which the railroad is prolonged into numerous lateral branches, supported on strong tressel-works. The loaded cars are hauled to the water's edge, where large apartments are erected for the storage of the coal. These apartments lie under the tressel-works, the bottoms of which descend, with a slight inclination, over the water's edge. The contents of the cars are discharged from the bottom, (being constructed expressly for that purpose,) and the coal falls directly into the proper apartments below, assigned for the different sizes and qualities. A vessel, therefore, to be loaded, has merely to be drawn up to the wharf, under the projecting spout of the coal apartments, when a wicket is raised, and the coal issues out in one continuous stream. The operation of unloading the car, and of loading a vessel, is consequently very simple; yet the contrivance, in its original conception, is one of great practical merit, saving annually, as it does, a large amount of money and time. The engraving illustrates the process just described, at the same time that it conveys an idea of the extent of the business of shipping the coal at Port Richmond. The Reading Railroad, after many years of hard struggling, has laid down a foundation for future success as broad, and practical, and comprehensive, as it was possible for human industry and ingenuity to devise. The earnings of the company, amidst all its former embarrassments, were, in a great measure, necessary to its complete equipment. To make it productive, accommodations corresponding with the stupendous trade of the road had to be provided; and this, too, in the midst of its darkest and most trying history. But the improvements are now made and completed, and stand forth as shining monuments to the energy and well-directed management of the road. On our return to the Schuylkill, we shall diverge into the city, and "see what is to be seen" on the Philadelphia and Norristown Railroad, which, on the opposite shore of the river, runs parallel with the Reading Railroad from the Falls to Norristown, and embraces nearly every object of interest between those two places. The first object that strikes ns, in connection with this road, is a new, elegant, and imposing one, viz.: the depot situated at the corner of Ninth and Green streets. This handsome edifice has just been completed, at a cost of some $10,000. It is, in many points of view, a model of architectural skill-combining the practical with the ornamental, at the lowest possible cost. The business of this road, extending from Philadelphia to Norristown, with a branch to Germantown, is rapidly increasing, and has been the instrument of scattering along the route it traverses an active, intelligent, and enterprising population. The trade, of course, is mainly local, including the conveyance of passengers. Many of the business men of Philadelphia have summer residences in the vicinity of the road, while others permanently reside in the country. These, added to the ordinary movements of the dense population along the route, make the conveyance of passengers an important item, which must annually increase with the progressive increase of business. The road, a short distance from the city, passes over the Port Richmond branch of the Reading Railroad, and soon after appears at the point from which we diverged, viz: the Falls of Schuylkill, a view of which is annexed. The extensive buildings lying at the western end of the village, between the railroad and the river, comprise the chemical works of Powers, Weightman, Harrison & Co. The greater portion of the population is supported by these large and splendid works, the proprietors of which have an establishment, equally extensive, in the city. Philadelphia is justly distinguished for its chemical productions, and the firm above mentioned probably stands at the head of this description of manufacture-one of the most complicated and arduous, we may add, that human industry and capital could embark in. |