Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-08-03
wAsH1NeroN NEWS AND GOSSIP.

South STREET, NEw YoRk-ITs MAMMOTH IRON
L WORKS AND DocKs-STEANsHIP LINE BETWEEN
NEW YORK AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
THE STEAMER MoNrlcELLe-OxMBUs ESsI-
Z NEERING IN THE STREETS or New YoRx-
HORSE RAILROADS AND THEIR ADyANTAeEs-
1 The EATING HOUSES OF NEW Yoxk, &c, &C.
Editorial COrrsspondsnes Of 1As Star.
mo. I2l NEW YORK, July 2s, 1859,
I After closing my letter Of yesterday, rambled
for hours up South street and in that vicinity of
New Works Fast River front, among the dock
yards and iron works, looking at all the different
descriptions Of docks wherein vessels Of all sizes
are repaired, and at more mammoth machinery in
the iron works as well as I'm the docks, than ever
before saw. In and about these works presume
some fifteen or twenty thousand mechanics and
laborers must find pretty constant employment
AS di ficut as the task may seem to the imagfna-
ton Of the uninitated. they make but a compara-'
lively trifng job here Of raising high out of water
ship of three thousand tons burden, so supported
when thus out of her element as that no injurious
strain falls upon any Of her parts. As the use Of
the dock Is let by the day. when ship Is in one
workmen are employed in her repair in so great
numbers as that at a distance they look like bees
buzzing around In the iron works to which
refer-the Morgan, Allaire, Secor and Novelty
iron works-the heaviest machinery manufactured
in this country is gotten up. There are made not
only the immense machinery for the steamships
(American) plying from this port. but nearly all
very heavy machinery sold here for use anywhere
in the United States. One can get no better idea
of the progress Of the country in the development
of its resources than by casting ones eye over the
progressing and finished work to be seen in those
| huge establishments.
| Apyopos-I saw in the course Of the same ram
BILE, the steamships being built to run between
New York and the District of Columbia, by Mr..
Cromwell, extensive and successful builder and
| owner of three or four such lines plying out OF
| this port The ship now on the stocks is to be
called the Monticello. and is to be Of 200 tons
burden, with first class accommodations for
| thirty forty passengers. She Is to be ready TO
make her first trip by the middle of August and
her consort, the Mount Vernon, Is to be built so
as to take her place the line in a month there
| after. They are to make two trips week, leav-
ing both New York and Washington every We'd
nesday and Saturday afternoon, and making the
voyage in thirtysix hours. The fact that business
now exists to justify the investment Of more than
hundred thousand dollars in such an enterprise,
tells not only Of the increasing commercial inn
portlnce of own immediate region, but,
equally, that the tendency Of the business affairs
of the times is surely to make all sections Of the
Union tributary to this great American business
centre. Competent judges, according to the New
York city newspapers say that these ships Of this
new line, when finished, will be perhaps the best
specimens of American propeller building afoat.
| I examined the hull of the Monticello with great
| interest indeed, being deeply interested in the
success of any enterprise tending to drive District
/ of Columbia business ahead.
| Trade is said to be very dull here just now.
However evident that fact may be to the New
Yorker, to the stranger it does not appear ]
never traversed the citvs streets when the hesta-
| ting stranger was in much danger Of being
| knocked down and trampled over by oinnbuses.
carts, the avalanche of human beings constantly
rushing to and fro in them He who stops by the
way here for an instant, and withdraws bis mind
from the task Of guarding his head and shins from
collision. must be sure to do So in some nook or
| corner only, wherein projecting building may
prove a safeguard to him The crowd. whether
Of vehicles Of men, women and children, surges
regularly and constantly as though influenced by
| common impulse knowing no individuality. and
| Is expecting each Of its own compOnents to take
| care Of himself. 1t never stops to think of the
safety the convenience of any of its atoms; but
1 '''"~-~ ~" With steady t.an'p from early light
till midnight its currents inc reasing intensity
| until its high tide, at noon. and then gradual Is
ebbing and growing less intense as it were until
the city is apparently almost as hushed a country
| village. Getting ont OF the way of the omnibus 5
Squite an art here, requiring much practice and
no little complicated engineering on the part of
| the stranger How the drivers manage to do their
work without twenty times many collisions as
actually take place in the streets Of New York is
a mystery to me. OF knotty dilemma, it is oft n
said ylHa InIia
OF a knottier one, it should be said that it will
puzzle a New York omnibus driver Here only
have the ladies learned to be prompt in settling
omnibus fares and in getting in and out of the
| coaches Young and Old they all seem tn move
| as briskly in such matters AZ the men Nau"f,
else illustrates the influence upon the popular
mind Of the city, of the adage that time Is money!
more signally than the fact that the ladies' else
where almost universal habit of OBTAINING ornni-
buses longer than is necessary is not known here
Even aged feeble and timid ones seem to realize
that the time and tide of Broadway buses can
wait AN instant for one.
| One must course in and around New York IL
com prehend the immense advantages Of horse rail
| roads running between different quarters Of the
| capital. know not how many such convenience
there are in the city and Brooklyn but do know
that, turn which way Will in the streets where
they are constructed, anu cars under Roadway
crossing meeting each other seem always in
sight Their comparative comfort ito the passen-
ger) is instantly realized getting into one after
| an omnibus ride. | have as yet seen no inconve-
nience or injury whatever arising from them to
any interest. Half dozen lines appear to diverge
| from Fulton Ferry in Brooklyn, at which some
three four seem to arrive and depart every
minute upon the two lines Of rails only, laid
down there. There is neither confusion nor hustle
in their management; but ali goes on as smoothly
| and quietly as though a railroad never existed
there. The travel upon these railroads increases
very rapidly; thus proving that the public is
hourly avaiiing itself more and more of the flcili
ties they affod. Here, rs in Washington city.
when any set of business men propose to construct
horse railroad where needed, other sets immed
atey oppose them in the hope Of getting the char
ter themselves All conceivable expedients are
resorted TO here there, by those rival interests
each TO clutch the prize; which in befoypiny the
public and bewildering the legislature result i'm
delays injurious to the general public Interests
The good folks of the District had specimen of
the workings Of such rivalries last winter. when
Congress was asked to charter Pennsylvania