United States Pictures. Drawn with pen and pencil, etc

Introduction

. For a number of years the ' Pen and Pencil Series ' had upon its list a volume entitled American Pictures. It was written by the late Dr. Manning, and enjoyed a wide popularity. But in America things move quickly, and this book in almost all of its engravings, and in much of the letterpress, now possesses only an antiquarian value. Hence the resolution was taken to prepare an entirely new book ; and to prevent all possibility of confusion with its predecessor, a new title was taken. United States Pictures has not a line of text in common with American Pictures, and of the one hundred and ninety-six engravings in the latter only five reappear in the former. The author of the present volume has, he ventures to think, some special qualifications for the task he has undertaken. He spent nearly ten years of his youth in the United States, and he lived there all through the terrible struggle of the sanguinary Civil War between the Northern and Southern States from 1861 to 1865.

He was educated at an American school, and came under the influence of many American habits of thought at a time when impressions once received abide for a lifetime. In the year 1890 he revisited the country after an absence of many years ; travelling in almost every part, and comparing the impressions of mature manhood with the recollections of early life. This experience, while it has in no sense lessened his deep interest in the life of the United States, and his brotherly affection for

INTRODUCTION.

. the people, has impressed him with a firmer conviction than ever that the phenomena of United States life and government are of vital moment to the people of Great Britain, and should be most carefully noted by them at the present time. Trending we undoubtedly are in the direction along which the United States has travelled so far. Hence the way in which that great nation is working out the complicated and difficult questions of federal, state and municipal government ; education ; universal suffrage ; the absolute equality of all religious beliefs in the eye of the law ; protection -versus free trade ; currency ; land transfer and tenure ; and a host of other matters that come very close to the sources and springs of national prosperity, should be full of instruction . for every thoughtful and observant man.

Some of these questions are touched, necessarily with a very light hand, in this book. If he has ventured to criticize in any respect the action of the United States in regard to any of them, he trusts that readers on that side of the water into whose hands the book may fall will believe that he has done so, not from any desire to find fault, but from the honest desire to enable his readers at home to gain the impressions produced upon his own mind by things as he saw them. England has many things to learn from her ' kin beyond the sea ; ' possibly the most important being not to attempt some great experiments they are trying, until the results of the great object lessons which the United States is giving to the world become a little clearer and more definite. The charm of the United States to the lover of scenery consists in looking upon the natural wonders of that vast country as exemplified in the Hudson, Niagara, the great canons of the West, the Yosemite, and the Yellowstone Park.

To those more deeply concerned about social, political and commercial matters, it consists rather — at any rate so far as relates to the territory west of the Mississippi — in being able to watch a great nation actually in the process of making. Towns like Denver and Portland and Spokane P'alls seem to grow almost beneath the eye of the visitor. The plan of this work has been to say comparatively little about the Eastern cities, and to give as much space as possible to the great and in many respects unique charms of the scenery. It is for this reason that both pen and pencil have dealt much more liberally with the Yosemite than with Chicago; and that the Grand Canon of the Colorado is somewhat fully described, while towns like St. Louis, Cincinnati, and a host of others are not even mentioned.

The books in the series to which this belongs never exceed 224 pages in length, and hence many departments one would have liked to treat have had to be wholly passed by. In the selection of illustrations also there have been difficulties. The resources of the Century, Scribners Magazine, and Harper s Magazine have been utilized. When a place or a thing had been well done in one or other of those publications, it seemed useless expense to re-engrave them.

INTRODUCTION.

But the book contains a large number of engravings done expressly for it by Mr. Edward Whymper, and these have been reserved, so far as possible, Taking the Pilot on Board off New York. for subjects not treated at all before, or, if engraved, not executed in such a style as to make them worthy of a place. A word or two must be said about the journey across the Atlantic, which is the inevitable prelude of a trip to the United States. The dread

INTRODUCTION.

