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Pennsylvania AHGP Information Alleghany, County, Pennsylvania This important county lies on the west border of Pennsylvania, and contains the Monongahela and Alleghany Rivers, where they unite to form the Ohio, which runs 14 miles in this county. Pittsburg, its capital, situated at the confluence of these rivers, is one of the most important places of the west. The country, though hilly, is fertile, and the natural growth is dense and large. The agriculture, manufactures and commerce of the county are in a very flourishing state. There were in 1840, neat cattle 21,512, sheep 56,459, swine 34,635; wheat 461,167 bush. produced, rye 58,045, buckwheat 29,894, Indian corn 289,797, potatoes 409,2 10, oats 770,378. It contains 7 commercial houses, in for trade, and 32 commercial $1,241,110; 551 stores, capitol $4,389,290; 5 fulling mills, 5 woolen factory, 5 cotton factory, 17,270 so., 32 tanneries, 14 distilleries, 6 breweries, 17 glass houses, 1 pottery, 37 flouring mills, 52 grist mills, 81 saw mills, 2 oil mills, 28 furnaces, 18 printing offices, 4 daily and 11 weekly newspapers, 10 periodicals. Cap. in manufac. $3,554,562. It has 2 colleges, 81 students, 21 acad. 1,186 students, 202 sch. 10,281 scholars. Pop. in 1830, 40,506; in 1840, 81,235.
Pittsburgh, City, Port of Entry, and Capital of Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, is situated at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, where they form the Ohio, which is here a quarter of a mile wide. It is in 40° 32' north lat., and 80° 2' west Ion., 230 west north west. Baltimore, 297 west by north Philadelphia, 200 west north west. Harrisburg, 226 West. Pop. 1810, 4,768; 1820, 7,248; 1830, 12,542; 1840, 21,115, being the second city in population in the state, and the 13th in the United States. It is built on a beautiful plain between the two rivers, in the form of a triangle. About a mile back of the point it is encompassed by Grant's, Ayers's, and Quarry hills. It is compactly built, with some handsome buildings, generally of brick; but a dingy appearance is given to them by the dust of the bituminous coal, so extensively used in manufactures and otherwise. The city was first laid out in 1765, on the north east bank of the Monongahela, after the plan of Philadelphia with streets running parallel with the river, and crossed by others at right angles. The street on the Alleghany also run parallel with the river and are crossed by streets at right angles; ant the cross streets meet each other obliquely, a few streets back from the river. A bridge crosses tin Alleghany, and another the Monongahela river, the former of which cost $96,000, and the latte $102,000. The Pennsylvania canal crosses the Alleghany river in an aqueduct, and several ferries cross the Monongahela. The harbor of Pittsburgh is chiefly on the Monongahela, where the water is deeper than in the Alleghany. Then are 89 steamboats, averaging over 125 tons burden owned wholly or in part in the district of Pittsburgh. The hills with which Pittsburgh is surrounded are filled with bituminous coal, which is inexhaustible, and affords great aid to its manufactures. There are 35 churches, 5 Presbyterian 1 Reformed, 4 Methodist, 1 Protestant, Cumberland Presbyterian, 3 Baptist, 2 Episcopal 5 Scots Presbyterian, 2 Lutheran, 2 Congregational, 3 Welsh Methodist, 1 Unitarian, 1 Disciples, 3 Roman Catholic, and 1 African. Then are four banks, with an aggregate capital of $3,000,000, besides a bank for savings, and 2 insurance offices, with a total capital of $500,000. Read more...
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