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HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA 
 
 BTT -<CV- H. BE.OT7V-3ST- 
 
 NOTICES OF THE PRESS.— First Edition. 
 
 " There has been on our table for some weeks a book which we were reluctant 
 to notice in the usual brief space we can generally allot to new publications. We 
 have read this book with an interest and enjoyment that we are sure it will give to 
 every intelligent mind. . . . We would gladly extend our rambles through this 
 pleasant and instructive book, but our limits forbid. We have shown the reader 
 some of its attractions, of which copious extracts from autograph letters are the 
 chief, as they bring the reader into close contact with the individuality of a class 
 of men which is rarely found in other works. The book is plainly but neatly 
 bound, is published for the author by the Appletons, and is sure to meet with an 
 extensive sale." — Scientific American. 
 
 " The fact that a large portion of our readers are directly interested in and con- 
 nected with the railroad service, must be our apology for calling particular attention 
 to a work which might ordinarily be supposed to be somewhat outside our prov- 
 ince as telegraphic journalists. But the author of this work, 'The History of the 
 First Locomotives in America,' has done a real service to the intelligent and think- 
 ing class of American railroad men, by the care and thoughtfulness which he has 
 shown in the preparation of an authentic history of early locomotive engineering 
 and practice in this country. 
 
 _" We have not the space to enter into an extended review of this deeply inter- 
 esting work, and can only mention som»3 of its most prominent points. . . . The 
 work is_ fully illustrated with engravings from authentic sources of all the early 
 locomotives, all of which are curious and interesting in the highest degree. We 
 can assure all our readers interested in railroad matters that they will find Mr. 
 Brown's book well worth its cost." — New York ~ 
 
 " It is difficult for those who are familiar with the extent of the present railroad 
 system in this country to realize that it was inaugurated by persons who are still 
 living,^ that the present president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 
 Horatio Allen, Esq., ran the first locomotive which was ever put in operation in 
 this country, and that the builder of the first experimental locomotive tried in 
 America can be seen daily in the streets of New York. Nevertheless, such is the 
 fact. The book whose title we have made the heading of this article, gives what 
 has never been written before— an authentic history of early locomotive engineering 
 on this side of the Atlantic. In this work are gathered and put in form some 
 4 bits of history ' scattered over the country, some resting only in the memories of 
 men still living, while others are to be found in documents scattered here and 
 there, all of which were liable to loss or destruction had they not been preserved in 
 some record like the book before us. This book will therefore be read by engineers, 
 by railroad men, and indeed by every one, with great interest, especially as many of 
 the facts contained in it have never before been clearly or authentically presented to 
 the public. 
 
 " Scattered all through the book many very curious incidents and facts are re- 
 cited, which seem as though they must have occurred in the lives of the Pharaohs 
 instead of within the memory of men now living. We commend this work to the 
 -~ public."— Railroad Gazette {New York). 
 
 "An excellently written work, giving, as its title indicates, a complete history 
 of the first efforts in the manufacture of locomotives in this country. Copiously and 
 admirably illustrated, it contains information on this important subject, collected 
 from every available source. We can cordially recommend this volume to all of 
 our readers interested in the progress, of the mechanical arts, as both instructive 
 and entertaining. It is handsomely bound, both paper and press-work being fully up 
 to the standard of the well-known publishing house by which it is issued."— Manu- 
 facturer and Builder. 
 
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.— (Continued.) 
 
 " A very interesting book has been prepared by Mr. § W. H. Brown, giving a his- 
 tory, from reliable sources of information, of the first locomotives used and con- 
 structed in this country. 
 
 " The author has for several years been engaged in collecting the materials for 
 this work ; and the result is a volume of some 250 pages, containing a great num- 
 ber of facts, incidents, and reminiscences, connected with the early attempts to apply 
 steam as a motive-power for land locomotion. 
 
