we had reason to anticipate. We were aware that the most direct, and perhaps the most economical mode of introducing the water into our district would be by a continuation of the main pipes, now laid through the whole extent of the district of the Northern Liberties, into Kensington. On an interchange of opinions with the committee of the Northern Liberties, we are apprehensive that this mode of introducing said water cannot be effected. The committee of the Northern Liberties require for the privilege of attaching to their pipes a bonus of twelve thousand dollars. This sum we are not authorized by our board to yield. By the contract between the city and the Northern Liberties, the city expressly reserved the right of contracting with any and all the neighbouring districts, for supplying them with said water. It is easily to be perceived that the city may be deprived of the benefit of this reservation, and the adjoining districts of the use of the water, if either of the districts now supplied should demand an exorbitant sum for the use of their pipes of conduit. The situation of Kensington is peculiar in this respect; it lies north and east from the Northern Liberties and Spring Garden, and should the Schuylkill water. ever be introduced into this district; it must, in all probability, first pass through one or other of those districts. The committee of Kensington beg to state that their district is large, populous and increasing. The rents to arise from the use of the water would now be considerable, there being many extensive factories within its limits all or many of which would be benefitted by the introduction of the Schuylkill water, independently of the great number of private persons now desirous for its use. With these considerations they have concluded to offer the Northern Liberties the sum of six thousand dollars, that being the extent of their instructions, and respectfully ask from Councils their aid as to the balance of the sum required by the Northern Liberties. Signed on behalf and by order of the Committee of Kensington. HUGH CLARK. Chairman of Watering Committee. Kensington, Sept. 1st, 1832. MR. Guoves called up for consideration the report of the committee, relative to the Rail Road along Broad street, which was re-committed to the same committee, and Mr. Horn was substituted in the place of Mr. Johnson, resigned. MR. DUANE called up for consideration the ordinance reported by the Girard committee, which after being amended, passed its first and second reading. COMMON COUNCIL.-MR. BAKER, as chairman of the paving committee, made two reports and resolutions, in favor of paving Paper Alley from Juniper to Broad street, and Madison street, which were adopted by the Common Council, but were laid on the table in the Select Council. MR. OKIE, as chairman of the committee of accounts, made the annexed report, considered reasonable. Very respectfully, your obe- Mn. Hons offered the following resolutions, which the table in the Select Council, it being late when they were passed by the Common Council but were laid on were received. Resolved, by the Select and Common Councils of the City of Philadelphia, That the Mayor be requested to draw his order on the city treasurer in favour of Doctors Samuel Jackson, Richard Harlan, and Charles Meigs, the three gentlemen composing the commission sent by the city to visit Canada on an investigation of the epidemic cholera, as a compensation for expenses and services in relation to said commission, for the sum of four hundred dollars to each commissioner and that the same be charged to appropriation No. 21. Resolved, That the thanks of the citizens of Philadelphia be presented to the above named gentlemen for their worthy and patriotic zeal and promptitude in repairing at the call of the city to the scene of pestilence and danger to subserve the cause of humanity. 11Wednesd|68|76|77|74||29.53|56|54||29.54||S W 2 Thursd'y 69 77 75 74|| 3 Friday 65 80 80 75 4 Saturday 70 80 75 75 5 Sunday 71757273 6 Monday 1701787875 7 Tuesday 74 80 81 78 8 Wednesd 737673 74 9 Thursd'y 72777675 10 Friday 69767573 11 Saturday 60747570 12 Sunday 64787974 The committee of accounts report-that they have examined the accounts of the city treasurer for the quar-14 ter ending 30th June last, and compared the same with the proper vouchers and bank books, all of which they found to be correct. The following communication from Messrs A. Russell and Co. was received, and referred to the Committee on the rents of Girard estate. Philadelphia, Aug. 23d, 1832. James Page, Esq. President of the Common Council of the city of Philadelphia. Sir-In consequence of the great decline of trade and the necessary fall of rents generally, we who occupy the building No. 104 Chesnut street, beg leave to state that our present rent (say $1600 per annum) is greater than our business will warrant us in paying. We therefore request that you will lay the subject before Councils, earnestly entreating that they will adapt the said rent to the times, by having it reduced to what may be Tuesday 74 86 83 81 13 Monday 75 84 83 81 15 Wednesd 76 85 84 82| 16 Thursd'y 76 84 74 78 17 Friday 727070 71 18 Saturday 65 65 65 65 19 Sunday 68757272 20 Monday 66757672 52 55 54 50 54 56 54 N 53 S W 51 51/50 51 N W 46 48 47 47 S W 45148/50 48S E 46 47 47 44 45 43 42/42 43 47 50 49 47 48 50 47 S 44 