Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-17
THE TOPICAL TALKER.
How the Rivers Are Robbed.

How the Rivers Are Robbed.
The rivermen have been long VIII lie in get
ting together to move against the incessant en-
croachment of manufacturers and railroads
upon the three rivers, but it looks as If some
thing serious in the way of opposition to the
invaders may come of the SUIT against the B. &
0. railway and General Merrilps activity. 1t
doesn't require anything more than a pair of
good eyes TO see samples of the encroachment
from any of the bridges. but better idea Of
the immense proportions of the new ground
added to the rivers banks can be had from the
deck of q river boat. The other day, In the
course of voyage. which covered two-thirds
OF the harbor, / was enabled by the
courtesy of one Of the best posted rivermen
In this city, to obtain comprehensive
view Of the land which has been stolen from
the rivers. In many places indeed the very
process of appropriation could be seen in oper-
alton. At one spot on the Allegheny bank Of
the Ohio several inches Of iron mill refuse, Stag
and coal dust were added to the embankment
while our boat was tied up for less than an
hour. A stream of men with wheelbarrows
Kept steadily dumping the stuff into the river.
BACK OF the embankment's present edge were
several acres of made land which had at one
time been the river bed. When the Pirtsburg
and western Railroad wns first built ir ran
over trestles almost all the way from the Union
bridge to Manchester, but now in many places
the trestle work is buried under solid soil, and
practically its roadbed is as much on dry land
as the Fort Wayne mile back from
the river. But it is hardly fair to name
one offender where there are so many. 1t is
safe to say that there is not manufacturer or
other owner of property abutting upon the
river that has not added more or less to his
realty at the expense of the river. Ihave heard
of one manufacturer, and there may be many
like him. who has been Systematically increas-
ing his property in this way and whenever the
new land amounts to anything he files bill
against the city for improvements, obtains
compensation and then erects buildings upon
the property and calls it his own. So general
has the filchiug from the unprotected rivers be.
come that it is no longer concealed at all.
Dry Land Where He Swan.
As an instance of how the Ohio river has
been diverted and contracted by the flling-in
process on its banks, q story told me by river
captain the other day may be related here.
About ten years ago." said ne. "when the
Ohio river was pretty high and full of ice a boy
fell into the river close to the foot of River
avenue. Captain Rodgers. who saw the acci-
dent, jumped to the rescue without q moments
delay, reached the boy and swan with him two
or three hundred yards to about where the gas
works tipple projects. and there both were
pulled on board skiff and taken ashore. The
rescue will be remembered by lots Of people in
Allegheny who saw it done. I remember
that Rodgers had an unlit cigar in his mouth
when he jumped In. and by queer
chance he carried it in his mouth till he got
home, when his wife, as she was assisting him
to remove his wet clothes, told him to take the
cigar out Of his mouth, and then for the first
time he became aware that cigar was be-
tween his teeth. Stranger still, the cigar was
still dry. But in very little while not word
of this story will sound true, for the place over
which Rodgers swan Is now nearly every bit of
it dry landsand some of 1t good distance
from the bank"
Plain Perils in Sight.
And have verified the above assertion with
my own eyes since. From abreast the Ale
gheny Gas Works you can obtain a very good
view of some of the most formidable en-
croachments. On the one side the Mo
nongahela's narrowed course and on
the other the outward curve of the
Allegheny caused by the erection OF obstruc-
tions nearly a quarter of a mile wide from
River avenue outward. Then the Point has
been elongated from where the Exposition
building now stands to below the abutments of
the Union and Point bridges. The Point en-
croachments do not appear TO be Of such ma
terial injury to the rivers as the others. The
most striking of them all is the territory occu-
pied in part by railroad tracks and the Exposi-
tion and the baseball grounds. and otherwise
solidly builtup section of Allegheny. From
below the Union bridge it is easy to see why
rivermeD predict for this made ground the fate
OF Johnstown should ever very nigh stage OF
water In the Monongahela occur cotncidently
with food in the Allegheny. Happily as yet
the Allegheny and Monongahela have chosen
separate dates for their rampages, but COM
bined Hood is by no means impossible.
+,. d.v th;. ,veet thu, NV obssr7a,ions ~.
mads ths MAKING nm a, coal A.ets becomes a
nerilon. and tedions nrocsedino The river
Fs., -.-.., -. .. ,-.s.