Chapter X: Letter III

Journey from New York to Philadelphia--Remarks on the country passed through--Notices of companions--Their conversation by the way--Observations on Philadelphia--Institutions--Manufactures--People.

_Philadelphia, December 19, 1818._

This letter will give you the details of my journey from New York to Philadelphia, and some particulars with regard to the latter city.[17]

{24} _August 5._ Got aboard of the Olive-Branch steam-boat for New Brunswick. This is a large vessel, wrought by an engine of forty-five horses’ power. She may at once be pronounced elegant and commodious. The passengers dine on board.

In a company so large, the traveller has it in his power to select the person with whom he would enter into conversation. The individual I fell in with, on this occasion, was a mercantile gentleman from England. He seemed to me a man of a good disposition, and one who possessed considerable knowledge of the principal towns, and of the different ways of transacting business in the United States. The American character, according to his report, is by no means a good one. He expressed himself as completely tired of the country, and proposed returning to England. He told me that he had met with considerable losses by villanous insolvencies. His account, instead of convincing me that the Americans were sinners above all others, just shewed me that he was a good-natured, credulous man, and that he had fallen into the hands of several artful rogues; a class, it would seem, not wanting in America.

The land on both sides of the strait, between Staten Island and the main land, is light and sandy, in some spots almost sterile. People in boats are busy with long wooden tongs, resembling forceps, taking up clams from the bottom, in six or seven feet of water.

The land on both margins of the Raritan is very low and flat, covered with a rank growth of reeds. These are cut for the cattle, and form a coarse but a very bulky crop. The swamps, being liable to inundation, are not made to yield any other herbage than their spontaneous produce.

{25} About four miles below New Brunswick, the red sandstone is met with. It is the first rock toward the coast, the interval being high alluvial land, containing vegetables and the bones of marine animals of tribes still existing; facts that establish without a doubt that the ocean has receded.

From New Brunswick to Trenton, travellers are conveyed by four-horse coaches. Six of these wait the arrival of the steam-boat. In one of these I took my seat, and found that only two gentlemen were to be along with me; one of them an American who had travelled in Britain, and the other an Englishman, who had just been out on an extensive tour in the United States. Both appear men of talent and education; the one a Virginian lawyer, and the other a person well acquainted with the state of science and manufacture in his own country; they are equally devoted to the representative form of government. Their only difference of opinion arose from drawing a comparison between the national characters of the two countries. The American claimed the superiority, _in toto_, while the Englishman asserted the higher excellence of the literary, the scientific, and the mechanical attainments of Britain; but, at the same time admitted, with apparent candour, the superior dexterity of Americans in traffic, and that, taken in a body, they are without some of the ruder qualities of John Bull. Thus, in one day, I have heard two intelligent Englishmen discuss the character of the American people, and each draw opposite conclusions: a fact, which proves how cautious we ought to be in forming an estimate of a community; as we are in continual danger of judging of the great stock from the small, and it may happen that an unfair sample may come within the narrow limits of a single person’s observation.

{26} The land between New Brunswick and Princeton is chiefly of a poor sand. The road is composed of the same material, with plank bridges over ravines, where most of the streams are now dried up. The woods, to a Briton, seem more remarkable for their height, than for the diameter of the trees. The stems, even by the road side, where many are felled, stand closely together, and their tops form a continued canopy, that sheds a gloom over the surface of the ground. When proximity to the two greatest cities in the Union is considered, it seems surprising that the arm of man has effected so little. The farms by the road side are neither numerous, nor are the cleared patches large. The passenger has no way of knowing how the country is peopled or improved beyond the first clearing; and where no opening occurs, he cannot see the light more than about 200 yards into the woods. Rail fences, however, and cattle amongst the trees, indicate that the whole is appropriated.

The cows are small, and of little value; and the few sheep which I have seen, are long-legged and thin, perhaps the worst breed in existence.

Princeton College is a large brick house, situated in a grass field. The edifice has a retired, if not a gloomy appearance. It was here that Dr. Witherspoon,[18] the author of the “Characteristics of Scottish Clergy,” found an asylum, and the means of prosecuting useful labours. By the way side stands a row of very large weeping willows, that are highly ornamental to this small town. Their long slender twigs hang down almost perpendicularly, and wave with every wind, displaying, as it were, a sort of vegetable drapery.

