Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-21
AS OTHERS SEE US.
Sensations of a Stranger Visiting
This Busy Hive of Industry.
PITTSBURG A BEAUTIFUL CITY,
With its Handsome Buildings and Pic
turesQue Scenery
ON THE BANKS OF THE THREE RIVERS
WRITTEN FOR THE D1spArcH.1

WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATCH.1
A stranger, having taste for the pictur-
esque, after a few days visit to Pittsburg,
is often impressed with wonder if the peo-
pie of that vicinity have any idea of the
scenic effect and picturesqueness of that
locality. There is no doubt but most if
not all, readers of Allegheny county have
been delighted with hope of a visit to
some noted place in far off land, on read
ing a glowing description of it by some
prominent writer, and localities in distant
States in this land of ours have charms for
the same reason. Because, perhaps, they
believe with Campbell "'Tis distance lends
enchantment to the view"
Such readers should be advised to turn
the small end of q powerful telescope upon
their own locality and they would then
have, in imagination, distance enough aud
variety enough to suit the most fastidious,
for there is more to be seen in certain sea-
sons within 20 miles of Pittsburg than on
the Rhine, Seine, Tiber or the Thames. At
least that is the opinion of one who has
spent some time in Allegheny county, and
who has no interest in its past, present or
future.
PICTURESQUE LOCATION.
The location of Pittsburg is in itself
picturesque enough, situated as it is between
the two rivers and overshadowed, as it were,
by the hills above the rivers banks, hemming
it in on every side, as though to prevent the
city from spreading itself But we see it
climbing the hills on every side and crown
ing their tops with dwellings and business
houses; carrying thoroughfares to their
SUBMITS, determined not to be hemmed in
by the hills as long as human ingenuity can
find means to surmount them with "in-
clined planes" in themselves novelties os
which not a great many cities in foreign
lands can boast. Then the numerous bridges
spanning the rivers, some of which are not
only useful, but ornamental enough for any
locality to be proud of. To these may be
added the fleets of steamboats, moored to
their wharves ready to carry her commerce
to the world, making scene in all which, If
properly described, would fill the mind with
admiration.
But the greatest of all Pittsburg's great
ness and scenery-and when speak of the
city in this sense I mean the whole vicinity
which attracts the world, is its busy hives
of industry. There is enough to be seen in
the numerous mills, workshops and factories
that line the rivers in that locality to pom
der over for s1ife time, and is worth going
long way to see. Well may Pittsburgers
be proud of them and take delight in show
ing strangers through and around them.
Tourists may travel in many lands, but
they will find here something to admire that
cannot be found elsewhere.
NIGHT SCENES.
Interesting and instructing as the locality
may be in the daylight, it is at night the
city's wonder, beauty and variety shines
out brightest, and anyone who sees it at
night and is not impressed must be dull in
deed. visited Pittsburg a short time ago,
the first time for several years, and got to
the city in the early morning before day
light, and while looking through the win
dows of the cars saw what I thought were
stars shining bright and clear. This seemed
a revelation, indeed, when I remembered
that the last time 1 was there, on a clear,
shining day outside the city, it was so dark
in the city that trainmen and switchmen
about the Union station had to carry lighted
lanterns, and the storerooms and every other
place had to be lit up with gas as at night.
But on crossing Smithfeld street bridge 1
saw that what thought were bright stars
were the lamps on Mount Washington,
which could see outlined clear and bold
against the moring sky.
At night I came down the Allegheny
river from Sharpsburg. What a beautiful
panorama was spread before me, all the
way from the bridge at Sharpsburg as far as
could see! There was the glare of the
furnace lights of the works that line the
Pittsburg side of the river, casting, every
now and then, their reflections in the water
in the foreground, while in the back ground
the lights from windows and the lamps on
the hill above the Pennsylvania Railroad,
shone out clear and white. Mingled with
them could be seen the blush glare of the
electric lights, and here and there the dull
red and white blaze of the natural gas.
making in all a scene reminding one of the
descriptions of the enchanted palaces of the
Arabian Nights.
THE HOME OF VULCAN.
That same night I crossed the Monon.
gahela river over the Panhandle bridge.
and the scene over on the hills of the South
side was if anything, more romantic, while
the lights from the glasshouses, mills and
furnaces on both sides of the river rejecting
in the water, make it look, indeed, fit
dwelling place for the mighty Vulcan.
For scene, such as no genii with all his
magic power could unfold to mortal gaze,
trip should be taken down the Monongahela
Valley on a calm night. Foreigners may
halls, and royal palaces, but they pale into
insignifcance when compared with the
massive structures and modern monarchs of
to-day's progress, as found along the Mo-
nongahela river.
On coming around the land, above Nc
Keesport, you come in sight of Woods
mill and the National Tube Works, bril-
l1antly lighted from floor to roof. Stop for
a few moments and you can hear the hum
and murmur of the rolls, and occasionally
sound as though shots were being fired in
succession by battalion of musketry, end
ing sometimes with a loud report like the
sharp report of 12-pounder, as though a
battle between rival armies was In progress.
1t really is a battle, between the rolls and
skelp iron, being welded into pipes for va
rious uses, in which the rolls usually con-
quer, and the other subdued into its proper
form. Slowly drifting down the river, you
pass many works, an important one being
the United States Tin Plate Works at
Demler.
Another bend, while allowing you to see
the vari-colored gas escaping from the vast
furnaces of the Edgar Thomson Steel
Works, shuts out the works itself.
AN ENHANCING SIGHT.
But on coming around the bend you are
IL l. IL