Show NEWCASTLE A Picturesque City Whose Wealth Is ill Coal In spite of the multitudinously malodorous malod-orous murk that overcasts Newcastle and neighborhood it is picturesque and for that matter so is Pittsburg But then the center of smoke and flame in the United States is modern Ancient and modern Newcastle come in piquant contrast con-trast hard by the elliptical railway arch St Nicholas flyingbuttressed steeple is incongruously grafted on the arch and the bulging old houses of the side and sandhill look like jolly old burghers lounging in dingy shirtsleeves with modern dudes superciliously scrutinizing through their eyeglasses in juxtaposition juxtaposi-tion with the prim plateglassed piles of offices the expansion of the towns trade has caused to be their neighbors Coal lies at the bottom of the wealth of Newcastle though as we shall presently see man has done much to make the mouth of the Tyne what it is For miles both banks are lined with shipyards ship-yards with smoky factories and most excellent docks Here is a picture of a I I trip say from Blaydon to North and South Shields The population along the river from these points including Newcastle and Gateshead mnst number haif a million mil-lion A jumble of smokedried brick and stoneworks of new brickworks fast blackening of huge sheds or colliery staith rattling black avalanches of coal down hinged shoots or dropping coal trucks from giddy heights through traps rising above the shipping on either hand Cranes swing yellow water cascades into the river lireglowing steam engines send out angry white puffs chimney stacks pour out black coils machinery clanks tools rattle with a ceaseless savage energy There are foundries fortlike blast furnaces torrid puddling forges whirring rattling rolling mills chain and anchor works potteries chemical works fetid manure works grindstone wharves sawmills saw-mills oilmills cement works Bessemer steel plants brick works coke ovens patent slips iron and wooden shipbuilding shipbuild-ing yards graving docks timber docks and docks crammed with shipping of every flag for the Tyne stands second only in importance as a port to the Mersey But what we are chiefly concerned to see says Escottin this coalblackened antique Northumberland capital with its immemorial past and its infinite future its old buildings venerable churches hoary traditions its i inventions improvements improve-ments and devices of yesterday its busy plottings and contrivances for tomorrow is the influence exercised by science upon the course of the river The Tyne is no longer the stream which nature made it Its bed is deener its channel chan < red Headlands and promontories have been removed and millions of tons of soil have been uplifted from its depths in order that ships of heavy burden may float up to the walls of the town The width of the river has been increased from 150 to 400 feet A point seventyfive feet above high water which prevented those in charge of vessels from seeing vessels approaching ap-proaching on the inner side has been cutaway cut-away The docks have been enlarged and a new one with increased water space of nearly 100 acres sutrounded by 3650 lineal feet of deep water quays has been built In consequence of these improvements im-provements in twenty years the average tonnage of vessels has risen from 149 tons to more than Correspondence I San Francisco Chronicle |