. of this annually prevents many who would otherwise be very glad to set foot upon American soil from making the effort. This hindrance is more easily overcome by our American cousins, if we may judge by the increasing numbers who visit Europe every year. But, in reality, science as applied to steamship building, has made, and is still making, extraordinary improve ments in the way of increasing the comfort of those who cross the ocean. The author made his last trip both out and home in the magnificent steamer, the Umbria, belonging to the old and famous Cunard Line. Notwithstanding the rivalry of younger and powerful competitors this line fully holds its own. The management is characterised now, as it ever has been, by care and skill ; and it is a somewhat fastidious taste which requires or expects greater comfort or a faster pace across the Atlantic than is enjoyed by the passengers on the Umbria or the Etruria.

The author's end will be attained if by means of these pictures and descriptions some clear conception is given to the reader of the enormous size, the extraordinary natural beauties and advantages, the rapid growth, and the business opportunities of the United States. He would also be ungrateful indeed if he did not fully acknowledge the prompt and ready courtesy, and the large hospitality with which every native of ' the old home ' is welcomed in all parts of the land over which wave the stars and the stripes. Every influence that helps to make England and the United States better known to each other is a blessing to both peoples ; and this book is sent forth in the earnest hope that it may contribute in some measure to this great end. The Treasury at Washington. From a photograph] {by Haynes of St. Paul.

The Tetons. CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Old Faithful Geyser in Action Frontispiece The Cunard Steamship Umbria ......... page 5 Taking the Pilot on Board oft" New York ....... 7 The Treasury at Washington .......■•• 8 The Tetons ......... . 9 Mount Shasta ............. 12 Broadway, showing Astor House and the Post Office ..... 14

Chapter I. New York And Brooklyn

The Narrows, New York Harbour . . . page 15 Immigrants at New York .... Aige 2 1 The Elevated Railway ..... 15 Trinity Church ...... 24 Customs' Officers examining Baggage on a Steamer's Wharf at New York ..... 16 Wall Street 26 The New York City Hall 28 The Baggage Room at a Railway Station . . \_ Office of the New York Tribune . . . 3t CONTENTS. 10

CHAPTER I.

— continued. A Member of the ' Broadway Squad ' on Duty page 32 A New York Mansion . . . . 33 The Belvedere, Central Park, New York . . 34 View across the Hudson at Riverside Park . 36 Columbia College — Interior of the Library . . 37 Columbia College page 38 Section of the Brooklyn Bridge 39 View of the Bridge from the New York side . 41 Greenwood Cemetery ..... 42 Approach to New York by the Hudson . . 43

Chapter II. New England

The Puritan ....... 44 Bunker Hill Monument ..... 44 The Elms, Yale University .... 45 A Staircase on the Steamer Puritan ... 47 The Burying Hill, Plymouth .... 49 The Return of the Mayflower to England . . 51 Plymouth Rock 53 The State House, Boston ..... 54 The Old State House, Boston ... 55 Faneuil Hall ....... 56 Old South Church, Boston .... 57 New Old South and Trinity Churches, Boston . 5S Sever Hall, Harvard ..... 62 Memorial Hall, Harvard College ... 64 The Dining Hall Memorial Hall, Harvard College 65 Longfellow ....... 66 The Harbour and Wharves of Salem ... 67 The Room in which Hawthorne was born . 69 The House in which Hawthorne was born . . 7° Nathaniel Hawthorne . . . . . 71 The Custom House, Salem .... 72 Window in Custom House, Salem ... 73 Hawthorne's Desk ...... 73 The Old Manse 74 Wellesley College ...... 76 Waban Cottage, Wellesley .... 77 Battell Chapel, Yale University .... 78 The Law School, Harvard . . . ' . 63 The Law Library in the Capitol, Washington 79

Chapter III. The Cradle Of Independence

Table and Chair used in conneclion with the Declaration of Independence .... So Independence Hall . . . . ' . 81 William Penn ....... S3 P'irst Draft of the Declaration of Independence. 85 The Declaration of Independence as printed in 17/6 87 Poor Richard's Almanack .... 88 Facsimile Letter of Benjamin Franklin . . 89 Benjamin Franklin ...... 90 The Merchants' Exchange, Philadelphia . . 91 Independence Hall, from Chestnut Street . . 93 Shooting a Well ...... 95 An Oil Siding, Petroleum Train, and Pumping Station ....... 96 A Gas Well 97

