Chapter I: Preface

This book grows out of the conviction that geography in the schools must return somewhat to human interests. In saying this the author will scarcely need to defend himself against the charge of undervaluing physiography. It is only a question of wise adaptation to youthful students. Elementary history also needs to be placed in its setting of physical conditions. It is here attempted to promote both these objects in the study of the eastern United States. If geography and history can be well correlated, both of these great themes may be taught with economy of time and with stronger interest.

Much more might be said concerning the growth of centers, the agriculture, and the commerce, but the limits of space are rigid. Hence roads and westward movements have been made the main topic. The geography is not taught formally, but is woven in with the story. Care has been given to the maps of the several regions, that they should clearly express the essentials and avoid the vagueness of many small-scale representations of the Appalachian belt.

A. P. B.

COLGATE UNIVERSITY
October, 1906

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. BOSTON AND THE BERKSHIRES 1

II. PIONEERS OF THE MOHAWK AND THE HUDSON 14

III. ORISKANY, A BATTLE OF THE REVOLUTION 29

IV. THE ERIE CANAL 40

V. THE NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILWAY 53

VI. OLD JOURNEYS FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE WEST 63

VII. THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 74

VIII. THE NATIONAL ROAD 86

IX. THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD 98

X. CITIES OF THE OHIO VALLEY 111

XI. THE GREAT VALLEY 129

XII. TO KENTUCKY BY THE CUMBERLAND GAP 142

XIII. FRONTIER SOLDIERS AND STATESMEN 155

XIV. CITIES OF THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS 167

INDEX 183

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

1. Cunard Steamship 3

2. Union Station, Springfield 6

3. Deerfield Valley, Charlemont, Mass. 8

4. Eastern Portal of Hoosac Tunnel 11

5. South Station, Boston 12

6. Henry Hudson 16

7. Sir William Johnson 20

8. Genesee Street, Utica 23

9. Old Fort Johnson, Amsterdam, New York 26

10. Oriskany Battle Monument 30

11. Herkimer directing the Battle of Oriskany 33

12. Herkimer’s Monument and Mansion 36

13. De Witt Clinton 43

14. Erie Canal, Utica 46

15. Erie Canal, Syracuse 48

16. Traveling by Packet on the Erie Canal 50

17. Erie Canal and Solvay Works, Syracuse 51

18. De Witt Clinton Train 54

19. Twentieth Century Limited 57

20. Rounding the Noses, Mohawk Valley 59

21. Penn Square, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 65

22. Bridge over Conestoga Creek, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 67

23. Tollhouse near Lancaster, Pennsylvania 68

24. Hambright’s Hotel, on the “Lancaster Pike” 70

25. Old Road House, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 71

26. Freight Locomotive, Pennsylvania Railroad 75

27. Tunnel, Portage Railway 76

28. Broad Street Station, Philadelphia 77

29. Bridge, Pennsylvania Railroad, above Harrisburg 79

30. Pennsylvania Railroad Shops, Altoona 80

31. Horseshoe Curve, Pennsylvania Railroad 81

32. Rock Cut, Pennsylvania Railroad 84

33. Tollhouse near Brownsville, Pennsylvania 87

34. Milestone, Braddock’s Road, Frostburg, Maryland 90

35. Old Road House, Brownsville, Pennsylvania 92

36. Cumberland and Gap in Wills Mountain 95

37. Bridge and Monument, National Road, near Wheeling, West
Virginia 96

38. Mount Royal Station, Baltimore 99

39. Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Cumberland 100

40. Highest Point on Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Sand Patch,
Pennsylvania 103

41. Down the Potomac from Harpers Ferry 106

42. Coke Ovens, Meyersdale, Pennsylvania 108

43. The Observation End, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 110

44. Old Blockhouse, Pittsburg 112

45. Pittsburg 115

46. Coal Barges, Pittsburg 119

47. Pittsburg at Night 120

48. Furnaces near Pittsburg 121

49. River Front, Cincinnati 125

50. Luray, Shenandoah Valley 131

51. James River Gap in the Blue Ridge 134

52. Hilly Farm Lands, near Knoxville 136

53. Great Valley, from the Pinnacle, Cumberland Gap 139

54. Cumberland Gap from the East 143

55. Daniel Boone 145

56. Pineville Gap, Cumberland River 147

57. Cornfield near Cumberland Gap 150

58. Kentucky Blue Grass 152

59. Three States Monument, Cumberland Gap 153

60. George Rogers Clark 157

61. On the French Broad 159

62. John Sevier 162

63. James Robertson 164

64. Sevier Monument, Knoxville 165

65. Old Statehouse, Knoxville 166

66. Street in Knoxville 168

67. On the Campus, University of Tennessee 169

68. Marble Quarry near Knoxville 171

69. Statehouse, Nashville 173

70. Chattanooga from Cameron Hill 175

71. Broad Street, Atlanta 177

72. Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills, Atlanta 178

73. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta 179

74. Iron Furnace, Birmingham 180

MAPS

Eastern United States _Frontispiece_

New England 4

New York 26

Pennsylvania 64

Southern Appalachian Region 132

FROM TRAIL TO RAILWAY