Pittsburgh in 1795 and 1876 and Forts!

My wife and I took a great road-trip from Washington D.C. to Pittsburgh where I stopped in at Shaw Galleries for some map shopping. I ended up buying what I think is the only reproduction in my collection, and yet, it's older than some of the originals I have.

This map shows a plan of Pittsburgh, and its fort from 1795. This, map, however, is almost 100 years more recent than the time it depicts. From what I can find, this map was published by Samuel W. Durant in the 1876 "History of Allegheny Co. Pennsylvania". It is a reproduction of the original map, which I'm pretty sure is this one, held in the University of Pittsburgh library's digital collection:

 The original is quite handsome, but the reproduction has a few interesting features. Forts are always fascinating, and this map provides considerable detail on the Fort at Pittsburgh. Today not much is left of the original fortification built by the British (on the site of an earlier French fort.)

In showing this fort the map almost reveals a kind of self-awareness, that is to say that the map-maker knew that his was a new vision of the city, but that there was a long history before him. The inset shows not only where the previous French fort had been, but also the site of a much smaller frontier fort (itself shown in another inset), but it also shows where roads have since been built passing through and over the site of an important historic feature that no longer exists.

The map also shows a number of Islands in the rivers around the city, including this one with the (in my opinion) charming notation "buckwheat grown in 1795". I note that this remark also seems to appear on the original 1795 map.

I notice, however, that this map shows a number of islands that seem to no longer exist. This well researched piece explains what happened to the islands, which was in most cases erosion. It makes the map even more wonderful as it shows not only man-made change and development over time but also natural changes to the geographic features of the area. Sure enough, a glance at a modern map of the same area shows no islands in the river at all; just bridges, lots and lots of bridges.