From Princeton onward, the land is much better than that observed to the north, and the {27} surface is finely diversified, but dusk prevented me from seeing a part of the country next to Trenton.

The arrival of six four-horse coaches produced considerable stir in the Inn at Trenton. No sooner had the passengers entered, than a pile of trunks and portmanteaus was reared in the bar-room, that would make a good figure in the warehouse of a wholesale merchant. The party at supper was very large. There being three lines of conveyance between New York and Philadelphia, the aggregate of the intercourse must be great. Betwixt New Brunswick and this place, a distance of twenty-five miles, we have not seen a single pedestrian. The heat of the weather may in some measure account for this.

Trenton is beautifully situated at the head of the tide water of the river Delaware. The orchards are luxuriant, and the pasture grounds richer than any that I have hitherto seen in the country.

_August 6._ Trenton is celebrated by one of the most dexterous feats of generalship on record. I shall take the liberty of stating some particulars of the affair. On the 1st of January, 1777, the term of enlistment amongst the American troops expired, and that day brought on a dissolution of the best part of the army. General Howe, aware of the occurrence, pressed forward on the 2d, with an army vastly superior. The head of their column arrived at Trenton about four o’clock, and attempted to cross Sanpink creek, which runs through the town, but finding the fords guarded, halted and kindled their fires. The American army was drawn up on the other side of the creek. In this situation the latter remained till dark, cannonading the enemy, and receiving the fire of their field pieces.

{28} Washington having discovered that the enemy designed to surround his little army, ordered the baggage to be removed after dark. At twelve o’clock, having renewed his fires, he decamped with his army, unperceived by the enemy, and marched against Princeton by a circuitous route, where he arrived by the rising of the sun, defeated the troops there, and captured their stores.[19]

The Delaware is a delightful river, with many magnificent windings. The convex shore of one extensive curve, is so imposing, that it is called Point-no-Point, an apparent cape being always in sight, but which recedes as the observer advances. The grounds adjacent to the river are flat, and covered with a rich verdure; but the beach is of a height sufficient to prevent a person from seeing far inland from the river. Many large farm houses are to be seen, with extensive orchards, and beautiful weeping willows adjoining. The last form large spreading masses without any erect or principal top, the main or leading branches rear themselves upwards, after acquiring a considerable degree of strength; and the shoots immediately younger, are elegantly bent, as if in the act of getting erect; while the youngest of all are completely pendulous. The whole is singularly picturesque.

On approaching Philadelphia, I felt disappointed in seeing the shipping so very inferior to that at New York; and the houses fronting the river are old and irregularly placed, so that the idea of a port declining in trade immediately occurred.

Philadelphia is situated between the rivers Delaware {29} and Schuylkill. The streets are laid off agreeably to the cardinal points, and cross one another at right angles, the principal ones running in the east and west direction, crossing the neck of land between the two rivers.

The streets, as at New York, are lined with trees; they are cleaner kept, and are wider, and more regular, so that gaseous exhalations are much less felt in them than in the other city. Most of the houses are of brick, and many of them have the doors and windows surrounded by white marble. Several public edifices are built of that material.

_August 7._ The general aspect of the city is more pleasant, and a freer circulation of air is felt than in New York; of course the natural inference is that Philadelphia must be the more salubrious of the two. Dr. Mease, of the American Philosophical Society, has deduced the same conclusion from the bills of mortality.[20] The daily average of deaths being 5²⁄₃ in this place, and 6¹⁄₃ at New York. At the time this computation was made, the population of Philadelphia was the greater of the two, consequently something more is to be allowed in favour of the relative healthfulness of Philadelphia.

The doctor has also compared the mortalities of Philadelphia and Liverpool, and it appears that the deaths in the former city are, to those in the latter, as 33 to 50. The comparison was made between the number of deaths in 1810 for Philadelphia, and on another year for Liverpool. This must have been occasioned from a want of data applying to the same year in both places. My very short acquaintance with the doctor gives me the utmost confidence in his candour, and in the accuracy of his calculations.