W 42 S 43|N W 40 43 45 43 45 49 46 N W 44 48 48 47 W 48148150 46 45 44 44 39 41 40 39 38 49 S W 48 S 49 S W 45 N E 41 N E 39 E 37 40 38 38 S W 3841 43 41 N W 38 40 41 40 W 38 38 38 38 S 37 38 38 38 N W 38 40 41 40 |N W 37 39 42 39 N W 29.54 in 63° Min. on the 31st 29.37 in 19° Difference 73° Mean Difference Mean 9 days 8, 12, 21, 3 days 4, 10, 11, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 8 days .17 in ingdon county; and passes up the narrow valley of Black Gap Run, ten miles, to the summit of the mounfeet deep. The line then runs along the western slope tain at Blair's Gap; which is passed by a cut twelve of the mountain to the head of Conemaugh, and follows 29.44 in the valley of that stream to the borough of Conemaugh, Wind. commonly called Johnstown, in Cambria county, where the rail-road ends, and the western division of the PennN NE Sylvania Canal commences. This canal is now navigable throughout the whole course to the city of Pittsburgh. E SE W N W The most prominent works on the line of the rail-road SW are the following: A stone viaduct over one branch of the Juniata, at Hollidaysburgh, which has two eliptical arches of 40 feet 4 inches span. As the line crosses the stream obliquely, the arches are skewed, so as to vary 35 degrees from right angles with their abutments; these arches are being built of cut stone, the beds of which are warped surfaces. Fair Morning. Afternoon. The scenery in the vicinity of the great viaduct over the Little Conemaugh river, is of singularly wild and Cloudy striking description. The river forms a loop, about Rain two miles in extent, around the base of a mountain, reCloudy turning almost to the place of beginning; at this point Cloudy there is a very narrow gap in the dividing ridge through Show'y which the rail-road passes. In running this distance Rain the river falls about forty-five feet, and, as the rail-road cuts off the bend, a viaduct seventy feet high, above the water, becomes necessary. This is now being built of sand stone, in the most substantial manner, with a semi-circular arch of eighty feet span. On the 14th at noon, thermometer at 86° the highest. On the 25th in the morning, thermometer at 57° the lowest. Range 29° On the 1st at noon, barometer at 29.56 inches the highest. On the 31st in the morning, at 29.36 inches the lowest. Range 00.20 inches. The wind has been five days east of the meridian, 20 days west of it, one day north, and five days south. There was rain on the 2d, 4th, 5th, 8th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 22d, and 28th. The heaviest, 4th, 5th, 8th, 16th, and 19th. From the Cambria Democrat. ALLEGHENY PORTAGE RAIL-ROAD. The leading article of the Philadelphia Gazette, of August 1st, was a notice of the Allegheny Portage Rail-road, which, from the extensive circulation of that paper, has been copied into various journals throughout the state, and also in New York and Boston. In that account the rails of the Portage Road are stated to be of cast iron, which is incorrect. They are to be of rolled iron, in lengths of fifteen feet. They will weigh forty pounds per yard; and resemble, in their general form, those used on the Preston and Wigan Railway, in England, which are stronger, and less liable to be displaced, than the rails of the Liverpool and Manchester Road. The stone blocks contain 34 cubic feet each, weighing about a quarter of a ton. They are placed three feet from centre to centre, surrounded by broken stone, and the cast iron chairs which support the rails are firmly spiked to them. Contracts have been made for furnishing the rails and chairs, and for laying a single tract of railway, with the necessary turn-outs, throughout the line from Hollidaysburgh to Johnstown, a distance of thirty-six miles and twothirds. The graded bed of the rail-road is 25 feet wide, with appropriate side ditches and drains. A considerable part of the grading is done, and a force of about two thousand men is now employed upon the line. The tunnel, through a spur of a mountain four and a half miles from Johnstown, will be 880 feet long, through rock, and will save about two miles in distance. When finished, it will be twenty feet wide and nineteen feet high in the middle:-it is now cut larger, in order to admit of an arch; and about one half of the excavation of the tunnel is now done. As the Portage Rail-road will form an important part of the main line of Pennsylvania state improvements, it has been deemed advisable to make it in the best and most permanent manner. The country, through which much of it passes, is extremely wild and ragged, rendering expensive cuttings and embankments necessary; and all the drains, culverts, and bridges are of stone. Stationary steam power is intended to be used at the Inclined Planes, and either horses or locomotive engines on the other parts of the road. The road is expected to be open for travelling next summer, with a double track upon the planes and at the turn-outs, and with a single track for the rest of the distance; the remainder of the double track can be afterwards advantageously laid. When this road is open, there will be a complete and direct channel of communication by canal and railway, from the city of Philadelphia, through the state of Pennsylvania, to the city of Pittsburgh, at the head of the Ohio, the great highway of the west; and, in a short time afterwards, politicians will not think it their interest to dispute such an investment of the funds of the commonwealth. