accommodate us with it. She was in great bustle, having thirty highway
labourers {48} at board, had no bread baked, and politely expressed her
regret at being so circumstanced, but assured us, that, by going half a
mile forward to the next tavern, we would be attended to. Mr. Noble is
a member of the Pennsylvania Senate; the frank and obliging disposition
of his wife demands my acknowledgment.
At the next tavern the prediction of a breakfast was verified: it was
largely furnished, but not with the greatest dispatch.
The forenoon was hot, something like the greatest heat I have felt
in Scotland. The mornings and evenings were agreeably cool, the air
usually still, and the sky highly serene.
Sidelong-hill is a steep ascent. The waggon path is worn into a deep
rut or ravine, so that carriages cannot pass one another in some parts
of it. The first waggoner that gets into the track, blows a horn, to
warn others against meeting him in the narrow pass. The waggoners are
understood to be as friendly toward one another as seamen are, and that
cases are not wanting, where one has waited several days, assisting
another to refit his carriage.
On Sidelong-hill we came up with a singular party of travellers,--a
man with his wife and ten children. The eldest of the progeny had
the youngest tied on his back; and the father pushed a wheelbarrow,
containing the moveables of the family. They were removing from New
Jersey to the State of Ohio, a land journey of 340 miles to Pittsburg.
Abrupt edges of rocks, higher than the wheel, occasionally interrupt
the passage. Their humble carriage must be lifted over these. A little
farther onward we passed a young woman, carrying a sucking child in
her arms, and leading a very little one by the hand. It is impossible
to take particular notice {49} of all the travellers on the way. We
could scarcely look before or behind, without seeing some of them. The
Canterbury pilgrims were not so diversified nor so interesting as these.
Crossed the river Juniata by a wooden bridge, supported by two strong
chains, hung in the manner of a slack rope, over the tops of posts,
(one at each end,) about twenty feet higher than the road. The curve
formed by the chain passes low enough to come under, and support
several of the cross beams under the middle of the bridge. Other parts
of the bridge are supported by perpendicular ties, that pass, from
the roadway upward, to the chains. The Juniata runs here in a deep
chasm, between cliffs of slate clay; the bridge has consequently a
magical effect. The river is shallow, but at other seasons of the year
is navigable. The land is poor and parched, and is formed of steep,
irregular knolls.
Passed Bloody Run, a town of a very few houses, but with two taverns.
A romantic site in a low valley of the Juniata. The declining light of
the evening had softened the outline of the timber on the hills beyond
the river, so that the scene brought to my recollection the heaths of a
well known land.
Stopped for the night in a tolerably good tavern, two miles from Bloody
Run. The bar-room is nearly filled with people. On our being shewn to
a more retired apartment, I could see one person make a wry face, and
then smile to his acquaintance. It would seem that our being separated
from the large party, was not attended by the most pleasant sensations.
_September 24._ Last night we slept in a large room containing five
beds. It was proposed that one of these should hold two of us.
My companions went together, and I congratulated myself on {50}
monopolizing one of the beds,--but here I reckoned without mine host.
About midnight a man entered the room, groped all the beds, and finding
that I was alone, tumbled in beside me. Such is a common occurrence, I
am told, in this country, but it is the first time that I have met with
it. In the morning I discovered that my neighbour was a person of good
address, and respectable appearance.
After resuming our journey, we came up to a family rising from their
beds by the embers of a fire in the wood. The father fired off a rifle,
which it would seem he had kept in readiness for defence. There can
be no great objection to sleeping in the woods, in such fine weather.
From several heaps of ashes that we have seen by the sides of the road,
it is evident that the practice is common, even where taverns are
numerous. Emigrants carry their moveables in one horse carts, or two or
four horse waggons, as the quantity of goods may require. They carry
much of their provisions from Philadelphia, and other towns, and many
of them sleep in their own bed clothes, on the floors of bar-rooms
in the taverns. For this kind of lodging they usually pay twenty-five
cents a family.