 " Ilardly any one who has a realizing sense of the magnitude of the railway sys- 
 tem as it exists to-day in our own country, and who also takes into account the 
 comparative brief period which has elapsed since its beginning, can fail to be inter- 
 ested in the contents of Mr. Brown's book. Not only is it especially attractive to 
 engineers and railroad men generally, but it is no less adapted to popular apprecia- 
 tion, describing as it does the first rude and feeble attempts to bridle and break 
 into harness the power which had for centuries lain dormant, or only now and then 
 giving a hint of its capacities by lifting the lid of a tea-kettle. It is no less instruc- 
 tive than amusing to go back to these pioneer attempts, as they are graphically 
 described and illustrated in this volume, and trace the progress which has been 
 made in half an ordinary lifetime. 
 
 " The author of this deeply-interesting book is deserving of the thanks of the 
 railway public for the service he has rendered in collecting and preserving, in a 
 permanent form, the facts and materials it contains, and which would otherwise 
 have been irrecoverably lost." — The National Car-Builder. 
 
 " This volume belongs to a class which has too few representatives in our tech- 
 nical literature — those which gather up from threatened oblivion the records of 
 what was done in the infancy of American industrial and engineering enterprise, 
 and provide in permanent form the material from which the historian in after-times 
 will cull his choicest data. 
 
 " The writer of the volume before us has traced in a most satisfactory manner 
 the history of the locomotive, as concerns its introduction and use in this country, 
 and his book should find a place on the library-shelves of all who take an interest 
 either in the practical workings and management of railroads, or of those who de- 
 light in studying the development of the industrial agencies to which all lands, and 
 our own in particular, owe so much of their progress in all that pertains to civil- 
 ized life. 
 
 " So much for the topic indicated on the title-page of the book before us, and to 
 which we do but inadequate justice in this brief reviaw. The writer has sought to 
 verify his statements by original documents, which are frequently quoted entire, and 
 help to make the book full of quaint, out-of-the-way, and interesting information. 
 Read it, everybody ; it will richly repay the cost." — American Artisan. 
 
 " Few subjects of such recent origin have been more involved in uncertainty 
 than the inauguration of steam transportation by locomotives in this country. Mill- 
 ions of persons are now living whose lives antedate the time that the first locomo- 
 tive was run in America : but the advent of this great power of modern times was 
 so gently effected, that hardly any record was made of the event ; and, though the 
 author of the present volume has finally settled the question, he was only able to do 
 so after the most searching investigation. This work contains a very comprehensive 
 account of the various inventions in locomotives, cars, and railroads, which the de- 
 sire for rapid transit first brought into existence, and the principal incidents con- 
 nected with the different first trial-trips. One picture, a silhouette, of the first loco- 
 motive and train of cars in the State of New York, from Albany to Schenectady, 
 sketched at the very time by the author of this work, has already been widely 
 circulated. The book will prove deeply interesting to every class, and should be found 
 in every library." — New York Times. 
 
 " This is a valuable and deeply-interesting work for the scientific railroad man, 
 and the reading public generally. It is a graphic embodiment of the early history 
 and incidents of the locomotive, and has the merit of being a profound treatise, yet 
 not prosy, sparkling with readable matter for the most superficial. It should be 
 found in the library or bookcase of every house. Mr. W. H. Brown is the author." 
 — Harrisburg Evening Mercury. 
 

 
 THE HISTOKT 
 
 FIRST LOCOMOTIYES II AMERICA. 
 
 FROM ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, AND TEE TESTIMONY 
 OF LIVING WITNESSES. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. ^ROWlO 
 
 REVISED EDITIOK 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
 549 k 55 1 BROADWAY. 
 
 1874. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRAKV 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 18V1, 
 By KOTO'S A. HOKEELL, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 $<vm 
 
DEDICATION" 
 
 To Peter Cooper, Esq., New York — 
 
 My dear Sir : It is my belief that your early and 
 most successful experiments upon the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Eailroad in 1829-1830 proved that the locomo- 
 tive could "be used as a power upon the short-curved 
 railroads in this country. The practicability of this 
 was doubted at the time mentioned even by the most 
 eminent engineers in Europe. I cannot, therefore, re- 
 frain from bestowing upon you the praise of having 
 given the first impulse to the adoption of the locomo- 
 tive in the United States, a fact which justly entitles 
 you to the honor of being regarded as the " Father of 
 the Locomotive System in America." 
 
