Peculiarities of American Cities

At the corner of Broad and Thirteenth streets stands the Monumental Church, in commemoration of a terrible calamity which once befell the city. On the twenty-sixth of December, 1811, a play entitled "The Bleeding Nun" was being performed in the little theatre of the city, and proved such a great attraction that the house was crowded, not less than six hundred people being present on the eventful night. Just before the conclusion of the play the scenery caught fire, and in a few minutes the whole building was wrapped in flames. The fire falling from the ceiling upon the performers was the first notification the audience had of what was transpiring. A scene of the wildest confusion ensued. There was but one door through which the entire audience, composed of men, women and children, could make its exit. The fire flashed from one portion of the interior to another, catching on the garments of the frantic people. All pressed in a wild panic toward the door. People jumped and were pushed out of the windows. Many were rescued with their clothing literally burned off from them, and no less than sixty-nine persons perished in the flames, among them George W. Smith, Governor of the State, and many other prominent men and women. A great funeral was held in the Baptist meeting-house, and the entire population of the city attended, as mourners. The remains of the unfortunates were interred beneath a mural tablet which is now in the vestibule of the church that was subsequently erected on the site of the theatre.

St. John's Church, on Church Hill, at the corner of Broad and Twenty-fourth streets, dates back to ante-Revolutionary times, and in it was held, in 1775, the Virginia Convention, in which Patrick Henry made his famous speech, containing the words "Give me liberty or give me death!" It was subsequently the place of meeting of the Convention which, in 1788, ratified the Federal Constitution. Among the members of this Convention were James Madison, John Marshall, James Monroe, Patrick Henry, George Nicholas, George Mason, Edmund Randolph, Pendleton and Wythe. Rarely has any occasion in a single State presented such a list of illustrious names as we find here. This church is a plain, unpretending edifice, built in the style of a century ago, to which has been added a modern spire.

The State Capitol stands on the summit of Shockoe Hill, in the centre of a park of eight acres. It is of Graeco-Composite style of architecture, with a portico of Ionic columns, planned after that of the Maison cassée at Nismes, in France, the plan being furnished by Thomas Jefferson. Beneath a lofty dome in the centre of the building is Houdon's celebrated statue of Washington, of marble, life size, representing him clad in the uniform of a revolutionary general. Near by, in a niche in the wall, is a marble bust of Lafayette. This building has been the scene of many noted political gatherings. In it, on January seventh, 1861, was read Governor Letcher's message to the Legislature, in which he declared it was "monstrous to see a government like ours destroyed merely because men cannot agree about a domestic institution." Nevertheless, on the seventeenth of the same month, the Capitol Building witnessed the unanimous passage of the following resolution: —

"Resolved, That if all efforts to reconcile the unhappy differences between sections of our country shall prove abortive, then every consideration of honor and interest demands that Virginia shall unite her destinies with her sister slaveholding States."

And on the thirteenth of February, the same edifice saw a State Convention meet within its walls; on the sixteenth of April, Governor Letcher refused the requisition of the Secretary of War for troops to assist in putting down the Rebellion in South Carolina; and the next day the Ordinance of Secession was passed, two months having been given to an active discussion of its expediency, pro and con. The Confederate flag, with eight stars, was raised from the dome of the Capitol, and the Custom House, which stands on Main street, between Tenth and Eleventh, had the gilt sign on its portico, "United States Court," removed. A citizen writing from Richmond, on April twenty-fifth, says: "Our beautiful city presents the appearance of an armed camp. Where all these soldiers come from, in such a state of preparation, I cannot imagine. Every train pours in its multitude of volunteers, but I am not as much surprised at the number as at the apparent discipline of the country companies. * * But the war spirit is not confined to the men nor to the white population. The ladies are not only preparing comforts for the soldiers, but arming and practicing themselves. Companies of boys, also, from ten to fourteen years of age, fully armed and well drilled, are preparing for the fray. In Petersburg, three hundred free negroes offered their services, either to fight under white officers, or to ditch and dig, or any kind of labor. An equal number in this city and across the river, in Chesterfield, have volunteered in like manner."

