1835.J

IMPROVEMENT OF The allegHENY RIVER.

19

est she has, in encouraging the transit of produce from a canal along its western shore, has in his report, made every quarter of the Union. It is contrary to her poli- some correct and judicious observations upon its genecy, to suffer trade to be driven off, by unnecessary and ral character and its capability of improvement. He vexatious and burthensome regulations, as it impairs says: the value of the channels she has opened at so great an "That part of the river Allegheny, above mentioned, expense, and instead of inviting, discourages the enter-runs not in a valley, like other rivers, but in deep prize of its citizens. So the Legislature have thought bed, far below the general surface of the country, making and so thinking, they have made this law. To inter- its way at the foot of precipitous rocky steeps, which pret it more rigorously than their language naturally form either one shore or the other, in almost the whole and reasonably imports, is an offence against the rules of said distance. There are few places where shores of construction, and against the interests of the State. opposite are both rocky, one side being hills covered JOHN SERGEANT. with oak, and rising from the water's edge, at a slope of one or two hundred feet in forty perches. In some places a margin of two or three rods wide is low enough to be covered by the floods, and these flats are seldom of greatar extent: this stream is very favourable, there. The undersigned Delegates of the several counties of fore, for improving by dams and locks, so little land Pennsylvania, represented in this Convention which would be inundated, the almost insuperable objection to has been convened for the purpose of devising meas- damming other rivers. And there are certainly few streams ures to promote the fimprovement of the Allegheny more difficult to be improved by a side cut. The naviga river, respectfully beg leave to submit to their fellow tion of the river being perfected, as it may be, at a small citizens the following facts and observations in rela-mode of navigating it, as towing paths would be of little expense, steamboats would be prferable to any other tion to this important and interesting subject.

Philada. June 29, 1835.

ADDRESS.

use on a stream, the floods of which are 20 and in many places 30 feet above its low water surface.

"The mineral wealth of the Allegheny country, is very important. Salt, iron and coal, are obtained in many places, on the part of the river which has been surveyed."[2d Rep. Canal Com. No. 3, p. 48.]

A glance at the map of the United States is all that is necessary to satisfy any reflecting mind of the impor-A remarkable characteristic of this river is, its consist tant position occupied by the Allegheny river; that it ing altogether of long sheets of deep, still water, sepais destined ere long to become a great avenue of inter- rated by short shallows, seldom exceeding twenty or course between the northern and eastern, and the thirty rods in length. • southern and western portions of our extended country; and that it is, probably the only river through which a continuous water communication can be effceted between the Atlantic sea-board and the great rivers which flow through every part of the valley of the Mississip- Edward F. Gay, Esq. another Pennsylvania Enpi. But this importance is still further enhanced by gineer who surveyed this river in 1828, between the the fact that it affords not only one but many such same points, remarks: "It is to this species of improveavenues, some of which shall be noticed in order here- ment [steamboat navigat on that this river is peculiar. after. Itself being a continuation of the Ohio, stretch-ly adapted. Its banks are uniformly high, and the fall ing more to the eastward than any other tributary of is generally accumulated at the ripples, between which the Mississippi, and piercing further into that ridge, the pools are still and deep."-[Canal Rep, of 1828, which, throughout the almost entire length of the p. 237.] Union, divides the eastern from the western waters, it Col. Kearney, U. S. Topographical Engineer, who, presents to human enterprise and industry such advan-in pursuance of a resolution of Congress, made an extages as may enable them to render almost every tribu- amination of the Allegheny in the summer of 1828, tary of water a channel of trade, through which may be recommends that the navigation of the river should be borne the rich and varied productions of the fertile improved by dams of a height not exceeding four or fields of the west and the populous cities of the east, five feet, with locks to serve for passing boats from thus concentrating in this one central channel the inter-one pool to another, and says that, upon this plan, the changing commerce of half the Union.