The dollar is the integer of money in the United States, as universal
as the pound is in Britain. In the former country, cents or hundredth
parts of a dollar are the lowest fractional parts in use. Rating the
dollar at four shillings and sixpence sterling, the cent of America
is eight per cent, more than the halfpenny of Britain. The fractional
divisions of the dollar, are ¹⁄₂, ¹⁄₄, ¹⁄₈ and ¹⁄₁₆, or 50 cents, 25
cents, 12¹⁄₂ cents, and 6¹⁄₄ cents. Silver coins representing all
these quantities are in circulation. The peculiarity in the convenience
of quantities {51} derived from continual bisection, is known to all
who are acquainted with the theory of numbers.
It is impossible to say whether it is cheaper to travel with a family,
by purchasing a waggon and horses at Philadelphia, or by hiring one of
the waggons that pass regularly to Pittsburg. This depends on the price
paid for carriage at the particular time, and also on that to be paid
for waggon and horses at Philadelphia. In the one case, the waggoner is
paid for the weight of the goods, and for that of the persons who ride;
and in the other case, the waggon and horses may be expected to sell
at, or under, half the price paid for them at the sea-port. The great
number of family waggons now on the road, amounts to a presumption that
this mode of travelling is now thought to be the cheaper.
Crossed the Juniata once more. The bridge is a new stone erection of
bad workmanship. We are told that it fell down repeatedly. To insure
its standing, a step is left on the head of each abutment, on these the
wooden centres rest. They are not withdrawn, so that the beams must
give way, before it can be ascertained whether the effective arch is
of wood or of stone!!! The parapets have been coped with boards, but
the wind has uncovered one of the sides!!!
The steep banks are covered with trees. Oak, ash, hickory, chesnut, and
walnut, are the most prevalent species.
Bedford, the head town of the county of that name, is a considerable
place, with some neat brick and stone houses.
In our progress this forenoon we have seen much poor scorched land.
Indian corn is short and shrivelled; pasture bad, and the woods without
the strength they attain in a richer soil. Orchards {52} bear well; the
traveller may knock down the apples that overhang the road, and may
probably pass without complaint. Pear trees are scarce, if at all to
be seen. Probably they are subject to canker on this light dry soil.
Peaches are small. A farmer by the road side, offered us a few of the
latter sort of fruit, unasked. Ironstone is abundant, in one place the
new road is formed of it. In another, we saw prismatic pieces of nine
or ten inches square, and about four feet long. The prevailing strata
are of clay schist; the surface is hilly and broken.
In the afternoon, we found ourselves climbing a steep, without being
aware that it was the side of the Allegany ridge, not having previously
seen any eminence through the woods. The mountain is itself so much
enveloped in foliage, that we can only with the utmost difficulty have
a single peep of the lower country behind. The lower country, where
seen, has nearly all the sameness of the surface of the ocean. The
farthest visible ridge appears blue, and its outline looks as smooth as
if it were not covered by timber. We could not recognise a trace of our
way hither.
Met several waggons descending; they are obliged to move along in a
narrow track, on the very brink of a precipice. The road winds round a
point of the hill, and slants along the side of a tremendous ravine,
that, as it were, cleaves the eastern side of the ridge in two parts.
The trees render it almost impossible to see across the chasm. The
scenery is naturally romantic, but not yet exposed to the eye of the
admiring traveller.
The large timber on the summit indicates a degree of fertility not
usual on hill tops; and far surpassing that of the country near the
south east foot of the mountain. The cleared ground by a {53} tavern
on the height is good. The top of this range of mountains is a table
land, swelled with irregularities, and in some parts strewed with large
detached blocks of sandstone; the same kind of mineral of which the
horizontal strata of the mountain is composed. Were it not for the
recollection of the steep ascended, we should never have surmised that
we were here on the “spine of the United States.”
Met with two young men going eastward. One of my companions saluted
them, “_You are going the wrong way_.” “_No_,” replied one of the
others, “_You are going the wrong way_. _I have been at Pittsburg and
in the State of Ohio_, and I declare _it is the most detestable country
in the world_.”
Stotler’s tavern was full of people; we had no sooner entered the door
than we were in a crowd. We could not remain for the night.
We set out for the next tavern, and at dusk came into a track so wet
and miry, that it would be considered impassable in some parts of
the world. We groped our way along the side of it, over logs, and
occasionally through the wood, to avoid the horrid bog. Two young men
of the neighbourhood came forward, told us that we had just entered
upon the worst part of the road, and, as they were going in the same
direction, offered to conduct us.
