CITIES, AMERICAN. (ALAMEDA, ALEXANDRIA.) 



151 



al-o mentioned. Local unions, in which the 

 -. \. r.il church societies in a single city are rep- 

 resented in a joint organization, have been 

 formed in several cities. 



The twelfth International Convention of the 

 Christian Kndeavor Societies met in Montreal, 

 ( 'anada, July 5. Seventeen thousand delegates 

 were in attendance. The meetings were held in 

 i \vo sections. The first leading subject dis- 

 eussed was "The Junior Christian Endeavor 

 Soriety: Its Past, its Present, its Future," on 

 which the Rev. J. W. Cowan, who founded the 

 first junior society, spoke, describing the begin- 

 ning of this movement. Other addresses were 

 mi -The Possibilities of the Junior Society," by 

 the Rev. Dr. Wnyland Hoyt; "Junior Methods 

 of Work," by the Rev. H. N. Kinney; "Junior 

 Christian Endeavor in Foreign Lands," by Mrs. 

 Francis E. Clark. Other subjects discussed by 

 speakers or in "parliaments" were "Soul- Win- 

 ning " ; " What Evangelistic Work is your So- 

 ciety doing!" The particular features of the 

 Christian Endeavor Society the pledge, the 

 consecration meeting, and fellowship; "The 

 Christian Endeavor Society the Typical Church 

 Institution"; " Our Relationship to the Sunday 

 School"; "Missions," under several subhead- 

 ings ; " Temperance " ; " The Religious Press " ; 

 "Social Purity"; "Foes to Society"; "The 

 Sanctification of Common Life": "Every Man's 

 Vocation a Call of God " ; " Spiritual Power." 

 The conception of a " Senior Endeavor Society " 

 was explained by the Rev. C. P. Mills. Presi- 

 dent Francis E. Clark, the originator of the so- 

 cieties, who had been around the world visiting 

 the organizations in all countries, addressed the 

 convention on the subject of "Larger Things 

 for the Year to come," and urged the three ob- 

 jects of the cultivation of a larger and more 

 intelligent spirit of patriotism and good citizen- 

 ship; a more practical exemplification of the 

 missionary spirit ; and an enlargement of inter- 

 denominational, international fellowship. Reso- 

 lutions were adopted reaffirming the principles 

 of personal devotion to Christ, the covenant ob- 

 ligation embodied in the prayer-meeting pledge, 

 constant religious training for all kinds of serv- 

 ice, loyalty to the local Church, interdenomina- 

 tional" spiritual fellowship, and the free action 

 of the individual conscience; recommending 

 wherever feasible the holding of meetings at the 

 life-saving stations and lighthouses and work 

 among the police forces, charitable and reforma- 

 tory institutions, commercial travelers, and men 

 employed on railroads; inviting all societies that 

 are on the basis of the prayer-meeting pledge 

 and the consecration meeting to join the Chris- 

 tian Endeavor brotherhood by uniting with their 

 own denominational title the interdenomina- 

 tional title; and condemning the opening of the 

 gates of the Columbian Fair to the public at 

 Clii(-;igo on Sunday. 



CITIES, AMERICAN, RECENT GROWTH 

 OF. This subject has been treated in every 

 volume of the "Annual Cyclopaedia since 1886, 

 the total number of cities described in the six 

 volumes preceding the present one being 397. 

 lu this volume the number is increased to 424. 



Alameda, a city of Alameda County, Cal., on 

 the east side of San Francisco Bay, 7 miles from 

 Sun Francisco. It is south of Oakland, being 



separated therefrom by San Antonio creek, and 

 8 bridges span that wide but shallow entuary. 

 \\< site is a peninsula 4 miles long and 1 mile 

 wide, and on the outlying Bay Farm island. The 

 peninsula (formerly styled Encinal de San An- 

 tonio) rises but a few 'feet above the pea level. 

 On the bay shore there is a good sandy beach, 

 and Alameda is a popular bathing resort ; but 

 on the creek shore there are salt marshes, and a 

 rip-rap wall is greatly needed to keep put the 

 sea. The population in 1870 was 1,557; in 1880, 

 5,000; in 1890, 11,000; in 1893, 14,000. The 

 city owns its own electric plant, has an effective 

 fire department, a free library, a good water sup- 

 ply from the artesian wells at Fitch burg and 

 High Street, and a sewer system considered the 

 best in California. Alameda has good public 

 schools and a high school, the school property 

 amounting to $130,000. The traveling facilities 

 are exceptionally good, the Southern Pacific hav- 

 ing possession of two railway lines, which run 

 alternately every fifteen minutes to Oakland and 

 connect by ferries with San Francisco. An elec- 

 tric line passing through the middle of Alameda 

 to Broadway, Oakland, is now being extended 

 to Oakland's business center. There are 14 

 churches, 4 daily newspapers, 1 weekly, 2 banks, 

 and several manufactories, as the Pacific Coast 

 Oil Works, Pacific Coast Borax Company, which 

 uses the crude borax mined near Death valley in 

 San Bernardino County, the Clark Pottery, and 

 planing mills. The Occidental Smelting and 

 Refining Company, have also secured a 25-acre 

 tract for a smelting plant, which it is estimated 

 will cost $1,000,000. The city has 50 miles 

 of sewers, macadamized streets, and artificial 

 stone sidewalks. About 75 per cent, of the in- 

 habitants own their own homes, which are large- 

 ly built of wood, brick and stone being unpop- 

 ular in California on account of earthquakes. 

 The oldest maps of the town (1854) show that it 

 was originally located in the vicinity of High 

 Street, and that the entire Encinal was owned by 

 W T illiam W. Chipman and Gideon Aughinbaugh. 

 Some years ago an appropriation was made by 

 Congress for the improvement of Oakland Har- 

 bor, which included the building of a tidal canal 

 through the isthmus that connects Alameda with 

 East Oakland. A bill is now (1893) pending in 

 Congress for an additional appropriation to finish 

 the tidal canal and to dredge Oakland harbor. 

 The climate of Alameda is equable, the ther- 

 mometer ranging from 40 to 70 above zero. Al- 

 mond, pepper, orange, and magnolia trees bloom 

 out of doors, as well as the fruit trees of the tem- 

 perate zone. Hon. J. A. Waymire's experiments 

 in raising trees of various climes on his Oak 

 Shade Tract have attracted much attention, but 

 the raising of eucalyptus trees has been wholly 

 abandoned on the Encinal and in many parts of 

 California. 



Alexandria, a city and port of entry of Vir- 

 ginia, county seat of Alexandria County, on the 

 right bank of the Potomac, 7 miles below Wash- 

 ington. It is bounded on the west and south by 

 Fairfax County, and by the last Federal census 

 has a population of 14,339. In 1870 it had 

 13,570, and in 1880, 13.658. In 1669 a patent 

 was obtained for the land on which the city now 

 stands, and the first settlement, known as Belle- 

 haven, was made in 1095. In 1749 William 



