\^* * mnium i i> BcmoMmmnnnnrK ia et3 uotMi*Jtlt»Oiw>t)s>eKt.'0t3aMKtisnnn: REPRESENTATIVJ CITIES OF THE UNITED STATE INEW.HOTCHKiSS Book - /7^ 5 GopghtN" COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. Copyriiiht, 1912, (leo. P. Hall A Son, ,\e THE SKY-SCRAPERS OF NEW YORK Compare with the illustrations on pages 190 and 191 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES A GEOGRAPHICAL AND INDUSTRIAL READER BY CAROLINE W. HOTCHKISS Instructor in Horace Mann SchooL New York BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO HOUGHTON AHP^PXIN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, I913, BY CAROLINE \V HOTCHKISS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ^Cfee 3Riber2!ibc l^rtie CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS U . S . A 'CI.A;}5I688 TO THE TEACHER THE purpose of these studies in the geo- graphy of cities is to offer to boys and girls in the grammar grades a fresh point of view for the final study of the United States. Each of these Representative Cities is a center of the industries and life of a section, and the cities have been selected with a view of covering in a gen- eral way the chief sections of the United States. Many important cities have been omitted, either because their location and development offer no points that have not already been covered, or be- cause the selected cities allow a more picturesque and vivid treatment. The author believes that the best results will follow from studying the cities in the order given, though the arrangement is such that the book can be used effectively with any prescribed course of study. The exercises are based upon many years' experience in the schoolroom. They call for a faithful study of maps, they constantly relate the distant to the home environment, and they keep before the youthful learner by continued compar- isons the relation of each center to the world at large. It is not to be expected that all the pupils of a class shall work out all the exercises of each chapter; on the contrary, the number of exercises iv' TO THE TEACHER provided makes it possible to choose as the inter- ests of teacher and pupil or the ability of the pupils shall direct. Outline maps should be used unspar- ingly. Information as to where they may be ob- tained will be found in the Appendix. The author acknowledges with thanks the cour- tesy of Professor R. H. Whitbeck, of the Univer- sity of Wisconsin, for allowing certain statements of his to be used in the " Rules Governing the Location of Cities." TO THE PUPIL IN the study of arithmetic and spelHng you have been obliged to learn certain rules in spite of the fact that they were hard and dis- tasteful to you. No doubt you have found that their mastery has more than once helped you to solve a problem or spell a difficult word. That is the reason they were given you to learn and, if you live long enough, you will be grateful to those teachers who insisted most rigidly on your accom- plishing your task. In the same way there are rules in geography, though they are not as dry as those in arithmetic or spelling. By their help you will be able to straighten out many a perplexing problem beginning with why or how. A few of these rules that have to do with the location of cities have been placed at the end of the last chap- ter. They will help you to see the reasons for the location and growth of nearly all cities, and the exercises based on them will put you in possession of much important geographical knowledge. /! CONTENTS San Francisco i Portland, the Rose City ...... i8 Seattle 32 Denver, the City in the Wilderness ... 44 New Orleans, the Crescent City • • • • 57 Duluth, the Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas . 74 Minneapolis and St. Paul: the Twin Cities , . 87 Chicago, our Inland Metropolis .... 103 Pittsburgh, the World's Workshop . . . .118 Gary 134 ^ Savannah, the Forest City 147 Boston 161 New York 177 APPENDIX General Review Exercises 201 Average Temperatures and Annual Rainfall of the " Representative Cities " 203 Rules governing the Location of Cities . . 203 The Twenty-five Largest Cities of the United States, 1910 204 The Twenty-five Largest Cities of the World . 205 The Ten Greatest Seaports of the World . . 205 Exports and Imports of Principal Countries . . 206 viii CONTENTS The Ten Best Customers of the United States, 1912 206 The Ten Countries making the Largest Exports to THE United States 207 Value of Imports at Principal Ports of the United States, 1912 ' . 207 Value of Exports at Principal Ports of the United States, 1912 207 Wool Production of the World, 1906 . . . 208 Some Important Rivers of the World . . . 208 Some Famous Mountain Peaks 209 INDEX : . . 210 ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS The Sky-scrapers of New York .... Frontispiece San Francisco and Vicinity. Map 2 Mission Dolores 3 A Pacific Liner at the Docks in San Francisco ... 5 Looking over the City and Bay 8 From Nob Hill 9 A Street in the Business Section 10 The Entrance to Chinatown 11 The Seal of the City of San Francisco .... 13 An Apartment House in San Francisco 14 The Golden Gate 15 The Willamette Falls 18 Portland and Vicinity. Map 19 The City of Portland 21 One of the Great Lumber Manufacturing Plants . . 23 The Lower Harbor 25 At the Rose Carnival 27 Seattle and Vicinity. Map 32 The Minnesota 2>2, The Totem Pole in Pioneer Square 35 The Business Portion of Seattle 37 Seattle from Lake Washington ...... 38 Mt. Rainier from Lake Washington 39 The Great Northern Docks 41 Denver and its Surroundings. Map 45 A View from the Dome of the Capitol 47 The Colorado State Capitol at Denver .... 49 Distribution of Trees on Arbor Day . . . : .51 One of the Great Smelters 52 The New " Gulf-to-Sound Route" of the System of Railroads IN the Northwest. Map 53 ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS The New Orleans Water Front 58 River Boats at the Levee 61 A Banana Conveyor 62 New Orleans and Vicinity. Map 63 A Scene in the French Quarter 65 A Courtyard in the French Quarter .... The Shade Trees of the South The Great Northern Railroad's Cotton Route to Asia. Map DULUTH AND SUPERIOR. Map DuLUTH Harbor and Minnesota Point .... Routes of Ore Shipments through the Great Lakes. Map A Grain Boat loading with Wheat Steam Shovels loading Ore The Duluth High School Steel Ore Boat in Duluth Ship Canal Minneapolis and St. Paul. Map The Mississippi River from High Bridge, St. Paul Minnesota State Capitol at St. Paul Sectional View of a Simplified Flour Mill The Milling District of Minneapolis The University of Minnesota . One of the Many Playgrounds Michigan Avenue and the Lake Front South Water Street The City of Chicago. Map A "Jack-knife" Bridge across the Chicago River Michigan Avenue and Grant Park Lake Shore Drive The Block House on "The Point" . Pittsburgh and the Neighboring Towns An Interior of a Steel Plant Pittsburgh, showing "The Point" . Pittsburgh, the Section including "The Hump" A Fleet of Coal Barges on the Monongahela River Map 67 69 70 75 76 78 79 81 82 83 89 90 91 93 97 99 104 105 107 109 III 112 113 114 119 120 121 122 123 127 ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS xi The Carnegie Technical Schools 129 Gary's First Railroad Station; The New Union Station . 135 Gary and its Surroundings. Map 137 The Blast Furnaces 140 The Ore Docks 141 Open Hearth Furnaces 142 One of the Splendid Grammar Schools in Gary . . 143 Savannah and Vicinity. Map 149 One of Savannah's Open Squares 151 Naval Stores Docks . -153 Cotton ready for Loading 155 Bay Street 157 An Avenue of Live-Oaks 158 Boston, Old and New. Map 162 Looking down Tremont Street toward Beacon Hill . 163 Washington Street 165 Commonwealth Avenue 167 Boston and Vicinity. Map 168 A View in Franklin Park 169 The Spinning Room in a Cotton Mill 171 A View in a Shoe Factory 173 New York City and Vicinity. Map 179 New York Custom House 181 Grand Central Terminal 183 Brooklyn Water Front, along the East River . . 187 A Picturesque Spot in Central Park ..... 189 Sky Line of Lower New York 190 From the Hudson River 191 A Congested Tenement-House Section .... 192 Riverside Drive 193 Railroad Systems of the United States. Map . . 199 Principal Trade Routes of the World. Map . . . 200 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES SAN FRANCISCO She shall sit at the gates of the world, Where nations shall gather and meet, And the East and the West at Her bidding. Shall lie in a leash at Her feet. S. J. Alexander. ONE of the first things boys and girls dis- cover as they study geography is that many of the great world cities are situ- ated on deep bays or near the mouths of naviga- ble rivers. But did you ever stop to think that such a favorable location alone would never ac- count for the growth of such big cities as New York or London or Shanghai? No matter how deep or spacious the harbor, if the country back of the coast is desert or barren no large city is likely to grow up there. If, however, the navigable river leads to a back country or Hinterland, as the Ger- mans call it, rich in mineral or agricultural wealth, industries and commerce flourish. Behind New York is the hinterland of the Mohawk Valley and the Middle West; Shanghai is the outlet for rich plains of the Yang-tse River; so in a similar way it is the California Valley that has built up San REPRESENTATIVE CITIES Francisco. Though a settlement was made in 1776 near the present site of the city, it remained a miserable little place until the discovery of gold in the Sacramento Valley in 1848, after which SAN FRANCISCO AND VICINITY Note the piers built out from the Oakland shore, to shorten the ferriage to San Francisco. SAN FRANCISCO almost in a day it grew into the proportions of a city. But it was the Bay that first called San Fran- cisco into being, and well it might, for it is one of the most magnificent harbors in the world and, ex- cepting San Diego, the only commodious one on the Pacific Coast of the United States south of Puget Sound. In the sum- mer of 1776, while stirring events were happening around Boston, the Span- iards established a presidio or fortified camp on the tip of the peninsula which separates San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean, and near it founded a mission. This presidio, together with those at San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Monterey, was intended to show the adventurous Russians, who were prowling along the Alaskan coast, that Spain would have to be reckoned with if they came any nearer. The little mission was one of many planted in California by the Spanish missionary Father Junipero Serra, the Bay and later the city MISSION DOLORES Note the open belfries of the mission, and the semi-tropical vegetation. 