2007 feet by the planes. On this line, also, are four extensive viaducts, and a tunnel 870 feet long, and 20 feet wide, through the staple bend of the Conemaugh river. The western division of the Pennsylvania ca.n.a.l commences at Johnstown, on the Conemaugh, pursues the course of that stream, and also that of the Kiskiminitas and Alleghany rivers, and finally terminates at Pittsburg.

In its course from Johnstown it pa.s.ses through the towns of Fairfield, Lockport, Blairsville, Saltzburg, Warren, Leechburg, and Freeport, most of which are small villages, but increasing in size and business. "The ca.n.a.l is 104 miles in length: lockage 471 feet, 64 locks, (exclusive of four on a branch ca.n.a.l to the Alleghany,) 10 dams, 1 tunnel, 16 aqueducts, 64 culverts, 39 waste-wiers, and 152 bridges.

"The ca.n.a.l commissioners, in their reports to the legislature, strongly recommend the extension of this division to the town of Beaver, so as to unite with the Beaver division. By a recent survey, the distance was ascertained to be 25.065 miles, and the estimated cost of construction, $263,821. This, with a proposed ca.n.a.l from Newcastle to Akron, on the Ohio and Erie ca.n.a.l, will form a continuous inland communication between Philadelphia and New Orleans, of 2435 miles, with the exception of the pa.s.sage over the Alleghany portage rail-road, of 36.69 miles in length.[8] It is 395 miles from Philadelphia to Pittsburg by this ca.n.a.l.

The Beaver division of the Pennsylvania ca.n.a.l commences at the town of Beaver, on the Ohio river, at the junction of the Big Beaver river, 25- miles below Pittsburg, ascends the valley of that river, thence up the Chenango creek to its termination in Mercer county, a distance of 42.68 miles. This work, together with a feeder on French creek, and other works now in progress, are parts of a ca.n.a.l intended eventually to connect the Ohio river with lake Erie, at the town of Erie; which, when finished, will probably be about 130 miles in length. It is also proposed to construct a ca.n.a.l from Newcastle, on the Beaver division, 24.75 miles above the town of Beaver, along the valley of the Mahoning river, to Akron, near the portage summit of the Ohio and Erie ca.n.a.l, 85 miles in length, 8 miles of which are in Pennsylvania, and the residue in Ohio. Estimated cost, $764,372.

The c.u.mberland, or National road, crosses the south-western part of Pennsylvania. It pa.s.ses through Brownsville where it crosses the Monongahela river, and Washington, into a corner of Virginia to Wheeling, where it crosses the Ohio river, and from thence through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to the Mississippi river, or perhaps to the western boundary of Missouri.

_Chief Towns._--_Brownsville_, situated on the east side of the Monongahela river, is in a romantic country, surrounded with rich farms and fine orchards, and contains about 1200 inhabitants. It is at the head of steamboat navigation. _Washington_ is the county seat of Washington county, surrounded with a fertile but hilly country, contains about 2000 inhabitants, and has a respectable college. _Cannonsburgh_ is situated on the west side of Chartier's creek, 8 miles north of Washington. It also has a flourishing college, with buildings in an elevated and pleasant situation. _Uniontown_ is the county seat of Fayette, on the National road, and contains about 1500 inhabitants.

_Greensburg_ is the seat of justice for Westmoreland county, on the great turnpike road from Philadelphia by Harrisburg to Pittsburg, and has about 850 inhabitants. _Beaver_ is situated at the mouth of Big Beaver, on the Ohio, with a population of 1000 or 1200, and is a place of considerable business. _Meadville_ is the seat of justice for Crawford county, situated near French creek, and has about 1200 inhabitants. Here is a college established by the Rev. Mr. Alden, some years since, to which the late Dr. Bentley of Salem, Ma.s.s., bequeathed a valuable library. It is now under the patronage of the Methodist Episcopal church.

_Erie_ is a thriving town, situated on the south side of lake Erie, one hundred and twenty miles north of Pittsburg. Steamboats that pa.s.s up the lake from Buffalo, usually stop here, from whence stage routes communicate with Pittsburg, and many other towns in the interior. The portage from this place to the navigable waters of the Alleghany river is fifteen miles over a turnpike road. The population of Erie is from 1500 to 2000, and increasing.

_Waterford_, the place where the Erie portage terminates, is situated on the north bank of the French creek; it is a place of considerable business. French creek is a navigable branch of the Alleghany river.

_Franklin_, _Kittanning_, and _Freeport_, are respectable towns on the Alleghany river, between Pittsburg and Meadville.

_Economy_ is the seat of the German colony, under the late Mr. Rapp, which emigrated from their former residence of Harmony on the Wabash river in Indiana. It is a flourishing town on the right bank of the Ohio, 18 miles below Pittsburg. It has several factories, a large church, a s.p.a.cious hotel, and 800 or 900 inhabitants, living in a community form, under some singular regulations. The Economists, or Harmonists, as they were called, in Indiana, are an industrious, moral and enterprising community, with some peculiarities in their religious notions. There are many other towns and villages in Western Pennsylvania, of moral, industrious inhabitants, which the limits of this work will not permit me to notice.