 This, sir, is not the only benefit your energy, your 
 wealth, and your liberality, have conferred upon your 
 countrymen. The expenditure in acts of benevolence 
 of large sums from your private fortune, acquired by 
 your own industry and frugality, is an example to the 
 youths of America ; and in your " Institute " you will 
 (after a long life of usefulness) leave an imperishable 
 monument for future generations to dwell upon and 
 admire. 
 
i v DEDICATION. 
 
 Will you permit me now, my dear sir, as a slight 
 tribute to the respect and veneration I have ever felt 
 for your many good deeds to your countrymen, to 
 dedicate to you this humble effort on my part to 
 record the history of the early locomotives in Ameri- 
 ca, in which you took such an active and promi- 
 nent part — a system which has resulted eventually 
 in the development of the vast resources of our coun- 
 try, and given employment to many thousands of the 
 mechanical and industrial classes of this community? 
 With the hope, sir, that my wish upon this subject 
 may meet with your cordial approbation, and that my 
 work may be favorably received and prove instructive 
 and interesting to the public, 
 
 I remain, dear sir, 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 William H. Beown. 
 
PEEFA OE. 
 
 The author of this work, being familiar with rail- 
 roads from their first construction, has, at much labor 
 and expense, collected all the important facts in rela- 
 tion to their commencement and to the development 
 of the locomotive-machine in this country. These facts 
 have been obtained from the living witnesses who were 
 the actors in those early events, and are presented in 
 their own language in these pages. While making no 
 pretensions to literary merit, he claims to have em- 
 bodied in this volume all the facts of the early history 
 of locomotives, in such a complete form as to satisfy 
 the most skeptical. He therefore presents his work to 
 the public with full confidence that his efforts to rescue 
 from oblivion the names of some of the most distin- 
 guished pioneers in promoting the industrial progress 
 of this nation will be kindly appreciated. 
 
 New York, August, 18*73. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 I.— DEDICATION": PM > 
 
 Misrepresentations — Errors — John B. Jervis, Esq. — Horatio Allen, 
 Esq.— B. H. Latrobe, Esq.— David Matthew, .... 9 
 
 n.— EARLY RAILROADS : 
 
 The Egyptians — The Romans — Railroads in Scotland and Eng- 
 land — First Iron Rails cast, 19 
 
 in.— FIRST HEAD OF STEAM: 
 
 Hero — ChampolKon — Cardan — Solomon de Cause — Marquis of 
 Worcester — First Steam-Engine — Pepin, 24 
 
 TV.— FIRST STEAMBOATS: 
 
 Savary — Blasco de Garay — Genevois — Count d'Auxiron — Perrier 
 — Marquis de Jouffroy — Rumsey — Fitch — Miller — John Stevens 
 — Stanhope — Livingston — Fulton — First Ocean-Steamer, . . 29 
 
 V.— FIRST STEAM-CARRIAGE : 
 
 Cugnot — Symington — Murdoch — Thomas Allen — Oliver Evans — 
 First Proposition for Railroad — Mr. Thomas's Proposal — Dr. 
 Anderson's, ... 34 
 
 VI.— TREVITHICK'S ENGINE: 
 
 Blankensop — Chapman — Brunton's Engine — Blackett, . . 38 
 
 VII.— GEORGE STEPHENSON: 
 
 Early Education — Experiments at the Mines, . . . .45 
 
 VHI.— STEPHENSON'S ENGINE : 
 
 Blucher — Second Locomotive — Railways for General Use — Mr. 
 Thomas — Mr. Gray, . . 49 
 
 IX.— FIRST TRAINS: 
 
 Hatton Colliery Road — Locomotive used — Stockton and Darling- 
 ton Railroad, 1825 — Stephenson's Works — The Active — Experi- 
 ments — First Passenger-Coach — Manner of running Passenger- 
 Coaches, 64 
 
