Edward Jay Allen | |
|---|---|
 Edward Jay Allen and sons (photographed by Ernest Walter Histed in 1896) | |
| Born | April 27, 1830 |
| Died | December 26, 1915 (aged 85) |
| Education | University of Pittsburgh South Ward School |
Edward Jay Allen (April 27, 1830 – December 26, 1915) was an entrepreneur and prominent businessman based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In his younger years, he had been a pioneer in the Oregon Territory for a few years. He was an officer in the Civil War and survived major battles.
Edward Jay Allen traveled west over the Oregon Trail in 1852 and made his way to Puget Sound, arriving in December of that year. Allen played a significant role in the early history of Washington Territory and left a detailed account of his years in the west (1852–1855).
Upon returning to Pittsburgh, he married, raised a family, served with distinction in the Civil War as a colonel in the 155th Pennsylvania Infantry. In later life he became quite prosperous as secretary/treasurer of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. He was a member of the exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club that gained notoriety for contributing to the disastrous 1889 Johnstown Flood.
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What is Dark Matter and Dark Energy?
Transcription
Matter as we know it: Atoms, stars and galaxies, planets and trees, rocks and us. This matter accounts for less than 5% of the known universe. About 25% is dark matter and 70% dark energy. Both of which are invisible. This is kind of strange, because it suggets, that everything, we experience is really only a tiny fraction of reality. But it gets worse, we really have no clue, what dark matter and energy are... or how they work. We are pretty sure, they exist. Then, so, what do we know? Dark matter is the stuff, that makes it possible for galaxies to exist. When we calculated, why the universe is structured the way it is, it quickly became clear that there's just not enough normal matter. The gravity of the visible matter is not strong enough to form galaxies and complex structures. The stars would more likely be scattered all over the place... ...and not form galaxies. So, we know there is something else inside and around them. Something, that doesn't emit or reflects light. Something dark. But beside, being able to calculate the existence of dark matter... ...we can see it. Kind of. Places with a high concentration of dark matter bend light passing nearby. So, we know there's something there, that interacts with gravity. Right know, we have more ideas about what dark energy is not, than what it is. We know dark matter is not just clouds of normal matter without stars, because it would emit particles we could detect. Dark matter is not anti-matter, because anti-matter produces unique gamma rays when it reacts with normal matter. Dark matter is also not made up of black holes. Very compact objects, that violently affect their surroundings, while dark matter seems to be scatted all over the place. Basically, we only know three thing for sure: 1. Something is out there. 2. It interacts with gravity. 3. There is a lot of it. Dark matter is probably made of a complicated exotic particle, that doesn't interact with the light and matter in the way we expect. But right now, we just don't know. Dark energy is even more strange and mysterious: We can't detect it; we can't measure it and we can't taste it. But we do see its' affects very clearly: In 1929, Edwin Hubble examined how the wavelength of light emitted by distant galaxies... shifts towards the red end to the electromagnetic spectrum, as it travels through space. He found that fainter, more distant galaxies, showed a large degree of redshift. Closer galaxies not so much. Hubble determinded that this was, because the universe itself is expanding. The redshift occurs, because the wavelengths of light are stretched as the universe expands. More recent discoveries have shown that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Before that, it was thought that the pull of gravity would cause the expansion to either slow down or even restract and collapse it on itself at some point. Space doesn't changes its properties as it expands. There's just more of it. Youth space is constantly created everywhere. Galaxies are tight bound clusters of stuff, held together by gravity. So, we don't experience this expansion in our daily lives, but we see it everywhere around us. Wherever there is empty space in the universe, more is forming every second. So, dark energy seems to be some kind of energy intrinsic to empty space. Energy, that is stronger than anything else we know and that keeps getting stronger as time passes by. Empty space has more energy than everything else in the universe combined. We have multiple ideas about what dark energy might be. One idea is that dark energy is not a thing, but just a property of space. Empty space is not nothing; it has it own energy. It can generate more space and is quite active. So, as the universe expands, it could be that just a more a more space appears to fill the gaps and this leads to a faster expanding universe. This idea is close to an idea, that Einstein had in 1917 of a concept of a cosmological constand. A force, that counteracted the force of gravity. The only problem is, that when we tried to calculate the amount of this energy, the result was so wrong and weird that it only added to the confusion. Another idea is that empty space is acually full of temporary, virtual particles that spontaneously and continually form from nothing and then disappear into nothing again. The energy from those particles could be dark energy. Or maybe dark energy is an unknown kind of dynamic energy fluid or field, which permeates the entire universe. But somehow has the opposite effect on the universe than normal energy and matter. But if it exists, we don't know how and where or how we could detect it. So, there are still a lot of questions to answer. Our theories about dark matter and dark energy are still just that: theories. On the one hand, this is kind of frustrating; On the other hand, this is frontier science, making it very exciting. It shows us that no matter, how much we feel we are on top of things, we are still very much apes with smartphones on a tiny fragile island in space, looking into the sky, wondering how our universe works. There is so much left to learn and that is awesome! [This video is supported by the "Australian Academy of Science", which promotes and supports excellence in science. Learn more about this topic and others like it at "nova.org.au". It was a blast to work with them. So, go check out their side. Our videos are also made possible by your support on "patreon.com". If you want to support us and become a part of the 'Kurzgesagt'-bird-army, check out our patreom page!]
