Magazine of Western History

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 edition. Excerpt: ... PITTSBURGH--IV. As the stranger walks through the busy streets of Pittsburgh, and among the countless places where, with fire and steam and the loud noises of ten thousand smiting hammers, active industry is fashioning the earth's most useful metal for the purposes of man, the first thought is that a miracle has been suddenly wrought and all this force and action and other results brought into life by some sudden Titanic stroke of creation. And then there comes the grander and more forceful afterthought that the patient labor, the endless courage, and the hard-learned skill of man have done all this--have built these great structures one by one, have fashioned these mighty engines that lift and hammer and carry hither and thither at word of command, have dug the iron and coal, have built a teeming mart in the wilderness and covered these three fair rivers with countless craft that come and go laden in' every hour of the day. This is indeed the true magic by which creation works, and the Titan whose arm has been bared in this labor is that wonderful thing--American industry coupled with American skill. There was a time, not long ago, when only a struggling hamlet lay on this span of land, with the forests about it and nature's green facing the hills that lifted themselves back along the rivers. Old men came here with their capital and skill, and young men came with their courage and their brains. Difficulties stood in the way, the beginnings were small and the risks great, but inch by inch the road was fought over and won, and Pittsburgh became the industrial and commercial giant that it is to-day. Among these men who came in the early days and laid the foundations, some are gone into rest, many have given their labors and...