 X.— FIRST DELIBERATIONS ON RAILROADS: 
 
 Comparisons between Locomotive and Stationary Engines — Com- 
 mittee appointed — Report — Prize offered for the Best Locomotive, 60 
 
Viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XL— COMPETITION FOR THE PRIZE: PAGB 
 
 Engines entered — Trials — The "Rocket" — "Novelty" — " Sans- 
 pareil," 65 
 
 XII.— RAILROADS IN AMERICA: 
 
 First Railroad — Second Railroad — De Witt Clinton and the 
 Canal — Colonel Stevens's Proposition — Chancellor Livingston's 
 Opinion — Dearborn's Proposal, 70 
 
 Xm.- FIRST ENGLISH LOCOMOTIVE BROUGHT TO AMERICA: 
 David Matthew's First Letter — Certificates, etc. — John B. Jer- 
 vis's Letters — Horatio Allen's Letters to John B. Jervis, fixing 
 Date of Arrival of the " Stourbridge Lion," . . . . 74 
 
 XIV.— DATE OF ITS RUNNING: 
 
 President Dickson's Letter — Superintendent Young's Letter — 
 Miss Blackman's Letter — Extract from the Dundaff Republican, . 79 
 
 XV.— LANDING IN AMERICA: 
 
 Its Performances in New York — Arrival at Honesdale — Hon. 
 John Torry's Description — Mr. Matthew's Description — A Sketch 
 of the English Locomotive, 83 
 
 XVI.— MORE FACTS OF THE "STOURBRIDGE LION:" 
 
 First Stephenson Engine — Mr. Allen's Description — What be- 
 came of the " Stourbridge Lion " — Mr. Allen's Account of his First 
 Ride — The Last of the " Lion," 88 
 
 XVII.— FIRST MEETING OF THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAIL- 
 ROAD CO. : 
 
 Road commenced — Charles Carroll, of Carrollton — Road com- 
 pleted — How built — Mr. Swann's Remarks, . . . .93 
 
 XVIIL— FIRST BRIGADE OF CARS: 
 
 First Experiment — Charles Carroll — Railroad Notice, etc. — Travel- 
 ling Memoranda — Early Passenger-Cars, 97 
 
 XIX.— ROSS WINANS'S IMPROVEMENTS: 
 
 Passenger-Cars — First Trains — First Car with Centre Gangway — 
 Horatio Allen on Springs, 103 
 
 XX.— EXPERIMENTAL LOCOMOTIVES: 
 
 Peter Cooper's Locomotive — When and where built — Mr. 
 Cooper's Letter — Why it was built — Mr. Latrobe's Letter — De- 
 scription of the Experiment, 108 
 
 XXL— PETER COOPER'S LOCOMOTIVE: 
 
 Mr. Latrobe's Letter — Description of the Machine — Mr. Ross 
 Winans's Description of the Experiment, ..... 113 
 
 XXII.— THE TOM THUMB LOCOMOTIVE: 
 
 First Experimental Trip — Race with Horse-Car — Ross Winans's 
 Comparisons, 116 
 
 XXm.— SKETCH OF HORSE-LOCOMOTIVE: 
 
 Sketch of the "Meteor" or Sailing-Car — Contest for Right of 
 Way — Railroad and Canal Company, 123 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 CBAT. 
 
 XXIV.— PETER COOPER: 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Early History — Education and Beginning of Life — Subsequent 
 Career — Founding the Institute — Last Act of Liberality, . . 12V 
 
 XXV.— PRIZE FOR THE BEST LOCOMOTIVE: 
 
 Conditions — Phineas Davis's York Engine, .... 131 
 
 XXVI.— FIRST AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE: 
 
 Commencement — South Carolina Railroad — Horatio Allen's Re- 
 port — A Prize offered for best Horse-power Locomotive — The 
 Sailing -Car Experiment — Extract from Charleston Courier — 
 First Locomotive ordered to be built in America — What it 
 was to perform, . . 135 
 
