Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-05-21
THE GROWTH OF THE WEST.

The Central railroad will soon be finished,
and Pittsburgh brought within ten hours OF
Philadelphia. What change from the pc
riod of the old French war, when weeks
were consumed in traversing the same dis
tance. That was not quite century ago,
vet, if the worthless of Braddock's army
could rise from their graves, and journey
over the same region again, would they
recognize the country in its altered aspect!
It is almost impossible, even for us, ac-
customed as we are to the wonders OF the
nineteenth century, to realize the chan ge,.'
Tn the wear of grace, seventeen hundred and
fifty-one. there was between the Atlantic
and the Pacific Ocean, scarcely single
town of any size, and only few scattered
settlements like those around Fort Pitt and
other military posts. Here andthere bold
borderer occupied fertile spot along nv
er bottom, contending with savage Indians
for the possession of even this scanty bit OF
land and occasionally solitary boat rlp-
pled the waters of the Monongahela, Ale
gheny or Ohio; but the magnificent steam
ers, and the countless farms that constitute
the wealth of western Pennsylvania, were
then entirely unknown. A traveller might
Journey for days, between Lancaster and
Pittsburgh, without seeing the smoke OF CIV
ilized habitation or meeting a solitary
white man.
Even seventy-fve years ago. that section
of our State. with all the vast tract beyond
it, was howling wilderness, inhabited only
by savage beasts of prey, or more savage IN
dians. During the entire period OF the Rev
olutionary war, and for many years suose-
ouent, Kentucky, Ohio, and the western
frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, wit
messed constant inroads on the part OF hos
tile red men and hundreds of the early set
tlers. with their wives and children, fell vlc'
tims to the secret bullet or to the equally
deadly tomahawk. For nearly whole gen
Grafton, the farmer dared not go a-feld with,
out his gun. The wife, when her husband
left her in the morning, could not Calculate
with certainty on his return at night. MIN
isters of the gospel, walking to their rude
churches, attended by their families were
scalped on the way. In the dead Of night,
households were reused up by the fearful
wboop, OF the torch of the savage incendiary
and rarely was it they escaped alive. The
whole of the frontier was battled for, inch
by inch Every foot Of ground may DC
be said, almost without metaphor, to have
been purchased with human blood Solate
as in TIT, Wheeling stood serge from an
army ofred warriors, and though the iHdians
were finally compelled to retire, the entire
country around was laid waste. Who would
believe it that saw Wheeling now3
Even fifty years ago Ohio was so sparely
settled as to have Just began thinking Of
settino up for a State; and ten years later
the Indian war, which ended with Tippe-
canoe, made her women still turn pale
Yet, in this year, Eighteen hundred and fif-
ty-one, Ohio has population Of nearly two
millions grows more wheat than any other
State in the Union; and begins to talk OF
her claims to have the federal capital at
Cincinnati instead of at Washington. Thou
sands of the daughters OF those who shud-
der at the very name Of red man, never
cav an Indian in their life. The war-whoop
is scarcely heard any longer, unless within
sight of the Rocky mountains. Parties Oh
pleasure make summer trips from Pittsburgh
to the Falls of st. Anthony, place scarce
lv known to white men thirty years ago,
and visit to which, at even later period
would have been paid for by the loss OF
scalp. It has been a century of mighty
changes. In the history of the world there
is nothing like it. A hundred years ago
there was scarcely civilized settlement be-
yond the Alleghanies yet millions Of white
Inhabitants now people the Mississippi val
lev. Almost within the memory of man,
there was not passable road west of the
Chesapeake yet in few years locomotives
will traverse the entire distance between
Philadelphia and St. Louis; while before
the century is out, we shall behold rail-
road to the Pacific. What an age, what
people !-PMla. Bulletin