The undersigned would advert for a moment to the present unexampled flood of emigration to the west it is flowing in all directions-to the north west and south west the far west and the near west. Now all this teeming population must have access to eastern markets; and the greater the facilities afforded to them, the greater will be their increase their prosperity, and their commerce. The great Erie canal of New York is already almost surcharged; that of Pennsylvania has more than doubled its business yearly, and cannot much longer accomodate the trade that will seek a passage through it; so that it may be safely and confidently predicted, that, for many years to come, every avenue that can be opened will be immediately occupied and filled

Such being undisputed facts, can it for a moment be supposed that the Allegheny river, with its commanding local position, its easy susceptibility of being rendered a first rate channel of commerce of vast capacity, with its facilities for connexion at numerous points with other and far distant avenues of trade, will or can remain much longer neglected and overlooked? They think not.

river would be made navigable all summer for about the one fourth of the expense estimated by Judge Geddes,

From the foregoing high authorities, as well as from their own personal knowledge of the river, the undersigned have no hesitation in declaring it to be their opinion, that to improve it in such a manner as to render it a good steamboat navigation, is at once the most effective and economical mode that can be suggested. All engineers who have explored it unite in this opinion; and it is moreover the mode desired by a large majority of the people residing in its neighborhood, and who have reflected much upon the subject. And, further, when it is taken into consideration that it would be no isolated portion of steamboat navigation; but a direct continuation of, probably, the most extensive one on the globe, all doubt as to its superior utility must immediately give way.

To this mode of Improvement this river is remarka bly well adapted, from the uniform alternation of short pebbly ripples and long deep pools, as remarked by Judge Geddes; from its almost entire freedom from dangerous rocks, and also from the fact that few rivers discharge so large a quantity of water in proportion to Judge Geddes, who in the summer of 1826, under its width of channel. In support of the above remarks, the authority of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we need only advert to the fact that various steamboats made a survey of this river from the mouth of the Kis- have frequently ascended it, some to Franklin, (115 kiminetas to the mouth of French creek, a distance of miles) some to Warren, (180 miles) and one-the Al871 miles, expressly with a view to the construction of legheny-built on the Blanchard plan, of 50 tons, to

Olean, in the State of New York, a distance of 240 miles above Pittsburgh, and all without accident or material difficulty.

They proceed now to notice in detail a few of the routes through which the trade of different sections can be drawn to this common centre.

The Kiskiminetas river, through the valley of which the Pennsylvania canal reaches he Allegheny river. Of this any remark would be superfluous.

Clarion river, and Red Bunk and Mahoning creeks are large streams that stretch får to the eastward, and interlock with the tributaries of the Susquehanna, by some of which a practicable route may and, we doubt not, will yet be found for a continuous water communication between the eastern and western waters of Pennsylvania.

and that from its hills, its forests and its work shops, the
inhabitants of Western New York and the country bor
dering upon the great lakes will, at no distant day,
draw a large portion of their fuel, lumber, iron, and
impl ments of agriculture, and in return supply Weste .
ern Pennsylvania with gypsum, which bounds on the
Gennessee and Lake Frie, its esp dieńcy becomes still
more apparent, and an immense amount may be added
to the anticipated tonnage that would pass through it.
The undersigned might also speak of the importance
of this work, as a means of rational defence, as a bond
of mutual interest and union between far distant see-
tions of our country, as a facility for emigration and
travel, and as giving to the citizens of the great West
a still wider range of market, had they not already ex-
ceeded their prescribed limits. Should any thing here-
in contained appear exaggerated, let it be remember-
anticipations respecting the West have been more than
realized; that had it then been predicted that those
almost limitless wilds should at this day be the dwelling
place of five millions of freemen; that cities vieing in
wealth and splendour with those on our Atlantic bor.
der, should in that period have arisen; and that the
Ohio, the Mississippi and the great lakes should be
traversed by hundreds of steam boats, it would have been
deemed beyond measure extravagant; yet all this is
sober reality; and at this moment the onward march of
this great region, in population, wealth and resources
is probably more rapid than at any former period, and
there is no reason to believe that it will be less so for
half a century to come. The undersigned believe,
therefore, that in the foregoing brief_view of this im.
portant subject there is nothing contained that may not
reasonably be deduced from sober calculation; and they
flatter themselves that it will present itself to the
minds of their fellow citizens as it does to theirs—a
work that promises a rich return of capital, great and
lasting benefits to a large portion of the American
people, and one that is truly NATIONAL in its charac、
ter.

French Creek, which enters the river from the north west, at the town of Franklin, has already been improved that for the last thirty years, the wildest, the boldest ed by the State to within 46 miles of the harbor of Erie; the balance of the route has been often surveyed and found fully practicable; and there is no doubt of its entire completion to that important lake port at least as early a day as the improvement of the Allegheny can be effected, which would at once throw upon this river a large portion of the trade of Lake Erie-a trade, the magnitude and importance of which need not be des canted upon here.