{30} It is not to be kept out of view, that the mortality in Philadelphia is considerably greater in summer than in winter, the deaths in August, for example, may be fairly stated at twice the number in December. This fact, not to mention the epidemical diseases with which Philadelphia is sometimes visited, must give a decided preference to Liverpool.

The religious sects of Philadelphia are eighteen in number; they have thirty-four places of worship. The whole may be exhibited thus: Swedish, three churches; Quakers, three; Free Quakers, one; Episcopal, three; Baptist, one; Presbyterian, two; Catholic, four; German Lutheran, two; German Calvinist, two; Associate Reformed Church, one; Moravians, one; Associate Church, (Antiburghers,) one; Presbyterian Covenanters, one; Methodists, four, (two for whites and two for blacks;) Universalists, one; Unitarians, one; Independents, one; Jewish Synagogues, two.

There are four state law courts in the city; four Banks, and eleven Insurance offices.

The other institutions would be too tedious to enumerate separately, probably the following includes most of them. Thirteen charitable institutions, eight free school societies, three patriotic societies, about twenty mutual benefit societies, five associations for the relief of foreigners and their descendants, seven literary institutions, three libraries, the American Philosophical Society,[21] the Society of Artists, the Pennsylvanian Academy of Fine Arts, and a museum of natural history.[22]

The American Philosophical Society meets frequently, and is well attended. When I visited the institution, three of the foreign ministers were {31} present. Professor Cooper[23] read very interesting papers on the bilious fever, on a new mordant to be used in dyeing, and on a new test for detecting arsenic where administered as a poison. There is still zeal and talent in the association once distinguished by a Franklin and a Rittenhouse.[24]

The Franklean library contains about 24,000 volumes; almost every scientific work of merit may be seen. Strangers are allowed to read and even to write in the great hall. On leaving a small deposit they may carry books out of the library. The building belongs to the institution, and has a herculean bust of the founder over the entrance; and the following lines, by Alexander Wilson[25] the ornithologist, hang in a frame in the great room.

“Ye who delight through learning’s paths to roam,
Who deign to enter this devoted dome;
By silent awe and contemplation led,
Survey these wonders of the illustrious dead!
The lights of every age--of every clime,
The fruits of science, and the spoils of time,
Stand here arranged, obedient to your nod;
Here feast with sages, and give thanks to God.
Next thanks to him; that venerable sage,
His country’s boast,--the glory of the age!
Immortal Franklin, whose unwearied mind,
Still sought out every good for all mankind;
Search’d every science, studious still to know,
To make men virtuous, and to keep them so--
Living, he reared with generous friends this scene;
And dead, still stands without to welcome in.”

The Atheneum is another excellent institution.[26] Here a great number of American and foreign newspapers are read, and there is also a collection of the reviews, periodical publications, and scientific journals, of Britain and America. Strangers are introduced by the subscribers.

The United British Emigrant Society meets frequently, and its business in conducted with zeal{32} and ability. A book is kept open, in which are inserted notices of labourers, &c. &c. wanted, with the names and residences of the persons to whom they are to apply. On looking over this record, I observed that many of the situations offered were in the western country. Although the members of this society merit the utmost credit for their benevolent exertions, the most cautious strangers will always hesitate to undertake long journies, incurring a great expense, the risk of meeting only with a trifling employment, and that of cheapening their labour by the sacrifices which they make. Artifices of this kind are not to be imputed to the society.

The museum contains a considerable collection of objects; and among the rest a skeleton of an entire mammoth. Around the upper part of the wall are arranged the portraits of several hundreds of the personages who have distinguished themselves in the revolution, or in the legislature of America. The design is praiseworthy, but the execution of the pictures is bad.

The state prison does honour to the jurisprudence of the country. The culprit is not made a burden on the community, but is put to work, and the first of his earnings applied to his support, a part of the remainder is given to him at his dismissal; by this means he is not under the necessity of resorting immediately to robbery or theft. Habits of industry are acquired, and trades learned, by persons who previously were pests to society. The strict order, and even silence, that is maintained in the establishment, is conceived to be the peculiarity that has produced the effects that distinguish it above every institution of the kind. The provisions given to the inmates are said to be plentiful and good, though furnished at the low rate of {33} fourteen cents, or about seven-pence-half-penny English, per day.