4 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES receiving the name of St. Francis, the founder of the religious order to which the good missionary belonged. The Bay is the glory and pride of the city. Its spacious land-locked harbor, surrounded by hills and mountains, with a strait nearly a mile wide leading to the ocean, and water so deep that ships can enter and leave at all tides, must have fired the imagination of the first Spanish commander who sailed into it, for in his report to Father Serra he exclaims, " A multitude of harbors wherein all the navies of Spain can play at hide-and-seek." Alas for the navies of Spain, they have melted away; but through the Golden Gate which faces the sun- set sky flock in ships from the great circle of the Pacific. What rich cargoes they bring from lands that have for centuries supplied the West with the luxuries of the East ! Think of the voyages taken and the lives lost to bring the Far East near to the youthful eager West! Now the United States is piercing the last barrier that has divided the hemispheres. When this is done, there will flow through the Panama Canal a great east-west tide of commerce, that will surely do much to unite the East and the West into one great family of understanding and sympathy. A walk along the water front of San Francisco will enable us to imagine some of the cargoes that are entering and leaving that port. At the wharves of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company SAN FRANCISCO A PACIFIC LINER AT THE DOCKS IN SAN FRANCISCO Note the sacks of wheat ready for loading. lies a steamer from Honolulu, discharging sugar, rice, bananas, coffee, and honey. Perhaps the Nip- pon Maru, a Japanese liner, is due; it has in its hold chests of tea, bales of silk, bags of sulphur to use in the drying of fruit, porcelain, embroideries, and matting. Much of this valuable cargo will be hurried to the transcontinental railroads and distributed among the cities of the Middle West and the Atlantic Coast. At one of the wharves lies a product of the steel mills of Pennsylvania, — heavy rails to be laid down on the steep hills of San Francisco. They came by a roundabout but cheaper route than overland ; to Mexico by water, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec by rail, and again by coasting steamer. Smaller vessels do the coasting trade. In April, ships bound for Alaska load with tin cans and laborers for the fish canneries, and passenger steamers arrive and depart many times a week for Los Angeles and the cities of the Northwest. The accompanying REPRESENTATIVE CITIES MOVEMENTS OF STEAMERS To Arrive From Date Los Angeles, San Diego, 1 Oct. 14 Manila, Oct. 14 Honj? Kong, Oct. 14 Portland, Astoria, Oct 14 San Pedro, Oct. 14 Honolulu, Oct. IS Salina Cruz, Oct. 16 Seattle, Tacoma, Oct. 16 Balboa, Oct. 17 New York via Ancon, Oct. 18 Hamburg and Way Ports, Oct. 19 shipping list from the San Francisco Daily Chron- icle shows the number of vessels arriving in a week. It will not be difficult for you to determine the cargo each will bring and to locate the port from which the ship sails. Besides the foreign commerce of the Bay there is the enormous daily traffic on its waters. The location of San Francisco is such that only one of the transcontinental railroads can land its pas- sengers and freight directly in the city; this is the branch of the Southern Pacific that follows the coast north from Los Angeles. All the others, the Santa Fe, the Central and Western Pacific, and the main line of the Southern Pacific, must transfer their loads to ferryboats at Oakland and other points on the eastern shore of the Bay. Thus has been built up the best ferry service in the world, all lines convero^ins: at the commodious Ferry House at the foot of Market Street. In Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley, live many thou- sands who go to San Francisco every day for business or pleasure. The ferries between these points and San Francisco carry over one hundred thousand passengers daily. Those of us who live inland may envy these people their morning and SAN FRANCISCO 7 evening sail, for nowhere in the world, it is said, are there more gorgeous sunsets, and one who has seen the evening colors bathing sea, sky, and mountains in gold and opal tints cannot wonder at the enthusiasm the scene arouses. Even when the ocean fog creeps in through the " keyhole" it is still beautiful, and the gulls are always there, in fair weather or foul, flying close to the boats and perching unconcernedly on the piers while the ferryboats pass in and out of the slips. Into the Bay, with its shore line of two hundred miles, empty two rivers, each reaching into the heart of a fertile valley, — the Sacramento, navi- gable to the city of Sacramento, the San Joaquin, to Stockton. Broad stern-wheel steamers ply up and down the river, exchanging hay and garden produce for groceries, hardware, and other neces- saries from the Bay cities. This central valley, the rich hinterland of San Francisco, will some day support a dense population. It is very young com- pared with the populous valleys of the Ganges and the Rhine, for it has been settled barely half a century; yet during 1910 its oil wells produced 74,000,000 barrels of oil, its harvests yielded al- monds, walnuts, cherries, strawberries, loganber- ries, figs, grapes, raisins, prunes, lemons, oranges, olives, melons, sugar beets, asparagus, celery, the mealy Burbank potato, honey, cheese, butter, eggs, hay, hops, and grain, and from the slopes of the Sierras came over $18,000,000 worth of gold. Few 8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES valleys in the world can surpass the Valley of California in variety of products ; and this is but a partial list of its resources. Already electricity, generated by the mountain streams, lights the streets of San Francisco and operates the cars in Oakland and many a smaller town. The tall poles, with their yardarms and insulators marching in LOOKING OVER THE CITY AND BAY Note the tower of the Ferry House and the islands. endless procession across the flat valley floor, show how man has learned to use the forces of nature for his own needs ; none the less convinc- ing are the aqueducts and the irrigating canals which bring life from the mountains to the parched valleys. The traveler who approaches San Francisco by water is thrilled by the thought that he is draw- SAN FRANCISCO 9 ing near one of the world's great cities, so com- manding is its position, so beautiful its surround- ings. He looks with astonishment at the massive buildings that crowd the lower portions of the city. Where are the wind-blown sand hills among which the gold- seekers pitched their tents three- score years ago ? Succeeding generations have iiiwinarih 111 iiiMrtiTiirflniiiiir ^ Mb .... 4. - --'^ ^^m ' "^^^ -^^ wm^m ^JI^^^BKKS^KMMii ■m^-^.^^.^fr' S •■^afeife^'-V^ S^B^^rTr '*i-N'— "^^s^S^f^- "c* t ^ ■* ^^BiB^^^^^^Ni^afr ^ Copyright, 1911, R. J. Water» Co, FROM NOB HILL thrown them into the sea, and filled up the marshes to make room for the skyscrapers so necessary to modern business. Where are the ruins of the great fire ? You will have to search diligently to find them. It is the wonder of the age that the new San Francisco has arisen so quickly on the ashes of the old. Back of the level business portion of the city rise the steep rocky hills that fairly lO REPRESENTATIVE CITIES astonish one who sees them for the first time. On Nob Hill, Telegraph Hill, Russian Hill, and all the others rise, tier above tier, splendid hotels, shops, schools, church- es, and inviting homes. Itisslow work climbing up these steep grades, and the descent is not so easy as one would think. Most people prefer to use the pretty little cable cars that crawl steadily up and down "like flies on a window pane." Even the houses have to climb; no two are on the same level, but each one gets a view of the Bay with its islands and shipping, or of Mount Tamalpais or distant Mount Diablo. San Francisco is a treeless city, but the lack of shade is not noticed as it would be elsewhere. The cool breezes that sweep in from the ocean so temper the summer heat that the sunny side of the street is often preferable. It is, however, a city Photo, by a. Moulin. A STREET IN THE BUSINESS SECTION SAN FRANCISCO II of brilliant color ; the eye is dazzled by the flowers that are everywhere. Heliotrope and fuchsias climb up the porches ; daisies, white and yellow, grow in masses in garden beds ; and roses bloom nearly all the year. The air is so clear owing to the absence of moisture that things do not grow bedraggled and dingy ; there are gorgeous red geraniums banked against gray walls ; and from the gilded roofs of the Chinese bazaars bright streamers with picturesque Oriental figures wave gayly m the breeze. And what of the people who live amid these surroundings ? All nations of the world are drawn to the city at the West- ern Gate ; Chi- nese, Japanese, Italians, French, German, Swiss, Mexican, Rus- sian, English, American, each finds his own speech and customs, though the children of the foreign folk grow rapidly into ardent Americans. In the THE ENTRANCE TO CHINATOWN 12 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES Oriental School Chinese girls in their native garb — pretty silk or cotton trousers and long blouses — swing on trapeze or "giant stride" with all the energy of American girls, and the boys read The Lady of the Lake, apparently appreciat- ing the story, if not the author's art in telling it. The children in Little Italy, with their bright black eyes and roguish faces, adopt our ways before they can speak our language ; and though some of the other nations may be slower in acknowledging their loyalty to a new fatherland, sooner or later most of them become part of our national life, giving it their service and devotion in return for the larger opportunity it offers them. One cannot think of San Francisco without recalling the pretty story of the Phoenix, that has come down to us from the Orient. According to the legend this fabled bird, the only one of its kind in the world, lived in the Arabian wilderness for many hundred years ; then, hoary with age, it built for itself a funeral pyre, fanned it into flame with its great wings, and sank into the burning pile. But the fire proved a source of life rather than death, for from the dying embers there arose a beautiful young Phoenix, which flew joyfully away to repeat the mysterious life of its ancestor. This bird arising from the dead ashes of its old self was chosen, in 1854, as the seal of San Fran- cisco, for even at that early date in its history the town had suffered from many disastrous fires, and SAN FRANCISCO 13 like the Phoenix was continually springing up better and fairer than before. Six times between 1849 and 1 85 1 large portions of the town were burned, yet after each disaster those who had suffered most went resolutely to work to clear away the ruins in order to begin again. In 1906, however, oc- curred the greatest disaster in its history. Early on the morn- insf of April 18, the city was the seal of the . ., , , ,11 CITYOFSANFRAN- visited by a severe earthquake cisco which wrecked many buildings and damaged more. Fires broke out immediately. The water mains had been broken by the shock, so there were no effectual means of fighting the flames that raged for three days and left a large portion of the city in ruins. We may well ask why in the face of such repeated calamities the peo- ple should persist in rebuilding the city on its old foundations. Our answer to-day must be the same as that written in the old City Annals of 1854 in reply to a similar question, — "The Bay is there, the people are there, the gold mines are not yet exhausted, and the valley is as fertile as ever." You may now see how largely the geographical location of San Francisco has influenced its devel- opment as an ocean port. Every port must be a gateway from ocean highways to inland routes of communication. The people who live in the 14 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES productive hinterland find a market for their pro- ducts through the ocean port, and they in their turn become a market for the goods imported from other productive regions. How vividly the routes of commerce in and out of San Francisco show this development ! Along the California Valley, hemmed in by mountains on north, south, east, and west, run the rivers and railroad lines, both turning a sharp angle to the west at the Carquinez Strait which opens to San Francisco Bay, the only nat- ural outlet the val- ley has. At the Golden Gate the ocean highways radiate, like the spokes of a fan, to South America, New York, and Hamburg; to Pan- ama, San Diego, and San Pedro ; to Sydney, Manila, Honolulu, Hong Kong, and Yo- kohama ; and to Nome, Puget Sound, and Van- couver. Small wonder is it that the poets of this AN APARTMENT HOUSE IN SAN FRANCISCO Note the heavy grade of the hillside on which this building stands. Compare the architec- ture with that of the New York apartment houses on page 189. SAN FRANCISCO 15 THE GOLDEN GATE Western Gateway are prophets, and that Its peo- ple are inspired with unbounded faith in the future of their city and with unparalleled energy to over- come all obstacles. