Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1870-06-18
TRIP THROUGH PIG-lROND0M.
AltOOna-CrcSson- -JOhnStOwn -WeStmOrtland
The Great Railway Excursion.

plg-ir0nd0m- III would nave done nlm gooO 10
travel three or four hundred miles through this
pig iron district. He would have got q realizing
sense of the bigness of the institution. No
wonder Mr.. Kelley and the rest of them make
fight for the pig iron. From Baltimore to Pitts
burg we have mt been out of sight OF pig iron.
You see it cold and you see it hot; you see il in
embryo and in all the stages of development up
to the perfect pig-hog. You see it stationary,
everywhere, and you see it whisked East and
whisked West on all the fifty-six daily freight
trains of the great Pennsylvania Central
As railroad men, our party naturally banker
after pig iron, and have been much impressed
with the mineral wealth OF Pennsylvania and
the manner in which that wealth has been
turned to account. The Baldwin Steel Works.
near Harrisburg, where steel-rail Is manufac-
tured 10y the Bessemer process, were not in
operation, much to the disappointment of the
party; but at Altoona, where we stopped over
night, an opportunity was offered to inspect the
car-shops Of the Pennsylvania railroad at that
point, perhaps the most complete i'm the country.
Away up here in tine mountains, near the crown
OF the Alleghanies, is this busy hive of industry,
employing some 900 men through the year. and
forming the base Of support for fiouIishng set
tlement Of about 5000 inhabitants.
Railroad Hotels.
We were entertained that Monday night right
handsomely at the Logan House, the Railroad
Hotel at Altoona. OF course a railroad cannot
run hotel, but this establishment, the Noun
tain House at Cresson, and the Union Depot
Hotel at Pittsburg are owned by the Keystone
Hotel Company, formed from the managers of
the Pennsylvania road. The purpose seems to
be to protect the travelling public from the
gouges practised by irresponsible establish
md 1 fo wall
as well as on the Union Pacific road, whose ho-
tells at Laramie and Cheyenne, on the outskirts
of civilization, are surpassed by no railway ho-
tels in the country. At the Logan House from
500 to 900 travellers are fed every day.
Sightseeing.
In the morning the party were escorted by T.
L. Firth, the veteran Treasurer of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad Company. and A. j. Cassatt
General Superintendent, (perhaps the youngest
man who ever filled so responsible an Office }
through the shops. Without going into tedious
detail, L may say that we inspected thirteen
acres of shops, and then ran down the road half
mile east of Altoona to see trifle of eight or
nine acres more OF new shops. The exhibition
OF power is always interesting to mankind, and
We had it here on a Titanic scale in the manner
in which immense masses of iron and steel were
handled, cut and mauled by modern mechanica,
appliances. Commissioner Delano showed so
much interest in a tremendous stamp of twelve
ton hitting power that it was thought advisable
to get him out OF the shop, lest he should learn
some new wrinkle in the way OF stamp duties to
bring down upon the devoted heads of the
public!
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has
over six hundred locomotives in service aud
about II 900 cars; consequently the repair shop
here form an immense rendezvous for alliny Or
worn out rolling stock. -
Tbs -a.,.--a-------. sno parryround matte o:
much interest in the various nprovements anf
new inventions in railroading; as, for instanc
the patent air-brake, which is vast improv
ment upon the present mode of slackening tie
speed of a tram. An experiment made while
were at Altoona showed that train of ten car,
running at the rate of forty miles an hour, can
be stopped within the length OF seven cars. Th
brake is under the sole control Of the engjn ,er
who, by putting on the air-pump to the pipes
connected with all the cars, is enabled to bring
an instantaneous check equally upon each car.
In the short turns of railroads running through
mountainous countries this brake seems OF
special importance; enabling the engineer to
check up suddenly in case of encounterlny a
land slide, cattle or carriages on the track.
new arrangement for using gas in place OF
lamps upon trains also attracted attention. Is
did very ingenious and effective mode -
riveting boilers BY machinery, in place of tn.
tedious process by hand.
The Tip Top Of the Alleghanies.
Leaving Altoona we mounted to Cresson an,
to the top of the Alleghanies by the remarkable
series of inclines and horse shoe circuits which
make the railroad passage OF the mountains at
this point one of the wonders of the world.
CressOn is noted as summer resort. We were
one day in advance Of the opening of the Noun
tain House for the season, but the host, q. w
Mullins, was on hand with bounteous dinner
for our party; and we were welcomed at the
hall entrance with such JUNCTION by the old col
ored favorite Daniel, that it at once attracted
attention to the fact that he had brand new
set OF false teeth.
The Cambria Iron works.
AT Cresson we were met by Mr.. E. G. Town
send, one of the members of the famous Cam
bria Iron Company, of which Hon. Daniel j.
Morrell is the superintendent and active repre-
sensitive Mr.. Townsend accompanied us to
5ohnstown, the seat of these great iron works.
and took us through such Of the extensive work.
as we had time to visit. 1t may give some general
idea Of their Importance to say that 1000 men ar
employed, manufacturing every day $50 tons o
railroad iron, or enough to lay three miles c
railway track every twenty-four hours! Tw
sets or men work night and day, and the estal
lishment is never idle. 1t is the largest sing,
establishment in the world. An extension /
now being made to the establishment for T.
manufacture Of steel rails by the Bessemer Dr.,
cess; and the Cambria Company mean to US
only American iron. At other establishment:
in the country where the Bessemer steel
manufactufed ii Is held to be necessary to use
certain portion Of English pig-iron; but M.
Townsend is positive In the opinion that thc
shall not be obliged 70 60 out of Pennsylvaniq
for the iron for their Bessemer steel
1t Is wonderful to note how bountifully natur
has furnished here al the supplies for giganti-
manufacturing operations. Thus, with all IT,
conveniences Of water supply, railroad facil
ties, &C., the Cambria Company have only
60 25o yards to the nsighboring hill side for l.
exhaustable supplies Of iron and coal; the iro
vein being only s. feet above the coal vein! t. 4
supply ell the varieties of ore, &c, q somewhs Z
wider circuit u taken, and the hills, for som
distance around, are honey-combed with mine
retched by some thirty miles or subtsrranea
reflvay. The company own G., 600 acres in th-
vicinity Of Johnstewn, and have, therefor
v,v>rf tk.,I .