Early life
The Allen family emigrated from Warwickshire, England, crossing the Atlantic on the ship Anacreon. They arrived in New York City on September 4, 1827. The youngest of six children, Edward Jay Allen was born to Edward and Millicent (Bindley) Allen on April 27, 1830. After nearly three years in New York City, the Allen family moved to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, a bustling coal center that supplied Philadelphia’s fuel needs via a newly constructed canal.
In 1834 the family moved again, traveling by Conestoga wagon to Pittsburgh, where they remained. The senior Edward Allen worked as a bricklayer and later as a construction contractor. He and his wife ensured that their three sons and three daughters were well educated and versed in the classics. Edward Jay Allen attended Pittsburgh's South Ward School and the University of Pittsburgh (then known as the Western University of Pennsylvania.
Suffering from a severe long-term lung ailment, Allen found respite in the summer of 1851 wandering the hills of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania with friends. Looking for relief from his illness, he decided to make a trip to the West.[1]
Out West
Allen was unusual among the emigrants heading to Oregon. He was college-educated, knew nothing about farming, and traveled without a family. He hoped, in addition to securing property under the Donation Land Claim Act, that the trip west would improve his health.
Leaving Pittsburgh by steamboat in the spring of 1852, Allen traveled to Iowa. There he joined a wagon train for the six-month journey. Other travelers were chiefly farmers and their families from Wapello County, Iowa. Allen kept a diary [2] and wrote fourteen letters to his family, which he sent from various locations along his route.[3]
These letters were published in the Pittsburg Dispatch newspaper and saved in a scrapbook by his sister Rebecca.
Allen's western journey officially began May 11, 1852 at Council Bluffs, Iowa (a.k.a. Kanesville). He had a typical Oregon Trail passage until reaching the Snake River Valley in Idaho. Having badly sprained his ankle, Allen concluded that he could walk no further. He decided to turn his wagon bed into a boat and float down the Snake River, soon learning why so few emigrants chose this method of travel. After days of running rapids and portaging around waterfalls, Allen and his waterborne companions arrived at Fort Boise. They were lucky to be alive and agreed to give up water travel.
Allen remained at Fort Boise for four weeks, temporarily setting himself up in business. "Diary August 19: We found there was but one flat here to ferry the emigration over, and that discovery was the origin of the 'Pennsylvania Ferry Company." He left behind accounts of the ferry business and of the comings and goings at Fort Boise of Native Americans, Hudson's Bay Company employees, fur traders and travelers.
After his sojourn at the ferry, Allen continued west on horseback. He was soon back on foot, however. Still lame, he had to walk through the desert country of eastern Oregon after losing his horse in the Blue Mountains. In October 1852, Allen reached Portland, Oregon Territory. He paused briefly before heading north over the Cowlitz Trail to the small village of Olympia at the south end of Puget Sound.
Allen was diverted on his journey north to serve as a delegate to the Monticello Convention. He participated in the beginnings of the political process that separated Washington Territory from Oregon. In December 1852, finally reaching his destination, Allen built a cabin on his Donation Land Claim three miles up Budd Inlet from Olympia. He decided to negotiate with local Native Americans to pay them for the land before he took up residence on it. This was unusual for the time.
From late 1852 until January 1855, Allen remained in Washington Territory. In June 1853 he surveyed the Indian trail over Naches Pass in the Cascade Mountains as a potential route for a wagon road to divert incoming emigrants from the Willamette Valley to Puget Sound. From July through October he led a construction crew that began building the wagon road.
