The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1898-02-03
AMERICA in 1900.
The Population: Conferred in n Very
Few Cities. Near the Coast.

. Few Cities Near the Coast.
Montreal and Quebec were then large
towns, but making no progress; nothing
had come of the. expected cities along
the coast of Maine; Salem had been
outstripped by Boston. which already
numbered 10000 citizens; Newport,
New London and New Haven were still
disappointingly small and sleepy; New
York, which had borne the brunt of the
revolutionary war, included only some
10000 inhabitants; while Philadelphia,
unframed blythe war, was fourishing,
and led the list with population num-
bering over 81 900. Farther south, Bal
timore, with about $4,000 people;
Charleston, With 10000, and New Or
leans (then in French territory, with
10000, were the only coast towns worth
mentioning. Civilization had scarcely
found its way across the Alleghenies.
Chicago did not exist, and Oswego, Buff
falo, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati
were mere frontier villages or Indian
trading posts. New England and east
ern Pennsylvania and Maryland were
dotted with villages, but the largest
inland Towns were those of northern
New Jersey and the valley of the Hud-
son, where Newbhrg, Kingston and Al
bany took the lead of all.
Let us see what happened during the
next thirty years.
AS soon as peace. and a firm. united
government were gained by the war
for independence, we Americans began
to think about finding out and making
use Of the wealth of our new country,
first by setting as many persons as pos
sible to clearing away the forests and
planting fields; and great numbers
from the older states, and from Eu-
rope, moved west and received from the
government tracts Of land, for which
the only: pay asked was premise to
stay and cultivate them.
But it was plain that there was no
use in farming, no matter how cheap
and fertile the soil, nor in cutting tim
Der or digging minerals, no matter how
accessible and abundant, unless the pio-
neers had some way to send the grain
they grew, or the. timber or minerals
to market. Roads were, therefore, of the
first Importance. Nobody but a hunter
or explorer could travel into the heav-
lily wooded interior, except along some
navigable river, and at first only the
valleys of these rivers were cultivated.
Next, few roads, were laid out, con-
meeting the coaststnd roadside towns,
but none penetrated inland very far,
and these were mostly tracks for pack
horses. All frontier goods were car
;ried by horses until almost the be-
ginning of this century, as they are yet
In remote parts of the far west. This
method is exceedingly expensive. It
costs, for instance, about $249 ton, or
about 1874 cents a pound, to carry mer-
chandise by pack horses from Philadel-
phia to Erie in 1884; and when, in 1889,
the first wagon-road was opened over
the Pennsylvania mountains, the cost
Of freightage was: three dollars a ton
for that part alone-about I'D miles.
It was not until 1904, that. the first
through line OF stages was established
from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, max
ing the trip in seXeR days.
These things sow how gradual, but
how sure, was the advance Of civiliza-
ton westward :llElrnestIngersoll, in St..
Nicholas. - !: 49,.