Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/507

BALTIC SEA. large part of northern Europe, including western Russia, northeastern Germany, and nearly the whole of Sweden. Owing to this drainage and to the restricted channel to the North Sea, the water of the Baltic contains only a third as great a percentage of salt as the Atlantic, and the saltness shows a tendency to decrease toward the west and north. Tidal action is apparent only on the southern coasts, but there are surface currents flowing quite constantly from the Baltic to the North Sea and deeper currents flowing in the opposite direction. Storms are frequent, and often cause severe losses to shipping. Easterly winds are particularly dangerous, as they drive the water before them in the form of huge tidal waves. Navigation in the northern part is suspended by ice during the winter season and early spring. The Baltic is of great commercial importance to northern Europe; the most important ports are Copenhagen, in Denmark; Kiel, Lübeck, Stettin, Danzig, and Königsberg, in Germany; Riga, Reval, Saint Petersburg, Cronstadt, Helsingfors, and Åbo, in Russia; and Stockholm, Karlskrona and Malmö, in Sweden. The Baltic is connected with the North Sea by an artificial water-way, the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, 61.3 miles in length, which was completed in 1895. The canal contains no locks, and is of sufficient depth to permit the passage of deep-sea ships.  BALTIMORE. The metropolis of Maryland, and the sixth city in point of population in the United States, is situated on the Patapsco River, at the head of tide water and navigation, about 14 miles from Chesapeake Bay. The city extends about 6¼ miles from east to west, and between 4½ and 5½ miles from north to south, covering an area of 31½ square miles, or 20,160 acres.

. Baltimore is situated, in common with other great centres of the Atlantic border, at the junction of the plateau of old crystalline rocks and the overlying beds of younger and still unconsolidated formations, which stretch out toward the east. The hills within the city are composed of younger sands and gravels, which are cut through by such streams as Herring's Run, Jones's and Gwynns' Falls, and the Patapsco River. The climate of the city is temperate and bracing, removed alike from the bitter cold and enervating heat of more extreme localities.

Baltimore is roughly divided into two nearly equal parts by a small stream—Jones' Falls—which rises 20 miles to the north and flows entirely through the city. It is confined by granite walls, and is crossed by well-constructed bridges. The portion of the city northeast of the stream, of which Fells's Point and Canton, with wharves, factories, and canneries lining the water's edge, are respectively the south and southeast ends, is still denominated ‘Old Town.’ The southeastern section is occupied largely by immigrants, and presents the ordinary characteristics of a seaboard city. To the north, east, and northeast stretches the residential quarter of the city's bread-winners. Of the section west of the Falls, Locust Point is an irregular strip extending to the southeast, with numerous wharves, railroad terminals, and grain elevators, and tipped at the very extremity by Fort McHenry. The southwestern corner is Spring Garden. The wholesale business section extends north from Pratt Street, the extreme northern limit of the harbor, and is

bounded by Paca, Baltimore, and Light streets. A little beyond is Baltimore Street, the chief latitudinal thoroughfare. Further on, widening out to the west, lies the retail shopping district, while beyond, extending half way to the northern limits, is the fashionable residential quarter. The northern and northwestern sections are substantial dwelling districts, fringing out to modest but comfortable artisans' homes. Houses are numbered in the decimal plan, running north and south from Baltimore Street, and east and west from Charles Street.

. Baltimore is called the Monumental City, a title derived less from the number of its stone memorials than from the early date at which Washington Monument, in Mount Vernon Place—a noble marble shaft rising 104 feet, surmounted by a heroic figure of Washington—and Battle Monument, in Monument Square, were erected. Mount Vernon Place contains several bronzes by Barye and one by Dubois, the Rhinehart monument of Chief Justice Taney, and the Storey replica of the George Peabody Monument. Other monuments of interest are the Wells and McComas, the Armistead, the William Wallace, the Wildey, and the Ridgely monuments.

The characteristic of Baltimore architecture is solidity and convenience. The public buildings of interest in this connection are the city hall, the post office, the city jail, the Peabody Institute, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Masonic Temple, and, most beautiful of all, the courthouse, of white marble, in classic Renaissance style, with interesting mural paintings by Blashfield and Turner, and a bust of Severn Teackle Wallis, the distinguished Maryland jurist and man of letters. The Continental, Equitable, and Fidelity buildings are office structures that compare favorably with those of New York and Chicago. The important clubs of the city are the Maryland, occupying a beautiful Romanesque edifice of white marble; Baltimore, Athenæum, University, Phoenix, and Country (Roland Park). The Stafford, Rennert, Carrollton, Eutaw, and Belvedere are the principal hotels. A United States Sub-Treasury is located here.

. The public parks and squares of Baltimore are beautiful and well distributed. The more important are Druid Hill (671 acres), Clifton (255 acres), Patterson (106 acres), Riverside (17 acres), and Federal Hill (8 acres). Druid Hill may be reasonably described as one of the finest parks in the United States. It abounds in natural beauties which have been carefully preserved and emphasized. Druid Lake, an artificial basin, is part of the municipal waterworks system. Carroll Park contains the historic Carroll mansion. Clifton Park was purchased from the Johns Hopkins University. Wyman Park, and a tract which will probably be called University Park, situated adjacent to Homewood (the prospective suburban site of the Johns Hopkins University), on Charles Street, bid fair to rank among the most attractive parks of the city.

. Baltimore's suburban growth has been very rapid of recent years. The suburbs extend north and northwest of the city proper for about 10 miles, and are made accessible to the heart of the city by electric car lines. Among the more important of them are Arlington,