 XXVH.— FURTHER TRIALS: 
 
 Letter from Mr. Matthew — Letter from Prof. Dickson — West 
 Point Order-book — Extract from Charleston Courier — Mr. 
 Petsch — Accident to Wheels — " Jockey of York " — Excursion- 
 Trip, 140 
 
 XXVIII.— EXPLOSION OF "BEST FRIEND:" 
 
 When repaired — The Cause explained — Letter from Mr. Dar- 
 rell — Mr. J. M. Eason's Letter, describing the Locomotive " Na- 
 tive," and its First Trial-Trip, 147 
 
 XXLX.— SECOND AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE: 
 
 Excursion of "West Point" — Extract from the Courier, 1831 — 
 Letter from Mr. Darrell — President Tupper's Report, . . 153 
 
 ,— FIRST LOCOMOTIVE-ENGINEERS : 
 
 Necrology of Mr. Darrell — His Death — Henry E. Raworth and 
 his old Negro Foreman, Adam Perry, 158 
 
 FIRST RAILROAD FOR LOCOMOTIVES: 
 
 First Eight-wheeled Locomotive, 162 
 
 I.— CLAIMS TO FIRST LOCOMOTIVES: 
 
 Extract from Philadelphia Ledger — Lithograph by Sage & Son — 
 Lithograph by Antique Publishing Company of Boston, . . 165 
 
 -FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN NEW YORK: 
 
 Description of the Ride— Sketch of the Train — Letter from Mr. 
 Matthew — Excursion, 1V0 
 
 XXXIV.— FURTHER EVIDENCES: 
 
 Letter from Mr. Matthew— Freight-bill of " John Bull "—Ex- 
 tracts from the Albany Argus — Last of " John Bull " — Second 
 Excursion to Schenectady, 1*76 
 
 XXXV.— THE JUDGE'S FIRST RIDE: 
 
 The Author's Art — Letter from Judge Gillis — Author receives 
 the Lithograph of the " De Witt Clinton " — Letter from J. L. 
 Howard & Co., 182 
 
 XXXVI.— LETTERS FROM OFFICIALS: 
 
 First Letter from Erastus Corning — Letter from John T. Clark — 
 Letter from John B. Jervis, 188 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XXXVII.— ADDITIONAL LETTERS: PAOS 
 
 Second Letter from Mr. Corning — Letter from Thurlow Weed — 
 Letter from John B. Jervis— Letter from Mr. Kemble, . .192 
 
 XXXVIII.— THE AUTHOR'S ART: 
 
 Extract from the Natchez Courier — Extract from the Albany 
 Argus — Extract from the Albany Evening Journal — Extract 
 from the St. Louis Bulletin — Letter from Henry A. Wise — Let- 
 ter from Martin Van Buren — Letter from John C. Calhoun — 
 Letter from Daniel Webster — Letter from Henry Clay, . . 196 
 
 XXXIX.— RECAPITULATION : 
 
 Phineas Davis's Machine — William Kemble's Letter, . . 201 
 
 XL.— FIRST TRUCK-LOCOMOTIVE : 
 
 Mr. Matthew's Letter — Mr. Jervis's Letter — The Great Changes 
 of the Past — Mr: Latrobe's Remarks — Remarks of Mr. Briggs, 
 of Cleveland — Excursion to Europe and the East — From the 
 Knickerbocker, 1831 — Remarks of Thomas H. Benton, , . 207 
 
 XLL— LOCOMOTIVE WORKS: 
 
 Schenectady Shops, . , 223 
 
 XLII.— CAR-WORKS : 
 
 Gilbert Bush & Co.'s Shops, Troy, New York, . . . .230 
 
 XLIIL— STREET-CAR WORKS : 
 
 John Stephenson & Co., 4*7 Twenty-seventh Street, New York, 236 
 
 XLIV.— GRAND CENTRAL DEPOT, NEW YORK 243 
 
THE HISTOEY OP 
 
 THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IKTEODUCTIOI. 
 