A resolution was passed by the Convention inviting the Southern Confederacy to make Richmond the seat of government. The Ordinance of Secession having been submitted to the people, the vote in the city stood twenty-four hundred in favor and twenty-four against, being less than half the vote polled at the Presidential election in November previous. Richmond became a general rendezvous for troops.

The Confederate Congress met in Richmond, in the hall of the House of Delegates, on the twentieth of July, 1861, and the seat of government continued there until the taking of the city marked the fall of the Confederacy. A school-house in the vicinity of the rear of Monumental Church, was at that time known as Brockenburg House, and was the residence of Jefferson Davis, president of the Southern Confederacy. Two tobacco warehouses, under their former titles of Libby & Son and Castle Thunder, together with Belle Isle, were military prisons during the war, and in the former of these, as already narrated, the writer was confined for several months.

About the middle of May, 1862, the Federal forces having passed Yorktown and Williamsburg, began to move directly upon Richmond. Consternation seized the city, all who could get away packed up everything and fled southward. Even President Davis took his family and hastened to North Carolina. It was resolved to destroy the city by conflagration as soon as the Union troops reached it. The Federal army was, however, compelled to abandon the Peninsula, and Richmond was safe for the time being. On February twenty-ninth, 1864, General Kilpatrick, with his division of cavalry, commenced his march upon the city, and came within six miles, when he was compelled to withdraw to Mechanicsburg. The next day he made a second attempt, advancing by the Westham or river road, but was confronted by superior forces, and again compelled to fall back, and shortly after he returned down the Peninsula.

From the beginning of the war Richmond had been the objective point of a series of formidable expeditions for its capture, under Generals McDowell, McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant. The strong earthworks which were drawn around the city for its protection still remain as mementoes of the great struggle. On July thirtieth, 1864, the Union forces advanced as far as Petersburg, and after destroying one fort, were repulsed. It was not until April second, 1865, that the Rebel forces were obliged to surrender that outpost, and on the following day, General Weitzel, with his troops, entered the city of Richmond.

President Davis was attending church at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, at the corner of Grace and Ninth streets, when a messenger brought him a dispatch from General Lee, announcing that Petersburg was about to be evacuated. The officers of the Southern Confederacy stood not on the order of their going, but went at once. Jefferson Davis took his family and left the city immediately. The Rebel authorities took with them what stores and treasures they could convey away, burned what they had to leave behind, and set fire to the warehouses, public buildings, and bridges across the James River. The flames communicated to adjacent structures, and it was thought the entire city would be destroyed. A large portion of its business section was thus laid waste; the number of buildings destroyed being estimated at one thousand, and the entire loss at eight millions of dollars.

On the fourth of April, President Lincoln reached Richmond, and entered the house which had but two days before been occupied by Jefferson Davis, but which was now the headquarters of General Weitzel. He came unattended, and walked up from the river into the city, without parade, as any ordinary citizen might have done. The news of his presence soon spread, and the colored people flocked around him, with strong demonstrations of joy. "God bless you, Massa Linkum!" was heard on every hand, while the tears rolled down the cheeks of some, and others danced for joy. And here, perhaps all unconsciously, the second father of his country emulated the first. It is told of Washington, that, a colored man having bowed to him, he returned the bow with stately courtesy. Being remonstrated with for bowing to a colored person, he replied that he did not wish to be outdone in politeness by a negro. At Richmond a colored man bowed to Lincoln, with the salutation, "May de good Lord bless you, President Linkum!" Lincoln returned the bow with cordiality, evidently, like Washington, determined not to be outdone in politeness by a negro. But that bow not only indicated the noble nature of the man who recognized a humanity broader than a color line, and over whom already hung the dark shadow of martyrdom; but it also was a foretoken of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the Civil Rights act, which so quickly followed the quelling of the Rebellion.

In the soldiers' section of the Hollywood Cemetery, in the western limits of the city, overlooking the James River, are the graves of hundreds of Confederate dead, from the midst of which rises a monumental pyramid of rough stone. In the same cemetery, on a hill at its southern extremity, a monument marks the resting-place of President Monroe. General J. E. B. Stuart, commander of Lee's cavalry, is also buried here.

