On this special train the Stock Exchange
reports of the New York and Philadelphia Exchanges are received and
posted on the bulletin boards three times a day, and the weather reports
are also posted.
The whole of the train is thoroughly well heated by
steam pipes, and lighted by electricity. The person in charge of a
"sleeper" car is called the "porter;" he occupies a position, not like a
porter on an English railway, but analagous to a steward on board ship.
On leaving New York I noticed that the suburbs contained many very small
wooden houses, and the country had the appearance of many Colonial
scenes I have witnessed - the land looked like reclaimed prairie, which
it probably is; and after passing many homesteads and villages we ran
into Philadelphia at 12.20. Philadelphia is the largest city, as to
area, in the United States. It is situate on the west bank of the
Delaware River. It is 22 miles long, and from 5 to 8 broad, comprising
an area of 1,294 square miles. It has over 900 miles of paved streets.
Philadelphia was founded by the celebrated William Penn, who went from
England to America in 1682 A.D., and purchased the site of this great
city from the Indians. William Penn's character was remarkable for his
high sense of honour, and if the same principle had obtained throughout
the history of the United States with the Indians, we should never have
heard of any "Indian Difficulty." Penn presented the city with a charter
in 1701. The city, built upon lands honestly and liberally bought from
the Indians, prospered greatly, and its population continued to increase
until it now reaches something approaching 900,000. Its chief source of
wealth is from its manufactures, which embrace locomotives, and all
kinds of ironware, ships, carpets, woollen and cotton goods, shoes,
umbrellas, and books. It has more buildings than any other city in that
country, and, in point of commerce, ranks fourth among the cities of the
United States. I noticed that the suburbs of Philadelphia contained many
handsome stone and brick residences. I felt much interested in the
connection with William Penn, because he is one of the ancestors of the
Penn-Gaskells of England, who for many years have been valuable and
much-respected clients of mine, and in numerous transactions I have
noticed in them that beautiful trait of strict honour which gave William
Penn a world-wide character, and has descended from him to them.
Passing by many farm homesteads, villages, and towns, all having a
prosperous kind of appearance, and described as "one of the richest
agricultural districts in America," we ran into Harrisburg, which is the
capital of Pennsylvania, and situate on the east bank of the Susquehanna
River. About five miles above Harrisburg we crossed the Susquehanna
River on a bridge 3,670 feet long, from the centre of which I am told
there is a fine view, but I lost it, as a snowstorm was raging while I
was crossing.
We stopped at Altoona, a large city lying at the foot of the
Alleghanies, and in ascending the Alleghanies fine scenery and great
engineering feats are discernible. From this we ran on to Pittsburg,
which claims to be the best lighted city in America, the streets being
brilliantly illuminated by arc and incandescent electric lights. Nine
bridges cross the Allegheny, and five the Monongahela rivers. Pittsburg
has been called the "iron city," and "smoky city"; it has immense glass,
steel and iron manufactures, and in these three interests alone employs
over 50,000 persons.
Then we proceed till, presently, we catch sight of Lake Michigan, and
know that Chicago is not far off. We skirt the shore of this busy water,
with its wharves, etc. On arrival (December 2nd) we drive through the
city from the Pennsylvania to the North-Western terminus.
Chicago is 912 miles from New York: it is the greatest city in Illinois,
and during the past 50 years has grown from a small Indian trading
station into a metropolis. Chicago extends some 20 miles along the
shores of Lake Michigan, and goes back from the lake to a depth of about
four miles, thus embracing about 80 square miles; beyond these confines
of the city proper the suburbs extend to some 6 to 10 miles in every
direction. It will be remembered that in 1871 Chicago had a great fire,
which burned an area of 3-1/8 square miles, destroyed 17,450 buildings,
made 98,500 persons homeless, and killed outright about 200 more. The
loss of property was estimated at 190,000,000 dollars, of which only
30,000,000 dollars were recovered from insurances, and this bankrupted
some of the insurance companies. In 1874 another fire consumed 5,000,000
dollars' worth of property. Chicago is the great central depot for
grain, lumber and live stock. In 1888 there were packed at Chicago
4,500,000 hogs, and about 1,600,000 cattle. Chicago has also extensive
iron, steel, wheel, car, flour, furniture, boot and shoe and tannery
manufactures. In driving through I noticed one long street, to the right
and left of the street I was traversing, thickly occupied with
tradesmen's carts, backed on the kerb in the usual fashion, being loaded
from the stores (or shops): there must have been a few hundred of them;
I never saw so many in one street at one time anywhere in any part of
the world. Chicago was cased in frozen snow, and thus was not very
attractive; but I noticed many very fine buildings, and was much struck
with the cosmopolitan character of the inhabitants. During the interval
of waiting for the train on the North-Western to start I was able to see
a little of the place, and found that some persons I spoke to could not
speak English. They came apparently from all parts of the continent of
Europe.
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