Philadelphia does not abound in manufacturing establishments. The predominance of British goods has shut up many workshops that were employed during the late war. Paper is manufactured in great quantities in Pennsylvania. Founderies for coarse cast iron articles are numerous. In town there are two manufactories of lead shot. Printing is carried on to a considerable extent, and executed in a superb style. It is said that one of the late Edinburgh novels was here set up in types in one day. The quarto edition of Joel Barlow’s Columbiad is an unrivalled specimen of printing. The types were cast by Messrs. Binnie and Ronaldsons, who, by their skill and individual exertions, have saved the United States from importing these essential literary implements. Mr. Melish’s[27] geographical establishment, is another prominent concern. He is continually embodying the most recent government surveys of the interior, into the general maps of the country. At Lehigh Falls, on the Schuylkill, there is a mill for cutting brads, which produces no less than two hundred in a minute. Philadelphia is in various respects well adapted to manufacture; if the facilities which it presents for its advancement are neglected, the city must decline, as the trade of New York and Baltimore is making rapid progress. The new road from the latter city to the Ohio,[28] and the extension of carriage, by steam boats, through the Mississippi and the Ohio, are all circumstances which tend to supersede Philadelphia as a market and as a thoroughfare.

At present, vast quantities of English goods are selling by auction in the ports of the United States. New York is the chief mart in this way. Merchants from the country, attend sometimes these {34} sales for many days, and even for weeks together. Public sales, and the present low prices, are very injurious to the merchants and manufacturers of England.

Probably the market of Philadelphia displays the greatest quantity of fruits and vegetables in the world. Boat loads are brought by the Delaware, and numerous waggons come loaded from the interior. Peaches, apples, pears, melons, cucumbers, pine apples, sweet potatoes, onions, &c. are plentiful beyond example.

The cleanliness and the civil address of persons who vend provisions in the market, are truly gratifying: if a speck is to be seen on the white apron of the butcher, it may be inferred that it came there on the same morning. Girls arrive on horseback, or driving light waggons, to sell vegetables, or the produce of the dairy. Many of these females, I am told, are the daughters of farmers who are in good circumstances. Here are none of the lazzaroni hucksters of fruit and sweet-meats, that form such a deplorable spectacle in the finest cities of Britain; nor of the miserables who rise earlier than the sun, to pick from amongst the ashes, the charred offal of their neighbour’s fire.

_September 3._ To-day I have seen a man sprawling on the ground in a state of intoxication; he is a native of Ireland. This is the first instance of the kind which I have seen in America. From this incident, I do not mean to represent that the people here do not drink spirituous liquors. The truth is, that many drink of them almost the moment after they get out of bed, and also at frequent intervals during the day; but though this fact has been noticed, the first conclusion is nevertheless true, that excessive drinking is rare.

{37} The saw for cross-cutting timber for fuel, is a tool which, for superior expedition, recommends itself to joiners and others. The following figure is a representation of it.

AB is the blade, about thirty inches long, and about two inches broad. It is very thin, and its teeth are very slightly bent to the right and left, so that it makes a narrow cut, through which the slender blade moves with little friction,--hence its facilities. The crooked stick ECA is the handle, FDB is another crooked stick, into which the blade is fixed at B. The wooden bar CD serves for fulcra, over which the blade is stretched by twisting the small rope EF, by means of the peg GH.

The sawing of firewood, and many other sorts of hard labour, are chiefly performed by black people. Happily, very few of these are now slaves in Pennsylvania. Free blacks, it is understood, have no difficulty in earning the means of subsistence, but the circumstance of their being despised and degraded, has had bad effects on their character. Even the Quakers, who have so honourably promoted negro emancipation, allot a separate part of the church to people of colour. In the state prison, too, they are separated from whites. These odious distinctions should be abolished in a free country.

