58 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



a plan. By the original chart Philadelphia is fixed 

 within a rectangle from the bank of the Delaware to 

 the Schuylkill and a little beyond. But at the present 

 time not a third of the plan is filled in, and one must 

 not be led into the error of thinking it complete, as 

 represented in certain maps both of Philadelphia and 

 of Pensylvania. For nothwithstanding the swift push- 

 ing-back of the city, centuries yet must go by before 

 the ground plan is built up. The streets cross at right 

 angles. Those along the Delaware run nearly North 

 and South and are parallel, as are those running East 

 and West, or from the Delaware to the Schuylkill. 

 Along the Delaware the line of houses, including the 

 suburbs, extends for some two miles, and the breadth 

 of the city, including the suburbs, is not quite a mile 

 going from the river. Water-street, next to the Dela- 

 ware, is narrow and considerably lower than the rest 

 of the city. In this street are warehouses chiefly. 

 Commodious wharves, for ships of as much as 500 tons, 

 are built in behind the houses, and here a few feet of 

 land, often made land, yield rich returns to the owners. 

 The remaining streets parallel with Water-street and 

 the river, are called in their order First or Front-street, 

 Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh ; so many 

 at present the three last are still short. The cross 

 streets running from east to west are the most elevated, 

 and in their order from north to south are : Vine, Race, 

 Arch, Market, Chesnut, Wallnut, Spruce, Union 

 From these a number of alleys traverse the chief 

 quarters. Market-street is the best street and the only 

 one 100 ft. in breadth ; all the rest are only 50 ft. wide. 

 Were all the streets as wide again the town would be 

 by so much the finer and more convenient. It is easily 



