Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/690

 684: LOUISVILLE law school, and 23 excellent common school buildings, of which the female high school cost $140,000. Louisville is connected with the southern railroad system by the Louisville, Nashville, and Great Southern, the Louisville, Paducah, and Southwestern, and the Louis- ville, Cincinnati, and Lexington lines; and with the northern by the Jeffersonville and Indianapolis and the New Albany and Chicago railroads, a branch of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, and the Cincinnati branch of the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Lexington line. The Louisville and St. Louis air-line railroad is in process of construction. The river is crossed at the head of the falls by a bridge having a single railroad track and two foot- ways. There are 27 spans, including the ca- nal draw, the one over the middle chute being 370 ft. long, and the one over the Indiana chute 400 ft. The channel spans are respec- tively 90 ft. and 96 ft. in the clear above low water. There is a draw at the canal, giving a clear way of 114 ft. Total length of the bridge between abutments, 5,218f ft.; cost, $2,016,819 63. The piers are of stone and the bridge of iron. Since the building of rail- roads the steamboat business of Louisville has declined in importance, but regular lines of steam packets, running to New Orleans, the cities of the lower Ohio, and to Cincinnati, are still maintained. It is a port of delivery. On June 30, 1873, there were belonging to the port 44 steamers of 11,435 tons, and 11 barges of 2,372 tons; built during the year, 17 steamers of 3,302 tons, and 7 barges of 3,206 tons. The business of the city in 1873 amounted to $250,000,000. The chief articles of shipment are dry goods, groceries, vari- ous manufactured articles, tobacco, provisions, leather, and whiskey ; the receipts consist principally of dry goods, groceries, hardware, and cutlery. The value of the direct imports in 1873, under the act of 1870 allowing goods to be transported to interior ports in bond, was $302,394. The shipments of provisions exceeded $10,000,000 in value. The sugar- curing of hams is a special feature of the busi- ness, and in 1873 more than 900,000 were cured by 20 establishments. There are 9 pork- packing establishments, at which in 1871-'2 311,187 hogs were slaughtered; in 1872-'3, 310,746; in 1873-'4, 226,947. Louisville is one of the largest leaf -tobacco markets in the world. Large quantities are annually bought here for the account of the French govern- ment, and large shipments are made to Ger- many, England, and Canada. There are 8 warehouses for the storage and sale of this article, capable of holding 20,000 hogsheads, and 12 large stemmeries, in which the leaf is prepared for export. The sales for the year ending Oct. 31, 1869, were 36,130 hogsheads ; in 1870, 43,002; in 1871, 48,007; in 1872, 38,356 ; in 1873, 53,897, valued at $5,765,991. The manufacture of chewing and smoking to- bacco and cigars is large and increasing. In the year ending June 30, 1874, 22 tobacco factories produced 5,150,407 Ibs., against a product in 1871 of 3,358,119 Ibs. from 16 fac- tories; and 86 cigar manufactories produced in 1874 13,508,119 cigars, against 8,970,456 pro- duced by 72 makers in 1871. The manufac- ture of whiskey by five distilleries in 1874 amounted to 1,037,644 gals. ; the same number of distilleries in 1871 produced 630,960 gals. Louisville is the great distributing market for the fine whiskeys made by the Kentucky dis- tilleries. The manufacture of beer has become a very important interest. In 1871, 22 brew- eries produced 43,167 bbls. ; in 1874, 19 brew- eries produced 72,196 bbls. Four companies are engaged in the manufacture of the Louis- ville cement or water lime, from the water limestone discovered during the excavation of the canal. They have 8 mills, with capaci- ty for 1,000,000 barrels annually; capital in- vested, $450,000; annual product, 500,000 bar- rels, valued at $550,000. Three firms, with a capital of $1,150,000 and employing 355 hands, are engaged in the manufacture of ploughs for the southern market; sales in 1873, 125,000, valued at $990,000. The manufacture of heavy sole and belting leather employs six firms, with a capital of $875,000 and 156 hands, using 9,800 cords of bark and 53,700 hides annually, and producing goods to the value of $810,000. In the manufacture of lighter leather for skirting, harness, and upper leather, 12 tanneries are engaged, with a capi- tal of $485,000, employing 104 hands, using 6,350 cords of bark a year, and producing goods to the value of $560,000. There are also a manufactory of morocco and sheep skins, 4 large saw mills, 8 furniture facto- ries, and manufactories of iron pipes for water and gas mains. The whole number of manu- facturing establishments in 1860 was 323; capital invested, $4,563,000; hands employed, 5,894. In 1870 the number was 783 ; capi- tal, $11,119,000 ; hands, 11,549. On July 1, 1874, there were 6 national and 17 incorpo- rated state banks, including 3 savings banks, with an aggregate capital of $9,436,386; de- posits, $7,750,583; loans, $14,321,962; cash and eastern exchange, $2,738,343. There were also 4 private banks, 10 fire insurance compa- nies, and 3 life insurance companies. Louis- ville is divided into 12 wards, and is gov- erned by a mayor with a board of aldermen of one and a common council of two members from each ward. It has an excellent paid fire department, with ten steam fire engines, and two hook and ladder companies. There is a fire telegraph and signal system. The police force also has a telegraph to all parts of the city. There are 114 m. of paved streets, and 23 m. of sewer conduits. The city is well sup- plied with water and gas by water works and gas works, which are carried on by joint-stock companies in which the city owns a controlling interest. The length of water mains is 82 m. and of gas mains 85 m. There is a good sys-