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY 1. What is a hinterland ? Find on your maps the hinterland of Chicago, of New York, of Buenos Ayres, of Shang- hai. Tell in each case how the city is connected with its hinterland. Which city is the largest ? 2. What ancient city in Africa is still an important port in spite of a desert hinterland ? How do you account for this ? 3. Draw a plan of the location of San Francisco and the other Bay cities. Write the names of the chief bodies of water and locate the Bay cities. Write the latitude and longitude in the margin of your plan. What two cities of China are situated one a little north, the other a little south of San Francisco ? Put these facts on your plan. Make your drawing as neat and attractive as you can. i6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES 4. What is the average January temperature of San Fran- cisco ? July temperature ? How does this compare with the winter and summer temperatures in your city ? In which season does most rain fall in California ? In your city? Would you rather live in a place where the rainfall was evenly distributed through the year, or where it falls in one season ? Why? See Appendix, p. 203. 5. What two historical events, one on the Atlantic coast, the other on the Pacific coast, happened in 1776 ? 6. Learn the location of every place mentioned in this chapter. 7. On a map of North America trace the route of the steel rails from Pennsylvania to San Francisco. Name bodies of water and countries crossed. 8. Describe the route you would like to take from your home to San Francisco. Draw this route on an outline map of the United States, marking the chief cities on the route and the mountains and the rivers crossed. 9. Tell which of the products of the California Valley are raised about your home. 10. From what mountains do the streams come that are used for irrigating the California Valley ? What relation does their height have to the never-failing supply of water in these streams ? 11. Imagine yourself standing on Nob Hill from which the pic- tures on pages 8 and 9 were taken. Tell what you would see as you looked out over the bay and the opposite shores. 12. What is the chief characteristic of the Chinese bazaars as shown in the picture ? What would you be likely to find in those shops ? 13. Make a list of the Spanish names you find on the map of California or on the map of San Francisco Bay. Ac- count for their presence there. 14. Write a short composition about San Francisco describ- ing the things that interest you most. Add to this, if you can, some knowledge of your own about the city. SAN FRANCISCO 17 15. Tell the story of the Phcenix. Why was it chosen for the seal of the city ? Has your city or town a seal ? If so, write a description of it and tell what it is used for. Arrange this in three paragraphs for your English com- position of the week. 16. Learn the stanza at the beginning of this chapter. Be sure you first understand what it means. EXERCISES FOR WORLD REVIEW 1. From the list of "Twenty-five Largest Cities of the World " (Appendix, page 205) select those that are on bays or near the mouths of navigable rivers. Learn their location. 2. Compare the location of San Francisco with that of Shang- hai. Make your comparison either by drawing or in writ- ing. 3. Consult the Chronicle's shipping list (page 6) and tell how many vessels arrived in San Francisco the week of October 14. Write in a column the port from which each ship sailed and opposite this the cargo you think it brought. Use a geography textbook to help your mem- ory with regard to the products of these countries. 4. Name the countries that border on the Pacific Ocean and tell the chief seaport of each. 5. On an outline map of the World show by a heavy line the present route between Hamburg, San Francisco, and Seattle ; show by a dotted line the route ships will take after the Panama Canal is opened. PORTLAND, THE ROSE CITY EVERYBODY loves a river, — the poet, the artist, the fisherman, the miller, the manufacturer, and you and I. A river is always moving, and we love to vvateh the life that moves with it. Boats come and go, the road fol- lows its bank, bridges cross it, logs float down the stream, mills and factories loom along its side. For these reasons and others, a river town has al- ways something interesting about it. In all times men have gath- ered in groups on the banks of rivers,andrriany of these settle- ments are to- day important cities. Not all of them; some were started so recently they have not yet had a chance ; oth- ers that once were full of life are now stagnant or dead. Vienna is over two thousand years old, but because of its commanding position we cannot think it will ever cease to be. Portland, Ores^on, THE WILLAMETTE FALLS This view includes also a part of the manufacturing district. Tlie people in the boats are fishing for salmon. PORTLAND 19 SCALE OF MILES has had barely seventy birthdays, but already over 200,000 people call the " Rose City " their home. There are many reasons why towns should grow up on the banks of rivers ; you can probably think of several. Perhaps you already know one reason why the old Gate City of Vienna should have per- sisted all these years in spite of wars and destruc- tions. Let us look at the situ- ation of Port- land and proph- esy as to her contin uan ce and growth. There can hardly be a greatercontrast than that be- tween the east- ern and the western coasts of the United States. On the east- ern coast many rivers flow down gentle slopes through fertile valleys to the sea and, at their mouths, bays and sheltered harbors have invited explorers and settlers to their shores. Along the Pacific Coast runs a mountain range, low, indeed, but hugging the shore, and sending out rocky spurs and headlands into the ocean. Parallel with this Coast Range are the snow-capped Sierras in Cali- fornia and the Cascade Range in Oregon and ^-;:?^^ Poi-tl.ind Portlaud PORTLAND AND VICINITY 20 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES Washington, crowned with high volcanic peaks that rise into the region of perpetual snow. Be- tween these two mountain walls lies a series of valleys running north and south all the way from southern California to the forty-ninth parallel. You can trace this "inside route" on the map, — the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys in California, the Rogue and the Willamette in Oregon, the Cowlitz and Puget Sound in Washington. This line of valleys does not really stop with the Sound, but continues north along the Alaskan coast be- hind the protecting islands for a thousand miles, forming the famous "inside passage" that offers the most wonderful scenery in the world in quiet waters. In all this stretch of two thousand miles from southern Alaska to southern California; there is only one opening east and west across the mountain w^alls, — the valley of the Columbia River ; and at the crossroads of these north-south and east-west valleys, on the Willamette River, twelve miles from its junction with the Columbia, lies Portland. A general would call this location strategic, meaning that an army placed at such a cross- roads would hold the key to the situation ; but we may use the word in speaking of the com- merce and development of the city. The early pioneers who hewed the tall firs for their cabins at this point on the Willamette River noted with satisfaction the deep water just where the river PORTLAND 21 Copyright, THE CITY OF PORTLAND Mt. Hood is shown in the distance. Weiater Co., Portland. takes a bend to the northwest. There beins: then no raih'oads and few wagon roads, it was neces- sary that the sailing vessels, which brought goods to be distributed to the scattered settlers and took away cargoes of wheat and flour, should get as far inland as possible to save the cost of convey- ance. At the point where they could go no farther, Portland was founded, the only city of the North- west at the head of deep-sea navigation and on the line of a water route into the interior. We shall see how important this water route is. East of the Cascade Mountains lies a vast inland basin comprising parts of Oregon, Washington, 22 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES Idaho, and British Columbia, a region once con- sidered a desert, but now supporting herds of cattle and sheep, and raising, in a single year, fifty million bushels of wheat. This " Inland Empire," as it is called, is thinly peopled, like all extensive wheat and grazing areas, so we know that the vast quantity of food products it raises must find a market elsewhere. The wheat is cut, threshed, and sacked on the ranches, and sent out by three routes, one leading to Spokane, one to the Puget Sound cities, and the third through the Columbia Valley to Portland. The route to Portland has one advantage, it is down grade all the way to the ocean, whereas trains to Puget Sound must climb the steep mountain grades. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that Portland, at the meeting-place of sea and inland communication, is a great exporter of wheat to foreign countries. Ships come from China and Japan, from Liverpool, from South America, and from the coast cities of the United States, to be loaded with wheat and flour. Lumber is also an article of export. Some of the most beautiful for- ests in the world are in Oregon, but the sawmills on the Willamette and on other rivers are mak- ing the timber into boards and other products as fast as they can, and a time will surely come when these magnificent forests will be a thing of the past. Fortunately the United States Government has set aside certain tracts, known as " Forest PORTLAND 23 Reserves" or " National Parks," which are to be kept free from the ruthless cutting of the lumber- man and to serve as playgrounds for the people. Portland is still a commercial city. Although it has developed manufacturing to a certain extent, it is to-day chiefly a market-place where the products of the country — wheat, lumber, fruit, and hops — ONE OF THE GREAT LUMBER MANUFACTURING PLANTS are exchanged for furniture, carpets, hardware, machinery, and all kinds of manufactured goods from the eastern part of the United States, and for silk, tea, spices, burlap, etc., from the Orient. The following cuttings from a Portland daily pa- per will give you a vivid picture of the destination of some of the products of Oregon. OREGON APPLES BRING TOP PRICES IN GERMANY Writing to the Portland Commercial Club, under date of April 20, a fruit- dealing firm of Hamburg, Germany, advises that on that date two cars of fancy Newton Pippins from Hood River were sold for from 18 to 20| marks ^ per box. These are top prices, such as have not formerly been seen in the Hamburg market for American apples. The Hamburg dealer writes that this sale is more interesting on account of the fact that these two cars came in competition with the first Australian apples of the new crop, but the latter could not equal in quality the Oregon product and accordingly brought much lower prices. LINERS WILL LEAVE ABOUT SAME TIME Three Oriental Liners will be leav- ing Portland fairly close together this month, laden with Oregon products which will be valued at more than .$600,000. The trio is composed of the Norwegian steamships Henrik Ibsen and Hercules and the British steam- ship Orteric. The Henrik Ibsen will sail for Hong Kong and way ports Thursday, and she will have aboard a full cargo of flour and wheat. The Orteric is a 12,000 ton carrier. After taking on about 7,000 tons of flour, wheat, and lumber here (Port- land) she will go to Puget Sound to finish loading. The steamer Yosemite is discharg- ing 12,000 sacks of cement from Cali- fornia ; she will load with lumber for San Francisco. The Nippon Maru will leave for the Orient to-morrow at one o'clock. The cargo is a heavy one and in it is a large consignment of cotton for the Japanese factories. 