Conewango creek, which enters the Allegheny from the north, at the town of Warren, by being improved a distance of about thirty miles, would open a naviga. ble communication between the Allegheny river and Chatauque Lake, a fine body of water in the heart of a fertile and populous country.

Important as the foregoing routes are-(one of them giving to the Allegheny iver and of course to our eastern and western cities. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, a participation in the immense and growing trade of the great north western lakes, and building up a city at the harbor of Erie)-the improvement in contempla tion will go further and form a connection with the Rochester and Qlean canal, and the Hudson and Erie Rail Road, thus open a new and extensive market for the manufactories of Pittsburgh, and for the rich and inexhaustible mines of iron and coal with which this country abounds, and at the same time opening an avenue through which emigration would pour in, until all the soil would become occupied, and the varied resources of this hitherto neglected section of our state become fully developed.

It would be useless to attempt an estimate of the amount of business which would be concentrated upon this river. The prospect is as boundless as the vast region to which it opens a passage, and will keep pace with its accumulating population, wealth and resour

The country watered by the Allegheny is rich in those resources which furnish the largest amount of business to navigation. Bituminous coal is very abun dant, of excellent quality, and so easily procured, that it can be delivered on board of boats for two cents per bushel-Iron ore also abounds in every part of this country, as well as every facility for its manufacture.— Salt is now manufactured in large quantities on the Allegheny; the establishments are rapidly increasing in number, and may be increased to an indefinite extent. Lumber, of the finest quality, and in exhaustless quantities, forms another item in the resources of this country, especially the upper portion.

To these may be added its unsurpassed facilities for many species of manufacture, both by water and steam power, together with the many extensive tracts of ex cellent limestone land it contains, and which are now settling and improving rapidly.

Although this river is well worthy of improvement, even were the country through which it flowed an unproductive desert, yet when it is shown that, so far from being so, it is remarkably prolific in resources;

1835.)

IMPROVEMENT OF THE ALLEGHENY RIVER.

Hon. John Galbraith, Franklin.
Col. Robert Orr, Kittanning.
Robert Falconer, Esq. Warren.

Resolved, That the thanks of this Convention are hereby tendered to the trustees of the Presbyterian church in Kittanning, for their politeness in giving them

the use of the church.

The Convention, after passing a vote of thanks to the officers, and appointing J. Copley, J. E. Brown and Jos. Buffington a committee to prepare the proceedings for publication, adjourned. HENRY SHIPPEN, Pres't.

ADAM HAYS,

Wx. AYRIS, } V. Prest's.
Ephraim Galbraith, jr'} Sec.

Josiah Copley,

From the Warren Voice of the People.

ALLEGHENY RIVER.

21

from being the first inland city in our matchless coun. try? and Western Pennsylvania from being one of the most flourishing countries in the world? Villages would spring up-manufactories of all description:s be in active operation-her mills for the sawing of lumber dred hills heed the call of the successful farmer, and more successful than ever-and her cattle upon a hun- ́ smiling Prosperity would take up her abode in every department of industry. Cannot this be realized by enterprise?

SEVERE STORM.

A heavy storm accompanied with torrents of rain, visited the neighbourhood of Kingston, Luzerne coun ty, Pa. on the afternoon of the 19th inst. So much rain has been seldom known to fall in the same length of time, and the wind was so violent, as to border on a hurricane, and do great injury to almost every thing in its course. We learn from the Wyoming Republican that a number of houses were unroofed, several barns injured, and one large building of that kind blown to fragments. The growing crops and fruit trees are also stated to have received much damage. Several persons were injured by the storm, though none very seriously.-The hurricane was confined to a narrow strip of country, but within its limits the devastation was general, and such as has been seldom equalled in that region.—Balt. Patriot.

ABSTRACT FROM A DIARY OF THE WEATHER,
Kept at Gray's Brewery-June, 1835.
Mean of Thermometer,
724
29 99

46

"Barometer,

22 days Clear,

8 days Cloudy and Rain.

30

GEORGE LEWIS, Clerk.

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER,

From June 27, to July 3, 1835. June 27, at 5, A. M. Mercury 70, and at mid-day from 80 to 83. thunder storm in the evening. June 28, at 5, A. M. Mercury 60, and at mid-day from 77 to 80, heavy gust in the afternoon, with rain. June 29, at 5. A. M. Mercury 61, and at mid-day from 78 to 82, fair.