PITTSBURG is the emporium of Western Pennsylvania, and from its manufacturing enterprise, especially in iron wares, has been denominated the "Birmingham of the West." It stands on the land formed at the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers on a level alluvion deposit, but entirely above the highest waters, surrounded with hills. This place was selected as the site of a fort and trading depot by the French, about eighty years since, and a small stockade erected, and called Fort du Quesne, to defend the country against the occupancy of it by the English, and to monopolize the Indian trade. It came into the possession of the British upon the conquest of this country after the disastrous defeat of Gen. Braddock; and under the administration of the elder Pitt, a fort was built here under the superintendence of lord Stanwix, that cost more than $260,000, and called Fort Pitt. In 1760, a considerable town arose around the fort, surrounded with beautiful gardens and orchards, but it decayed on the breaking out of the Indian war, in 1763. The origin of the present town may be dated 1765. Its plan was enlarged and re-surveyed in 1784, and then belonged to the Penn family as a part of their hereditary manor. By them it was sold.

The Indian wars in the West r.e.t.a.r.ded its growth for several years after, but since, it has steadily increased, according to the following

TABLE.

1800, 1,565 1810, 4,768 1820, 7,248 1830, 12,542 1835, _estimated_, 30,000

The estimate of 1835, includes the suburbs. The town is compactly built, and some streets are handsome; but the use of coal for culinary and manufacturing purposes, gives the town a most dingy and gloomy aspect.

Its salubrity and admirable situation for commerce and manufactures ensure its future prosperity and increase of population. The exhaustless beds of coal in the bluffs of the Monongahela, and of iron ore, which is found in great abundance in all the mountainous regions of Western Pennsylvania, give it preeminence over other western cities for manufacturing purposes. It really stands at the head of steamboat navigation on the waters of the Ohio; for the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers are navigable only at high stages of water, and by the recent improvements in the channel of the Ohio, and the use of light draft boats, the navigation to Pittsburg is uninterrupted except in winter.

The suburbs of Pittsburg are Birmingham, on the south bank of the Monongahela, Alleghany town, on the opposite side of the Alleghany river, and containing a population of about seven thousand, Lawrenceville, Northern and Eastern Liberties.

MANUFACTURES.

Nail Factories and Rolling Mills. Weight in lbs. Value.

Union, 720,000 $43,200 Sligo, 400,000 32,000 Pittsburg, 782,887 86,544 Grant's Hill, 500,000 20,000 Juniata, 500,000 30,000 Pine Creek, 457,000 34,100 Miscellaneous factories, 360,000 28,200

The foregoing table was constructed in 1831. Doubtless this branch of business has greatly increased.

The same year there were 12 foundries in and near Pittsburg, which converted 2963 tons of metal into castings, employed 132 hands, consumed 87,000 bushels of charcoal, and produced the value of $189,614.

The following sketch of manufactures in Pittsburg and vicinity, is copied from Tanner's Guide, published in 1832:

Steam engines 37, which employed 123 hands. Value, $180,400.

Cotton factories 8, with 369 power-looms, 598 hands; value, $300,134. In the counties of Westmoreland and Alleghany, there are 5 cotton factories.

In Pittsburg and the two counties just named, are 8 paper mills, valued at $165,000.

In Pittsburg and vicinity are 5 steam mills, which employ 50 hands.

Value of their products annually, $80,000.

There are 5 bra.s.s foundries and 8 coppersmiths' shops. Value of the manufactures, $25,000.

Within the limits of the city, there are 30 blacksmiths' shops, which employ 136 hands. There are also 4 gunsmiths, and 9 silversmiths and watch repairers.

In Pittsburg and the counties of Westmoreland and Alleghany, there are 26 saddleries; and 41 tanneries, 64 brick yards, and 11 potteries. There are in the city 4 breweries, and 4 white lead manufactories, at which 7,400 kegs are made annually; value, $27,900.

There are 6 printing-offices in Pittsburg, and 6 more in the two counties.

The estimated value of the manufactures of every kind in Pittsburg, and the counties of Alleghany and Westmoreland, in 1831, was $3,978,469.

Doubtless they have greatly increased since.

_Coal._--The bituminous coal formations around Pittsburg are well deserving the attention of geologists. Coal Hill, on the west side of the Monongahela, and immediately opposite Pittsburg, is the great source of this species of fuel, and the miners, in some places, have perforated the hill to the distance of several hundred feet. It is found in strata from 6 inches to 10 or 12 feet in thickness, and often at the height of 300 feet above the bed of the river, in the hills around Pittsburg, and along the course of the Alleghany and Monongahela. Below this one stratum, which is of equal elevation, none is found till you reach the base of the hill below the bed of the river. Besides supplying Pittsburg, large quant.i.ties are sent down the river.