1 One mark equals twenty-five cents (nearly). PORTLAND 25 It must be plain to you that there are striking geographical reasons influencing the location and growth of Portland, and that the Columbia River is playing an important part in this development. Though the tourist who sails up the stream is absorbed mainly in its magnificent scenery, the wooded mountain-slopes and leaping waterfalls, the curiously worn rocks and the novel fish- wheels, yet he would be dull, indeed, did he not become aware that it is already a busy com- mercial highway. Long trains carry freight and passengers between the Inland Empire and the coast, and locks and canals when completed will THE LOWER HARBOR Showing a large fleet of wheat vessels. enable river steamers to go several hundred miles inland. The Columbia is developing a hinterland for Portland as the Hudson- Mohawk Valley and the Great Lakes have done for New York, yet the most hopeful Oregonian w^ould hardly dare prophesy that the Inland Empire will ever support 26 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES so dense a population as the prairies of the Middle West. Can you tell why? The beginnings of Portland were simple. A clearing was made among the tall firs and cedars, and a log cabin built by pioneers from New Eng- land in 1844. Before long some one built a store for the sale of the incoming cargoes, roads were made into the interior, other houses and stores sprang up, more ships came, and before long there was a little village rising on the gentle slopes of the west bank of the Willamette. The story goes that the builders of the first cabin had a friendly dispute over the name of the town that was to be. The man from Massachusetts wanted a Boston on the Pacific Coast, the native of Maine wished to call the town Portland. They decided the question by tossing a copper cent, — head, Portland ; tail, Boston. " Head " came up twice, hence Portland was adopted as the name of the city. It has a lovely site on wooded slopes which rise gradually to the foot of the Heights, a line of bluffs run- ning parallel to the river and rising six hundred feet above it. From these wooded headlands which jut into the valley, one gets a glorious view of the Cascade Mountains with the white cones of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams, and Mount Jefferson, rising far above the general level of the range. Below is the Rose City, lying on both sides of the river embowered in trees and gardens. To the north and east shine the tangled waterways PORTLAND 27 of the Columbia, while on the south the Willamette issues from its gardens and orchards. The poet Wordsworth once exclaimed of London as he viewed it from the Thames in the early morning, " Earth hath not anything to show more fair," and the people of Portland surely may echo this as the glory of valley and mountain stand revealed to them from these heights. The city looks its prettiest in June, when the roses are in bloom. Then occurs the Rose Festival, processions and floral displays, land and water sports, giving the city a gala week. During these carnival days citizens and visitors for- get that Port- land is a big commercial port, i.1- 1. i. event. that steamers come to it from every part of the world, that the steam sawmills are cutting its trees into timber, and that the falls of the Willamette are grinding spruce logs into pulp and paper and weaving wool into cloth. Strangers who come to Portland during the winter and spring rainy season are apt to think that it is the rainiest place in the world, and they AT THE ROSE CARNIVAL Automobiles and carriages gorgeously decked with roses take part in the parades at this annual 28 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES are not a little astonished to find that its yearly rainfall is really only about as much as that of New York City. It is true that Portland, as well as all the Pacific Coast of the Northwest, does not enjoy so many clear days as cities in other parts of the United States, for the rain falls gently a little at a time. Often it is a "dry rain," meaning a fine mist that seems not to bother anyone ; chil- dren play in it, babies do not mind it, and the cool dampness brings to the cheeks roses that many a dweller in sunnier climes might envy. There is no climate that is perfect, and the people of Port- land think that the absence of severe cold, strong winds and blizzards, and the bracing coolness of the summer, make up for lack of sunshine. Expe- rience alone will determine whether or not you agree with them. The great outdoors is spread invitingly before the inhabitants of the Rose City. For long holi- days, there are the mountains with their forests and glaciers and their steep ascents to climb. The river entices young and old; along its banks are anchored house-boats of every size and descrip- tion, and through its shaded windings the boy and girl, tired of school, the father and mother, ready for a vacation, can find joy and refreshment. One of the poets of Oregon has expressed the affec- tion of the people generally for their river in the following stanza: — PORTLAND 29 From the Cascade's frozen gorges, Leaping like a child at play, Winding, widening, through the valley, Bright Willamette glides away. Onward ever lovely river. Softly calling to the sea, Time that scars us, maims, and mars us. Leaves no track or trench on thee. S. L. Simpson. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY From the list of "Twenty-five Largest Cities of the United States " (Appendix, page 204) select those which are on rivers. Which are at or near the junction of two rivers ? Give as many reasons as you can why cities are located on the banks of rivers. Draw a plan showing the location of Portland at the crossroads of commerce. Make this as complete as pos- sible with names of rivers, mountains, and land and water routes of travel. Write the latitude of Portland in margin of map. What city of France is at a cros.sroads of travel and in about the same latitude ? Write the name of this city in the margin of your plan. Locate the city for which Portland was named. Find out all you can about the location, climate, population, and commerce of each. What things are alike about these cities ? Write this in the form of a composition or arrange it in chart form in outline. On an outline map of the United States or the Western States color in red the " Inland Empire." Write or print carefully the names of the states composing it and the rivers flowing through it. What is the rainfall of this region ? (Consult rainfall map of the United States in your geography textbook.) 30 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES 6. What cities in the United States besides Portland export wheat and flour? (Consult question 8, page loi, for your answer.) Study the location of the following cities, and explain why each may be said to be at a crossroads of commerce : St. Louis, Omaha, Honolulu, St. Paul, Kansas City, Chicago. Make up five good questions about the cities referred to in Exercise 4, to test the knowledge of your classmates. 9. Imagine yourself standing on the heights above Portland on a clear day. Describe your view of the city, the river, and Mt. Hood. 10. Write a composition suggested by this study of Portland. Call it " A River Town," or choose a title of your own. Write about any river town you like. 7- 8. EXERCISES FOR WORLD REVIEW I. Locate the six leading wheat-producing countries given in the chart below. Consult the " Wheat Harvest Calen- dar " on page loi for month of harvest of each. Find out if rainfall is light, moderate, or heavy, and if these areas are thinly or thickly peopled. Give export town of each area. Arrange these facts in a chart as shown below. (Consult rainfall and population maps in your geography textbook.) Six Leading Wheat Countries of World Countries Months of Harvest Rainfall Population Port United States .... Russia France India Austria-Hungary . . , Italy PORTLAND 31 2. What is the length of the Columbia River? Name a river in each continent about as long. (Consult Appendix, page 208, " Some Important Rivers of the World.") 3. In what month do Oregon apples ripen ? Australian apples ? Which is farther from the equator, Portland or Melbourne ? SEATTLE THIS bustling, wide-awake city on Puget Sound has already begun to call herself the "Queen City of the Northwest." Perhaps the title seems a bit ambitious for so youthful a town, but her situation and resources are so magnificent that they cannot but rouse ambition. You must think of Puget Sound as a f»\ ii„... ^ i J I , i i g-Feat- Mediter- ranean Sea ex- tending: south- ward into the heart of Wash- ington. From the main body of water count- less arms, deep enough to float sea-going ships, reach far into the land, mak- ing safe harbors free from ice all the year. This splendid body of water is the front door of Seattle, and it opens wide through the Fuca Strait to the commerce of the Pacific. Northward through the SEATTLE AND VICINITY The principal railroads entering Seattle are : the Northern Pacific ; the Canadian Pacific ; the Great Northern ; the Chicago, Milwaukee, and Puget Sound ; the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy. SEATTLE 33 Georgian Strait an " inside passage," where ocean storms are unknown, leads to the ports of south- eastern Alaska and out beyond to Valdez. Four transcontinental railroads enter the back door of the city bringing the products of the South, East, and Middle West, to the front door where they are exchanged for goods from over the seas. Wheat and flour from the " Inland Em- pire " ^ and the Middle West, cotton from the South, farming implements from Illinois, lumber from the Cascade Mountains, steel beams and gird- ers from Pitts- burgh, and furni- ture, clothing, and a host of manufactured goods come to Seattle for distribution along the coast, and for shipment to Australia, Alaska, and the Orient. Into her open door come coffee, tea, sugar, silk, mattings, spices, hides, hemp, jute, and other products to be distributed among the people of the United States. Seattle, therefore, is a pivot of transportation ; her doors swing outward to send American products 1 See the chapter on Portland. THE MINNESOTA The largest freight and passenger steamer saiHng from any Pacific port, and the largest steamer in the world flying the American flag. She is engaged in commerce between Seattle and the Orient. 34 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES all over the world and inward to receive products from the other side of the globe. It is this passing and repassing, loading and unloading, that has built up the city. Had the Goddess of Liberty, twenty or thirty years ago, cast her eye over the cities which brood under her protecting arm, she might without dis- pute have called Seattle her ugly duckling. In appearance this young city was awkward and un- gainly, for the pioneers of the early days had no time to think of a City Beautiful. They had work enough to keep the sawmills buzzing and to pro- vide shelter for themselves and their families. What did it matter to them that there was hardly a level road in the town, or that their ugly frame houses perched at all sorts of angles on the hills that sloped abruptly to the sea.^* They served for protection from storm, and as for the long, hard climb, there was time to take it leisurely, and mus- cles were strong in those days. Now times have changed. The old fairy story has repeated itself in history and the ugly duckling is turning into a beautiful swan. The city seems to float like this graceful bird on the bosom of the waters. Its west- ern shore is lapped by Puget Sound ; on the east parallel with the Sound, a lovely fresh-water lake stretches for twenty miles ; and on the narrow neck of land between the two lies Seattle, already push- ing beyond the peninsula to the northward, where there is room enough for the million or more SEATTLE 35 people who may one day make their home in the Queen City. But in 1852, when Yesler, a sturdy pioneer, put up his steam sawmill on what is now Pioneer Square, in the heart of the city, there was little in the immediate surround- ings to encourage him to dream dreams of a future metropolis. Yet even the Indians had seized upon its advantages of location, for long before the foot of the white man had broken the stillness of the for- est aisles thousands of Indians used to assemble here occasionally for a great council. It was easy for them to come by forest trail and canoe to this central meeting-place. They must, however, have experienced difficulties in passing the peace- pipe, for Seattle is built upon twice ""^^'^ seven hills, hills that might almost the totem pole INPIONEER have daunted the old Romans. But square 1 the energetic people of the North- west never hesitated. They cut down the trees, built houses, schools, churches, stores, and libraries; then suddenly becoming conscious that their city of to-day was but a beginning of that of the future, they went to work to make it over, carrying away the hills, at least in the business section, to make fairly level grades for car lines and heavy teaming. 