The improvement of this noble stream for Steamboat navigation, has at length attracted the attention of capitalists. The claims of this river for improvement have hitherto been entirely neglected. And as the consequence of this neglect, the district of country through which it flows, is yet almost in a state of nature; emigrants choosing to settle in those sections of country where the state is aiding individual enterprise by the construction of Canals, Rail Roads, and Turnpikes. -Northwestern Pennsylvania is susceptible of becoming as rich and populous a section of country as any whatever. Her extensive beds of iron ore, stone coal, and building stone, and her lumber, are inexhaustible sources of wealth; and to have those sources opened and cultivated, she only needs good thoroughfares to enable her citizens to reach the many markets with which she is surrounded. Her citizens at present are engaged extensively in the manufacture of lumber, the only produce of the country which they can with profit convey to market. But we hope the time is close at hand when the Allegheny will be improved for steam navigation when the active enterprise of our citizens will display to us the animating spectacle of innumerable steamboats navigating the pellucid waters of our beautiful stream, deeply laden with the fruits of the industry of the hardy yeomanry inhabiting its borderstheir iron, their lumber, coal, and glass-supplying the most noble valley on the globe, that of the Mississippi, and bringing back the productions of the genial South; and be the happy witnesses of the hourly arrival of rail road cars laden with the merchandise of the Atlantic cities. This is no illusion; it can be realized by ener getic action. The Pennsylvania improvements centre at Pittsburgh; a communication is also opening between that city and the Ohio improvements; enabling her to transport manufactures into every section of Pennsyl vania and Ohio, and Michigan, and the upper Lakes, and also down the Ohio river to Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, and Louisiana. This extension of her trade has produced a correspond- There were but very few hot days during the month ing growth in the size and population of the city; about of June, but during three days, about the middle of the 400 buildings will be erected this season, and her pop-month, the farmers of Vermont had their sheep shorn ulation probably exceeds 30,000. There is at present of their warm and heavy fleeces, and turned the naked no direct communication between this flourishing city animals again into the pasture. A great change in the of the west and the great works of the state of New weather, from hot to very cold frosty nights, immediYork, but she may have, and we trust will have immediately ensued and about a thousand of these innocent ately, a direct and complete communication with that great state, by the immediate improvement of the Allegheny river for steam to this place, and by connecting the river, through the valley of the Conewango, with the southern Rail Road; which will be completed as rapidly as energy and liberality can drive the work for ward. Make the improvement, and what can prevent Pittsburgh, with her vast manufacturing facilities, and her connections with almost every section of the Union,

June 30, cool, Mercury 60, and at mid-day from 70 to 73, fair.

July 1, very cool, Mercury 55, and at mid-day from 68 to 70, fair.

July 2, very cool, Mercury 58, and at mid-day from 76 to 78, fair.

July 3, moderate, Mercury 65, and at mid-day from 80 to 83, fair,

It will be seen by the above, that on the morning of the first of July, the Mercury sunk to 55, which is 21 degrees below summer heat, and on the succeeding morning to 58.

animals, literally perished with the cold, all of which t
might have been saved, if the owners had taken the
precaution to have had them put up in a barn. Our
pity was excited, when we read of the sufferings of
these poor naked creatures, but not toward their un
feeling owners. We hope, however, that they will
learn wisdom, from the sufferings of their purses, and
hereafter remember, that the merciful man, is merciful
to his poor beasts.U. S. Gas.~~.

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. which will be connected with a canal to Rochester, or a The first exhibition took place on Tuesday, the 23d Rail Road to the Hudson, and probably both. The Saninst., and was well calculated to cheer the Society in dy and Beaver Canal, and also the Mahoning Canal, will its course. Crowds of gratified visiters thronged the extend our trade vastly.-All these facilities together, room; and the choicer articles found a ready sale at lib-place Pittsburgh far ahead of any interior city, merely eral prices The flowe's and green house plants form- as a commercial place. ed an unexpected y brilliant display; but although the quality of the fruits and vegetables was, in several instances, excellent, yet the number of competitors in this department was less than it ought to have been. One of the benefits of the present exhibition is the opportunity it afforded of making extensively known that a leading object of the Society is to better our markets by stimulating all to that improvement, which is within the reach of a trifling additional expenditure and of a moderate degree of skill and care. It is gratifying to learn that this is more fully understood, and that a spirit of eager competition is awakened amongst those who heretofore regarded the Society as a thing altogether apart from their pursuits. The next exhibition will probably be in September, when we may hope to witness a rich and abundant display of all that pertains to

either decorative or useful horticulture.

