Read Ebook: Pittsburgh in 1816 Compiled by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Granting of the City Charter by Carnegie Library Of Pittsburgh Compiler

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Ebook has 403 lines and 28861 words, and 9 pages

William Wilkins, James R. Butler, John P. Shelton, A. Johnston, Jr., James S. Stevenson, James Brown, Paul Anderson, John W. Johnston, George Evans, John Caldwell, Richard Robinson, Thomas M'Kee, Daniel Hunter, John Carson, John W. Trembly.

The New Mayor

From the Ordinances of 1816

Traffic Rules

"From and after the publication of this ordinance, all and every driver or drivers of all coaches, chariots, caravans, waggons, phaetons, chaises, chairs, solos, sleighs, carts, drays, and other carriages of burthen and pleasure, driving and passing in and through the streets, lanes and alleys of the City of Pittsburgh, where there is room sufficient for two to pass, shall keep on that side of street, lane or alley, on his or their right hand respectively, in the passing direction."

"No person whatsoever shall sit or stand in or upon any such carriage or on any horse or beast harnessed thereto, in order to drive the same, unless he shall have strong lines or reins fastened to the bridles of his beasts, and held in his hands, sufficient to guide them in the manner aforesaid, and restrain them from running, galloping, or going at immoderate rates through the said streets, lanes or alleys; and ... no person whatsoever, driving any such carriage or riding upon any horse, mare or gelding, in or through the said city, shall permit or suffer the beast or beasts he shall so drive or ride, to go in a gallop or other immoderate gait, so as to endanger persons standing or walking in the streets, lanes or alleys thereof; and ... all porters ... having the care of any such carriages ... who shall not hold the reins in their hands ... shall walk by the head of the shaft or wheel horse, holding or within reach of the bridle or halter of said horse."

Shade Trees

"It shall be lawful to plant on the bank of the Monongahela river, ornamental shade trees, provided the same do not incommode the passage; that they be set on the side of the street next to the water, and so as not to stop or obstruct the passage of water along the gutters; and so that the roots will not injure or raise the pavement:--when any of these injurious effects are produced, such trees then become a nusance, and the street commissioners shall forthwith remove the same."

Fire Protection

"A premium of ten dollars, to be paid on a warrant to be drawn by the Mayor on the city treasurer, shall be given to the fire company whose engine shall be first on the ground in fair operation, and in good order, in cases of fire; and the Mayor shall have power to determine all questions as to this premium."

New Streets

An ordinance respecting sundry new streets in the eastern addition to Pittsburgh.

"That Third-street extending from Grant-street to Try-street, and Fourth, extended in a direct line from Grant-street to Try-street; and Diamond-street extending from Ross-street to the lane leading eastwardly from the end of Fourth-street, and Ross-street extended from Third-street to Diamond-street, and Try-street extended from Third-street to the lane leading eastwardly from the end of Fourth-street, be and they are hereby accepted and declared to be public streets and highways of the city ... and all those streets shall be kept, repaired and maintained for public use, at public expense forever hereafter."

For the Public Good

"If the chimney of any person or per aussi, sous son impulty shall take fire and blaze out at the top, the same not having been swept within the space of one calendar month, next before the time of taking such fire, every such person or persons, shall forfeit and pay the sum of three dollars."

"No stove pipe within the ... city shall project through the front door, front windows, front wall, or past the front corners of any house, shop or building, over or out upon any street, square or alley, or public ground of the ... city; and if any stove pipe shall so project as aforesaid, the same is hereby declared to be a public nusance, and as such shall be removed, and a fine of five dollars also imposed on the person or persons who shall so offend."

"If any person or persons, shall wilfully suffer his, her or their horse or horses, mare, gelding, mule, ox, hog or hogs, to run at large in the ... city, he, she or they so offending, shall for each offence, on conviction thereof, forfeit and pay for each of the said animals so running at large, the sum of one dollar."

"If any person or persons shall, within the said city, beat a drum, or without lawful authority, ring any public bell, after sunset, or at any time except in lawful defence of person or property, discharge any gun or fire arms, or play at or throw any metal or stone bullet, or make a bon-fire, or raise or create any false alarm of fire, he, she, or they so offending, shall for every such offence, on conviction thereof, forfeit and pay the sum of four dollars."

Impressions of Early Travelers

"It is laid out in strait streets, forty and fifty feet wide, having foot-walks on each side. Watch-boxes are placed at convenient distances, and the police of the city is well regulated. From the number of manufactures, and the inhabitants burning coal, the buildings have not that clean appearance so conspicuous in most American towns. The houses are frame and brick, in the principal street three story high.

