Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-26
A QUARTER CENTURY.
Pittsburg as it Was Then Compared
With What it is Now.
DECLINE OF THE RIVER TRAFFIC.
A Time When East Liberty Was Q Great
Distance From the City.
POSSIBILITIES IN RAPID TRANSIT
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH.

To man who begins to suspect himsel
of growing old it is delightful to be callec
to account for his extreme youth. Since tn,
publication of these touch-and-go and some
what excursive "reminiscences began hav,
received several letters from Pittsburger
older than I. Some of the writers are still
residents of the old town, and some of then
are living far away from it; but all of then
have something to say of Pittsburg in thu
days before had ever seen the city. They
tell me of many interesting things nevel
saw, and scold me very pleasantly for moi
remembering them. Every one of the let
ters is interesting ands uggestive, and hope
to receive more of them. But, after all, il
is not my fault that an not older. And
when you come to think of it, the phrase
''old times" is only q relative one; and the
old times have undertaken to deal with
are simply the times which are old to the
young people Of to-day.
One of my correspondents discourses most
pleasantly about the palmy days of Pitts
burg's river traffic. In the time he speaks
of railroads had not made the surface of the
earth gridiron. and the rivermen were the
lords of the business situation. That time
had passed when first came to Pittsburg,
but it was recent enough to form the theme
for much eloquent "reminiscences. 1 listened
to many tales of the bustling scenes of hurry
oD the cobble stone river banks when the
line of fast steamers ran between Pittsburg
and Cincinnati and the river cities of the
South, and had for sharp rival the line
from Wheeling.
The outgoing boats took for distribution
Pittsburg's manufactured products, iron
and glass, and the arriving boats brought
Southern products in return. And these
boats were the vehicles for passenger transit
also. Elegantly some of them were fitted
up, and much leisurelv pleasure their pas
sengers enjoyed during the trip to Cincin-
natl, or Memphis or New Orleans. Not
always so leisurely, either, for the fierce ex-
citement of a steamboat race was apt to
break the monotony of the journey.
A QUARTER CENTURY AGO.
Twenty-Five years ago the railroad had be-
come prime factor in business, and the
principal cargoes went and came on wheels.
Still, even then, the river wharves were
very interesting places. To see an immense
coal fleet go out on June rise" was some
thing exciting enough for anybody; and it is
yet, 1 suppose. The oil traffic was in Its
early prime then, and the Allegheny river
was the highway for great portion of it.
Bulkboats loaded with crude oil came down,
and cargoes of the refined product-always in
brightly, beautifully blue barrels-were
sent out. The whole surface of the water
was so thickly coated with oil that it seemed
dangerous to drop lighted match over the
side of the Suspension bridge; it seemed
likely to ''set the river afre."
Then, as now, moderate amount of gen.
eral traffic was conducted by means of the
boats. The "slack-water improvements" of
the Monongahela were by no means relics of
past usefulness, and probably never will be.
But the railroads had come and the princi-
pal activity had been diverted into another
direction. And yet Pittsburg had not then
much more than suggestion of its present
railroad importance.
The Pennsylvania Railroad had replaced
the old canal and the Portage Railroad of
the Allegheny Mountains. The Fort
Wayne Railroad bound Pittsburg to Chica-
go, and the Panhandle Railroad had recent
ly brought Cincinnati and St. Loais near to
the upper end of the Ohio river. The city
of coal and iron and glass seemed quite in
touch with the whole outside world, and
was correspondingly jubilant 1t was an
excellent beginning, but later experience has
shown that it was little more than a begin
ming. tits not so much that more railroads
have come since then az that the roads
already established have developed powers
and resources not more than dreamed ofthen.
The service they render no W is far and away
beyond the service they were capable of at
that time. They have gro Wn like the growth
of young giant.
NOTABLE TRAVEL ERs OF OLD.
More than that, the people have got
familiar with them and know how to use
them, which they did not in those earlier
days. Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington,
New York-even P Philadelphla-seemed a
long way off then, nd people who made
journeys to those dis tant points were persons
of some distinction. as notable travellers.
Scarcely anybody, ;Iave now and then lux
urious person of leisure, thought of going
to Washington just to see an interesting
parade, or to hear an important debate. A
favored lew might go to witness an inaugu-
ration; but then there were some people who
even went to E nrope.
And now the. man or woman who does not
take vacation trip somewhere east or west
is one of the nfortunate 'can 't-get-aways."
Men go, with out flourish of trumpets, To the
uttermost corners of the continent, and on
remark incidentally that they
''have had q pleasant little trip" A win
ter in Florida or Southern California, or a
summer in Colorado or at the seashore is
quite matter of course. It used to be the
reverse of that
At the time spoken of the ConnelIsville |
Railroad, with w. o. Hughart for its
Preside Mt, connected PiJtsburg with the |
region; but beyond that was |
IN IN orijged space. The Baltimore and |
Ohio had not caught hold of the other end |
IF tlae track and rolled into Pittsburg by |
nea ms of it. 1t did that little later; and |
.he little iron link is now part of a very |
strong chain.
The Allegheny Valley road was still new
and involved in the struggles of a youthful |
aspirant. The West Penn road had not yet |
any existence, except, perhaps, the right of |
way along the bed of the canal. 1 don't re-
member how many other roads that at that |
time had no thought OF are now established |
highways; but there are several Of them.
NEIGHBoRLY INTERCOURSE.
Even the means of communication with |
its nearest neighbors Pittsburg had not then
very largely developed. Consolidation had
not then been effected, or even talked of to
any great extent, and all the Southside bor-
oughs were neigbbors, not members of the
same family. Communication with them
was by means OF the old Smithfeld street
Dridge-which am reminded replaced the
older Smithfeld street bridge, destroyed by
The great fire of 1846-and by the Point
ferry. The bridge was one Of the two
ron bridges Pittsburg then possessed, and
was one Of the first, if not the first, Of the
bridges built by the great Roeb-
ing. The other iron bridge was the Sus-
pension bridge over the Allegheny, connect
ng St. Clair street, as it then was, with Fed
.ral street, Allegheny City. Above that ex-
beautiful structure were the ruins
If the old aqueduct, and the covered
Fooden bridges at Hand street and Me-