The following premiums were awarded:
To John Voechtley, for the best lettuce;
Do. do. for best radishes;
Do. do.

for best onions.

To J. Knauff, for the finest display of geraniums.
To Joseph Feurrier, for the finest display of carna-
tions;

Do, do. for finest display of double pinks.

The variety and vigorous condition of the green house plants from the gardens of Mrs. Collins, and Messrs Brown, Spang, and Denny, manifested eclectic taste and skill in culture that would successfully vie with the care of the florist in any part of the United States, and received their premiums' in the admiring award of all the visiters.—Daily Pittsburgh Gazette.

PITTSBURGH AND ITS PROSPECTS.

In casting an eve over the Map of the United States, and examining the relative advantages of different cities and towns, Pittsburgh certainly is pre-eminent. Standing at the head of the nearest point of Steam Boat Navigation, of the West, to the tide water of the Atlantic, and communicating with upwards of 50,000 miles of Steam Navigation of the vast and fertile Valley of the Mississippi, extending over a surface near 1,500 miles square, it would appear, in that alone, to have the means of building up an immense city. It has, besides its many turnpikes, running east, west, and north, its great state canal; and will shortly have an entire Rail Road from Philadelphia. It will, also, have a connection with the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, and the day is not far distant when the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal will extend to the Ohio within our city. We shall, also, bave the Alleghany river improved so as to furnish a Steam Boat Navigation to the New York line,

The inexhaustible supplies of the very best bitumin. ous coal, delivered at our doors, at four cents per bushel, give us an advantage over every other town for those numerous manufactories in which heat and power are required; we have 120 Steam Engines at work in and near our city. It is singular that a city with such peculiar advantages should not have as yet attracted the attention of foreign capitalists. Real estate sells very low, probably not more than one half or one third its value. This is owing to the want of banking capi tal; which will, no doubt, be increased next session of our Legislature. Real estate pays in, for rent, from 8 to 12 per cent interest on its cost.

Foreign capitalists could not, in the United States, make so secure and profitable investments as in Pittsburgh.

Present population is upwards of 35,000.—In 1840, it will be 50,000, and if the country prospers at all, in 1850 it will contain 100,000 inhabitants.

Its health is proverbial, and the markets abundant and cheap. PENN.

CARBONATE OF LIME.

About eleven miles north west of this place (three or four miles north of Brightstown, in this county, an inexhaustable bed of the carbonate of lime in a clayey state (calcaerous marle,) has been discovered. The clay when burned after the usual manner, produces very good white lime, from the specimen we have seen we would say the very best lime. It has been found that at this one place, it covers an ex'ent of one hundred acres, which is prairie land covered with turt to the depth of one foot, under which the marle is found, and although it has been dug to the depth of nine feet, yet no sign of other kind of earth was discovered. Apart from the general uses to which lime is applied, we are sensible that this discovery will effect a new era in the agriculture of this section of country, and will, when its uses as a fertilizing manure become extensively known and applied, enhance the value of our lands two fold. We hope this discovery will excite such a spirit of enquiry and research as will result in the disclosure of beds of lime in every part of the country; and that persons may be disposed to seek it from an acquaintance with its na ture and uses, and be able to distinguish it from other earths, we shall in somefuture number devote a column in explanation of its chemical properties, probable localities, and value as a manure. We have no idea that it is confined to any particular spot, but from many circumstances, are firmly of the opinion that it will be found near the surface in almost every section of the county. Crawford Messenger.

GARDENING.

Conversing on the subject of gardening, with a gen. tleman a few days since, it was remarked that our distance from the cities, prevented us adorning our gar dens and houses with some of the rare and beautiful flowers and shrubs which decorate those of the cities and the country adjacent. This is entirely an errone ous idea-we received this week from those distinguished horticulturalists, William Prince & Sons, of Flushing, Long Island, a Camelia, (Camelia Japonica) in full leaf and almost in bloom, and in a very healthy condition Although packed in a box with seed, it suffered so lit tle from the voyage of several hundred miles by boat and waggon, that not one leaf was bruised, but in every respect the plant looks as well as if it had never been moved-the expense of transportation from New York was about 12 cents.—ib.