Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-01
SOME GREAT THINGS
That Pittsburg Has Accomplished
From a Small Beginning.
THE WORK OF THE HARDY PIONEER
Who Laid the Foundations Of the City
Under Adverse Circumstances.
A GLORIOUS PAST AND ROSY FUTURE

Pittsburg was in rudimentary state-a
small military post on the outskirts of civ
ilization-when Washington was inaugu-
rated President of small strip of settled
country on the Atlantic coast in 1889. The
principal business of the citizens of that day
was to keep out of the way of the Indians
and produce enough hog and hominy to
keep body and soul together. For mutual
protection against the savages they huddled
around the fort at what is now known as the
Point There they built their log cabins,
and there they lived, gun in hand, during
the day and keeping one eye open when
they slept at night, SO as to be always ready
to repel attacks by the redskins.
They had no markets at which to pur-
chase the dehcacies of the season, includ-
ing strawberries at so cents quart and Ber
muda potatoes at the rate of $40 bushel.
For meat, they depended mainly upon the
fruits of the chase, game being abundant.
BEAR, DEER AND TURKEYS
river where Allegheny City and the South
side boroughs now stand while water fowl
reveled in a pond or lake with marshy bor-
ders, the deepest part of which was not far
from the postoffice building.
The few acres they cultivated lay between
what is now Wood street and the fort; but
their crops we're neither varied nor extens-
i've, consisting of corn, potatoes and beans
They knew nothing about tomatoes at 25
cents apiece, and wheaton bread existed
only in their traditions. Corn bread and
bear meat were the staple articles of food.
Coffee, sugar and salt were luxuries almost
fhnf,-
quantities Of these delicacies were brought
over the mountains on the backs of horses,
which were the express trains of that period.
They had no real estate boom, but lands
were held in common. As they were not
an imaginative people, it is reasonable to
suppose that none of them ever dreamed
that within less than hundred years the
land upon which they lived, or which they
cultivated, would be worth $3, 900 to S., 600
front foot. This was their only serious
mistake. And SO, good, brave men that
they were, they plodded along, building up
the settlement, which soon became one of
the principal bulwarks of civilization, hurl-
ing back the Indian hordes that came up
against it, and securing reasonable protec-
tion to property and liie This was the be-
ginning of Pittsburg.
WORK WELL DONE.
It would be violent presumption to as
sert that those bold pioneers knew they were
laying the foundations of one of the greatest
cities of modern times. It would be more
reasonable to believe that they were SO en-
crossed with their struggles for subsistence
that they had no time to think of the fu-
ture, leaving their work to stand or fall, to
Jurvive or perish, according as coming gen.
erations would esteem it good or bad. It
was clear case of building better than
they knew"
Modern Pittsburg-the outgrowth of the
little settlement at the Points too we'll
known all over the world to REQUIRE more
than passing notice in this connection.
Slowly, step by step, not with rush and a
hurrah, but calmly and deliberately, she has
grown in population and Importance, until |
to-day she stands among the foremost of the !
industrial and commercial cities of the |
world. A few figures will make the state |
ment clearer. She has $132, AIS, 900 of capt. |
tai invested in manufacturing enterprises.
giving employment to over 100, 600 persons, |
Her drygoods trade amounts to $40, OOO. 900 |
annually, hardware TO $4,000, 600. drugs to |
81, 00O, 900, wholesale groceries to $24, ,00O,- |
600, produce and -four, S15, 900, 900; boots |
and shoes, s., ,000,00 tanneries, 81, OOO, 900;
furniture, S2,000,000; clothing, So, 900;
tobacco and cigars, 81 900, 900; pork packing. |
So, 600, 900; brick, So, 600, 900. These are
only small part of her great and varied in
dustries.
OTHER GREAT THINGS.
Her railroads carry 1S, 900, 900 tons of local
freight year. She has the greatest steel
rail mill in the world. She turns out one
half of the present gross product in the
United States, and one-foufth of the win
dow glass. She is the center of the coke
industry of the country. About
L, 900, 900 tons of coal are mined annually
in the vicinity of the city. One-ffth of
;he iron and steel output of the country Is
,redited to Pittsburg. She is the only CITY
n the world having an lnexhaustible sup
ply of natural gas.
This wonderful growth-this almost
phenomenal expansion-has not exhausted
he energies of the grand old city. She is
till growing, still reaching out, still seek
ng new fields of conquest Victories won Fl
'nly sharpen her appetite for greater
Her population of 25O, 900
will soon swell to 100000 Her past is Sc
ure; her future remains with her citizens.
By liberal and enlightened policy they
an complete the work began by the hardy
'ioneers, keeps her abreast of the enlighten-
ng influences of the age, and add immeas-
rably to her glory and power as factor in
he worlds greatest and best impulses and
1ovements. To do less would be to fail in
be discharge of an imperative duty.