'From the tumult, and smoke of the city set free,'

"The streets of Pittsburgh are lighted, and consequently the useful order of watchmen is established. My ears, however, have not become reconciled to their music. It is true, I have been more conversant in forests than in cities, and may not comprehend the advantages of these deep-mouthed tones; but breaking the slumbers of the invalid, and giving timely notice to the thief, form two items of much weight in my view as a set off against them.

Pittsburgh is laid out to front both rivers; but as these do not approach at right angles, the streets intersect each other obliquely.

"We remark much difference between the manners of the inhabitants of this country and those of Cayuga. In that place, profane language is rarely heard from any person, who pretends to decency, except in a paroxysm of vexation. Here it is an every day amusement. Crossing the Monongahela, in the ferry-boat, with an intelligent gentleman of polished manners, I was shocked and surprised to hear almost every sentence from his lips interlarded with an oath or an imprecation; yet he was in gay good humour, and, I believe, unconscious of thit qu'on suivit, il en

It would be unjust not to express my belief, that honourable exceptions to these censures are numerous; but impiety certainly constitutes a strong characteristic of no inconsiderable part of this people....

"Except the gratifying reflection arising from the review of so much plastic industry, Pittsburg is by no means a pleasant city to a stranger. The constant volumes of smoke preserve the atmosphere in a continued cloud of coal dust. In October, 1815, by a reduced calculation, at least 2000 bushels of that fuel was consumed daily, on a space of about two and a quarter square miles. To this is added a scene of activity, that reminds the spectator that he is within a commercial port, though 300 miles from the sea.

United States Census

United States 7,239,903 9,637,999 Pennsylvania 810,091 1,049,449 Allegheny county 25,317 34,921 Pittsburgh 4,768 7,248

Business and Industries

"Some of the ... manufactories may be denominated first-rate. This remark applies particularly to the nail, steam-engine and glass establishments. I was astonished to witness such perfection on this side of the Atlantic, and especially in that part of America which a New Yorker supposes to be at the farther end of the world.

"The first rope-walk erected west of the Allegheny Mountains, was established in Pittsburgh in 1794, and was located on the ground now occupied by the Monongahela House. The business was carried on by Col. John Irwin and wife....

Immediately following the death of Col. Irwin, Mrs. Irwin gave her son an interest in the business; and it was carried on under the name and style of Mary and John Irwin.

In the year 1795 the works were removed to the square bounded by Liberty, Third, and Fourth Streets and Redoubt Alley. In view of the increasing demand for their products, and confined limits of this locality, the walk was removed in 1812 to the bank of the Allegheny River between Marbury Street and the point, where the entire rigging for Perry's fleet was manufactured....

"Trunks are made smartly by J. M. Sloan, who wants for this purpose deer skins with the hair on.

Stocking weaving, for want of encouragement, perhaps goes on but slowly. We see no reason why a stocking cannot be wove as cheap and as good here as in any other part of the world.

Traveling Eastward

QUICK TRANSPORTATION.

"An account has been furnished us by Mr. Alexander Thompson, who resides on the Turnpike road four miles and a half from Pittsburgh, from which it appears, that from the 1st of January, 1815 to the 31st of December 1815, inclusive, 5,800 road waggons, laden with merchandize &c. passed his farm for Pittsburgh. The greater part of these waggons returned loaded with cordage, salt petre, &c. to the east of the mountains.

"Pittsburg is a cheap market for horses ... travellers from the east, often quit their horses here, and take the river for New Orleans, &c.; and on the contrary, those from the west proceed eastward from this place, in stages. Thus, there are constantly a number of useful hackneys on sale. The mode of selling is by auction. The auctioneer rides the animal through the streets, proclaiming with a loud voice, the biddings that are made as he passes along, and when they reach the desired point, or when nobody bids more, he closes the bargain.

A complete equipment is, in the first place, a pacing horse, a blanket under the saddle, another upon it, and a pair of saddle-bags, with great-coat and umbrella strapped behind.

