420 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



ingly crude and inefficient. To improve these conditions volunteer 

 companies were formed, not only in order to devise improved methods 

 and apparatus, hut also to he at all times ready to lend a hand in 

 saving property and life. In this matter Pittsburgh was ranked 

 among the foremost American cities and recognized as having many 

 of the best organizations. The membership was composed of men 

 who in their day adorned the bench, the bar, the pulpit, and other 

 professions, and were prominent leaders in commerce and manufac- 

 tures. When the occasion required they were at all times stalwart 

 defenders of the flag of their country. 



" As the years went by, inventive genius set aside the cistern and 

 hand-pump and provided water by means of gravitation, which, aided 

 by leather hose and the concentrated man-power of the hand-engine, 

 made the bucket-brigade a thing of the past. Then came the steam- 

 engine and knitted and woven cotton hose. As towns grew into cities 

 paid fire departments with fixed rules and regulations were instituted, 

 and, as a result, volunteer organizations in many localities became 

 extinct. When the steam fire-engine appeared the hand-engine van- 

 ished. One by one they were sold,or given away to smaller munici- 

 palities. These in turn, as they grew in population, secured more 

 modern apparatus, and the hand-engine, with rare exceptions, was 

 thrown upon the junk-pile. The citizens of Pittsburgh gradually 

 allowed all their old hand-engines to pass out of their possession, and 

 when in after years memories of the past awoke a desire to secure 

 and preserve one of them as a memento and relic of former times, it 

 was discovered that only one or two could be located, and these were 

 so firmly held that they could not be obtained upon any conditions. 



" Within the last few months we fortunately have come into pos- 

 session of the last hand-engine bought and owned by the old Vigilant 

 Volunteer Fire Company. This company was formed in 1811 and 

 was one of the most famous of the early volunteer organizations of 

 the city. Its first president was William Wilkins, one of the leading 

 citizens of those days, who held many prominent positions, including 

 those of United States S'^nator, Secretary of War, and Minister of 

 the United States to Russia. From and including the time of its for- 

 mation until the day of its dissolution the names of many men of local 

 prominence appear upon its roster. In their time, too, a number of 



