Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-01

intersected one another at right angles, and
furnished employment for neither the en-
gineer, architect nor gardener At last the
mathematician got hold of them, and upon
the paralellograms resulting from the regu-
lar monotonous occurrence of corners, based
a comprehensive system of numbering
houses 1t was schoolboy sort OF idea.
The more profound questions of street util.
ity and improvement will await the removal
of Pittsburgers to that ancient Delphian
vale. But Pittsburg municipal engineering
has never yet been staggered. It conceived
the cutting away of the Fifth avenue
"hump," and it proposed the widening Of
Diamond street.
PITTsBURG DOESN'T LIKE FLATS.
Some feats not so we'll known as these are
what have in my mind just now. To hew
streets through solid rock might strike some
cities as too expensive and impracticable-
wild schemes, perhaps. With us such enter
prises are public economy. Pittsburg has
been growing for many years past in way
that older cities sem to be totally unable to
realize. Her thrifty people think that It is
safer to put money into land than in the pock-
cts of landlords who own "sky-scrapers. -
This explains two peculiar things about
Pittsburg; first, why s'fats" have never been
built here for residence purposes; second,
why so many thousands of homes cling to
dizzy hill sides.
Not until every foot of ground around
the city has been bought and built upon,
will the 10, Is and 2O-story ''fats" flourish
here, and it doesn't matter a fig whether
the ground is on the level of Smithfeld
street or 400 feet above Penn avenue It's
land all the same, and the 60-foot lot that
far above Carson street is hidden by the
morning fogs Of the Monongahela river,
one-third Of the whole year, is just as val
liable to its artisan owner as the old post
Office corner is to its prospective bidders
The hillside lot has made one more resident
Of Pittsburg free-holder, perhaps, and the
more free-holders the city has the more solid
must her foundations become.
BURRowING IN THE ROCK.
shingess street was one of the steep thor
oughfares with which the city had to follow
these small property holders up the hill
southeast Of the Court House. Then the
people began to spread east and west upon
that mountain. They had assembled by
Magee street also, and extended their line
of homes toward Shingess street. But mid
way between these two streets there arose q
rock-ribbed promontory. It was an effectual
barrier to communication between the two
points. If resident of Shingess street
wished to call upon friends in Magee street
he had to descend to Forbes street, at least,
and make detour in the shape of semi
circle. The business that grew up with that
neighborhood was interfered with, and SO
the city authorities undertook to burrow
out communicating street through that
hill of rock.
This was named Locust street. That part
of it from Magee to Shingiss street is only
1000 feet long. In that distance Evan
Jones, the contractor, removed $1,000 yards
of rock, 60, 600 of which was solid blue rock
that could only be torn out by thousands of
pounds of powder. 1t is misappllcation of
terms to say that Locust street was dug
through the hill. Powder and dynamite
was substituted for the pick and spade, and
it was literally blasted through.
THE BUILDING OF BOYD STREET
The value of property in that locality
continued to increase, more homes were
erected and additional population was
planted in this out of the way quarter. Not
long ago there came demand for still better
means of accessibility-another street was
wanted. An ordinance went through City
Councils locating Boyd street, from Forbes
to Locust street. It is but short distance,
but again it was through the heart of a
stopeuuarry. However. Locust street itself
had been hewn out of rock, and now it
needed another outlet, and why should
rock deposit interfere? 1t didn't.
BOYD street is now approaching compile
ton. Some tons of explosives were used
upon 1t also. and thousands of yards of rock
carted away The Junction which Boyd
street forms with Locust is perhaps the most