Taverns

Steamboats and River Traffic

"Many travellers and emigrants to this region, view the first samples of the mode of travelling in the western world, on the Allegany at Oleanne point, or the Monongahela at Brownsville. These are but the retail specimens. At Pittsburg, where these rivers unite, you have the thing in gross, and by wholesale. The first thing that strikes a stranger from the Atlantic, arrived at the boat-landing, is the singular, whimsical, and amusing spectacle, of the varieties of water-craft, of all shapes and structures. There is the stately barge, of the size of a large Atlantic schooner, with its raised and outlandish looking deck.... Next there is the keel-boat, of a long, slender, and elegant form, and generally carrying from fifteen to thirty tons.... Next in order are the Kentucky flats, or in the vernacular phrase, 'broad-horns,' a species of ark, very nearly resembling a New England pig-stye. They are fifteen feet wide, and from forty to one hundred feet in length, and carry from twenty to seventy tons. Some of them, that are called family-boats, and used by families in descending the river, are very large and roomy, and have comfortable and separate apartments, fitted up with chairs, beds, tables and stoves. It is no uncommon spectacle to see a large family, old and young, servants, cattle, hogs, horses, sheep, fowls, and animals of all kinds, bringing to recollection the cargo of the ancient ark, all embarked, and floating down on the same bottom. Then there are what the people call 'covered sleds,' or ferry-flats, and Allegany-skiffs, carrying from eight to twelve tons. In another place are pirogues of from two to four tons burthen, hollowed sometimes from one prodigious tree, or from the trunks of two trees united, and a plank rim fitted to the upper part. There are common skiffs, and other small craft, named, from the manner of making them, 'dug-outs,' and canoes hollowed from smaller trees.... You can scarcely imagine an abstract form in which a boat can be built, that in some part of the Ohio or Mississippi you will not see, actually in motion....

"I reached Olean, on the source of the Alleghany River, early in 1818, while the snow was yet upon the ground, and had to wait several weeks for the opening of that stream. I was surprised to see the crowd of persons, from various quarters, who had pressed to this point, waiting for the opening of the navigation.

It was a period of general migration from the East to the West. Commerce had been checked for several years by the war with Great Britain. Agriculture had been hindered by the raising of armies, and a harassing warfare both on the sea-board and the frontiers; and manufactures had been stimulated to an unnatural growth, only to be crushed by the peace. Speculation had also been rife in some places, and hurried many gentlemen of property into ruin. Banks exploded, and paper money flooded the country.

The fiscal crisis was indeed very striking. The very elements seemed leagued against the interests of agriculture in the Atlantic States, where a series of early and late frosts, in 1816 and 1817, had created quite a panic, which helped to settle the West.

I mingled in this crowd, and, while listening to the anticipations indulged in, it seemed to me that the war had not, in reality, been fought for 'free trade and sailors' rights' where it commenced, but to gain a knowledge of the world beyond the Alleghanies.

Many came with their household stuff, which was to be embarked in arks and flat boats. The children of Israel could scarcely have presented a more motley array of men and women, with their 'kneading troughs' on their backs, and their 'little ones,' than were there assembled, on their way to the new land of promise.

To judge by the tone of general conversation, they meant, in their generation, to plough the Mississippi Valley from its head to its foot. There was not an idea short of it. What a world of golden dreams was there!

I took passage on the first ark that attempted the descent for the season. This ark was built of stout planks, with the lower seams caulked, forming a perfectly flat basis on the water. It was about thirty feet wide and sixty long, with gunwales of some eighteen inches. Upon this was raised a structure of posts and boards about eight feet high, divided into rooms for cooking and sleeping, leaving a few feet space in front and rear, to row and steer. The whole was covered by a flat roof, which formed a promenade, and near the front part of this deck were two long 'sweeps,' a species of gigantic oars, which were occasionally resorted to in order to keep the unwieldy vessel from running against islands or dangerous shores.

We went on swimmingly, passing through the Seneca reservation, where the picturesque costume of the Indians seen on shore served to give additional interest to scenes of the deepest and wildest character. Every night we tied our ark to a tree, and built a fire on shore. Sometimes we narrowly escaped going over falls, and once encountered a world of labor and trouble by getting into a wrong channel. I made myself as useful and agreeable as possible to all. I had learned to row a skiff with dexterity during my residence on Lake Dunmore, and turned this art to account by taking the ladies ashore, as we floated on with our ark, and picked up specimens while they culled shrubs and flowers. In this way, and by lending a ready hand at the 'sweeps' and at the oars whenever there was a pinch, I made myself agreeable. The worst thing we encountered was rain, against which our rude carpentry was but a poor defence. We landed at everything like a town, and bought milk, and eggs, and butter. Sometimes the Seneca Indians were passed, coming up stream in their immensely long pine canoes. There was perpetual novelty and freshness in this mode of wayfaring. The scenery was most enchanting. The river ran high, with a strong spring current, and the hills frequently rose in most picturesque cliffs.

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