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.