The next tavern was one where whisky is sold, but the occupiers of
it could not be troubled with lodging travellers. They told us that
there is another tavern a mile forward. The road still bad; but as our
conductors were going farther, we accompanied them.
The other tavern was so completely thronged with movers, that a
multitude of them had taken up their lodgings in a barn. We were
permitted {54} to stop, on condition of all three sleeping in one bed,
which was said to be a large and a good one. Two-thirds of the bar-room
floor was covered by the beds of weary travellers, lying closely
side by side, and the remaining part occupied by people engaged in
drinking, and noisy conversation. The room in which supper was taken,
was too small to admit any large proportion of the company at once,
of consequence we had to wait the alternation of a supper party and a
cooking, before we got to the table.
This accumulation of travellers is chiefly occasioned by people in
the eastern States having reaped and disposed of their crops at this
season, and on that account finding it a convenient time for removing
to the western country.
_September 25._ At half past five all were in bustle, preparing for
the road: Some settling bill with the hostess, others waiting to
settle: Some round a long wooden trough at the pump, washing, or
drying themselves with their pocket-handkerchiefs: Some Americans
drinking their morning’s bitters, (spirits with rue, wormwood, or other
vegetable infusion:) Some women catching children who had escaped
naked from bed, others packing up bed clothes, or putting them into
waggons: Waggoners harnessing their horses, &c.
The little piece of ground cleared here is very rich, the best pasture
I have seen in America; but the winter in this high region must be
severe.
Two miles onward there are fine fields and orchards. The interval land
is meadow. No Indian corn is to be seen. By the road side, what miners
call the vise of a bed of coal is perceptible.
Stoystown is delightfully situated on the north bank of a deep
vale.[33] The neighbouring grounds are but recently cleared. If we may
judge from {55} the appearance of the houses, tavern-keepers are the
principal men of the place; one of these is dubbed Major.
The land on this side of the Allegany ridge is much better than
immediately on the eastern side of it. At present travellers and horses
consume a great part of the produce, but as cultivation proceeds, the
distance from market must become more sensibly felt.
The ridge, Laurel Hill, is about seven miles broad from one side of the
base to the other. We observed a rattlesnake that had been recently
killed on the road; it was about three and a half feet long, and about
an inch and a half in diameter. The people say, that only two species
of serpents are poisonous here; but there are probably more, as no less
than thirty species have been enumerated in the United States.
Laurel Hill being broad, and considerably steep, must be of prominent
height. Of its elevation relatively to the Allegany ridge, I could not
even venture an opinion. To be continually enveloped in woods, without
seeing to any great distance, must be a condition disagreeable to the
inquisitive traveller, and to the geologist.
We lodged at Lauchlin’s Town;[34] near this place is a small furnace.
Malleable iron is sold at ten cents a-pound.
_September 26._ On this day there was a heavy shower of rain, the
first since our leaving Philadelphia. Passed Chesnut ridge, near
Somerset.[35] At a tavern here, some men were drinking and swearing
most hideously. It is much to be regretted that this vice is so
prevalent in a country where so many other things are to be commended.
Greensburg, the county town of Westmoreland, is a considerable place,
built on rising ground. {56} Here, and westward of this place, the land
is fine, but hilly. Stopped at Adamsburg, six miles from Greensburg.
_September 28._ Yesterday my companions set out for Pittsburg.
These young gentlemen have conducted themselves in the style which
distinguishes the well-bred from the uncultivated and obtrusive man.
They put no such questions as, “Where are you going?--What are you to
do there?” &c. so common in this land of liberty. Of my companions I
only knew their names, the States they came from, and that they are
going to the western country.
Yesterday morning the hoar-frost was faintly visible on the newly mown
grass, the first that has been observed this season. No danger is now
to be apprehended from the cold, as Indian corn, (the latest of the
crops,) is ripe. The woods and orchards have their young shoots well
matured, and will soon be coloured with their autumnal tinge.
A majority of the people in the neighbourhood of Adamsburg are
Germans, or their descendants. Although most of them can speak in
English, their conversation with one another is in German, and a
clergyman in the neighbourhood preaches in that language.