Chapter IV. The Federal Capital

The Capitol at Washington — East Front . . 98 A Lobbyist 98 The Smithsonian Institute at Washington . . 99 Pennsylvania Avenue . . . . . 10 1 Massachusetts Avenue ..... 102 Outside the Market, Washington . . . 104 The White House— Main Entrance . , . 105 The Rear of the White House ... 106 Lincoln and his Son at the White House . . 107 The Cabinet Room, White House . . . 108 The Library at the Capitol . . .110 The Rotunda in the Capitol . . . . 1 1 1 Geneial Sherman . . . . .112 Soldiers' Graves, Arlington . . . . 113 Lee's House, Arlington . . . .114 The Hall, Mount Vernon .... n6 Sending a Card to a Member of Congress . .116 In the Refreshment Room at the Capitol . . i\_ CONTENTS. 11

Chapter V. The South

A Cotton Field ..... page 117 Site of the First Settlement in Virginia, 1607 page 121 Negro Picking Cotton . . . . . 117 An old Virginia Mansion . . . . 122 ' Stonewall ' Jackson . . . . us The Natural Bridge, Virginia .... 123 Statue of Washington in the Grounds of the State House, Richmond . . . . 120 Negro Village in Alabama .... 125 The Levee at New Orleans . . . .127 Street Life in the South 128

Chapter VI. To Chicago Via Niagara

The American Fall from Goat Island . . . 130 A Wayside Railway Depot .... 135 The Whirlpool Rapids, Niagara Falls . . 131 The City Hall, Albany ..... 137 The End Car . . . . . . 131 Hennepin's Sketch of Niagara in 1678 . . 139 The Grand Central Depot, New York . . 132 The Last Moment on the Railway Post Office . 133 The American Fall in Winter. . . . 143 The Auditorium Building, Chicago . . . 145 The Conductor . . . . . . 134 Hard Times on a Freight Train . . 147 A Pullman Car Porter u48

Chapter VII. To San Francisco Via Denver And Salt Lake City

The Cathedral Spires in the Garden of the Gods . 150 Giant Cactus, Arizona ..... 163 The Grizzly Bear . . . . . • 15 ' The Knife Dance, Zuni Indians . . . 165 Salt Lake City 16S The Train on the Prairie . . . 15 : An Electric Tramway worked by overhead connec- A Pullman Dining Car . . . . . 152 tion ........ 170 The Big Loop on the Shasta Railway, near The Royal Gorge of the Arkansas . . -155 The Great Loop at Georgetown . . . 157 The Veta Pass and Duma Mountain . • '59 McCloud 174 The Grand Canon of the Colorado ... 160

Chapter VIII. The Pacific Coast And The Yosemite Valley

Entering the Yosemite Valley . . . . 1S7 The Yosemite Valley from Artist Point . . U76 San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz Island . . 177 Map of the Yosemite Valley . . . . 188 Sentinel Rock 189 Indian Camp ..-••■• '77 The Stoneman House ..... 190 California Street, San Francisco '79 A Yosemite Trail ...... 192 A Street in China Town, San Francisco . . 180 Upon Glacier Point 193 The Grizzly Giant 196 A Chinese Actor in the Theatre of San Fran- .0. CISCO. ....... The largest Telescope in the World . . .183 A Palm Grove in California . . . . 184 Wawona ....... U98 Mossbrae . . • • • • '99 Plan of Loop on the Shasta Railway near McCloud 200 A Flume in California CONTENTS.