The Tredegar Iron Works, which are still in active operation, and whose buildings cover thirteen acres of ground, were the great cannon manufactory of the Confederacy. Several battle fields and national cemeteries are within a few hours' drive of the city. The old African Church, a long, low building in Branch street, near Monumental Church, is famous as a place of political meetings, both before and during the war.

Crawford's equestrian statue of Washington, in the esplanade leading from the Governor's house to the Capitol Square, will recall the early days of the Republic. The statue is of bronze, representing a horse and rider of colossal size, the horse thrown back partly upon its haunches, on a massive granite pedestal, and around it are grouped bronze figures of Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, George Mason, Thomas Nelson, and Andrew Lewis, all illustrious sons of Virginia. In the Capitol Square, north of the Capitol Building, is Foley's statue of General "Stonewall" Jackson, of heroic size, on a granite pedestal, and near it a life-size marble statue of Henry Clay. In the State Library, which contains forty thousand volumes, are many historical portraits.

Richmond has rapidly recuperated since the war. Her streets have been rebuilt, and, in common with many other Southern cities, she has, since the abolition of slavery, and the consequent elevation of labor and attraction of Northern enterprise and capital, developed many industrial interests. The Gallego and Haxall flour mills are among the largest in the world. It has a large number of cotton, and a still larger number of tobacco factories; and contains also forges, furnaces, paper mills, and machine shops. Its chief exports are, however, tobacco and flour. Richmond owes its present flourishing condition to its river facilities, and the immense water power supplied by the falls. It is alike the manufacturing and the commercial metropolis of the State. Vessels drawing ten feet of water can come within a mile of the centre of the city, those drawing fifteen feet, to three miles below. A canal around the falls gives river navigation two hundred miles further into the interior. Steamboat lines connect it with the principal Atlantic cities, and railroads and canals open up communication with the North, South, and West.

The city is regularly laid out, the streets crossing each other at right angles. Those parallel with the river are named alphabetically, A street being on the river. The cross streets are named numerically. The principal thoroughfare is Main or E street, which is the centre of business. The fashionable quarter is on Shockoe Hill, in the western part of the city, where are also the chief public edifices. The Penitentiary is in the western suburbs facing the river, and is a massive structure three hundred feet long and one hundred and ten feet deep. The Almshouse is one of the finest buildings in the city. There are a large number of churches, thirteen colleges, and an orphan asylum. Five bridges across the James River connect it with Spring Hill and Manchester, the latter a pretty town containing two cotton mills.

The population of Richmond, by the census of 1880, was 63,803, which showed an increase of more than ten thousand persons in ten years. Unlike Charleston, S. C., it is surrounded by a populous rural region, whose products find a market here, and whose population look largely to the city for their supplies. It will never attain the commercial consequence of Savannah or of Norfolk, but as the centre of the tobacco region, and the seat of large manufacturing interests, it will always possess a certain importance and prosperity.

CHAPTER XXXI.

SAINT PAUL

Early History of Saint Paul. – Founding of the City. – Public Buildings. – Roman Catholics. – Places of Resort. – Falls of Minnehaha. – Carver's Cave. – Fountain Cave. – Commercial Interests. – Present and Future Prospects.

The first white man who ever visited the locality where Saint Paul now stands, was Father Hennepin, who made a voyage of discovery up the Mississippi, above the Falls of Saint Anthony, in 1680. But for more than a century and a half after his visit the entire section of country remained practically in the possession of the Indians. Eighty-six years afterwards Jonathan Carver made a treaty with the Dakotas, and in 1837 the United States made a treaty with the Sioux, throwing the land open to settlement.

The first building in Saint Paul was erected in 1838, but for a number of years afterwards it remained merely an Indian trading-post. In 1841 a mission was established on the spot by the Jesuits, and a log chapel dedicated to Saint Paul, from which the city afterwards took its name.