1 This Totem Pole was brought from Alaska and is a memorial of a race rap- idly dying out. 36 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES Since we began to dig the Panama Canal there has been a good deal said about " making the dirt fly." In Seattle it has been flying at a prodigious rate, but without much noise. The process has been simple ; streams of water through a giant nozzle were directed against the hills, the clay and gravel melted like snow in a January thaw, and were led through pipes to the mud flats south of the city, where new streets for warehouses, rail- road shops, foundries, and factories will be built. The really difficult part of the undertaking was to pay for the work and to preserve the beauty of the fine buildings whose location was altered because of the lowering of the streets. Houses had to be propped up on stilts, and for the time being the residents climbed up and down by ladders. In some places buildings were moved away or torn down altogether. In 1906, there stood on a hill over- looking the Sound one of the best hotels in the city. It was taken down, the hill washed away, and two years later a massive fourteen-story hotel had taken its place, on a broad level street, now one of the finest quarters in the downtown section. Such rapid changes have a suspicion of witchcraft about them, even to those who watch the process, but the only magic used has been the determined spirit of the citizens and the skill of the engineers employed. It was the same combination that re- built Galveston after its destruction by flood, when the Texas city had to be raised out of reach of the SEATTLE 37 THE BUSINESS PORTION OF SEATTLE The Olympic Mountains are shown in the distance. angry waters that now and then sweep over the low shores of the Gulf of Mexico. In Galveston the houses were lifted up on stilts, and the level of the city raised to meet them ; in Seattle, the streets were taken away from the houses, and founda- tions had to be pieced on to fill the yawning gap. By the time the re-grading of the city is finished nearly 34,000,000 cubic yards of earth will have been removed, and sixty miles of narrow, hilly streets will have been changed into sixty miles of broad, level thoroughfares, an accomplishment of which any city might be proud. Away from the business center the hills fur- 38 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES nish ideal sites for homes and schools. Which- ever way one turns there is a noble prospect. Below are the three lovely lakes — Washington, Union, and Green — with their irre^^ular w^ooded outline and encircling boulevards, and beyond the city's limits stand the somber forests which give to the Evergreen State its pretty name. On the western shore of the Sound, lively with sea- going craft of all kinds, the Olympic Mountains, SEATTLE FROM LAKE WASHINGTON This indicates the hilly character of the country a line of jagged, snowy ramparts, emerge ghost- like from a low-lying band of mist, and woo the hardy climber to try their unexplored heights. Around to the east is Mount Baker, the last sen- tinel of the Cascade Mountains, and south looms the peak about which no one can speak except in extravagant language. Mount Rainier, its silver SEATTLE 39 cone furrowed by glaciers, rises almost from sea- level to a height of 14,526 feet, a majestic peak, now catchino; the radiance of the sunset glow, now Copyright, 1903, by W. P. Romans. MT. RAINIER FROM LAKE WASHINGTON disappearing behind clouds of mist and smoke that too often dim its lovely outline. To see the city at its fairest, one must approach it by night from the Sound. Endless rows of lights climb the hills, outline the lakes, and reflect their radiance in the placid waters, till the spangled city seems like a bit of the starry heavens let down to earth. Few cities are more brilliantly lighted, for few have such unlimited advantages for water power. The streams that rush from their moun- tain sources leap in falls and rapids, carrying with them great possibilities for generating electricity and for turning mill wheels. Some day they will all be harnessed for the use of man; as yet, this corner of our country has scarcely been touched 40 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES in the development of its industries. In the rocks lie stores of coal, iron, and copper, the inexhausti- ble Alaska coal fields will soon be opened, and when the forests shall be no more, the state will still be "evergreen" because the fertile soil re- sponds so quickly to the toil and care of the farmer. Just now the commerce of the city is increasing by leaps and bounds. In 1896 the first regular line of steamships ran between Seattle and Japan; now there are five different companies whose steamers ply between these ports and others in the Pacific, carrying cotton, lumber, and flour. Since gold was discovered in Alaska in 1897, the United States Assay Office in Seattle has paid $199,094,- 871.05 for gold dust; in the mean time the people who flocked to the north have received most of the necessaries of life through Seattle. Upwards of ten vessels a week leave for Alaska during the summer months, and the departure of the first ship for Nome in the spring is such an event that a large crowd always gathers on the dock to speed it on its way. Beside these lines of trade there are regular sailings from Seattle to Hamburg via South America, as well as steamers going to Ha- waii, to Mexico, and to towns on the Pacific Coast of the United States and of British Columbia. Probably by this time you think Seattle spells Opportunity as well as Pleasure for its citizens and for those who seek a new country under the I •i SEATTLE 41 old flag. Few who come are disappointed. After they grow accustomed to the gray days and rains of winter, they cease to envy their brothers in the East who are wading through the snow and slush of city streets and country roads. It might better be said there is no winter or summer as most of us know these seasons ; no day in July and August THE GREAT NORTHERN DOCKS At these docks the " Minnesota " and other great steamships load and unload their immense cargoes. is too warm, nor one in January and February too cold. Boys and girls can never coast down the long hills, but they can enjoy outdoor sports nearly every day in the year, and for the long holidays there are the mountain playgrounds with their glaciers, waterfalls, and lovely meadows starred with flowers. If you have never been to Seattle, do not forget to go. If you stay long 42 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES enough, you will be certain to catch her spirit of ambition, and will be willing to call her by the name she aspires to fulfill — the Queen City of the Northwest. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY 1. Learn the location of each place mentioned in this chap- ter. 2. On an outline map of the United States locate Seattle. Trace the railroad route from your home to Seattle. Use a colored pencil to draw this route and try to make the map attractive with neat printing or writing. Print names of States crossed. 3. Compare the winter and the summer temperatures and rainfall of Seattle and your town. What differences can you think of between your winter life and that of boys and girls in Seattle ? 4. What kinds of trees grow on the Cascade Mountains? How do they compare in kind and size with those around your home ? 5. Tell about the surroundings of your home. Are they hilly or level? If you have not a mountain like Mount Rainier, perhaps you have a river, lake, or bay. Tell about it. 6. How high is Mount Rainier ? Have you seen a moun- tain as high ? Where ? 7. From the list of famous mountain peaks in the Appendix select those which you have heard of. Which are higher than Mount Rainier? which one lower? Which are fre- quently climbed ? 8. In what direction from Seattle are the Olympic Moun- tains ? the Cascades ? What similarity do you find between Mount Hood and Mount Rainier? 9. Examine the pictures in this chapter and tell about the beautiful surroundings of the city. SEATTLE 43 10. What necessaries of life do the people of Alaska order through Seattle ? 11. How long would it take to go from Chicago to Seattle, traveling forty-five miles an hour? From Seattle to San Francisco ^ EXERCISES FOR WORLD REVIEW 1. Compare Puget Sound and the Mediterranean Sea as to — (a) location ; (b) countries bordering ; (c) straits leading to; (d) rivers emptying into ; (e) cities. 2. After studying this, answer the following questions : 1. Which of the two bodies of water has more coun- tries touching it .? 2. Which is farther north ? 3. Which has more rivers emptying into it ? 4. Which has more cities located on it ? 5. What languages does one hear spoken around each? 3. Try to find out what early explorers visited Puget Sound, and when. 4. Compare Seattle and Genoa as to — (a) location ; (b) population — nationality, size; (c) rainfall — in which season has each its rainfall? (d) exports. Write this in four paragraphs. DENVER, THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS IN every one of the cities you have thus far studied, you have found some particular fea- tures of location or surroundings that have made that city different from all the others. This is true of Denver in a remarkable degree. Let us see what some of these characteristics are that entitle Denver, the " City in the Wilderness," to bear the proud title of " Queen City of the Plains." If you will turn over the pages of this book and glance at the maps showing the location of the different cities, you will find that Denver is the only one that is not situated on a large body of water. Indeed, if it were not for Denver, you might be inclined to suppose that in order to rise to im- portance, a city must be on some large bay or lake or river. But here is Denver, in the heart of a vast continent, a thousand miles from any ocean, with only the small stream of the South Platte, flat and shallow as its name suggests, touching its out- skirts. No bold explorer ever sailed up the stream to found a colony on its sandy margin. No rich cargo ever floated through its tangled channels across the desert waste to the Mississippi River. Still, though this river is insignificant in com- merce, and not to be named with the Hudson, the DENVER 45 Ohio, or the Savannah, it had an influence, as you will see, in determining the location of the city, and from it comes part of the city's water supply ; so that Denver is a river town, though in a different class from New York or Pittsburgh or Savannah. In the second place, you must think of Denver as having been created by man out of a wilder- ness, not by the wave of a magic wand like Gary, but by patient, unremitting toil during the last half-century. In the mad hunt for gold, when Mt.Euana James Peak DENVER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS The principal railroads entering Denver are : the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe ; the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy ; the Denver and Rio Grande ; the Union Pacific ; and the Denver and Northwestern Pacific. miners and adventurers were busy washing the gravels of the mountain streams as they began their slow journey across the Plains, no large quantities of the precious metal were found in the 46 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES sands of the South Platte and its tributaries ; but where the little Cherry Creek joins the river, a group of Cottonwood trees offered a bit of firewood and grateful shade from the desert glare, and here in 1858 were built some miners' cabins which after- ward became the nucleus of Denver. How unlikely did it seem in those days that a great metropolis would ever replace those rough cabins! Except for the narrow fringe along the river, all around was desert. The cactus flourished in the sand and herds of buffalo passed by in search of food and water. There seemed nothing to attract one to make a home in this wilderness. In 1820, Major Long had crossed the spot where Denver now stands and had reported to the Government at Washington that this part of the Louisiana Pur- chase would be valuable to the United States chiefly as a barrier to prevent population from spreading too far west; and in 1838, Daniel Web- ster opposed establishing a post route across these plains, saying, " To what use could we ever hope to put these deserts, or these endless mountain ranges covered with perpetual snow.