That winter he explored Puget Sound to its northern reaches by whaleboat, ran for a position in the territorial senate (he lost), and shared his cabin with Captain George B. McClellan and George Gibbs (geologist), both on assignment to conduct various government surveys of the newly created Washington Territory. Allen wrote up their reports and also created a dictionary of the Chinook Jargon.[4] (This unpublished dictionary may be found in "Hervey Allen Papers," Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh.)[5]
In 1854 Allen and his crew returned to the mountains to improve the wagon road. He took time out from his road building to make what is believed to be the first ascent of Mount Adams by a European American.[6]
Return to Pittsburgh
Allen returned to Pittsburgh in 1855 after three years out west. In July 1857 he married Elizabeth Robinson and together they raised five children. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Allen was constructing a railroad in today's West Virginia. He and his family were seized by Confederate forces and held captive until repatriated at Washington, D.C. He offered his services to his friend, George McClellan, then a general and commander of the Army of the Potomac. Instead Allen fought in the battles of Lewisburgh and Cross Keys in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.
Allen later became a colonel in the 155th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment and fought at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. He was medically discharged after Gettysburg. He continued in a civilian role to provision the Union army in the Shenandoah Valley.
In the post-Civil War years Allen made his fortune serving as secretary/treasurer of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. He was among the elite, powerful and wealthy men in Pittsburgh. About 1880 they organized an exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, to develop and enjoy a summer retreat in the mountains outside Pittsburgh. The property included an earthen dam and reservoir, known as Lake Conemaugh. In 1889 the dam collapsed, causing the disastrous Johnstown Flood. Houses and buildings were destroyed downstream and in the city; some 2200 people died. The club was legally defended in four court suits over the following years; neither the club nor its members were held legally responsible for damages to survivors.
In his 50s, Allen made two cross-country trips to Washington state, in 1889 and 1891. Edward Jay Allen died on December 26, 1915.[7] He is buried in Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Legacy
Allen wrote numerous letters to his siblings from his travels West, which his sister Rebecca collected. He kept a diary in Oregon Territory. In his later years, he continued to write. One of his unpublished manuscripts has recently been discovered by researchers among his grandson's papers. They have also found letters from his siblings to him during his years in the West. Much of this material is held by the University of Pittsburgh, in papers of his grandson Hervey Allen (1831-1965).[8]
He was a poet and also wrote music lyrics. He published several works, including Hiou Tenas Iktah ("A Lot of Trifles" in Chinook jargon). In addition, he was a mentor to artist John White Alexander.
Representation in other media
- Dennis M. Larsen and Karen L. Johnson, Our Faces Are Westward: The 1852 Oregon Trail Journey of Edward Jay Allen, paperback, 2012
- A Yankee on Puget Sound (2013), edited by Karen L. Johnson and Dennis M. Larsen
References
- ^ Larsen, Dennis M.; Johnson, Karen L. (2012). Our Faces Are Westward (1st ed.). Independence,MO.: Oregon-California Trails Association. p. 27. ISBN 978-1893061-09-5.
- ^ Allen, Edward Jay. "Hervey Allen's Papers". Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved October 29, 2013.
- ^ Larsen, Dennis M.; Johnson, Karen L. (2012). Our Faces Are Westward (1st ed.). Independence, MO.: Oregon-California Trails Association. p. 21. ISBN 978-1893061-09-5.
- ^ Johnson, Karen L.; Larsen, Dennis M. (2013). A Yankee on Puget Sound (1st ed.). Pullman, WA.: Washington State University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-87422-315-6.
- ^ Hervey Allen Papers (1831-1965, SC.1952.01, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh)
- ^ Johnson, Karen L.; Larsen, Dennis M. (2013). A Yankee on Puget Sound (1st ed.). Pullman, WA.: Washington State University Press. pp. 141–142. ISBN 978-0-87422-315-6.
- ^ Larsen, Dennis M.; Johnson, Karen L. (2012). Our Faces Are Westward (1st ed.). Independence,MO.: Oregon-California Trails Association. p. 238. ISBN 978-1893061-09-5.
- ^ Hervey Allen Papers (1831-1965, SC.1952.01, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh)
External links
- Under the Maltese Cross, Antietam to Appomattox: the loyal uprising in western Pennsylvania, 1861-1865; campaigns 155th Pennsylvania regiment, by United States Army, Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, 155th (1862-1865), text at Internet Archive
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This page was last edited on 16 June 2024, at 17:21