Resumed my journey; called at L--r’s tavern, eleven miles from
Greensburg. The hostess, after promising to give me breakfast, shewed
me into a front room. After waiting about twenty-five minutes, two
ladies on horseback, apparently turned of forty, alighted before the
window; the hostess ran forward, embraced and kissed them. Her salute
was the loudest articulation of the kind that I have heard. She came
into the room, and told {57} me, she had got so much engaged, that she
could not be troubled with my breakfast, and that there is a tavern
only half a mile forward where I would be attended to. The good lady
will be freed from every imputation of unkindness, since I have related
how cordially she welcomed her female friends who engrossed all her
attention.
Met with a man who asked me if I knew of “any traveller who would
rest himself and thrash for a few days?” To-day I begin to find the
estimate formed of foot travellers in this country of equality. It is
an undoubted truth that the rider is two steps higher than the footman.
Saw a drove of large cattle on their way from the State of Ohio for
Philadelphia. Their condition is good, the length of the journey taken
into consideration. In size and even fat, they are much superior to the
Pennsylvanian stock by the sides of the road. Indeed, it is somewhat
surprising to see such bad cattle on the rich lands of this State. The
causes merit the strictest inquiry.
Every where the wheat stubble is so much overgrown with annual weeds,
that the verdure at a distance is apt to be mistaken for pasture.
This growth is occasioned by the long course of hot weather, which
succeeds an early harvest. It would be advantageous if clover, or some
other useful herbage, were sown amongst the crops, that the farmer
might not only avail himself of the propensity to vegetation, but check
the dissemination of weeds so hurtful to adjoining fields, and to the
succeeding pasture.
The potato crops are better than those I have seen on the coast, the
plants are more vigorous, and the tubers much larger.
Land partly cleared, and with some rude buildings {58} thereon, sells
at from twenty to forty dollars an acre.
The new road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg is now in an advanced stage
of progress.[36] Much of it is finished, and corresponding parts of
the old track abandoned. Probably, by two years hence, the traveller
will have a turnpike from the one city to the other. The improvement
is important, but it is not one that deserves unqualified praise. In
multitudes of cases, it passes through hollows, and over eminences,
without regard to that minimum of declivity, which in a great measure
constitutes the value of a road. In some cases, the vertical curve,
formed by passing over rising grounds, is so long, that, applied
laterally, the eminence surmounted, would have been altogether avoided.
The road from Baltimore to Wheeling, now constructing at the expense
of the government, is understood to be more judiciously laid off. Its
competition must, ere long, give the proprietors of the Philadelphia
line, an instructive lesson on the economical application of labour.
Produce, in the higher parts of Pennsylvania, may be stated at the
rates of from twenty to twenty-five bushels of wheat, and from
twenty-five to thirty bushels of Indian corn, per acre. These
quantities are raised under slovenly management, and without
much labour. A farmer expressed his contentment under existing
circumstances; a dollar a bushel for wheat (he said) is a fair price,
where the farmer pays neither rent nor taxes to the government. His
farm, for example, pays four or five dollars a-year, for the support of
the state and county officers.
Labourers receive a dollar per day, and can find board for two dollars
a-week. Mechanics, in {59} most cases, earn more. Where health is
enjoyed, in this place, poverty bespeaks indolence, or want of economy.
Arrived at Pittsburg, after a pleasant journey, with almost
uninterrupted good weather. Some observations on this place will be the
subject of my next letter.
FOOTNOTES:
[29] For notes on the following places mentioned in this chapter,
see Post’s _Journals_, volume i of our series: Harrisburg, note 73;
Carlisle, note 75; Shippensburg, note 76; Loudon, note 78; Bedford,
note 81. F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series:
Greensburg, note 16. Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series:
Elizabethtown, note 7; Middletown, note 9; Chambersburg, note 16;
Bloody Run, note 18.--ED.