Negroes are stigmatized as an inferior race; indolent, dishonest, and vindictive in the extreme. {38} There can be no doubt that, in many instances, these characteristics are too just, but it cannot be otherwise, while moral culture is, in a great measure, withheld from them, while they are excluded from the society of the wise and the good, and while the hope of applause gives no stimulus to the coloured man. Moral or immoral, he is a negro. This, of itself, is enough to keep him down. If Africans were placed on a similar footing, and with the same opportunities, as their white neighbours, and if they still kept behind, we might then begin to suspect a radical defect in their nature. But, as they are, it cannot be pretended that the experiment has been made.

For some time past, the democratic party have been nominating candidates for their general support in the ensuing election. No doubt is entertained of a democratic preponderance in the next session of Congress. The Federalist cabal is now disconcerted in this part of the Union. The mercenary avarice that would barter the independence of America for English goods, was never less formidable than now.

Here, as at New York, boarding houses are to be found, varying from the simplest accommodations, to elegance and luxury. The person who lives in a house where a high price is paid for board, is separated from the poorer class, and his acquaintances and associates are people in affluent circumstances and polished education; he is as free in the choice of his society as he possibly can be. Without doors, however, persons of lesser note are not treated with _hauteur_, and in transacting business the utmost affability prevails.

The dress worn in temperate weather is the same as in Britain, with this difference only, that pantaloons {39} are almost universal: the shorter small-clothes are used only by Quakers. On Sundays it would be difficult to discriminate betwixt the hired girl and the daughter in a genteel family, were drapery the sole criterion. Attentive observation of the people on the streets, would convince any one of the general diffusion of comfort and competence.

The symptoms of republican equality are visible in all the members of the community. I have seen several curious instances of this, which would surprise those accustomed only to the manners of the old world. For example, the Mayor is a respectable-looking, plainly dressed gentleman, and apparently a penetrating and efficient police magistrate. On a late occasion the court was crowded, and the weather hot; he desired a person in attendance to bring cold water. It was brought in a brown jug, not accompanied with a glass. A person within the railing (probably a lawyer or clerk, more thirsty than his honour) intercepted the vessel, drank, and then handed it to the Judge.

On the Sabbath, we do not witness all the stillness and solemnity that usually characterize a presbyterian town. On the _morning_ of that day, I have seen loaded waggons start in the market street, for the westward. A grocer, opposite to the house where I board, has two shops, one of them he keeps open for the sale of liquor, segars, &c. In a late newspaper, a complaint appeared against bringing cattle into the street for sale on Sunday _afternoon_. If this complaint was founded on truth, it is at least evident that it was addressed to citizens who, it was believed, would suppress the evil. I am inclined to think that a very great proportion of the people spend the day in the duties of {40} religion; but some here, as in other places, employ it purely as a day of rest; some as a day of amusement; and others in visiting friends, or other convivial meetings. On a Sunday afternoon I have heard many reports of guns, in the neighbouring woods or swamps. You will consider all this as a foul blot on the fair character of the City of Brethren; but I trust that your liberality will not impute to the jurisprudence of America, pre-existing customs, that, at every stage of the settlement, must have been imported from England; even from a country which pays tithes, for the support of a priesthood.

Every day numbers of European emigrants are to be seen in the streets. The ingress is greater than at any former time. I have never heard of another feeling than good wishes to them. For my own part, I have met with several receptions kinder than I ever could have anticipated; and have become acquainted with a number of excellent citizens, whose approbation will always be sufficient to convey a high gratification to my mind.

FOOTNOTES:

[17] The author’s route from New York to Philadelphia was by boat to New Brunswick, thence by stage to Trenton on the Delaware, where boat was taken for Philadelphia. Stages, by this time, had practically ceased running between New York and Philadelphia.--ED.

[18] James Witherspoon, born in Haddingtonshore, Scotland, in 1722, was a descendant of John Knox. Graduating from Edinburgh University, and receiving ordination as a Presbyterian minister, in 1768 he accepted an invitation to become president of Princeton College, and brought with him a considerable addition to the college library. From the first he took an active part in the Revolutionary War; as member of the provincial assembly, he assisted in overthrowing the royal governor; as member of the continental congress he signed the Declaration of Independence, and aided in initiating several important legislative measures. After the close of the war, he retired to his farm near Princeton, dying there in September, 1794.--ED.

