Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-07-22
NO. XXXIV.
PHILADELPHIA, July 7th, 1851.

PHILADELPHIA, July Tth, 1857.
Hears. Editors Spectator The Fourth came
and passed, and nothing of Importance trans
pired. Ali business of public character sus-
pended, and the city bore much the appearance
of Sabbath, except the racket kept up By the
!. bows with their crackers and rockets at night
In my letter of the Sd inst. mentioned Fair
mount Water-works, from which the greater
portion Of the city is supplied with water from
the Schuykill river The mill building is Of
stone 238 feet long and 56 wide, containing eight
double acting forcing pumps. Three of the
wheels are of wood; all The rest are of cast iron,
from 16 to 1S feet in diameter and ID feet wide.
These wheels, operated by water from ths
Schuylkill, are each capable of raising one and
half millions of gallons of water daily into the
reservoir. The reservoirs are built with stone
walls, paved in the bottom with brick laid in
cement and each of them is more than fifty
feet above the highest ground in the city. The
greater portion of these reservoirs, four in num-
ber are upon artificial ground, raised in some
parts forty feet above the original hill.
There are also three other water-works in the
city, and all the others presume operated by
steam-one in West Philadelphia, Spring Gar
den and Kensington respectively the latter, on
ly, supplied from the Delaware river
The city is extending itself in all directions
from the Delaware, North, West and South, and
by no means slowly. Quite number of build
ings going up in every direction. Large num-
bers Of hands, under the authorities, are con-
stantly preparing new strcets-cutting down
heights and filing up holows, and by this means
will give an even, comely appearance. am
told that at O certain place on Arch street. there
was at an early day an arched bridge forty feet
| high, across q branch or creek and that some Of
the largest pipes Of the water-works are now
laid therein. No perceptible appearance OF such
unevenness now appears
The streets are numbered from the Delaware
Westward, and at twenty-fourth You strike the
Schuylkill river at its eastern bend, but the
streets continue their numbers irrespective Of
the river. Market street, crossing these at right
angles and running from the Delaware to the
Schuylkill, and mile or two beyond it, is per-
tectly straight and the streets are numbered
from it each way Some after various kinds of
timber, rs Ohesnut Walnut, Locust, Spruce,
Pine, Lombard, &C., and Others from other
things, as arch before mentioned. Second and
Broad, or 14th, are the greatest thoroughfares,
and should think there was more business done
on Second than any other in the city. Of those
east and west Market and Chestnut, are per-
haps foremost, but Chesnut is decidedly the
great thorougbfare and the fashionable street of
the city. The streets are generally kept clean,
and in dry weather are watered three times
day. Some of the new streets are not yet paved,
but there are upwards of six hundred miles OF
street paved with stone, and the sidewalks with
brick. Sidewalks generally swept clean every
morning.
There are, presume, not less than five hun
Il. al
in every direction, making the Exchange the GEN.
important point in the city, and suburbs every
fifteen minutes, viz: Fairmount, Gray's Ferry,
United States Mint, Girard College, Navy Yard,
Baltimore Depot, &C., &c. Most of these places
are three or four miles distant. The charge for
every ride is six cents, and in the absence Of
horse railroads and cars, the omnibus cannot be
dispensed with. The fare, though seeming low,
is profitable to the proprietors, some of whom
have forty or fifty coaches, clearing beyond all
expenses daily from five to ten dollars each, and
if the passenger had to employ hack it would
cost him five times as much.
The city is abundantly supplied with hotels,
restaurants, and eating rooms, in many OF which
drinking prevails to O ruinous extent, though
beasty drunkenness is quite rare. The thea
tres and other places of amusement are often
crowded, but the moral and religious furnish but
little encouragement for them, l think; and the
population as whole will certainly compare ia
vorably, if indeed it is not foremost, in moral
worth Of any of the neighboring cities. Within
the city aud its suburbs there are near three
hundred Churches, of which fifty belong to the
Protestant Episcopal, upwards OF forty to the
Methodists, thirty to the Baptists, twenty-sx to
the Roman Catholics, the rest are divided among
the Friends and others; and the ministers are
generally workmen that need not be ashamed,
being men of ability and zeal in the cause OF God.
There are some fifteen or twenty daily news.
papers, upwards of forty weeklies, with full
proportion of other periodicals, and countless
number of authors, publishers, and printers;
some twenty or thirty Banks, and not few bro.
kers and paper shayers; from seventy hive to
hundred insurance offices of tllevsrious branches.
Philadelphia is quite manufacturing city
perhaps the first in Importance this side OF New
England. Beside its numerous cotton and WOOL
len mills and iron works of cast, malleable and
bar iron, it has its numerous tanneries. boot and
shoe factories; its large cabinet, coach, wagon
and carriage factories; its numerous and large
tailoring establishments also manufactures OF
paper, combs and umbrellas; several establish
ments of map publishers and coloring some
forty or fifty marble yards, and many steam en-
CINE and boiler factories, steam saving and
blaming mills, mathematical and musical instru-
ments of various kinds and, in a word, OF al
most every kind of manufacturing done in the
United States, more or less of it is done here.
intended to have said something about tho
buildings and many other things, but my sheet
being full, and must close.
remain, as ever, yours, II.
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