Chapter IX. From Portland To The Yellowstone Park

The Lower Falls and the Canon of the Yellowstone from Point Lookout .... page 202 The Hot Cone, in the Yellowstone Lake . . 203 Through the Rockies ..... 203 A Salmon Wheel on lhe Columbia River . 205 Cape Horn, on the Columbia River . . 206 Mount Tacoma ...... 207 A ' Bronco-Buster ' riding a Packing Hoise . 209 The Lenux Library, New York The Falls of St. Anthony at St. Paul . . sage 210 A Breakdown on the Line . . . . 211 The Mammoth Hot Springs . . 214 The Obsidian Cliff . . . . . 215 'A Minute Man' ..... 216 The Castle Geyser in Action . . . . 219 The Crater of the Splendid Geyser . . 221 The Splendid Geyser in Action . . . 221 223 Mount Shasta. Broadway, showing Astor House and the Post Office. From Harper's Magazine. Copyright, by Harp~r A 13 rot be re. The Narrows, New York: Haruour.

Chapter I

New York and Brooklyn THE great majority of Europeans wlio visit the United States enter that vast country through the port of New York. And if the en trance be made in daylight, and the sky is sunny and serene, their first impressions of the New World are likely to be most favourable. The eye that for six or seven days has had to content itself with the somewhat limited range of colour afforded by the blue and gray and white of the Atlantic in calm and storm, and the wider though still limited range of colouring afforded by an ocean sky, feasts with delight upon the soft hues The Elevated Railway. of the New Jersey hills, and upon the lovely islets and wooded slopes of New York Harbour. The great steamer slowly and with dignity makes her way along the winding channel and through the Narrows, amid the fleet of varied shipping, and past the lofty statue of Liberty, until at length the commercial capital of the Republic lies before her.

Occupying the whole of Manhattan Island, and overflowing into all the surrounding districts, New York is shaped like an irregular V, and is bounded on the west by the Hudson, and on the east by the East River. On every hand signs of life and industry abound. Saucy little tugs puff Customs' Officers Examining Baggage on a Steamer's Wharf at New York, noisily about the lovely bay. Scores and scores of vessels, from the great ocean liner down to the tiny sloop, crowd the wide waterways. Numerous lines of large steam ferryboats cross the river and the harbour in every direction, and as the new-comer looks with eager interest upon the city he is at once impressed with three things : the dense masses of shipping that crowd the wharves, the enormous piles of building that uprear themselves into the sky, as though bent upon realising the never-completed purpose of the builders of the original Tower of Babel, and the great bridge so skilfully thrown across the broad East River at such a height that the masts of the largest vessels pass easily beneath it.

There are no docks of the kind so common at Liverpool and London. All the shipping, from the small barges up to the steamer of 10,000 tons, discharges and takes on board cargo and passengers from wharves that jut out into the Hudson and East Rivers. And no sooner has the great vessel been safely moored to the wharf than the ordeal of the Custom House has to be encountered. So far as the consumption of time goes, the writer's experience is that the Custom House at New York is less troublesome than at Liverpool. But since in England the list of dutiable articles contains about twelve items, while in the United States it is about twelve hundred, the search at New York is not unfrequently an exasperating and troublesome experience. Until the inspector has chalked certain hieroglyphics upon each article of his baggage, the traveller must bear this infliction as best he can ; but as soon as this is done, he is at liberty to take himself and his belongings whithersoever he desires.

And here, again, he meets with unfamiliar customs. At the shore end of the quay stand a crowd of men all eager to convey him and his baggage away. But ere he takes a seat in one of these carriages, and entrusts his property to the driver, he had better conclude an exact bargain with that gentleman. He will be surprised to learn that the shortest journey will cost him as much as the longest cab drive within the four-mile radius of London ; that although there is a fixed tariff, it is rarely or never heeded ; and that if he goes about much in these four-wheeled vehicles their hire will form a very large item of expenditure. A dollar (four shillings) a mile is a not infrequent charge, the legal rate being just half that sum. If unwilling or unable to afford cabs of this kind, what is the traveller to do ?

He can avail himself at once of the express system. Great companies exist for the purpose of conveying not only all articles of commerce, but also personal baggage, safely, expeditiously, and on the whole very cheaply, to all parts of the United States. The traveller, if he wishes, can on the landing wharf at New York express his trunk to San Francisco, and have no further trouble with it until he requires it in that distant town. Or he can entrust it to the proper agent, take a receipt for it, and an hour or two after he has reached his hotel or residence, his one, two, or twenty trunks, c as the case may be, will be safely delivered at the address he has given. A still more economical method, and one escaping the somewhat high charges of the express system, is to ' check ' all the heavy baggage, that is, deposit it in the baggage-room at the station, receiving in return a numbered brass check for each article.

