November 11, 2013

This concludes one of the last letters of Camillo's trip to the US in 1893-94.  There are four more to go, one from Albany (Niagra Falls!), Boston, New York, and then Philadelphia.  My goal is to finish the letters before meeting with a friend on December 11th who also has a set of her Italian family's letters--dated from the same period (very exciting!).  Also, I'm not sure I would say the project seems timely, exactly, but I just recently learned that there is a movement to change the QWERTY keyboard, which has inspired a resurgence of interest in the history of typewriters....

Pittsburgh non e molto simpatica.  E una citta eminentemente industriale in un centro carbonifero importantissimo ed in diretta comunicazione acquea per mezzo dell’Allegheny e del Monongahela che si uniscon per fermare il fiume Ohio, con il Mississippi da una parte e con i canali dell’Est dall’altra.  Tra le cose notevoli e che qui il gas non costa quasi nulla perche in tutti i colli circostanti basta scavare un pozzo e porre una tubatura per avere quanto gas naturale si desidera.  E forse per questa ragione che tutta la citta e illuminata a luce.

Volevo visitare una miniera di carbone ma ora uno sciopero colossale le ha chiuse tutte, tanto che molte fonderie ed officine si sono dovute chiudere per mancanza di combustibile.

Eccoti ora il mio itinerario:

Buffalo (2 giorni), Niagra Falls e Toronto (2 giorni), Albany (NY) 2 o 3 giorni, Springfield (Massachusetts) 3 giorni, Boston 5 o 6 giorni, Providence (Rhode Island), 2 giorni, Hartford (Connecticut) 1 giorno, New Haven, New York.  Sono tutte queste citta industriale ove mi fermo per visitare fabbriche.  Tu puoi scrivermi a New York, dove non so quanto mi fermero.  Ho sentito che il mio banchiere ha cambiato indirizzo, ma non so quale sia il nuovo.  Credo pero che indirizzando le lettere al N 67 Exchange Pl. gli giungeranno.

Pittsburgh isn’t very nice.  It’s an eminent industrial city and one of the most important coal mining centers and is indirect connection (by water) by means of the Allegheny and Monongahela that come together to form the Ohio river, with the Mississippi on one side and the Eastern canals on the other.  Among the notable things about the city is that gas costs nearly nothing because in all the surrounding hills you just have to dig a well and add a pipe and you can get all the natural gas you want.  This may be why the whole city is lit up with electric lights (?).

I wanted to visit a coal mine, but a huge strike has closed all of them, it’s so bad that most of the foundries and factories have had to close due to lack of fuel.

Ok, now here’s my itinerary:

Buffalo (2 days), Niagra Falls and Toronto (2 days), Albany (NY) 2 or 3 days, Boston 5 or 6 days, Providence (Rhode Island), 2 days, Hartford (Connecticut) 1 day, New Haven, New York.  These are all industrial cities where I’m going to stop to visit factories.  You can write to me in New York, but I’m not sure when I’m going to get there.  I’ve heard that my bank has changed address, but I don’t know what the new one is.  I hope, however, that by addressing the letters to N 67 Exchange Pl, they will arrive.