 Theee is, perhaps, at the present day, no subject 
 upon which the community at large is so poorly in- 
 formed as the history of the first locomotives in 
 America— in what year they were built, where they 
 were constructed, and upon what railroad they were 
 first introduced and employed in actual service. 
 
 Especially less informed upon this subject are the 
 very men who, above all others, should be thoroughly 
 conversant with all the particulars in the history of 
 that wonderful machine — the actual means which now 
 contribute so much toward the maintenance and em- 
 ploymenfc of a large class of the industrial portion of 
 our community ; we mean the officers, engineers, fire- 
 men, machinists, mechanics, laborers, and, in short, all 
 employes connected with railroad service. This mel- 
 ancholy lack of information can only be attributed to 
 a want of an opportunity to obtain the requisite facts 
 from some reliable source, where they are in such a 
 form as would bring them within the reach of the 
 masses of the community. True it is, volumes have 
 
10 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 been published, giving accurate accounts of the early 
 experiments and subsequent improvements in self-pro- 
 pelling machines, or locomotives, in England ; but these 
 works are too rare, voluminous, and expensive, to be in 
 general circulation, and entirely beyond the reach of a 
 large class who are interested in the subject; and even 
 then, they bring the history down only to a period an- 
 terior to the date of railroad enterprise in this country ; 
 while all the information upon the subject since that 
 time (a period of a little over twoscore years in dura- 
 tion) seems to be wrapped in impenetrable mystery. 
 To obviate, therefore, this difficulty for the future, and 
 to give to the public all the information upon the sub- 
 ject from the most reliable sources, and also to place 
 it in such a form as to bring it within the reach of 
 every one, are tfre objects of the author of the present 
 work, now offered to the public. 
 
 Another reason which influences the author in 
 publishing his present work, arises from the fact that, 
 within the short period of ten or fifteen years, and 
 especially within the last few years, under a variety 
 of forms, he has seen and read in our public journals 
 nearly as many different accounts of the early locomo- 
 tives in America, as the number of years which have 
 elapsed since their first introduction, all of them pur- 
 porting to be " true histories of the first engine ever 
 built and run in America." But not one of these ac- 
 counts, claiming priority for its different engines and 
 roads, produces the slightest evidence to sustain their 
 claim of being the pioneers in this great mechanical 
 achievement, which within the last half-century has 
 revolutionized the trade and commerce of the civilized 
 world. One claim to the credit of having introduced 
 the first American locomotive, we saw in an article pub- 
 
INTRODUCTION. H 
 
 lished in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, of the 18th 
 January, 1869. Another claim to the same honor, we 
 saw in an article in the columns of the Boston Adver- 
 tiser, January 28, 1869. These articles we will copy 
 in full in our work, when we come in its pages to 
 the proper place to describe early locomotives in 
 America, when they were built, where constructed, and 
 upon what railroad put into practical service. 
 
 Again, some seven or eight years ago, a lithograph 
 picture representing a locomotive, and two cars filled 
 with passengers, was issued from the lithographic estab- 
 lishment of Messrs. Sage & Sons, of Buffalo, and copy- 
 righted by Thomas Jarmy. This lithograph (a copy of 
 which is now before the author) purports to have been 
 copied from an original picture in the possession of the 
 Connecticut Historical Society. It has been widely cir- 
 culated throughout the country, and is said to represent 
 " the first locomotive train in America." The engine is 
 said to be the " John Bull, an English machine ; and the 
 engineer, who is represented at his post upon the plat- 
 form of the engine," John Hampson, an Englishman, etc. 
 
 Again, in 1870, this same original picture in the 
 rooms of the Connecticut Historical Society was litho- 
 graphed by a concern in Boston, styled the " Antique 
 Publishing Company of Boston." In this lithograph 
 the locomotive and train are represented precisely like 
 the one executed in Buffalo, and are here for the second 
 time said to be a sketch of the first locomotive and 
 train in America, and the engine named the "John 
 Bull," an English engine, and the engineer "John 
 Hampson." 
 
