CLYDE'S COASTWISE AND WEST INDIA STEAM LINES. WM. P. CLYDE & CO., No. 12 South Wharves, Philadelphia; No. 6 Bowling Green, New York. BURLEY'S UNITED STATES CENTENNIAL. GAZETTEER AND GUIDE. 1876. CONTAINING PLANS OF THE CENTENNIAL BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS OF THE INTERNATIONAL EX- SKETCHES Of Progress DURING THE PAST CENTURY IN ARTS, MANUFACTURES, LIT- + PROPERLY INDEXED, CLASSIFIED AND ARRANGED UNDER THE PERSONAL SUPER- CHARLES HOLLAND KIDDER, EDITOR. A GENERAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNITED STATES.: PHILADELPHIA: S. W. BURLEY, PROPRIETOR AND PUBLISHER. RC Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by S. W. BURLEY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. MEM AOBK WESTCOTT & THOMSON, COLLINS, PRINTER, 705 Jayne St. PREFACE. HAD the past hundred years been spent in arranging plans for the proper celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of American Independence, nothing could have been devised more appropriate for the occasion than a Centennial International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine. At the beginning of our existence as a nation the development of the resources of this country was scarcely begun; every species of manufacture which would interfere with trade with Great Britain had been restrained as far as possible by the mother-country, and the mineral wealth which abounds in every portion of this favored land was almost entirely unnoticed or unappreciated. When the colonists, numbering less than three millions, who occupied a narrow belt of land on the Atlantic coast, declared themselves "free and independent," their attempts at selfgovernment met, of course, with little favor from the friends of monarchy and of aristocracy, who had no faith in popular sovereignty, and who prophesied the speedy downfall of the infant Republic. Ancient history was raked over for examples of "the incurable evils inherent in every form of republican policy." Free institutions were to be weighed in the balances, and questions which had been warmly debated by writers upon government were now to be settled by "the logic of events." The result of the Revolutionary War and of the War of 1812-that Second War of Independence--the peaceful adoption of a Federal Constitution, the rapid increase in population and territory of the new Republic during the first fifty years of its existence, encouraged the friends of freedom throughout the world; and now, when the One Hundredth Anniversary of American Independence is approaching, how could it be more fitly celebrated than by an International Exhibition, in which Columbia (wellnigh the youngest of nations, although she will then be a centenarian) may invite her sisters to participate? This Exhibition has been planned and will be carried on, not in a spirit of self-adulation, but of honest pride. Pointing to our works of art, to our own manufactures and to the products of our own soil and mines, it may be said, "See what has been accomplished during a hundred years of independence in the development of the resources of a new country." There can be given a practical, a convincing, a decisive answer to the arguments of those who are opposed to free institutions. In spite of wars, foreign and domestic, in spite of financial " panics" (of which even monarchies and empires have had their share), in spite of many hotly-contested "presidential campaigns," during which each party knew that the country would be ruined by the success of their political opponents, the progress of the United States in everything that constitutes the greatness of a nation has been marvellously rapid. The infant nation has grown to manhood-a manhood so honored and vigorous that it is not afraid to challenge a comparison of its past exploits and its present condition with those of any country on the face of the globe. Millions of visitors, coming from various portions of this country, as well as from every civilized nation in the world, will doubtless attend the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876. It is the dictate not merely of national pride, but of national self-respect, that we should be prepared to offer, both to the American public and to foreigners, a gazetteer of our country and a guide to our public institutions, our commercial interests, our manufacturing industries and our almost unlimited resources. While it is generally admitted that our country is great, wealthy and prosperous, it is a difficult matter for many even of our most intelligent citizens to answer specific questions as to matters of detail. It is to be regretted that more has not been done to keep our statistical literature up with the times, and to give our youth (too often woefully ignorant of these matters) accurate notions of the resources and prospects of our country. Our resources are so ample, our progress has been so rapid, our prospects are so full of promise, that we need not fear the test of the most accurate of figures, nor dread to have carefully-prepared statements put in the place of the vague generalities which form the staple of oration, lecture and essay. "Truth is stranger than fiction;" and accurate statistics will rather increase than diminish the satisfaction which every true American feels in the growth and progress of his country. Statistics, however, serve a better purpose than to foster national pride. By showing with exactness what has been accomplished in the past, they enable those who attentively study them to make suitable arrangements for the future. In no country are statistics |