[30] Flint’s route to Pittsburg was by way of the new Lancaster
pike--the first macadamized American road--and onward over the central
Pennsylvania route through Bedford, Ligonier, and Greensburg. Much
ado was made over the opening of the Cumberland Road across the
Alleghenies; but until the building of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway
to Cumberland, Maryland, in 1845, the central Pennsylvania route
seems to have been the popular one from Washington and Philadelphia
to Pittsburg. John Melish’s map in Morris Birkbeck, _Letters from
Illinois_ (Philadelphia, 1818), does not give the Cumberland Road,
although it outlines the old Northwestern turnpike from Cumberland
to Parkersburg, West Virginia. Almost all English travelers passed
westward over the Pennsylvania Road, which was two hundred and
ninety-four miles in length, according to Melish, _Traveller’s
Directory_, p. 69.--ED.
[31] The evening was warm, and, (not to exaggerate the difficulty
of removing him to the next town,) we judged that he was in no
danger.--FLINT.
[32] This was the well-known settlement established in 1818 by
the English philanthropists Morris Birkbeck and George Flower, at
Wanborough and Albion, in southeastern Illinois, within the present
Edwards County. For a full account of these settlements, see volume x
of our series.--ED.
[33] Colonel Bouquet constructed a fort at the present site of
Stoystown in 1758, and a small force was stationed there until
Pontiac’s War. The name Stoystown came from the patronymic of a
Revolutionary soldier who laid out the town. It is situated on Stony
Creek, ten miles from Somerset.--ED.
[34] Laughlin Town is about five miles south-east of Loudon.--ED.
[35] Somerset, situated near the centre of Somerset County, was first
settled by a party of frontiersmen about 1765. Laid out by a settler
named Bruner about twenty years later, it was for some time called
Brunerstown.--ED.
[36] This route was locally known as the Chambersburg and Pittsburg
turnpike, at either end being called by its opposite terminus. It
was built in general alignment with Forbes’s Road, cut along the old
trading-path through the forests in 1758. See Post’s _Journals_, volume
i of our series, p. 242.--ED.
LETTER V
Pittsburg--Situation--Manufactures--Occurrences--People
In this letter I shall not confine myself to a description of the city
of Pittsburg. Occurrences and remarks, with, or without dates, will be
promiscuously introduced. This method may not be after the manner of
regular epistolary writing; but to me it is the easiest way, and it
may have the advantage of shewing you how a great part of my time is
occupied.
Pittsburg stands on the point of land formed by the confluence of the
rivers Allegany and Monongahela. The flat ground on which the greater
part of the buildings stand, is upwards of thirty feet above the level
of the rivers at low water. Part of the land adjoining to the Allegany
is only about twenty feet high, and liable to occasional inundations.
The Allegany here runs south-west by west, and the Monongahela nearly
due west, as does the Ohio in continuation. This, together {60} with
the Monongahela being broader than the Allegany, gives to the former
the appearance of being the principal river, and to the latter the
character of a tributary stream. The Monongahela is muddy and sluggish
opposite to the town; and though about 400 yards broad there, probably
furnishes much less water to the Ohio than does the Allegany, which is
only about half the width, but has a brisk current. The Allegany and
the Monongahela have been described as being each about the size of the
Tay; but the latter river is much inferior to either in magnitude; and
the comparison must have been influenced by the Tay’s being the fittest
river with which to compare it in Britain, and not by its actual parity
with either.
Between the rivers, there is a ridge of about 300 feet high, which
terminates with a gentle slope in the most inland part of the town.
This is the hill that a florid exaggerator has described as a solid
mass of coal. The description was unnecessary, as the coal field
in which the hills of Pittsburg lie, may be considered as the most
extensive that are known, although the only bed here is no more than
four and a half feet thick. The strata being horizontal, and the
out-burst of the coal about the middle-steep of the hill, it is not
necessary to make shafts, as it is level free, and may be quarried and
carried out in wheel barrows, like road-metal.
The hill on the west side of the Monongahela, is a craggy steep,
almost close to the river. It is covered with trees to the summit, and
tends, more than any other object, to give to Pittsburg a picturesque
appearance.
On the north-west side of the Allegany lies a beautiful plain, the
site of the new town Allegany.[37] Beyond the plain lies another ridge
corresponding {61} in elevation, and having a continuation of the same
strata that compose the two heights formerly noticed. Thus Pittsburg is
almost surrounded by high wooded grounds.