BALTIMORE,

ITS GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION——HISTORY——POPULATION-—
PUBLIC BUILDINGS——MANUFACTURES——COMMERCE——PUB-
LIC INSTITUTIONS——LITERATURE, ETC,

Chapter I.—Topography of Baltimore.

OUR purpose being to present a clear and concise view of our
City, its present condition, its government, its manufactures, its
commerce, its public buildings and other improvements; (together
with a variety of other information which we take not to be
generally available;) we intend to confine ourselves to plain mat-
ter of fact; preferring accuracy to ornament. As we write, in
part, for the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the
localities of Baltimore, we propose in the first place, to give a
brief geographical description of the City; with which the reader
will find it necessary to become acquainted, in order to have a full
conception of some other subjects which we propose to treat of.

The city of Baltimore is situated on a creek or inlet of the
Patapsco river, commonly called the basin, the average breadth
of which is a quarter of a mile, its length one mile and three quar-
ters. The depth of water for more than half the length of this
inlet is sufficient to float ships of the largest dimensions, and the
harbor which it forms is uncommonly spacious and commodious,
As yet, the city is chiefly confined to the north side of the basin,
but there can be no doubt that in the course of a very few years,
it will extend along the other side also. Indeed, there are already
many streets laid out in that quarter; manufactories and works
of various descriptions are erected there, and every thing seems
to promise that that district will, ere long, be the centre of consi-
derable business. At the same time, the City is rapidly progress-
ing along the northern side of the harbor, to which result the
efforts of the Canton Company, aided by an immense capital,
contribute in an eminent degree.

The site of Baltimore is, in most parts hilly; a circumstance
which, on some accounts, is far from being a disadvantage. In
the neighborhood, there are a number of streams, some of which
intersect the city; the principal one of these latter is Jones's
Falls, (by some termed the northern branch of the Patapsco,)
which, as it approaches the basin, may well be called a small