110 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (CLINTON, EASTON.) 



works ; 7 carriage and 4 wagon factories ; 1 fur- 

 niture factory, which removed thither from 

 Wheeling, W. Va., three years ago, and employs 

 100 hands; 2 spoke factories: 2 of fertilizers; 

 3 of boots and shoes ; 5 of cigars ; 1 each of 

 hosiery, paper boxes, brooms, baking powder, 

 organs, banks and furniture, combination bar 

 and beer coolers, harness and artificial ice ; 4 

 machine shops ; 4 marble and granite works ; 3 

 tanneries ; 1 canning and 2 bottling establish- 

 ments ; 1 book-bindery ; and 1 foundry and ma- 

 chine shop. 



Clinton, a city of Iowa, on the Mississippi 

 river, midway between St. Louis and St. Paul, 

 138 miles west of Chicago, 60 from Dubuque, 

 and 81 from Cedar Rapids. It is the tenth city 

 of the State, having a population in 1890 of 13,- 

 619, an increase of 4,567 over 9,004 in 1880, or 

 50'5 per cent. Its location on the river, from 

 566 to 586 feet above sea level, is picturesque, 

 and on the north and west it is sheltered by hills 

 and forests. Two fine steel bridges span the 

 river, one recently completed, three quarters of 

 a mile in length, exclusive of the approaches, 

 and 1")0 feet above the water. It is a wagon 

 bridge, while the other, 4,000 feet long, is a draw 

 rail. In 1890, 3,034 steamboats, 662 barges, and 

 538 rafts passed this bridge an increase of 442 

 steamers and 131 barges over 1889. The rail- 

 roads entering the city are the Chicago and 

 Northwestern, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. 

 Paul, the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and North- 

 ern, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and 

 the Chicago, Burlington and Northern, all hav- 

 ing their terminus or division endings here. 

 During 1891 the aggregate of improvements 

 reached $1,826,700, and $145,000 were expended 

 on brick paving for the city streets. Fifth 

 Avenue, 100 feet wide, and extending from the 

 river to the bluffs on the west, is paved through- 

 out and shaded by massive elms. Shade trees 

 are a feature of the place. The water works, 

 which also supply the city of Lyons, 2 miles dis- 

 tant, draw their supply from three artesian 

 wells, respectively 1,050, 1,235, and 1,665 feet in 

 depth. The receiving basin has a capacity of 

 1,400,000 gallons; and the pumping apparatus, 

 with a capacity of 7,000,000 gallons in twenty- 

 four hours, is so arranged as to be able to draw 

 from the river in case of fire. In 1891, $30,000 

 were expended on improvements of the works, 

 which had 22 miles of mains in Clinton and 7 

 miles in Lyons. The available pressure for fire 

 was sufficient to throw 8 streams 80 feet high at 

 one time. An efficient paid fire department is 

 supplemented by 3 volunteer companies. In 

 1891 the gas company substituted water gas for 

 coal gas, erecting a new reservoir and putting in 

 6 miles of mains, expending $60,000 in its im- 

 provements. It also operates an electric-light 

 plant, with a capacity of 140 arc and 1,000 in- 

 candescent lamps. The Thomson-Houston sys- 

 tem of electric street railway is in use, extending 

 to the factory sites and to the city of Lyons. 

 The city has 10 public-school buildings, employ- 

 ing 57 teachers, and the attendance for the >ear 

 ending in June, 1891, was 2,808. Three daily 

 and 5 weekly newspapers are published, one of 

 the last in German ; also 1 monthly. The vari- 

 ous religious denominations are represented, and 

 the Young Men's Christian Association has a 



newly completed building. There is a public 

 hospital, built by subscription. Three national 

 banks have an aggregate capital of $310.000, 

 and there are 1 private arid 2 savings banks. 

 Lumber is the leading industry of Clinton ; 7 

 saw mills, employing 2,000 men, at wages of 

 $510,000, in 1891," turned out 151,346,813 feet of 

 lumber, and 55,367,000 shingles, also 25.097,600 

 laths a decrease from 179,686.000 feet of lumber 

 and 56,558,000 shingles in 1890, caused by low 

 water and difficulty in rafting. A large bridge 

 and iron works has a capacity of 500 tons of 

 iron a month ; one of the oldest establishments 

 is a paper mill, which has been extended and 

 improved recently ; there are a sash, door, and 

 blind factory, employing 325 men and boys, wit h 

 a yearly pay roll of $150,000; a saddlery com- 

 pany, boiler works, 3 large furniture factories 

 established in 1891, a wagon works which re- 

 moved here the same year from Sterling, 111., 

 a wire-bottom-lounge company, flouring mills, 

 brickyards, a box factory, and one of carriages, 

 wagons, and buggies. Shops of the Chicago and 

 Northwestern Railroad are located here. 



Easton, a city of Pennsylvania, county seat 

 of Northampton County, in the eastern part of 

 the State, at the confluence of the Lehigh with 

 the Delaware river, 67 miles north of Philadel- 

 phia by rail, 75 from New York, and 17 from 

 Allentown. It is connected with Phillipsburg, 

 N. J., by a bridge erected in 1807, and with South 

 Easton by a suspension bridge across the Lehigh, 

 built in 1885. The population increased from 

 11,924 in 1880 to 14,481 in 1890. The first set- 

 tlement was made by the Dutch as early as 1654. 

 In 1748 the town was laid out, and in 1763 there 

 were 1 1 houses, and a courthouse was erected. 

 The borough was incorporated in 1789, and again 

 in 1828. The city charter is of recent date. Eas- 

 ton early acquired importance as a commercial 

 center, receiving grain from points along Bush- 

 kill creek and the interior of the State prior to 

 the completion of the Lehigh, Delaware, and 

 Morris canals, which unite here, and by which 

 large quantities of coal, iron, grain, stone, and 

 lumber are received and shipped. In 1811 a 

 chain bridge was substituted for the triple-arch 

 bridge across the Lehigh, and in 1833 the stone 

 bridge across Bushkill creek, still in use, was 

 built. Railroad facilities are now afforded by 

 the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Morris 

 and Essex, and others. It has an altitude of from 

 215 to 357 feet above sea level, being built partly 

 on the sides of hills. The streets are regu- 

 larly laid out, and cross each other at right 

 angles. In the center is a public square. The 

 electric-light plant is owned by the city, and the 

 gas company supplies Phillipsburg and South 

 Easton also. Water is supplied by 2 steam- 

 pump works from the two rivers, with head suffi- 

 cient in the lower part of the city to dispense 

 with fire engines. There is a paid fire depart- 

 ment, with 12 miles of fire-alarm wire. There 

 are 2 lines of horse cars, connecting with Phil- 

 lipsburg and South Easton. and an electric street 

 railway to College Hill. Three daily. 1 semi- 

 weekly, and 6 weekly newspapers are published : 

 also a college periodical. Lafayette College 

 (Presbyterian), established in 1832, has 26 in- 

 structors and 309 students. Easton enjoyed 

 public educational privileges .as early as 1755. 



