America, Volume 2 (of 6)

This volume presents descriptive and historical sketches of travel across the Allegheny Mountains and adjoining valleys, chronicling early routes such as the National Road, stagecoach and wagon traffic, and the later arrival of railroads. It profiles towns, colleges, and regional institutions while recounting local anecdotes and episodes tied to transportation and migration. The narrative surveys industrial and natural-resource developments — coal, oil, iron, canals and factories — and treats notable incidents such as floods and cycles of boom and decline. Interwoven are landscape descriptions, portraits of communities, and reflections on how infrastructure and commerce reshaped settlement patterns.