The face of the country between Philadelphia and Lancaster is hilly, and variegated with woods and cultivated farms. It is extremely well inhabited and consists of almost every variety of soil, from sandy and light, to a rich black mould, which last quality is observable generally between New Holland and Lancaster, except on the heights on each bank of the Conestoga. The first settlers of all this tract were English, Irish, and German, but the latter have gradually purchased from the others, and have got the best lands generally into their possession. They {15} are frugal and industrious, are good farmers, and consequently a wealthy people.
Lancaster is supposed to be the largest inland town in the United States. It is in a healthy and pleasant situation, on the western slope of a hill, and consists of two principal streets, compactly built with brick and stone, and well paved and lighted, crossing each other at right angles. There is a handsome and commodious court-house of brick in the centre, which, in my opinion is injurious to the beauty of the town, by obstructing the vista of the principal streets. There are several other streets parallel to the principal ones the whole containing about eight hundred houses. The houses for publick worship are a German Lutheran, a German Calvinist, a Presbyterian, an Episcopalian, a Moravian, a Quaker, and a Roman Catholick church, amongst which the German Lutheran is the most conspicuous from its size and handsome spire: it has also an organ.—There is a strong jail built with stone, and a brick market house. What in my opinion does most honour to the town is its poor house, which is delightfully situated near Conestoga creek about a mile from the town on the right of the turnpike road towards Philadelphia. It is a large and commodious building, and is supported partly by the labour of those paupers who are able to work, and partly by a fine farm, which is annexed to it. There are several private manufacturies in Lancaster, amongst which are three breweries and three tanyards, but it is principally noted for its rifles, muskets, and pistols, the first of which are esteemed the best made in the United States. The inhabitants are chiefly the descendants of the first German settlers, and are a quiet, orderly people—They are estimated at about four thousand five hundred.
This has been the seat of government of Pennsylvania since 1799, but it is not rendered permanently {16} so by an act of the legislature, which occasions attempts being made annually at every session of that body to remove it.[5] The eastern members advocating Philadelphia on account of its trade and population, and the western members endeavouring to have it placed as near to the centre of the state as possible, which they contend will also shortly be the centre of population, from the rapid manner in which the country to the westward of the Allegheny mountains is settling. I was present at a very animated debate, on the subject in the house of representatives, during which much good argument, mixed with several sprightly and keen flashes of genuine wit, was used, but it all terminated, as it has hitherto invariably done, in favour of Lancaster—Of many situations proposed, Harrisburgh seemed to have the greatest number of advocates.
Notwithstanding Lancaster is so populous and the seat of government besides, it is but a dull town with respect to society. The manners and taste of the inhabitants are not yet sufficiently refined by education, or intercourse with strangers, to make it a desirable situation for the residence of a person who wishes to enjoy the otium cum dignitate. An alteration in that respect will doubtless take place with the rising generation, whose education, the easy circumstances of the present inhabitants, enable to pay a proper attention to, particularly as they seem desirous to balance their own deficiencies in literature and the polite accomplishments, by their attention to their children in those particulars. There is no theatre, no assemblies, no literary societies, nor any other publick entertainment, except occasionally an itinerant exhibition of wax-work, or a puppet-show: {17} but there are taverns without number, at some of which I have been informed, private gambling is very customary.
There are horse races here annually, which last a week on a course on the common to the westward of the town, which like most other races in this country, are for the mere purposes of jockeying horses, and betting, and are not followed by balls and other social meetings of both sexes, as at amusements of the same kind in Europe. Shooting with the rifle, is a favourite amusement, at which they are very dexterous, meeting at taverns at short distances from town, to shoot, sometimes at a mark for wagers, and sometimes at turkeys provided by the tavern keeper, at so much a shot, the turkey being the prize of the killer of it—the distance is generally, one hundred yards, and always with a single ball.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] For a statistical account of the Schuylkill permanent bridge, the reader is referred to a new and valuable work, the “Memoirs of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society,” vol. i, and to Biddle’s “Young Carpenter’s Assistant.”
As a specimen of the difficulties, and uncommon perseverance of the company in building the Schuylkill bridge, we give the following instance: The British troops when at Philadelphia had formed a bridge of boats over the Schuylkill, one of which had been accidentally sunk in 1777, twenty-eight feet below common low water. It occupied a part of the area of the western coffer dam, with one end projecting under two of the piles of the inner row, and had nearly rendered the erection abortive. It was first discovered on pumping out the dam, in 1802; and was perfectly sound, after the lapse of 25 years. The iron work had not the least appearance of rust, or the wood (which was common oak) of decay. The taking this boat to pieces, the straining the dam, and the leaks in consequence, were the chief causes of an extra expenditure, by the company, of more than 4000 dollars, hardly and perilously disbursed in pumping (which alone cost from 500 to 700 dollars weekly) and other labour, during forty-one days and nights in the midst of a most inclement winter. Mem. Phila. Ag. Soc.—Cramer.
[2] This water steam engine, otherwise called the waterworks, is a work of great magnitude. It cost 150 thousand dollars, and is capable of raising about 4,500,000 gallons of water in 24 hours, with which the city is daily supplied through wooden pipes. The reservoir, into which the water is thrown, is capable of holding 20,000 gallons, and is of a sufficient height to supply the citizens with water in the upper stories of their highest houses. The first stone of this building was laid on the 2d May, 1799, and it was completed in 1801-2. The works belong to the city, and the citizens pay a water tax equal to the expence of keeping the engine in motion, which amounts to about 8,000 dollars annually. The building stands in the centre square, and consequently spoils the view down Market street. The trees and houses adjacent, look as black and gloomy as those in Pittsburgh, arising from the smoke of the mineral coal burnt in the works.—Cramer.
[3] This estate of Robert Morris, who died the year before Cuming’s tour, was purchased in 1770, and had formed part of the manor of Springetsbury. It is now within Fairmount Park. Morris, known as the “financier of the American Revolution,” was an Englishman who, emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1747, became a prominent merchant of Philadelphia. After serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress, and signing the Declaration of Independence, he was assigned the difficult task of procuring funds for the war. To his support was due the maintenance of an army in the field during the disastrous years of 1776 and 1777; while his chief accomplishment was financing the campaign that led to the battle of Yorktown. After retiring from the superintendency of finance in 1784, Morris served in the Pennsylvania legislature (1786), the Constitutional Convention (1787), and the United States Senate (1789-95), declining the position of Secretary of the Treasury in Washington’s cabinet. In later life his affairs became involved, and he spent four years (1798-1802) in a debtor’s prison. See Sumner, Robert Morris (New York, 1892).—Ed.