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. S. A brief notice of the first part of a report of a geological survey of Massachusetts, by Edward Hitchcock, A. M. professor of chemistry and natural history, in Amhurst College. By Peter A. Browne, of Philadelphia. The ascent on the eastern side of the mountain is 1,399 feet, and the descent on the western side 1,172 feet. There are five inclined planes on each side, (Written for the Bucks County Intelligencer.) varying in length from 1,500 to 3,100 feet. They are The above publication has recently made its appearall straight, and their inclination with the horizon is be-ance amongst us. The learned gentleman to whom we tween four and six degrees. The Allegheny Portage Rail-road connects with the Juniata Canal, at the town of Hollidaysburgh, in Hunt are indebted for the pleasure of its perusal, proposes to divide his labors into four parts. The first and the only one which has yet been published, purports to embrace the economical geology of the state, or an account of the rocks, soils, and minerals that may be applied to useful purposes, and thus become sources of pecuniary profit; and so far as I am able to judge of it, without having had lately the advantage of passing over the ground, it is executed, generally, in a manner highly creditable to its author. The second is to embrace the Topographical geology. The third part is to consist of the Scientific geology, and the fourth part will embrace catalogues of the native mineralogical, botanical, and zoological productions of that commonwealth. should the remaining parts be executed with equal care and ability, the whole report will present a valuable addition to the American Library, which should find its way to our seminaries of learning, and which ought to be placed in the hands of the rising generation of both sexes. Some may perhaps suppose that, as Pennsylvanians, this work will be no further interesting to us than the pleasure we take in contemplating the increasing prosperity of a sister state; but when we consider that the rocks of this continent form a general, though not a continuous line of formations, crossing the United States in a direction nearly from north-east to south-west, the study of the geology of Massachusetts assumes an importance not at first anticipated, and invites our study in a degree we had not originally ima gined. The survey, it seems, was made under the authority of the legislature, and is to be accompanied by a geological inap of the state, which we are informed is now in progress, and a collection of specimens of every variety of rock found in the commonwealth, which are to be placed at the disposal of that body. This is an example which would be highly creditable to the representatives of Pennsylvania. Hitchcock mentions that most of the rock that is there generally described as sienite is a variety of granite; whereas here nearly all the sienites are called granite. This confusion in names should be avoided as much as possible. But I cannot agree with him that wherever the granite admits of hornblende into its composition, that it should be called "sienite;" that would lead to much greater difficulty. We have no granite in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, except in veins of gneiss of Micaceous Schistus, or in boulders found in the diluvium; but we have the most beautiful and durable sienite, which will answer every purpose of the eastern granite. and in the talcose formation, a short distance south of the Paoli, in Chester county, the preparations for making the Columbia rail-road, have displayed a quarry of serpentine that promises to be very useful and ornamental to Philadelphia. Our author remarks that in regard of hornblende slate he does not recollect to have seen it employed in Massachusetts for any useful purpose, except for the construction of common stone walls. Near the Schuylkill, at a distance of 7 or 8 miles from our city, is a quarry of hornblende slate, which is equal to any perhaps in the world. The rocks which lay at an angle of about 45° may be readily split in the direction of their natural joints, in slabs of almost any length and width that can be managed by the workmen, and with perfectly even and smooth surfaces. the assertion. as low down in the series as the TRANSITION class." But Anthracite and bituminous coal are also quoted, but whether they occur in sufficient quantities, and of such quality, as to render them of any statistical value, is made a question. In speaking of the former combustible, our author has, as I conceive, inadvertently fallen into an error of the other hemisphere, where they know very little about anthracite, in saying that it is "sometime's found in the primitive rocks." He has Professor Hitchcock commences his report with a brief notice of the soils, in doing which he has adopted certainly spoken unadvisedly when he asserts that it is and explained the distinction made by Messrs. Cony-so found in this country. His facts are at variance with beare & Philips, between allurium and diluvium, which, in the United States as well as in Europe, is a very obvious one. Of the former valuable soil, Massachusetts has a much less proportion than our state and the state of New York. The principal part, as will be seen by casting the eye over the preliminary map which accompanies the report, lies along the Connecticut river. This appears very inconsiderable when compared with the fine alluvials, or "river bottom lands" as these are sometimes called of the Delaware, the Schuylkill, the Susquehannah, the Alleghany, and the neighborhood of Lake Erie. We look also in vain to Massachusetts for those extensive limestone districts that render so estimable the farms of Whitemarsh, in Montgomery, Lancaster, Cumberland, Franklin, and other counties in Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, Massachusetts is by no means deficient in soils.