^* What use have we for such a country! Mr. President, I will never vote one cent from the Public Treasury for such a purpose." So for many years the Great American Desert, as it was called, lay untouched; but the soil was not dead, only sleeping, waiting, like the little maid in the fairy tale, for the touch i which should waken it into life. This came with DENVER 47 A VIEW FROM THE DOME OF THE CAPITOL the gold-diggers. Along with them came the man who loved the soil. His results, when he poured the cooling Waters from the snow-clad mountains on his barren acres, were startling, there was so much energy in this new soil. When he suc- ceeded, others followed. The Government helped ; reservoirs and dams were built in the mountains, and aqueducts and canals now lead water across gulches and ravines to the thirsty soil of the Plains. To-day, the fertile valley of the South Platte has become a garden, and to the south of Denver are acres of blossoming orchards, melon patches, and celery trenches, bearing in such abundance that their harvests are sent far beyond the confines of the State of Colorado. Besides its desert surroundings, there were other drawbacks to the steady growth of Denver into the Queen City. In the years following the discovery 48 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES of gold in the Rocky Mountains, many rival towns sprang up in the vicinity of Denver and seriously threatened its existence. There was Golden, fif- teen miles to the west, nearer to the mountain towns of Georgetown and Central City, with a ^ promising and beautiful location at the mountain gateway leading to the mining camps. For five years it was the capital of the Colorado Territory, and when the railroads were planned across Col- orado, it seemed at one time as though Denver were to be sidetracked in favor of this ambitious little rival. These were dark days for Denver. Many people became so disheartened because of its poor prospects that they left the city and took their business elsewhere. Fortunately there were plucky and intelligent citizens who felt sure the town was rightly located. Far enough from the mountains not to be hampered in its growth, it was yet near enough the mountain passes and opening valleys to serve as a base of supplies for the mining camps and as a distributing center for their products. By sheer force of determination, these men made it possible for the railroads to come to Denver, so that from the year 1870 to the present there has been no halt in its progress. But Denver has a third distinction, and this one sets it far above all rivals. Perched far above the low plains and valleys where most of us live, (it has the highest elevation of any town of its size and importance in the world. How proud the city DENVER 49 THE COLORADO STATE CAPITOL AT DENVER is of its lofty perch! On the lowest step of the en- trance to the Capitol is a bronze plate, " Just one mile above sea-level," and in bold type the leading newspaper announces that their building is "Just one mile above sea-level." What clear pure air must fill the lungs of the Denverboysand girls ! Do you not envy them their walk to school every morning, with the blue Colo- rado sky above them and the fresh breeze from the snowy mountains fanning their cheeks? If pure air and plenty of it were all that is needed to warrant a long life, we might expect these boys and girls to live to be as old as did Methuselah. Because of its location so high in the air, Denver has another distinction, — that of getting along with less rainfall than the majority of cities of the United States; but it does so well with fif- teen inches a year that its lawns are as smooth and green as those in rainier sections, and its trees and shrubbery do not fall far behind those of the beautiful New England towns from which so many Denver people come. There are some bless- 50 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES ings in a land of little rain. It must be delight- ful not to have gray skies interfere with a picnic or a tramp among the mountains. What a sharp contrast there must be between the rainy win- ters of the Northwest and the cloudless days of December and January in Colorado ! This dry air has an invigorating quality about it that acts like a tonic. People are strong and energetic and, as you have seen, they are not afraid to face diffi- culties. Being so far from any ocean, the air is free from fog. Often it is so clear that Pike's Peak, ninety miles away, tempts the stranger like an easy walk. Then, too, though summer days are often warm, summer nights are cool enough to make a blanket acceptable. Perhaps you are wondering how it is possible to have lawns and beautiful trees and vines in a city where for weeks and months at a time little rain falls. It is no easy matter. To keep the grass green and the garden flourishing requires the com- bined efforts of all the family. No one grumbles over this work, however, for everybody in Denver takes a great interest in making the city attrac- tive and pleasant to live in. This is evident from the fact that once a year, on Arbor Day, the city gives away trees to all who care enough to come and get them. As many as sixteen thousand trees were distributed one year. What a pretty pro- cession that must be — men and women, boys and girls, each bearing a tree with which to make DENVER 51 his home attractive ! This enthusiasm for beauti- fying the city is felt throughout Colorado ; the whole State takes pride in its capital city. Its clean spacious streets have been adorned with fine statues, and on Capitol Hill the State has placed a superb building where its laws are made and administered and its affairs regulated. But it is not only because it is the capital city that the people of Colorado look to Denver. It is the chief commercial city of the State, and is rap- idly growing into a busy manufacturing center. Because of its central position, Denver did a large business in the early days in carrying supplies to the min- ing camps. When the wagons that car- ried in food, machin- ery, and other neces- saries returned, they came out laden with the precious ores, — gold, silver, and lead. With coal in the mountains near by, what could be more natural than to smelt the lead and silver in this convenient distributing center. So smelting, in which the DISTRIBUTION OF TREES ON ARBOR DAY 52 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES ONE OF THE GREAT SMELTERS Where the ore, after mining, is separated from the rock, and freed from impurities. worthless earth is separated from the ore, became one of the earhest industries of Denver. Then machine shops for the repairing and making of mining machinery were estabHshed, for Denver was far from Eastern cities and the transporting of heavy machinery was expensive ; it would be cheaper to make it where there was a demand for it. A food supply was a necessity. Why, then, send cattle and sheep to Kansas City to be slaugh- tered ? We are not surprised, therefore, to find that meat-packing is an industry of Denver, and that flour and grist mills and wheat elevators make the sky-line of the city irregular. As railroads multi- plied and ease of transportation was secured, the people of the interior mountain towns, as well as DENVER S3 those scattered far and wide across the Plains, began to rely on Denver for all kinds of supplies. This dependence is rapidly growing. Coal is plen- tiful and easy to bring to the city, and in the streams that rush through narrow canyons and leap over rocky ledges in the foothills and moun tains there is unlim- ited power for many kinds of manufacturing. Where trans- portation is easy, markets convenient, and raw material at hand, manufac- tures will flourish ; and where living is as pleasant as in Denver, people who come will like to stay. Denver is one of the four great distributing points on a great east-west line across the United States — New York, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco. As you look on the map of the United States and note the position of these cities, you will be impressed with the importance of that of Denver — with one hand stretched out to the vast plains, she gathers, by means of the converging railroads, the wealth that man has wrested from the apparently barren THE NEW "GULF-TO-SOUND ROUTE" OF THE SYSTEM OF RAILROADS IN THE NORTHWEST 54 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES soil; with the other hand she gathers the rich toll of the mountains, gold, silver, lead, coal; all these products are sent north, south, east, and west in exchange for luxuries and necessities from other centers. There are other avenues of trade also opening to Denver; it is about to become a great Halfway House on a route linking the Northwest with the Southeast. On the Gulf-to-Sound Rail- way from Galveston to Seattle, Denver will be a strategic point. By this route the cotton of the South will be sent to Seattle for shipment to Yokohama and Hong Kong, and grain from the Inland Empire will find new markets along the South and East. Who can foretell what her posi- tion on this new route will mean to Denver.? It seems as if the city were the very creation of the rail- roads. How appropriate, therefore, is the greeting that the city gives to all those who enter her gates. As the newcomer passes at night out of the por- tals of the Union Station, he is astonished to see the greeting " Welcome" pricked out in dazzling lights above a beautiful bronze archway under which he must pass into the brilliantly lighted streets. When he leaves the "City in the Wilder- ness," he is even more astonished to see " Mizpah " on the other side of the Welcome Arch. This is the Denver spirit of hospitality, and the visitor is convinced that it adds another to the already great number of the city's attractions. DENVER 55 QUESTIONS FOR STUDY 1. Write in a column the names of all the Representative Cities and opposite each the body of water on which it is located, and the State it is in. 2. In the above exercise, mark with a star those cities which are capitals. 3. Examine the picture and tell in what ways the location of Golden is more beautiful than that of Denver. What ad- vantages do you see in Denver's location ? 4. On an outline map of the United States, locate the four great distributing points mentioned in the text. Under- line each, and write the distances between them. 5. Consult the following " Table of Distances " and find how many miles it is from New York to San Francisco. How far must the Senator from Colorado travel to attend Congress at Washington ? What is the distance from Seattle to Galveston via Denver on the Gulf-to-Sound Railway ? Distances from Denver by Shortest Route New York, i960 miles St. Paul, 886 miles Washington, D. C, 1814 " San Francisco, 1377 " Chicago, 1047 " Seattle, 1595 " Galveston, 1133 " Atlanta, 1538 " 6. How many feet is Denver above sea-level ? How does this compare with the elevation of your home? 7. Do you celebrate Arbor Day where you live? How? Would it be a good plan for your home town to adopt the Denver idea for that day ? 