The land upon which Saint Paul is built was purchased in 1849, at the government price of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. The same year the town was made the capital of the State, while it was yet a hamlet of a few log huts. Four years later it had nearly four thousand inhabitants, with handsome public buildings, good hotels, stores, mills, factories, and other constituents of a prosperous town. In 1846 the town had but ten inhabitants. In 1856 it had ten thousand. Steamers were coming and going; loads of immigrants were arriving; drays and teams were driving hither and thither; carpenters and masons were hard at work; yet could not put up houses fast enough; shops and dwellings were starting out of the ground, as if by magic. In 1880 the population had increased to fifty thousand, and was steadily and rapidly multiplying.

Saint Paul originally occupied the western bank of the Mississippi, but has now extended to the eastern bank as well. It is divided into a lower and upper town, the former lying on the low shore between the bluff and the river, and containing the wholesale houses, shipping houses and factories. The latter occupies no less than four plateaus rising one above another, in a semicircle around the bend of the river, the first plateau being nearly a hundred feet in height. Here are the retail stores, public buildings, churches and private residences. The streets in the central portions of the city cross one another at right angles, but become irregular as they approach the boundaries. They are graded and paved and lighted by gas. Two bridges connect the opposite shores of the river, and horse cars traverse all sections of the city. Its general appearance is pleasing in the extreme. Many of the houses are built of blue limestone, which is found underlying one of the terraces in great quantities.

The State Capitol building is now in process of construction, and will, when completed, be a very handsome edifice, occupying an entire square. The United States Custom House, an opera house, a large number of handsome churches, and several public school buildings are among the objects worthy of note in the city.

Although Saint Paul is settled largely by people from New England and New York State, the Roman Catholics still hold an important place in the city. The first to take possession of the spot, they will be the last to relax their hold. They have a number of large and handsomely finished church edifices, and have established an orphan asylum. There is also a Protestant orphan asylum, and three free hospitals.

The city boasts an Academy of Sciences, which has a very full museum, a Historical Society and a Library Association, each of the latter having fine libraries.

Saint Paul is in the midst of a charming and romantic country, and the throngs of people who seek a transient home within its borders during the heat of summer find abundance of delightful drives and places for picnics and excursions. White Bear Lake and Bald Eagle Lake, but a short distance away by rail, furnish boating, fishing and bathing for pleasure seekers, as well as most enchanting scenery for the lovers of nature. The city park is but two miles away, on the shores of Lake Como, and is also an attractive place.

All lovers of the romantic should thank Longfellow that by means of his exquisite poem of Hiawatha he has rescued the beautiful Falls of Minnehaha, meaning in the Dakota language "laughing water," from being known as Brown's Falls, a name which some utilitarian egotist had bestowed upon it. From a high bank, covered with shrubbery, the clear, silvery stream makes a sudden leap of about fifty feet into the chasm beneath. A veil of mist rises before the falls, and the sun shining upon it spans the cataract with a rainbow.

On the eastern side of the city, in Dayton Bluff, near the river, is Carver's Cave, so named after Jonathan Carver, already referred to, who, in this cave, in May, 1767, made his treaty with the Indians, by which he secured a large tract of land. The cave contains a lake large enough to have a boat upon it.

Two miles above Saint Paul, on a beautiful clear stream that flows into the Mississippi, is Fountain Cave, a most wonderful and interesting production of nature. It seems to have been formed by the action of the stream which finds an outlet through it. It has an arched entrance with a vaulted roof, the entrance being twenty feet in height by twenty-five in width, while roof, sides and floor are of pure white sandstone. This cave contains a number of chambers, the largest being one hundred feet in length by twenty-five feet in width, and twenty feet in height. The cave has been penetrated for a thousand feet or more, and still has unexplored recesses.