The baggage then goes free of charge to the station to which it is checked, and it is kept safely and only given up on Tuue Baggage-Room at a Railway-Station. presentation of the proper checks. If kept at any station for more than twenty-four hours a trifling charge for storage is made. So well understood is this system, and so universal, that almost all travellers in the United States carry in a handbag such articles as they require for immediate use, and ' check ' from place to place all their weighty baggage. The great steamship companies land their passengers in the immediate neighbourhood of the Cunard Company, Pier No. 39, North River, as the Hudson is commonly called near its mouth, or on the Jersey shore opposite. Hence the first view of New York streets is by no means the most attractive.

Riverside districts in great ports are rarely either savoury or pleasing to the eye, and New York is no exception to this rule. But at once the new arrival can begin to appreciate the unusual facilities for locomotion which abound in all American cities. Several lines of tram cars run along West Street, the thoroughfare that skirts the Hudson, and these connect with others that reach the most remote parts. At a distance of only two 'blocks' — the term used almost everywhere in the United States to describe the distance between two parallel streets — runs the Ninth Avenue branch of the Elevated Railway, and by this means of transit almost any district of the city can be rapidly reached. Many of the hotels are within walking distance of the landing-piers, and if the arrival falls within the hours of daylight, few things are more interesting than a first walk along the streets of New York.

The southern end of Manhattan Island is the site of what may be termed ancient New York. It was here that the original tiny Dutch settlement stood ; here the streets are irregular, and have names possessing some amount of local and historical interest ; and here is centred the great mass of financial and mercantile business, which enables New York to rank next to London among the commercial centres of the world. In London the ancient landmarks have been largely swept away by the flood of modern building ; in New York, though the oldest were only contemporary with Temple Bar, they have almost entirely disappeared. The life of New York, as known to the civilised world, begins with that notable voyage made in the Half-Moon by Henry Hudson, who, engaged by the Dutch East India Company for the impossible task of finding a northern passage to China, skirted a large part of the eastern coast of the continent, and on September 3, 1609, entered the harbour now so well known as New York Bay, sailed up the magnificent river ever since known by his name as far as the present State capital, Albany, and by right of discovery claimed the land for Holland.

Towards the close of 16 14, a Dutch colony arrived, and built a fort and four houses upon what is now known as Bowling Green. The little settlement was originally called New Amsterdam, and grew slowly but steadily. In 1648 it numbered 1,000 inhabitants; in 1684, by its surrender to the British under the Duke of York, it changed both its nationality and name, and has ever since been known as New York. In 1700 its population was 6,000. At the close of the struggle for independence it began to grow rapidly both in numbers and importance. In 1800 it had increased to 60,489, in 1850 to 515,847, in 1880 to 1,206,590, and in 1890 to 1,513,501. c Few great cities are so easy to master topographically as New York. Comparatively narrow, and in the northern section laid out with mathe matical regularity, a quarter of an hour spent in the careful study of a good map will enable anyone to fix permanently in his mind the leading thoroughfares and districts.

In our brief survey of the most noteworthy regions and buildings, we cannot do better than follow the path marked out by the city's history. The little fort and four houses on Bowling Green of 1 614 have expanded steadily in a northerly direction, and the city limits now reach nearly to Yonkers. The southern extremity of Manhattan Island is preserved as a public park, and in its name, the Battery, still commemorates the existence of the old Dutch fort. It is now wholly given over to the pursuits of peace, and affords a fine point of view from which to study the inner reaches of the bay and the busy shipping of the great port. On the western side stands the world-famous Castle Garden, the gate through which the vast tide of immigration has poured into the United States during the last fifty years.