-The new red sand stone, says our reporter, though not equal in fertility to that of its corresponding rock in England is of a "superior quality." It is peculiarly adapted to fruit, and the grass grown upon it is excellent. In the western part of Worcester county the ground, for a width of several miles, is highly impregnated with oxide of iron, and there is no doubt but that the presence of this ingredient has a beneficial influence upon the soil. The magnesian rocks are in Massachusetts of very limited extent. The soils derived from these rocks are, in Europe, generally considered of an inferior quality, but for the proof that in the hands of good farmers they can be made exceedingly productive, we refer with confidence and with no small degree of pleasurable feeling to the fine farms of the county of Chester in this state. Time will not permit us, whatever may be our inclination, to dilate upon the other soils noticed in the report. If Massachusetts cannot compete with some other states of the Union in the richness of her soils, she can vie with them in the variety and beauty of her granites, her sienites, her porphyries, and her serpentines. Mr. States, at least three extensive deposites of anthracite : "We have," he says, "in the United the largest in Pennsylvania; the next largest in Rhode Island; and the smallest in Worcester, Mass." "I have examined them all, and have come to the conclusion, that all the rocks containing this coal, are at least what authority is this for placing them still lower down in the primitive? In what immediately follows, the proprofessor is uncommonly obscure and contradictory, for after having asserted that he had "examined them all," and that "ALL the rocks containing this coal are at least as low down in the series as the transition class," he curs in the higher beds of the grauwacke', perhaps even adds, "I suspect that the Pennsylvania anthracite ocin the mill-stone grit." thus, so far from tracing the anthracite to the primitive, placing it in the higher ranks of the transition, or even in the secondary. Baron Humboldt, whose opinions Professor Hitchcock, in page 46, justly quotes with confidence, gives no countenance to the opinion, that anthracite belongs to the primitive rocks, but on the contrary considers graphite or carburet of iron, which is found in the primitive rocks, as a more ancient formation.* the great variety of ores, the argillaceous oxide is the Massachusetts appears to be very rich in iron; among most abundant and most extensively used. Lead, copPer, zinc, and manganese have been discovered in various places. In the talcose slate formation in the state of Vermont, gold has been found, and there is nothing improbable in the expectation of finding that precious metal in the same formation in Massachusetts, as Professor Hitch cock remarks. Upon the whole I am persuaded that this report will amply repay the trouble of a perusal. * In Bucks county, Pa. carburet of iron is found abundantly in primitive lime rock, the last of the primitive series. REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA. DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE. EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD. VOL. X.-NO. 12. PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBER 22, 1832. NO. 247. From the National Gazette of 1829. No. III. To the Legislature of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania system of penitentiary discipline, to which I now respectfully ask your attention, originated with the Prison Society of Philadelphia. This is an institution whose sole object has been, ever since the period of its establishment, in 1787, to contribute to the permanent well-being of the state, by forming such a scheme of criminal governance as would effec-pose it was desirable that a place should be selected tually eradicate the errors, mischiefs, and abuses of prisons. It includes in its list of members, names distinguished for the social standing, piety, and talents of their posessors; and has had at its head the venerable Bishop White, for the last forty years. While listlessness and apathy characterized legislatures and communities, in reference to the situation and sufferings of convicts, these benevolent gentlemen determined to benefit them and the world by striking out a plan of relieving their unnecessary distresses, and of ultimately improving their moral condition. For these disinterested and novel efforts, they are entitled at least to our gratitude and respect; for men who are condemned by the injured laws of the country to expiate their offences, are abandoned by the majority of mankind as unworthy