8. Give as many as possible of the distinct features of Denver. EXERCISES FOR WORLD REVIEW I. How many and which of the " Twenty-five Largest Cities of the World " are located at sea-level ? 56 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES 2. What reasons can you give for the fact that most of the great cities of the world are thus situated ? 3. What two mining towns in South Africa are situated on a high plain ? What similarity do you find between the rainfall of these towns and that of Denver ? Which has more routes of travel converging on it? 4. State the chief facts of location of these three towns. Give reasons for the location of each. i NEW ORLEANS, THE CRESCENT CITY THE boy or girl who visits New Orleans for the first time will probably spend many hours along the levees that skirt the curving river front. What delicious whiffs will come to him from the coarse brown bags of sugar and the barrels of molasses ranged in orderly rows on the levee! If he has a sweet tooth, let him search for a crack from which he can sample the syrup as it oozes from the barrel. Not so very long ago this was a favorite pastime of the black pickaninnies who loafed here in the hot after- noons, for in those days the cargoes lay exposed to sun and rain, only the perishable freight being covered with tarpaulins. Now there are over two miles of well-built steel sheds in which cargoes are housed while waiting to be shipped. These sheds are being rapidly extended, and with their advent has disappeared much of the lazy pictur- esque life that gave an added charm to. the Cres- cent City. Life is still leisurely enough, however, that the visitor need not feel he is in the way as he strolls along. The river is low in December, and as the ships are moored alongside instead of bow on, it is easy to get an intimate view of life on board an ocean 58 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES freighter in port. The officer who is on duty is glad to talk with anyone interested in his boat and cargo, and we are near enough for the conversa- tion to be quite friendly. Here is an English boat from Liverpool manned by an odd-looking crew, men with brown skin, silky black hair, and fea- tures like our own. They wear gold rings in their THE NEW ORLEANS WATER FRONT Showing the new steel sheds, the levees, and the river boats. ears and red caps, but they are short and slight and speak a language we do not understand. The mate tells us they are East Indians. " Why does an English ship have an East In- dian crew.'*" we ask. " Because they are cheap," is his brief reply. We find the ship brought many thousand pounds NEW ORLEANS 59 of sacking from Calcutta. Manila hemp, the mate says, is made into fiber, woven into bags, and shipped to New Orleans. " What need is there for so many bags, and why don't we make our own from Kentucky hemp?" we ask. " I '11 answer the last question first," the mate replied. "They can be made cheaper over there than in your country, where you pay your working- man good wages and do not let him work more than ten hours a day. As for the other question, — look around you. Those big bags are filled with rice, these with sugar; then there is the sacking for the cotton bales, and much of the coffee that comes to New Orleans is re-sacked for distribu- tion. It is a big item of import, this hempen stufT; 75,000,000 pounds come every year to this port." There is no need to ask what the mate's ship carries back to Liverpool, for, as we talk, we watch the cranes lower cotton bales into the hold. All the fall and winter and on into spring, the cotton stream passes down the Mississippi and across the Atlantic, one solid, steady flow until it reaches the English Channel, where it divides, radiating to Manchester, Havre, Antwerp, Hamburg, and St. Petersburg. That boat in mid-stream is a French freighter getting up steam to go down the river. It came over empty with water as ballast, but is taking back cotton for the spinning mills of Rouen. Beyond are two ships from Glasgow that rouse 6o REPRESENTATIVE CITIES our interest to the pitch of excitement. Can we believe our eyes? In the high prows are carved figureheads, such as we have read about in story- books. Who is the kingly looking fellow wear- ing a gold crown and carrying in his hand a trident to show his power over the waves ? Good old Neptune, you are far away from your home in Mediterranean waters, but apparently you are not at all concerned about it. The other figure is that of a rosy-cheeked, buxom lady leaning far out over the waves ; evidently salt water baths agree with her. What a glorious life, to dip into the sea froth, and to arise with cheeks glowing from exercise! We linger long about these prows, for Romance has cast a spell over humdrum life and we are loath to break it. Another day a boat from the Gold Coast of Africa ties up at the wharf. It has brought ma- hogany, and will return to Liverpool with cotton, and oak staves for barrels. The fragrant red lum- ber lies on the low land back of the protecting levee. By dint of many questions we learn that 10,000,000 feet of mahogany come to New Orleans every year, the greater part from across the Gulf, — from Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica. Some of it is made into "antique furniture" in New Orleans, but Grand Rapids, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco get many carloads, and many of the finest logs are re-shipped to Copenhagen, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, and Liverpool, i NEW ORLEANS 6i Under cover of one of the steel sheds is a banner cargo of coffee from Rio de Janeiro and Santos. One hundred and twenty thousand bags arrived one December morning, and it took nearly two RIVER BOATS AT THE LEVEE These boats carry all sorts of freight up and down stream. Note the high roomy deck for passengers and the long gang-planks. weeks to unload the vessel. This cargo filled two hundred cars, making eight trainloads, all of it going to the Middle West to compete with that entering by way of New York. As there are gen- erally one hundred and thirty-eight pounds in a bag, you can figure, if you like to do sums, what proportion of this cargo your family consumed in a year. But it is as a banana port that New Orleans is especially noted, more bananas entering here than at 62 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES any other port in the world, and the unloading of a banana steamer always draws an interested crowd. About 12,000,000 bunches were landed here in a recent year, chiefly from Honduras, Costa Rica, Bluefields, and Panama. The largest steamer of the United Fruit Company can carry 60,000 to 70,000 bunches. Everything possible has been done to dispatch the unloading of these steamers. They are moored under curious tall yel- low structures called " Banana Conveyors," which havehio^h projections like those of a grain elevator. From the conveyor swings an end- less chain of pockets which goes down into the hold and up through the conveyor to the deck. As fast as the chain turns, the pockets are filled and rise into the sheds, where negroes in long files stand ready to carry the bananas into the cars waiting alongside. It is a pretty sight, the masses of green fruit on the shoulders of the bronze porters bearing them to the cool darkness of the car. As soon as one car is filled, it is shunted A BANANA CONVEYOR NEW ORLEANS 63 LAKE PONCHARTRAU to a siding ; and when a train is made up, it has the right of way over all other fast freight, some- times even over the United States mail, so perish- able is the cargo it carries. The most picturesque feature of the river front is the Mississippi River steamboat. Light of draught, with paddle-wheels at stern and two tall s m oke- stacks topped with a bit of iron filigree, it is not only beautiful but admirably fitted to feel its way among the treacherous riv- er shallows. Two huge gangplanks poised dangerously in mid-air are a necessary part of each boat's equipment, for when the river is too low for the boat to tie up at the wharf, they are let down over the mud flats forming a safe and easy bridge. The names of the boats are most attractive. It is hard to decide whether to take passage on the " Belle of the Bends," the " Pride of the River," or the " River Belle." But a journey on any of them is likely to interest one who has NEW ORLEANS AND VICINITY Steamships from New Orleans ply to these important ports : New York, Liverpool, Hamburg, Havana, Vera Cruz, Bluefields, and Panama. 64 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES never sailed on a river which flows on top of the country instead of in a nice little bed below it. An intimate acquaintance with the commerce of New Orleans is the best introduction to the city a stranger could have, for in a stroll along the levees he is looking at the realization of the dreams of its founder. If we go back in imagination to the year 1718, when Bienville, governor of Louisiana, selected the site for his city, we shall feel sure that it needed a prophet's vision to plant a colony on this spot and to make it the capital of the vast domain of Louisiana. Nothing worth accomplish- ing is easy in this world of ours, and it is true in the history of cities as of men that, though certain favorable conditions may account for their success and importance, it is very often in the face of seri- ous obstacles that they rise to greatness. This is especially true of New Orleans. Bienville was far- seeing enough to realize that at the outlet of the fertile Mississippi and its tributaries a commer- cial port must grow up. Had it been possible for him to locate at the mouth of the river, it would not have been advisable; for a port must serve two masters, the hinterland, or back country, and the ocean highways, so it must get as near to the one as it can while keeping its hand on the other. New Orleans is no miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, by this means drawing to itself all lines of inland communication. The river is kept open for ocean ships by constant dredging NEW ORLEANS 65 and by controlling jetties. Situated on slightly ris- ing ground between Lake Ponchartrain and the river, Bienville's little settlement was considered to be safe from attacks by hostile Indians, and favor- ably located to fulfill its destiny of a gateway into and out of the continent. But the odds were heavy against his under- taking, and only recently have the greatest of them been removed. New Orleans is two feet below the high-water line of the river, and all that A SCENE IN THE FRENCH QUARTER Note the pretty iron balconies and the narrow and poorly paved street, keeps the floods from the city are earthen walls or levees that have been built along the river-bank. These are watched with the greatest care, and piles of sand bags are always on hand with which to 66 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES repair the least sign of weakness in this protecting bulwark. The ground is naturally so marshy that until 1904 New Orleans never had a cellar. The water-soaked ground offered no secure foundation for high buildings; and when it rained in deluges, as sometimes happens, the water collected in pools in which mosquitoes bred, and these brought yel- low fever. All the drinking water of the city came from the clouds and was stored in large cisterns, one or two of which stood in every yard. For nearly two hundred years the people of New Or- leans suffered from discomfort, inconvenience, and disease, the natural result of these unsanitary con- ditions; but to-day it is one of the healthiest cities in the United States, — it is sewered and drained, and has a pure water supply filtered from the Mississippi. As there is no natural drainage, the city being flat, these improvements required