The gigantic scale of this immigration may be judged by a few figures. Between the years 1855 and 1882, no less than 7,892,783 immigrants reached the United States, and of these 5,169,765 passed through New York. In one year, 1882, no less than 476,086, that is, over 9,000 per week, landed here. For many years these and similar facts were a source of gratification and even pride to the citizens of the great Republic. It was maintained — and we are far from saying that facts do not largely sustain the contention — that in the vast regions under Federal control, the enormous numbers who in Ireland, and England, and Germany, and other European countries, seemed doomed to lives of perpetual struggle and poverty, could find happy homes and a comfortable livelihood. Myriads have put the contention to the proof, and much of the brain, and nerve, and muscle of the Republic have come from the older lands of the East.

But the United States are beginning to find that this incoming flood is not an unmixed blessing. As population increases, social problems of the kind that trouble the older civilisations, though their manifestations may not take exactly the same form, make themselves and their difficulties felt. The native-born American begins to think that there are worse evils than a sparsely po pulated country, and hence the English traveller meets with enactments like the Contract Labour and the Pauper Emigrant statutes, which at first sio-ht appear to be a flat contradiction to the boast that the United States opens wide her doors to all and any who will come, and there find a home. By the Contract Labour statute it is declared illegal for any man or any company of men to enter the United States, if their arrival is due to any engagement on their part to work for, or to carry out, any labour contract with men already resident in the United States.

It is in fact a boycott enforced by the great labour organisations. Labour difficulties are not Immigrants at New York. unknown in the States, and the labour vote is so powerful that, in order to conciliate it, Congress passed this law. The result is that, in great strikes, the superfluous working populations of Europe cannot be used openly to replace the men who have gone out. To say that the law is not evaded would be absurd. Men are told that work is to be had in certain districts, and they go to these districts and find it. It is all accidental, of course, in the eye of the law ; but it happens sometimes, even in the face of the Contract Labour statute, that Italians and men of other European nation alities appear in considerable numbers in those parts of the States where labour troubles exist, although it cannot be proved that anyone asked them to come there.

The Pauper Emigrant statute has quite another object in view. The Republic is usually ready to welcome and to employ skilled labour of any kind. But it begins in many centres of population to find that immigration has drawbacks peculiar to itself. It is only natural that among the millions of immigrants who have poured into the States there should have been a considerable percentage of the idle, vicious and useless — except for mischief. By the statute referred to, power is bestowed upon the United States officials at New York and other ports of entry to prohibit from landing, and to compel the return whence they came, any intending immigrants who cannot satisfactorily demonstrate that they have a reasonable prospect of being able to earn a respectable livelihood. This law has been passed mainly to conciliate the labour interest, but it is also viewed favourably by many who feel that the presence of an ignorant, poverty-stricken and not improbably vicious element of this class, is certainly a drag on the national prosperity, and may even become a positive danger.

But while it is hardly possible for the intelligent observer to withhold a certain measure of sympathy from the objects of these statutes, it is equally impossible to avoid the feeling that they somewhat discount the value of the boast so often made, and in the past so well attested, that the great Republic threw open wide her hospitable doors to the downtrodden and the needy of all nationalities. Starting at the Battery, and bisecting Manhattan Island through its whole length of twelve and a half miles, runs the great thoroughfare of New York, Broadway. This is a handsome, wide street, enriched along the first seven miles with very fine buildings, consisting almost entirely of business houses, hotels, public offices, and structures of the various kinds which cluster in the main street of a great commercial metropolis.

Many of them possess architectural pretensions of no mean order, handsome facades of white marble and different kinds of stone being very numerous. Our purpose of gaining a birdseye view of New York can hardly be better accomplished than by a stroll along Broadway, with an occasional excursion to interesting localities to the east or to the west of that great business artery. In his UNITED STATES PICTURES. 24 first walk along Broadway the visitor will be struck, as he was in the sail up the bay, with the advertising enterprise displayed on every hand. The fronts of the buildings are covered with signs, which for boldness of effect, variety of design, and minuteness of detail in describing the wares and functions of the proprietors, are quite unrivalled in any European city. The ceaseless stream of tram cars, which by their diverse colours and route-signs evidently penetrate to all parts of the city, again impresses him with the importance attached to easy locomotion.