[19] Washington’s Letters, vol. ii, page 4, Lond. 1795.--FLINT.

[20] John Mease, a wealthy and philanthropic Philadelphian, was born in 1771. Although a graduate of the Medical College of the University of Pennsylvania, he did not practice regularly, but devoted himself to literary and scientific pursuits. In association with David Rittenhouse and other members of the Philosophical Society, he was engaged in numerous undertakings for the betterment of the city. His _Picture of Philadelphia_, published in 1811, was for many years the best travellers’ guide thereof.--ED.

[21] The American Philosophical Society, the oldest scientific association in America, was organized by Franklin in 1743. In 1769 it was combined with the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge, and from that date (except for a few years during the Revolutionary War) has never failed to meet regularly. Among its presidents may be noted Franklin, Jefferson, Rittenhouse, and Caspar Wistar.

The Society of Artists, formed in 1810, to establish a school of drawing and hold an annual exhibition of foreign and American paintings, was dissolved soon after Flint’s visit to Philadelphia.

The Academy of Fine Arts was organized in 1805, largely through the efforts of Charles Wilson Peale. The following year a building was occupied, and the first exhibition opened in 1811, in conjunction with the Society of Artists. The Academy has ceased to hold exhibitions, but maintains a good permanent collection.

The Museum, opened by Peale at his residence in 1784, contained for the most part portraits of Revolutionary heroes painted by himself. When transferred to Independence Hall (1802), it included a large collection of birds, insects, and the implements of primitive men. The Philadelphia Museum Company acquired it in 1821; but later the collection was sold and dispersed.--ED.

[22] Dr. Mease’s Picture of Philadelphia.--FLINT.

[23] Thomas Cooper, born in London in 1759, was eminent both as a lawyer and a scientist. Educated at Oxford, he practiced law, first in England, and after 1795 in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. Upon a visit to France (about 1792), he studied chemistry, and continued his researches in that science after coming to America. Upon being removed, for arbitrary conduct, from a judgeship (1811), he was appointed professor of chemistry at Dickinson College, later at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1820 became president of the college of South Carolina. At the time of his death (1840) he was engaged in revising the statutes of the latter state, and in writing pamphlets in favor of state rights.--ED.

[24] For a brief biography of David Rittenhouse, see A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 75.--ED.

[25] Alexander Wilson was for many years a weaver and poet in Paisley, Scotland. Trouble breaking out between the weavers and masters, he emigrated to Philadelphia in 1794, becoming in turn weaver, school-teacher, and peddler. In 1802 the scientist John Bartram became interested in Wilson’s talents, and gave systematic direction to his natural taste for ornithology, to which he devoted the remainder of his life. He published his first volume of _American Ornithology_ in 1808, and had nearly completed nine volumes before his death, in 1813.--ED.

[26] A public reading-room called the Atheneum was established by private subscription in 1814. Ten years later it contained 3,300 volumes, including prominent foreign and American reviews. Rooms were rented from the American Philosophical Society until 1847, when the Atheneum building was erected.--ED.

[27] For a sketch of John Melish, see Bradbury’s _Travels_, volume v of our series, note 129.--ED.

[28] For a brief description of the National Road, see Harris’s _Journal_, volume iii of our series, note 45.--ED.

{41} LETTER IV[29]

Journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg--Lancaster--Elizabeth Town--The River Susquehana--Harrisburg--Carlisle--Chambersburg--Cove Mountain--Macconnel’s Town--Sidelong-hill--The river Juniata--Bedford--The Allegany Ridge--Stoystown--Laurel-hill--Lauchlinstown--Chesnut Ridge--Greensburg--Adamsburg--Pittsburg--Interspersed remarks on the Country, Taverns, &c.--Notices of Emigrants, and occurrences by the way.

_Pittsburg, 28th September._

The contents of this will be composed of notes taken on my journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg.[30]

On the morning of the 20th of September, I went to the Coach-Office in Philadelphia to take my seat. Such is the number of travellers that I found it necessary to take out a ticket two days previously.

The mail-coach is a large clumsy vehicle, carrying twelve passengers. It is greatly encumbered by large bags, which are enormously swollen by the bulk of newspapers. As a substitute for glass windows, a large roll of leather is let down on each side in bad weather.

