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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2017 14:24:04 GMT -5
I always wondered why people made a big deal about Jackie being from Pittsburgh. Always seemed to me just to be normal Middle America. But I'm learning that there is much that is unique about it. They seem to have a good sense of humor about themselves. Hoping I can make the trip there in March. Fingers crossed. If I go, I'll try to ride the Duquesne Incline.
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Post by jamesn on Jan 12, 2017 16:50:00 GMT -5
Ive never been on the incline, but it was visible from where I did visit back in the 90's. The point of land at the base of the bridge is the location of the first permanent settlement in what is now Pittsburgh, Fort Duquesne, established by the French in 1755 during the French and Indian War on a site selected by the British but as yet unoccupied by a settlement. It was the target of two notable military expeditions involving a very young George Washington, at the end of which the French blew up their fort and retreated. The British built a much larger Fort Pitt named for Prime Minister William Pitt, "The Great Commoner." Fort Pitt was briefly besieged by Indians under Chief Pontiac and during the Revolution was an important American fortress in what was still wilderness. That site, though partially covered by downtown Pittsburgh, has outlines of the original French fort and under part of the bridge a reconstruction of a bastion of Fort Pitt and a wonderful museum inside.
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Post by richardnc on Jan 12, 2017 21:50:25 GMT -5
Here's the views from the top of the incline. From a 2013 trip. I never lived in Pittsburgh but visited there and attended Pirates games.
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Post by richardnc on Jan 12, 2017 21:55:53 GMT -5
And one to explain why it's called the Duquesne Incline. Note the angle of the car against the track... Built and operational since the late 1800s! Attachments:
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Post by jamesn on Jan 13, 2017 14:44:55 GMT -5
And one to explain why it's called the Duquesne Incline. Note the angle of the car against the track... Built and operational since the late 1800s! A wonderful photo! You can actually see the outline of the French Fort Duquesne in the area between the trees in the park a little ways behind the fountain at The Point where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers meet to form the Ohio. British Fort Pitt occupied the spot where the highway interchange now is and the reconstructed blockhouse that houses the museum can be seen just beside it. The fort was possibly the largest military instillation built during the colonial era but with American independence the frontier quickly passed westward and the fort lost all its importance and was abandoned. During its existence, however, Pitts Burgh had grown up outside its walls and the settlers soon dismantled the fort to scavenge its building materials. Much later this land was reclaimed and the present park created.
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Post by jamesn on Jan 13, 2017 15:00:57 GMT -5
Here's the views from the top of the incline. From a 2013 trip. I never lived in Pittsburgh but visited there and attended Pirates games.I feel compelled to mention an unfortunate historical fact: Near where the ball park stands, across from The Point there was an island in the river where Indian allies of the French routinely camped. Following the Battle of the Monongahela in which the British under Col. Braddock were disastrously defeated by a much smaller French and Indian force, several American, English, and Scottish prisoners taken by the Indians were carried to their camp and successively burned alive all night long, as recorded by an American survivor who had had the luck to become a captive of the French and taken to the fort instead, from where he listened to their screams all night. I'll bet you never thought about any of THAT while you were enjoying the game!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2017 20:22:36 GMT -5
Ok, after that last post, let's go light-hearted again.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2017 11:53:01 GMT -5
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Post by pgantioch on Jan 15, 2017 12:11:48 GMT -5
Good luck. The Chiefs are sneaky-good, especially on defense, & Alex doesn't turn the ball over very often. They're very tough at home.
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Post by jamesn on Jan 18, 2017 14:23:00 GMT -5
Ok, after that last post, let's go light-hearted again. In case that wasn't BAD enough, after the French blew up the powder magazine and left ruined Fort Duquesne it was occupied by the British and Americans under Gen. John Forbes including the Virginia brigade commanded by Col. George Washington. They found along the last stretch of trail leading to the smoking ruins a line of posts, each wrapped with the tartan (much larger predecessor to modern-day kilts) and topped by the severed head of one of the Scottish Highlanders killed in a previous skirmish nearby! (This would be in the area of downtown buildings and the highway interchange.) One reason I remember such gruesome tales is that they fly in the face of the "romantic" notions of The Noble Red Man and The Good Old Days.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2017 15:03:57 GMT -5
MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR!
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Post by jamesn on Jan 19, 2017 14:03:27 GMT -5
In case that wasn't BAD enough, after the French blew up the powder magazine and left ruined Fort Duquesne it was occupied by the British and Americans under Gen. John Forbes including the Virginia brigade commanded by Col. George Washington. They found along the last stretch of trail leading to the smoking ruins a line of posts, each wrapped with the tartan (much larger predecessor to modern-day klits) and topped by the severed head of one of the Scottish Highlanders killed in a previous skirmish nearby! (This would be in the area of downtown buildings and the highway interchange.) One reason I remember such gruesome tales is that they fly in the face of the "romantic" notions of The Noble Red Man and The Good Old Days.We're still going light-hearted. I refer to your spelling of kilts. I corrected it; thanks for the heads up; that's what I get for thinking faster than I can type, in my one-fingered style! (It doesn't help when I'm in a hurry either.) I'll add here that a single small structure remains of 1760's Fort Pitt - a square stone or brick powder magazine that survived because it had been incorporated in another later building. It was discovered when that entire section was leveled for construction of the highway. The fort disappeared in development of this area in the 1800's and it's building materials recycled, but the area had become a slum by the end of that century. One corner bastion and part of the walls of the fort have been reconstructed in the area partially beneath the elevated highway.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2017 14:55:02 GMT -5
Alright, I'll delete mine. Just good for chuckle. No need to milk it.
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Post by juxtaposer on Jan 31, 2017 23:55:02 GMT -5
"The Pittsburgers... are more bent upon increasing their 'fathers' store than on beautifying the favoured spot in which they dwell." (Charles Fenno Hoffman, "A Winter in the West", 1835).
"And you have never seen a fire hugged until you behold a violet lipped Creole before a blazing grate of Pittsburgh coal." (Abraham Oakey Hall, "The Manhattener in New Orleans", 1851.
"The care-worn Pittsghurger flees when his daily duties end, glad to escape for the time the all-pervading soot and smoke." ("Harper's Magazine", December 1880).
"During business hours he also smoked Pittsburgh stogies constantly, when he wasn't chewing them." ("Saturday Evening Post", March 1909).
"Chances are, if you are a Pittsburgher visiting in another city, the first person you talk to will say, 'So you're from the smoky city.' " ("Highway Traveler", February 1949).
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Post by jamesn on Feb 1, 2017 13:39:41 GMT -5
"Chances are, if you are a Pittsburgher visiting in another city, the first person you talk to will say, 'So you're from the smoky city.' " ("Highway Traveler", February 1949). One of the benefits of the demise of the steel industry in the U.S. and Pittsburgh in particular was the improvement in air quality there but it left the steel mills shuttered and the kind of "tombstone"-like monuments to decay Donald Trump referred to in some of his speeches. I wonder how he did there, considering the state of Pennsylvania went for him? I'm sure the area around Philly went for Hillary but more rural areas must've voted Republican. Of course Pittsburgh isn't rural - but I'd imagine it's a far cry from Philadelphia too.
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