The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1894-01-05
A RAMBLE OVER UNCLE SANS TERRI
TORY.
NUMBER FIFTEEN.-coNcLUDE

from the all prevalent smoke Our route
to Columbus lay at first along the Ohio,
passing through succession of outly-
ing towns, very pretty suburbs they are,
too. Columbus is an attractive city of
$4,000 people, solid and appears prosper
Jus; the business section has many fine
blocks, and there are number of hand
some residence streets; one is very broad
and lined with elegant residences for
'49fg distance: the wide roadway has
pavement in the centre and dirt roads
each side separated by grass, so drivers
h:,ye a choice, and riders are happy.
All about the railway station everything
was in confusion worse confOunded, as
great stone viaductis building over the
tracks, which at the same time are being
lowered. The city lies on land having a
long but gentle slope, insuring good
drainage; it is one of the most attractive
places we have seen, vying with Detroit
as the pleasantest city in the country.
The streets were very well paved, mostly
with fire brick, and were very clear and
everywhere well kept. The capitol is a
large structure in the centre OF the city,
having very little ground about it, and
not remarkable in any way, except that
VIM. Mckinley has an Office there. Our
route from Columbus to Pittsburgh took
us over the Ohio river at Steubenville
and across the pan handle of West Vlr-
ginia; this is one of the queerest freaks
of the builders of states; why they
should have this strip, which is so long
but has a width of only a few miles,
tucked in between Pennsylvania and
Ohio, is a difficult question. The bridge
over the Ohio is for above the river, and
in crossing one gets a splendid view of
the town of Steubenyille and long
stretches of the river, all far below. The
train was only a little while passing
across the pan handle into Pennsylvania;
the lay of the land in the strip reminded
us very much of some parts of Vermont,
quite hilly, plenty of timber and full OF
clear, swift running streams. Nearing
Pittsburgh, coal mines were frequent
alongside the railway, and the high,
slender derriCks over the oil wells grew
thicker and thicker; we never supposed
there were so many oil wells west of
PItts burgh, but that they were north to-
ward Oil City; yet here were hundreds
of them. Some were perched high up
on hillside, Others down in the valleys,
and some in the very beds of streams;
ev were located everywhere, and in ali
sorts of places. The valley grew more
and more narrow, the hills rising up
seeply on both sides; the train finally
ran out onto the river bank opposite
Pittsburgh, and along thatfo some dis
tance, giving us fine outlook over the
city, and the air, for wonder, was quite
clear. Both banks of the river were
lined with iron mills, and plenty more
were to be found up the smaller streams.
Overhead, numerous inclined rail-
ways connected the valley with the tops
! O the very high and steep hills, which
/ ci me close down to the river bank. The
/ water In the Ohio was exceedingly low,
| so much so that since April lit was then
| the first week in August), not boat had
| come to or left Pittsburgh. Every flat
| b at had some time before been filed
with coal ready for use in the river; mil
! lions of tons were atloat, and there the
! boats Law. Dozens of large steamers, too,
were also tied up, their occupation gone ;
| these push the great RATS composed OF
! coal boats, exactly as log raf are moved
on the upper Mississippi. The river as
fairly covered with these boats, and only
within few weeks have the owners
been able to get them out; they carry
| coal all along the rivers, even as far as to
| New Orleans, "a 1000 mile trip. We had
| heard SO much about the use of natural
| gas abolishing the smoke nuisance In
! Pittsburgh, and the air did seem quite
clear the day of our arrival, so that we
were greatly surprised the next day to
! find everything enveloped in cloud OF
| smoke; we had never seen anything to
compare with it; one could not see more
! than block in any direction, and even
the sun failed to penetrate the gloom;
although bright pleasant day, outside
the smoke limits, in the city it looked as
if there would be heavy storm very
soon. We asked the reason of this, and
! found that the natural gas is rapidly be-
coming exhausted, and the price has
been raised so much that the mills now
find it cheaper to use coal. We took a
ride in an electric Car through Allegheny
City. Just across the river, and miles out
On the hills back of that place; the cars
run up long and exceedingly steep
grade through very disagreeable part
of the city, and there seemed to be no
level ground anywhere out there; houses
were perched in II sorts of places, it ap-
peared to be all hill tops and no plain: it
was far worse tlan Cincinnati. mag
nilicent view of the city is usually had
from the heights, but that day the
smoke was so thick we could not even
see the buildings in the valley directly
beneath us. Near the foot of the grade,
and not far from the river, was the
handsome free library and hall given by
Carnagie TO the city, very handsome
stone building. There are one or TIVE
fine residence streets in Allegheny
City, but the beautiful part of Pittsburgh
is out at East Liberty, four or five miles
from the business part, although it is all
connected like Troy and Lansingburgh
there is a section about two miles square
filled with splendid residences, mostly
surrounded by elegant grounds; it is far
enough from the mills so there is no
bother from smoke: it is the most beau
tiful suburb we have yet seen. 4 hand
some park is passed on the way out to
East Liberty, gift to the city from the
Schenley family, who own much prop
erty in Pittsburgh, and 1 believe, reside
in England. There is not near room
enough for the business part of the city
in the little amptheatre formed by the
rivers and the enci cling bills, conse'
duently the streets are narrow and dis
tractingly crooked, at least stranger
finds them so. This section of the city Is
very solidly built, up with handsome
blocks, and the streets seemed buster
than those of any other place visited
The new court house is a mammoth
structure of stone, with an immense
tower; ii is pity the location is Sc
H.I ,I mi nor nj