Daily Republican., 1884-04-19
ON THE WING.
THE REPUBlICAN RAMBLER A E
HARRISRURG-HE DISCUSSES
ABOUT RAILROADS,

| HARRISBURG, April 18th 1884 "A
Ishort ride OF nine miles brought us +
Harrisburg, he capital of the greatStat
|of Pennsylvania, passing the towns o
Higbspire and Steelt0n on the way
The first is q thrifty little town, but tn
latter has 80 outgrown itself that 1t Ii
almost ready to emerge into . city
Eight years ago 1t was but . hamlet
now a town Of some seven or eigh,
thousand souls. But few towns even
In the west show q more rapid and
and solid growth than SteeltOn. The one
industry here that completely over
shadows all others in Pennsylvania
is the steel works.
This Is an immense and wealthy cor
pOratiOn that manufactures steel rails
and the finer steel used for making
edged tools, and all other articles made
of steel Probably not less than three
thousand hands are employed In these
immense works. The corporation owns
the ore beds from which the ore Ia
taken, and when the ore starts from tta
bed, where 1t has lain for thousands of
years, 1t never stops until 1t b 9 passed
through furnace and forge, and run out
upon cars and taken to It's destination,
and manufactured into rails. This
thriving town is within three miles OF
Harrisburg and will no doubt In the
not very far off future be part OF that
city. A screech from the locomotive,
q few taps Of the engine bell, and we
are in the city where the laws for a
great State of the Union are made and
nnmade. Everything IL in c0mmo-
ton, as every train brings in enthusias-
tic Republican delegates to attend the
State Convention which meets on Wed.
nesday. 1t requires no caves dropping to
ascertain that as general rule the dele.
gates are in favor of the "Pluned
Knight" of Maine. A walk OF two
or three squares from the depot brings
us to the Lochiel House, where politi
clans most do congregate when they
visit Harrisburg.
Harrisburg is a fourishing city, and
now boasts population of 10000.
There are number of very fine church.
es, and other public buildings, includ-
ing q handsome pOst-office recently erec-
ted, just such bui ding as Whining
ton needs a.d needs as badly as Harris
burg did. The large and handsome
stores here strike the eye. They are
not all crowded into one street Is in
many cities of the size of Harrisburg,
but exist in number of streets, giving
the city decided business appearance in
a mercantile line. The State Capital
buildings are located on a beautiful but
natural mound, amidst large shade
trees planted by human hands. The
mound is long and shaped something
like smoothing iron, with the corners
rounded off. Concrete walks lead from
all directions to the buildings.
Electric lights that were intended to
brilliantly light up the grounds only
do 1t partially, and the managers Of the
park are very much dissatisfied with
their electrical experiment.
Harrisburg is becoming q railroad cen
tire, and the most dangerous rival of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, the new Van
derbilt line,i obtaining sure and sub.
stantial foothold here. Workmen have
ljust commenced digging the founda
tions for the huge and high abutmenti
Of the bridge that is to span the river
The eastern abutment is to stand with
in a few yards of the Harris monument
that commentaries John Harris, the
first settler Of the spot on which Har
risburg now stands.
The stump of the tree was pointed
out to US TO which the Indians chained
Harris to torture him until he revealed
the place where he kept his treasures,
and to end by burning him to death.
The purposes of the red fends, enraged
with "fire water" would have been
carried out had not the friendly Leni.
Lenape Indians appeared at this criti.
cal .juncture and released the founder
of Harrisburg. The old tree stump and
the monument are regarded with a
curiosity not unmixed with considerable
veneration by every visitor of an in
quiring mind. This railroad, to which
we have referred, crosses over the tops
of the houses of that part of the city,
which is thickly built up, the great
railroad king purchasing all the
property that happens to be in the way.
The strenuous opposition Of the Penn
sylvania Railroad Company to crossing
their road at grade, coupled with the
opposition of the citizens to the road
crossing their streets at grade, com.
PEELED Vanderbilt to obviate the objec-
tions by passing not only over the heads
of the citizens but over the tops of their
houses. In these days of science in
building railroads there Is no quibbling
by Vanderbilt about grade crossings
while there Is room between the earth
and the moon to cross above grade.
Close by the Harris monument stands
the residence of the first old settler,
built two stories high Of square bio ks
of limestone What adds interest to this
old substantial residence, really yet
beautiful in its age, is the fact that it is
now the residence Of the venerable ex-
United States Senator, Simon Cameron.
There are but few embellishments such
as would be naturally looked for
around the residence of such distin-
guished person. A simple plain portico
overlooks the Susquehanna and = large
lawn in front is dotted over with flower |
plats on either side OF the walk and the |
early hyacinths, now in bloom, perfume
the atmosphere with their fragrance.
This is theplain, comfortable unostenta- |
tious home of Simon Cameron. The /
old veteran has returned from his
Floridian trip and is now at home in
good health enjoying the opening beau
ties of spring and tue love and esteem
Of his nsighbors and friends.
A few hours is not enough time to ena-
BILE us to learn all about Harrisburg, and
Is the politicians are gathering and
taking possession of the city, and being
! Delawarean and having no "put +" in
politics, we leave the
,ity, pass over the Susquehanna by the
Cumberland Valley Railroad on toward
he beautiful town of Chambersburg,
rom where we will next be heard.
THE ORIGIN AL RAMBLER.