During the greater part of the day our route was through a part of the country of a clayey soil, moderately fertile, and of a flat insipid surface. Late in the afternoon, we passed some land of a finer mould, and more elegant structure, with fruit trees bending under their load. The Indian {42} corn is nearly ripe, and is a great crop this year. The stalks are generally about eight feet high. The people have been picking the leaves off this sort of crop, and setting them up between the rows in conical bunches, to be preserved as winter food for the cattle.

We passed several family waggons moving westward. The young and the strong walking, the aged and infants riding. Waggons for removing families, and those for carrying goods to Pittsburg, have a canvass cover, stretched over hoops that pass from one side of the waggon to the other, in the form of an arch. The front is left open, to give the passengers within the vehicle the benefit of a free circulation of cool air.

Lancaster is a large town, well known for the manufacture of rifle-guns. We were too late in the evening for having a distinct sight of the place, or of the country towards Elizabeth Town, which is much commended.

_September 21._ The coach stopped at Elizabeth Town, last night, for three hours, and started again before three o’clock. We were near Middletown (eight miles on our way) before the light disclosed to our eyes a pleasant and fertile country.

It was near Middletown that we got the first peep of the river Susquehana, which is here about a mile in breadth. The trees on the east bank, confining the view to the right and left, produced an illusory effect, almost imposing on the mind a lake instead of the river. The highly transparent state of the air, and the placid surface of the water, united in producing a most distinct reflexion of the bold banks on the opposite side. Cliffs, partially concealed by a luxuriant growth of trees, sprung from the detritus below, and by smaller {43} ones rooted in the rifted rocks. Over these a rising back ground is laid out in cultivated fields. The eye is not soon tired of looking on a scene so richly furnished, and so gay.

Harrisburg, the seat of legislature of Pennsylvania, is a small town which stands on a low bottom by the river; a pleasant, but apparently an unhealthy situation. Opposite to the town is a small island in the river, connected with the eastern and western shores by very long wooden bridges. The waters of the Susquehana are limpid, but shallow at this place, and ill adapted to navigation, except in times of flood.

The country immediately west of the Susquehana is truly delightful. The soil, whether occupied by the natural woods, orchards, or crops, is covered with a profuse vegetation; and the superficial aspect altogether agreeable. The best sort of houses are of limestone; they shew nothing of fine taste or neat workmanship, but are far superior in durability and appearance to the wooden erections so common here. Barns are much larger, and frequently neater than the adjoining dwellings.

Towards Carlisle, the road passes through lands inferior to the lower country, seen in the forenoon. The surface of limestone rocks, and large detached blocks of the same mineral, interrupt the plough in the field, and the wheeled carriage on the road.

Carlisle, though in a newly settled country, has an appearance somewhat antiquated. With so much grass growing in the streets, a suspicion arises that there is not much traffic here.

Shippensburg is a place more recently founded than the last, but has, notwithstanding, contracted something like the rust of time. Wooden {44} erections soon acquire a weather-beaten appearance. The subsidence of log houses discloses chinks, shewing that they are well ventilated in summer, but not the most comfortable lodgments for the winter.

At Chambersburg the coach halted during the night. The rough roads already surmounted, and the report of worse still before us, determined two of the passengers, besides myself, to walk, as an easier mode of travelling over the mountains. Chambersburg is 143 miles from Philadelphia, and 155 from Pittsburg; and lies in the intersection of the roads from York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Several branches of what has been very properly called the current of emigration, being here united, strangers from the eastern country, and from Europe, are passing in an unceasing train. An intelligent gentleman, at this place, informed me, that this stream of emigration has flowed more copiously this year, than at any former period; and that the people now moving westward, are ten times more numerous than they were, ten years ago. His computation is founded on the comparative amount of the stage-coach business, and on careful observation. This astonishing statement is, in some degree, countenanced by a late notice in a New York newspaper, that stated the number of emigrants which arrived in that port during the week, ending the 31st of August last, to be 2050. The gentleman alluded to, says, that shades of character, sensibly different from one another, are forming in the western States. He represents the Kentuckians to be a high-toned people, who frequently announce their country, as if afraid of being mistaken for inhabitants of Ohio State; and the Ohians, as having less pride of country, being less assuming in their {45} demeanour, but not less agreeable in conversation, nor less punctual in business transactions. Were it not for the intelligence of my penetrating informant, and for his great intercourse with travellers, I would certainly not have remarked the supposed distinction of these provincial characters. If the difference really exists, it will be difficult to assign any moral cause that is adequate; unless it be the keeping slaves in Kentucky, a species of stock not permitted by the constitution of Ohio.