much engineering skill. The sewage has to be pumped up and out, and the water pumped in, but a new spirit of energy in its people has conquered these difficulties. The ground, now thoroughly drained, can support proper foundations for the up-to-date "sky-scraper," and it will not be long before New Orleans will be supplied with many of these mod- ern business necessities. The Crescent City has outgrown its name, hav- ing in recent years spread along the curving river in the form of the letter " S." In the days when it was peopled by the French, it occupied a little NEW ORLEANS 67 half-moon on the northward loop of the river. This is the " French Quarter," still quaint and in- teresting. The streets are narrow, the houses low andbuiltaround courtyards, wherein French and Spanish days much of the home life centered. A fountain played there, and palms and flowers grew luxuriantly; there mothers knitted and gos- siped while chil- dren romped. To-day these courtyards are shabby and neg- lected, and modern A COURTYARD IN THE FRENCH QUARTER houses are turning a shoulder to the pretty balconies with their cold lace- like iron fronts that have been a charming feature of New Orleans. French is still spoken in the old quarter, and the streets bear their early names — Bienville, Dauphine, Royal, Rampart. Canal Street divides the French quarter from the American. It is said there were formerly French residents who prided themselves on never having crossed Canal 6S REPRESENTATIVE CITIES Street, but this old prejudice has novv entirely disappeared. The streets in New Orleans are curiously ir- regular as a result of the shape of the city ; and many of them have astonishing names. Napo- leon has his name fastened to a broad thor- oughfare, and on either side are his victories — Jena Street, Berlin, Milan, Marengo, and Auster- litz Streets. In another part of the city are the names of the Nine Muses. Can you pronounce them ? They present difficulties even to the inhab- itants, and one hears many varieties of Terpsichore Street, Melpomene, and Euterpe. In another sec- tion is Industry Street, and near by Abundance, Felicity, and Piety Streets. It might be inspiring to live on Genius Street, or on Good Children Street, but if you prefer more classical names, you can choose Socrates or Brutus or Solon. Some of these thoroughfares belie their names, as Ely- sian Fields, where we picture happy folk walk- ing through flowery meadows by rippling streams. Alas, the reality is a long dreary avenue given over to freight cars, warehouses, and repair shops. New Orleans looks as if set in the midst of a garden, for in its mild moist climate vegetation flourishes. Here the temperate and tropical zones meet; palms, live-oak hung with Spanish moss, banana, orange, lemon, fig, and camphor trees grow side by side with maples, willows, oaks, and other trees to which Northern eyes are accus- NEW ORLEANS 69 tomed. There are many parks and open squares fof breathing-places, and soft southerly winds from the Gulf make the winter delightful. Though the rainfall is heavy, so much falls at one time that the city has more sunshiny days than its sister cities in the North- west, where it rains a little at a time and, during the winter, nearly every day. You cannot be long in New Or- leans without real- izing that as a com- mercial port and a manufacturing cen- ter it has many ad- vantages. The moist climate makes it pos- sible to spin cotton to advantage, and other raw materials are either close at hand or can easily be transported. The largest sugar refinery in the United States is here, its group of tall chimneys making a conspicuous landmark in the level country. Around the city sugar plantations are everywhere, and as cutting-time draws near, the newspapers have a great deal to say about the THE SHADE TREES OF THE SOUTH Many streets in New Orleans are bordered with these trees. 70 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES prospects for a good crop, for just as wheat holds the scepter in Chicago and Kansas City, so sugar is king in New Orleans. Because of its water connection with the interior, coal is brought cheaply from Pittsburgh and the Middle West. Six great railroad lines have their ter- minals here,and the jetties at the mouth of the river give a channel deep enough to accommodate the largest vessels. The people of New Orleans are looking forward to the completion of the Panama Canal, for this shorter route to the Indies, to western South America, and to our own Pacific Coast cannot but increase the commerce of the city. From New Orleans to San Francisco by way of Cape Horn is 13,650 miles; by way of Panama the distance is only 4700 miles. From New Orleans to Callao via Cape Horn is 10,100 miles; by way of Panama it will be only 2750 miles. From Chicago to New Orleans and Callao will be an almost north-south trade route; but there is no one bold enough to THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD'S COTTON ROUTE TO ASIA NEW ORLEANS 71 foretell all the new tides of travel and trade which will flow to and through the Crescent City in the new era which it is awaiting. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY 1. Make a list of all the cities mentioned in this chapter and write them opposite the countries to which they belong. Learn their location. 2. What is hemp.? In what countries is it found, and for what is it used beside bags ? For what purpose is hemp used in harvesting machines ? Trace the route of Manila hemp to New Orleans and Chicago. Name the bodies of water crossed. 3. On an outline map of the world draw with heavy lines the " cotton streams " from Galveston and New Orleans to Liverpool and Manchester, to Havre and Rouen, to Hamburg and Chemnitz, to Cologne and P^lberfeld, to Boston and Lowell. Print neatly the names of the ports exporting and importing cotton, also the names of the cotton-spinning towns near each port. 4. To what country does the cotton exported by way of Seattle go.? Draw the route of this '^ cotton stream" across the Pacific. 5. What products come to New Orleans from Costa Rica and Honduras ? Name and locate the port of each of these countries. 6. Write a composition comparing the climate in your home in winter and summer with that of New Orleans. Tell also what differences there are in the trees and plants of both places. What wind brings rain to New Orleans ? 7. Draw a plan of the way your town is laid out and com- pare it with the Crescent City. Find out how the prin- cipal streets of your town received their names. 8. How old is the community where you live .? Is it older or 72 REPRESENTATIVE CITIES younger than New Orleans? Who founded it? What cities of the United States are older than New Orleans ? 9. Explain the advantages in the situation of a city at the head of a bay or up from the mouth of a navigable river. Compare Baltimore and Norfolk in this respect ; Portland and Astoria. In each case, which is the larger city? 10. Turn to the "Rules governing the Location of Cities" (Appendix, page 203), and learn that rule which seems to you to apply best to the development of New Orleans. 11. Draw a plan to show how railroad, river, and ocean traffic center at New Orleans. 12. What articles from Central and South America reach Chicago by way of New Orleans ? What effect will the opening of the Panama Canal be likely to have on the trade between Chicago and the Pacific Coast ? Name some products of the Pacific Coast that might reach Chicago via New Orleans instead of overland. (Consult the chapter on San Francisco for your answer.) 13. Tell some of the disadvantages of living in New Orleans in the early French days. 14. What river in China has many features like that of the Mississippi ? What makes it so difficult to control the floods in both these rivers? Tell some of the difficulties and hazards that are a result of living near a river that flows on top of the land. What is a levee ? 15. Which dependencies of the United States supply us with sugar ? Why should San Francisco, New York, and New Orleans have large sugar refineries ? Where does the coal that runs the refinery in New Orleans probably come from? By what route? (See chapter on Pittsburgh.) EXERCISES FOR WORLD REVIEW 1. Compare New Orleans and Buenos Ayres as to — (a) location (note latitude as well as other facts) (b) climate ; NEW ORLEANS n (c) size ; (d) people, language spoken ; (e) exports. Arrange these facts in the form of a chart, as below, or write them in paragraphs. Fill out the blanks in the following chart. Locate the countries, tell the kind of climate necessary to raise sugar cane, name the ports which export sugar, and the cities of the United States which import and refine sugar. Six Leading Coimtries producing Cane Sugar Countries Location Climate Export City Cities of U. S. Refining Sugar Cuba Java Hawaii United States. . Porto Rico .. . . . Brazil Find four cities in Europe, four in North America, and two in Asia that are situated on navigable rivers several miles inland. Explain in each case the advantages of such location. Make a sketch map of the location of one of these cities and compare it with that of New Orleans. DULUTH, THE ZENITH CITY OF THE UNSALTED SEAS IN the northern part of Minnesota, in a wooded country full of lakes and streams, lie the sources of two rivers, one flowing to the east through the Great Lakes, and one to the south. Here, near the head of Lake Superior, is a great water-parting or divide, and here in early days the Indians came from all directions to bargain with French fur traders or to arrange terms of peace. In those days French and Indians might well have said, " All trails lead to the Great Portage " ; to-day the people of Duluth will tell you, " All roads lead to Duluth." With these facts in mind, we can understand how the nickname, the Zenith City, came to be applied. The origin of its real name is quite as in- teresting, but history, not geography, gives us the key to that. Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Luth, a brave soldier of France, came to New France to help in extending the fur trade, and to explore the West. In 1679, at the Great Portage near where Duluth now stands, he called a council of the warring Indian tribes, who declared a peace with each other and with France. Nearly two hundred years later the pioneers who settled Duluth met at a picnic to decide upon a name for their town. DULUTH 75 No name that was suggested suited the assembly, until finally a Rev. Mr. Wilson arose, and giving a brief history of the place, proposed " Duluth." Instantlythe au- dience clapped their hands, sprang to their feet, and then and there voted to adopt the name. It is a thing for a or girl to brought up in a town where the motto of every one is "Do it for Duluth." To carry this out may mean sacri- fice and service, but history has shown that the people are always ready. After the railroad came to the city in 1870, business increased so that it became necessary to improve the harbor by cutting a canal across Minnesota Point. This would give an easier entrance than to go around the point to the natural opening. Across the bay is the city of Superior, in the State of Wisconsin, but sharing with Duluth the benefits of the beautiful bay a mile DULUTH AND SUPERIOR Note the ship canal, and harbor. Refer to the illustrations on pages 76 and S^. The principal railroads entering Duluth are : The Duluth, Mesaba, and Northern ; the Chicago and North- western ; the Great Northern ; and the Northern Pacific. 1^ REPRESENTATIVE CITIES wide and seven miles long. Superior, having a wide outlet to the lake, hoped to be the greater city; and she was alarmed when she saw what Duluth was doing. Hurriedly the people appealed to the United States Government, claiming that the new canal would shallow their channel and injure their har- bor. But before the Supreme Court could act every man, woman, and child in Duluth who could handle a shovel w^ent down to Minnesota Point and began to dig. Day and night they worked, and the canal was cut through before the order to ^:i,m¥*%