Saint Paul stands at the head of navigation of the Mississippi River, the Falls and Rapids of Saint Anthony, a short distance above, effectually barring the further upward progress of craft from below, though above the falls small steamboats thread the waters of the youthful Mississippi to the furthest outposts of civilization. At this point the immense grain fields of the northwest find an outlet for their annual products, and to this point comes the merchandise which must supply the needs of an already large and constantly increasing agricultural, mining and lumbering population. Numerous railroads connect it, not only with the great trade centres of the east and south, but with a hundred thriving towns and villages in Minnesota and Wisconsin, who look to it for supplies; and when the Northern Pacific is completed, the entire northwest will be brought into communication with Saint Paul, and as the Mississippi will share with the lakes the transportation of produce, manufactures and ores of an inexhaustible but now scarcely populated region, Saint Paul will derive immense advantages from this gigantic enterprise.

Saint Paul is already a town of the greatest importance on the Upper Mississippi. Her streets teem with business, and boats of all descriptions lie at her wharves. Already a populous city, what she is to-day is but the beginning of what the future will behold her. A generation hence she will count her inhabitants by hundreds where now she counts them by tens; her business will have increased in like proportion; and in the no distant future she will be known as the great metropolis of the Northwest.

CHAPTER XXXII.

SALT LAKE CITY

The Mormons. – Pilgrimage Across the Continent. – Site of Salt Lake City. – A People of Workers. – Spread of Mormons through other Territories. – City of the Saints. – Streets. – Fruit and Shade Trees. – Irrigation. – The Tabernacle. – Residences of the late Brigham Young. – Museum. – Public Buildings. – Warm and Hot Springs. – Number and Character of Population. – Barter System before Completion of Railroad. – Mormons and Gentiles. – Present Advantages and Future Prospects of Salt Lake City.

Of all the cities which have sprung into being and grown and prospered, since the discovery of the American continent, there is not one with which is associated so much interest, and which attracts such universal curiosity as Salt Lake City. From the time of the so-called discovery of the Book of Mormon, in 1827, by Joseph Smith, through all the wanderings of the adherents of Mormonism, beginning with the organization of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," in Manchester, New York, including its removal to Kirtland, Ohio, and the establishment of a branch church in Jackson County, Missouri; its transplanting to Nauvoo, Illinois; the temporary sojourn of its adherents in Iowa; and the final exodus, in 1847, over the then almost unknown and unexplored plains and mountains of the great west, until they reached the Land of Promise, lying between the Wasatch Range and the Sierra Nevadas, and there settled themselves permanently, to build up literally a "Kingdom of Christ upon the earth," the Mormons have been in more senses than one a peculiar people. They have been unpleasantly peculiar in their advocacy and practice of polygamy, and during their early sojourn at Salt Lake, in their defiance of the United States Government. In some other respects they have challenged the admiration of the world, and have set patterns in industry, and in a system of government, which seems to consider the well-being of all, both of which might be imitated to advantage by the "Gentiles" who affect to despise them.

After a weary pilgrimage through a wilderness far greater than that traversed by the Israelites in days of old, the Mormons found their Canaan in an immense valley, from four thousand to six thousand feet above the level of the sea, and walled in by mountain ranges which seemed to furnish natural barriers against the incroachments of an antagonistic civilization. This valley, the geologist said, was the bottom of a great, pre-historic sea, which by some mighty convulsion of nature had been lifted up from its original level, and its outlet cut off, and, like the Caspian Sea and others, was left to shrink by evaporation. In the deepest depression of this valley still remained all that was left of this ancient inland ocean, reduced now to seventy-five miles in length and thirty in breadth, with an average depth of but eight feet. Still holding in solution a large proportion of the salts of the greater sea, its waters form one of the purest and most concentrated brines in the world, containing twenty-two per cent of chloride of sodium, slightly mixed with other salts. All through the valley of the Great Salt Lake there are salt and alkaline deposits, evidencing the former presence of water. The valley seemed barren and uninviting; yet in it, as offering a refuge from the persecutions which they had suffered in the east, the Mormons decided to establish their church and build their homes. They found the soil, barren as it looked, would grow grass, grain and fruits; and though the climate is changeable, the winter cold, with deep snows, and the heat of summer intense, they had faith to believe that they could endure whatever natural disadvantages they could not overcome, and that they should in time receive the reward of their piety and industry.