_September 22._ We found a waggoner who agreed to carry our travelling necessaries to Pittsburg. For my portmanteau, weighing about fourteen pounds, he charged three dollars, alleging the trouble that attends putting small articles within doors every night. This is an instance of one man measuring his demand by the urgent situation of another. The jolting that waggons undergo in this rugged country, render it indispensable that baggage be packed with the utmost care.

The two young gentlemen with whom I started, are Americans, good walkers, and cheerful companions.

One mile to the north of Chambersburg the road ascends a steep hill of slate clay, the first stratified substance that I have seen overlaying the limestone. The soil on the summit is so excessively poor, that I am surprised to see such ground cultivated in this country.

Several taverns by the road are log-houses constructed by laying squared trees horizontally, in a quadrangular position, in a way similar to that in which house-joiners pile up boards to be dried. As the erection advances, the last laid or uppermost log is notched on the upper side, near both ends, for the reception of the next cross pieces. {46} The interstices are filled up with lime or clay, and the roofs are of shingles, or thin boards. Frame houses consist of erect posts, set in sills or horizontal foundation beams. Over the tops of the posts other horizontal pieces are laid, forming the summit of the wall. The outside of the posts are covered over with thin boards, ranged horizontally, the upper one uniformly overlaying the edge of that immediately under it. The inside is most commonly lined with lathing and plaster, but the last piece of finery is frequently dispensed with.

Near Baker’s tavern, six miles from Chambersburg, the waggon wheels have uncovered a fine slate clay, fit to be used as slate pencils. The same kind of substance is to be seen in the adjoining stream.

Around Campbell’s Town, seven miles from Chambersburg, the land is bleak, and apparently poor; to the north-west an extended high ridge exposes to view a large tract of romantic wood scenery.

At thirteen miles from Chambersburg is Loudon, a few houses only, two of them taverns, situated at the foot of the ridge just mentioned, which is called the Cove Mountain. A new road is formed over it. The ascent is winding and gradual, so that seven miles are occupied in surmounting the formidable barrier. The darkness of the night, and the great quantity of timber on both sides, rendered this part of our journey very gloomy. Not a sound was to be heard but that of the Catadid, a large green insect, whose note resembles its name, as nearly as it can any articulate sound. Near the top of the hill stands a miserable log tavern filled with _movers_, a name for settlers removing to the western country. At the summit, we were accosted in the Irish accent. The individual {47} told us that he was so much exhausted, that he could not proceed farther, and that he had laid himself down among the trees.[31]

At Macconnel’s Town, we knocked at the door of a tavern, heard a noise within, which convinced us that the people were astir, but not willing to hear us. On making louder applications, the landlord saluted us, “_Who’s there?_” With some reluctance he let us in, grumbling at the lateness of our arrival, it being ten minutes past ten o’clock. He affected to be unwilling to let us have supper; but while he was refusing, a female commenced cooking for us.

_September 23._ From beds which we last night saw on the floor of the bar-room, a numerous group of Swiss emigrants had arisen. One of them, an old man with a long beard, has a truly patriarchal appearance. The females wear hats, and are of a hardy and masculine form.

About a mile from Macconnel’s Town, is the foot of another steep ridge; a new road over it is nearly finished. Here we met with a foot traveller, who told us that he had settled in Illinois, by the Wabash, about fifty miles above Vincennes. The ground, he said, “is as good as ever man set foot on.”[32] He had not heard of Mr. Birkbeck’s settlement: this, together with his appearance, convinced us that he is a hunter of the woods. He was on his way to remove his family from New York state, a journey of 1400 miles.

Called at Noble’s tavern for breakfast. The hostess could not 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.