settlers,
particularly from Somerset and Butler Counties. The town profited
greatly by the change of names; there were many who could neither spell
nor pronounce "Duquesne;" but now that it was made easier to explain
where you lived, the town thrived.

Pittsburgh, with an "h", became noted. In Fort Duquesne the people had
been content to live as they began; but the interlopers from Braddocks
Field, Greene County, and Holidaysburg changed conditions. The luxuriant
cabbage gardens gave way to boiler yards; the little brick houses were
supplanted by glass houses, still houses and other manufacturing
establishments, the mark of that van of commercial greatness that has
made Pittsburgh famous.

That part of the town formerly given over to agricultural pursuits,
namely the river banks, was now paved with cobble stones and termed
"wharves," thus providing a vantageous place for the citizens to
congregate when they had a boat race over the lower course. Occasionally
a raft from Salamanca would be moored on the Allegheny wharf and
shingles unloaded in piles for the children to play ketch around in the
twilight.

On the Monongahela side where the boats came from and departed for
Brownsville, there was always more activity.

Many of Fort Duquesne's best citizens seceded. The volunteer firemen
remained faithful to the old Fort. They went into business on Smithfield
Street and are known to this day as the Duquesne Fire Company. It was
through those who seceded that the outlying boroughs of Birmingham,
Brownstown, and Ormsby, were created on the south side, while those on
the north-west side christened their settlement "Allegheny," thus
destroying its future. As the river of that name that runs away from
itself when it rains and drys up when it is clear, is so uncertain, the
name Allegheny does not appeal to the masses. Had Allegheny taken the
name of "Pittsburgh," the courthouse and all other public buildings
would be located on the north side, a natural site for a populous city.
As it is, Pittsburghers are compelled to live in Irwin, Latrobe,
Cassopolis and Kittanning, to make room for their public buildings.

In the early days of the "Smoky City," for such had become its nickname,
the residents were wont to sit for hours and gaze at the sun and sky;
this pleasure is denied residents in modern Pittsburgh. The only
knowledge they have that there are sun, moon and stars, is that which
Professor John Brashears (from Brownsville)