of notice and impossible to be reclaimed. For the purpose of establishing a theory of prison discipline upon the basis of truth, they sedulously collected facts, projected schemes, and made experiments, till at last they were convinced that solitude with labour was the only plan that promised the prevention of existing evils, so loudly and justly the subjects of complaint. They viewed separate confinement as indispensable to the correction of the offender, and as forming a link in that great catenation of useful institutions, which was to bind together, in moral harmony, the various orders of society. The House of Refuge for young delinquents, owes its existence to their agency, and many of the members have been in strumental in extending the benefits of education among the poorer classes, so as to obstruct as much as possible every avenue to crime, and to produce the strongest incentives to virtue. It will not be entirely a digression to glance at the great picture in whose foreground the prison system is designed to stand, as very material to the just disposition of its several parts, and highly important to the effect of the whole. If Pennsylvania should ever exhibit such a picture as the one I shall attempt to describe, future generations will, with a general voice, proclaim, when the busy tongue of malice shall have been closed, and benighted prejudice shall have disappeared in her own mists, that the first great lines were produced, and the incipient touches were made by the Prison Society, and that the objects as sumed form, and shape, and feature, under the auspices and by the direction of their prominent members. the one, and correct the other. Common schools with-` in the reach of every individual, were munificently established. At these seminaries knowledge was to be acquired, industrious habits were to be formed, the seeds of virtue implanted, and honourable sentiments instilled. To youth of older years, the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, the only one in the state, offers the most distinguished advantages for acquiring the dif ferent branches of mechanical science. But as crime could not be entirely excluded from the younger walks of life, punishment would be inevitable; for this purwhere the infamy of the inmates would not be known, where vicious association could be prevented, and admonition mild, conciliatory, and persuasive, could be applied. This was the destination and object of the House of Refuge. Public seminaries were intended to penetrate every part of the state-into every remote corner of the country-to disseminate the blessings of education commensurately with the extent of our limits. To diffuse an expansive knowledge of agriculture among the yeomanry-to make them acquainted with the geological peculiarities of the soil-and by enlight ening their understandings, to fit them for the appreciation of public measures calculated to advance the common benefit, are objects of very general concern. We do not yet boast an institution like that of the illustrious Fellenberg, in Switzerland, where agriculture is reduced to systematic principles, by a union of labour with science. But individual efforts have not been wanting to transport it hither. A gentleman of talents and information is now residing at Hoffpoyl for the pur. pose of obtaining the requisite knowledge to superintend a similar establishment in Pennsylvania. No doubt is entertained of its ultimate success; for that system which has triumphed in Switzerland without the aid of government, and in defiance of the aristocratical features of the canton of Berne, must flourish in a republic distinguished by its enterprize in adopting important discoveries, and an adequate sense of the moral and political influences of universal intelligence. Thus are sown, in early life, the seeds of public virtue and private happiness, which if tenderly fostered and irrigated by the dews of heaven, will secure the fruits of protec. tion and plenty, to orphanage, penury, and misfortune, and diffuse countless national blessings! The intimate connexion and mutual dependence of the various links in this great chain, must be obvious to a superficial vision. A child tender from the hand of nature is first placed where he can imbibe moral and religious sentiments, and be taught the elements of literature; if he possess honour and assiduity, the Institute offers itself for more diversified and enlarged acquisitions, and he is enabled to contribute to the public weal in the advancement of his own fortunes. If necessity, evil example, or corrupt counsel has driven him to crime, the House of Refuge exhibits the frown of an offended but affectionate parent, who will admoThat the political permanence and social happiness nish and afflict his wayward child with a view to refor of a country depend upon the diffusion of knowledge, mation. Does he continue in advanced years to prey and that crime, in advanced years, is generally the re- upon society? He is then to be excluded from its enjoysult of juvenile neglect, are truths of universal sanc-ments, for he is now become a fit subject of solitary tion. They were early perceived in Pennsylvania, and confinement in our penitentiaries. If then the whole all practicable means were employed to disseminate scheme of Pennsylvania be to meliorate those classes VOL. X. 23 |