There are in Pittsburg, (or _were_ two years since) three Baptist churches, or congregations, one of which is of Welch, four Presbyterian, four Methodist, one Episcopal, one Roman Catholic, (besides a cathedral on Grant's Hill,) one Covenanter, one Seceder, one German Reformed, one Unitarian, one a.s.sociate Reformed, one Lutheran, one African, and perhaps some others in the city or suburbs.

Of the public buildings deserving notice, I will name the _Western University of Pennsylvania_, which stands on the Monongahela, near Grant's Hill;--the _Penitentiary_, in Alleghany town, which has cost the State an immense amount, and is conducted on the principle of solitary confinement;--the _Presbyterian Theological Seminary_ is also in Alleghany town;--the _Museum_;--the _United States a.r.s.enal_, about two miles above the city, at Lawrenceville. It encloses four acres, and has a large depot for ordnance, arms, &c. The _City Water Works_ is a splendid monument of munic.i.p.al enterprise. The water is taken from the Alleghany river, by a pipe, 15 inches in diameter, and carried 2,439 feet, and 116 feet elevation, to a reservoir on Grant's Hill, capable of receiving 1,000,000 gallons. The water is raised by a steam-engine of 84 horse power, and will raise 1,500,000 gallons in 24 hours. The aqueduct of the Pennsylvania ca.n.a.l, across the Alleghany river, is also deserving attention.

The inhabitants of Pittsburg are a mixture of English, French, Scotch, Irish, German and Swiss artisans and mechanics, as well as of native born Americans, who live together in much harmony. Industry, sobriety, morality and good order generally prevail. Extensive revivals of religion prevailed here about a year since.

The population of Western Pennsylvania is characterized for industry, frugality, economy and enterprise. Temperance principles have made considerable progress of late years.

WESTERN VIRGINIA

--Embraces all that part of Virginia that lies upon the western waters.

The counties are Brooke, Ohio, Monongalia, Harrison, Randolph, Russell, Preston, Tyler, Wood, Greenbrier, Kenawha,[9] Mason, Lewis, Nicholas, Logan, Cabell, Monroe, Pocahontas, Giles, Montgomery, Wythe, Grayson, Tazewell, Washington, Scott and Lee:--26.

Its princ.i.p.al river is the Kenawha and its tributaries. Of these, Gaula, New river and Greenbrier are the princ.i.p.al. New river is the largest, and rises in North Carolina. The Monongahela drains a large district;--the little Kenawha, Guyandotte, and Sandy are smaller streams. The latter separates Virginia from Kentucky for some distance.

Much of Western Virginia is mountainous, lying in parallel ridges, which are often broken by streams. Some of the vallies are very fertile. The Kenawha Valley is narrow, but extends to a great distance. The salt manufactories extend from Charlestown up the Kenawha, the distance of 12 miles. They are 20 in number, and manufacture nearly two millions of bushels annually. The river is navigable for steamboats to this point at an ordinary depth of water. Coal is used in the manufactories, which is dug from the adjacent mountains, and brought to the works on wooden railways. Seven miles above Charlestown is the famous burning spring.

Inflammable gas escapes, which, if ignited, will burn with great brilliancy for many hours, and even for several days, in a favorable state of the atmosphere. The State of Virginia has constructed a tolerably good turnpike road from the mouth of the Guyandotte, on the Ohio, to Staunton. It pa.s.ses through Charlestown, and along the Kenawha river to the falls;--from thence it extends along the course of New river, and across Sewall's mountain by Louisburg to Staunton. The falls of Kenawha are in a romantic region, and merit the attention of the traveller. Marshall's pillar is a singular projecting rock that overhangs New river, 1015 feet above its bed. The stage road pa.s.ses near its summit.

This route is one of the great stage routes leading from the Ohio Valley to Washington city, and to all parts of old Virginia.

The _White Sulphur_, _Red Sulphur_, _Hot_, _Warm_, _and Sweet Springs_, are in the mountainous parts of Virginia, and on this route. These are all celebrated as watering places, but the White Sulphur spring is the great resort of the fashionable of the Southern States. Let the reader imagine an extensive campground, a mile in circ.u.mference, the camps neat cottages, built of brick, or framed, and neatly painted. In the centre of this area are the springs, bath-houses, dining hall, and mansion of the proprietor. The cottages are intended for the accommodation of families, and contain two rooms each. This is by far the most extensive watering place in the Union. Of the effect of such establishments on _morals_ I shall say nothing. The reader will draw his own conclusions, when he understands that the card-table, roulette, wheel of fortune, and dice-box are amongst its princ.i.p.al amus.e.m.e.nts. Here, not unfrequently, cotton bales, negroes, and even plantations, change owners in a night.

The scenery around is highly picturesque and romantic. Declivities and mountains, sprinkled over with evergreens, are scattered in wild confusion. A few miles from White Sulphur springs, you pa.s.s the dividing line--the Alleghany ridge, and pa.s.s from Western into Middle Virginia.