 The original picture, now in the Connecticut His- 
 torical Society, was executed by the author of this 
 work, and presented to the Society forty years ago. 
 
12 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 The full particulars respecting this original picture 
 will be given hereafter ; and the author, for the present, 
 will only state that the original of the picture was 
 not the English locomotive " John Bull," nor was the 
 engineer on the occasion, John Hampson, an English- 
 man ; but an American-built locomotive and an Ameri- 
 can engineer. * 
 
 Such blunders and misstatements as we have just 
 alluded to are calculated to mislead the public, and 
 involve the early history of the locomotive in America 
 in a cloud of obscurity ; and the author unhesitatingly 
 believes that, if the true histoiy of this now indispen- 
 sable machine is left unestablished for another half-cen- 
 tury, we may find the great Union and Central Pacific 
 Eailroads credited by some (without a shadow of evi- 
 dence, like others) with the introduction of the first loco- 
 motive upon a railroad in America, and with as much 
 chance of establishing that claim as they no doubt have 
 to sustain the credit of being the first in uniting the 
 East with the far Western boundaries of our great con- 
 tinent by their interminable belt of railroad-iron, anni- 
 hilating distance, just as the lightning-telegraph anni- 
 hilates time. 
 
 The deep and intense interest always manifested, by 
 railroad men in particular, when on frequent occasions 
 the author has explained his knowledge of the facts 
 connected with the early history of the locomotive in 
 America, and the reliable sources from which his infor- 
 mation was derived, often induced him to determine 
 that, when a favorable opportunity presented itself, he 
 would write out and publish a work like the present, 
 but he has hitherto been prevented from carrying out 
 his desire, from his isolated position, far away from the 
 facilities requisite for such a task. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 These difficulties are now removed, and, the oppor- 
 tunity being presented, his long-cherished determina- 
 tion will no further be delayed. In compiling this 
 history, all the authorities upon which his information 
 is based will be set forth in such a manner that it 
 must put at rest forever the oft-disputed question, 
 " When and where was the first locomotive built and 
 run in America, in the actual service of a company ? " 
 
 These are questions oftentimes heard, when groups 
 of engineers and other railroad-men are congregated 
 together and discoursing upon their universal topic, 
 the merits and achievements of their favorite machines ; 
 and how often is there one in the group who will 
 pretend to answer the questions, and, if answered at 
 all, how often are they answered correctly ? There is 
 scarcely a State in the Union (especially where railroads 
 existed at an early day) which has not enjoyed the 
 credit on these occasions of being the pioneer in the 
 introduction of this most wonderful auxiliary to suc- 
 cessful railroad transportation. Sometimes we have 
 heard the credit awarded to the State of New York, 
 sometimes to Pennsylvania, and as a matter of course 
 oftentimes to the States of Massachusetts and Connecti- 
 cut. Some, who profess to be well posted upon this 
 point, claim the honor for the old Portage Railroad of 
 Pennsylvania ; while others, equally certain and conver- 
 sant upon the subject, in their opinion, give the credit 
 to the Germantown and Norristown Railroad ; and so 
 on, through the catalogue of railroads (not very volu- 
 minous at that early day) • but none of these are correct. 
 True it is, that several companies, even at an early day, 
 had locomotives constructed for their use, and put them 
 in practical service upon their several roads, those very 
 roads just alluded to, but not, however, until the experi- 
 
14 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 ment Had been tried and successfully inaugurated and 
 reduced to a fixed fact in another quarter. Therefore, 
 the honor of being the pioneer in having the first 
 American locomotive constructed and put in actual ser- 
 vice in the United States belongs elsewhere, as we are 
 prepared to substantiate as we progress in our present 
 work. If, however, in doing this, we should be com- 
 pelled to descend too much into minutiae, so as to bring 
 upon us the charge of egotism from our readers, we will 
 claim their forbearance in our anxiety to leave no stone 
 unturned, to withhold no facts, and to bring to our aid 
 every item, however trifling it may appear, to establish 
 the truth. In recording the facts contained in this 
 history, therefore, the author will accompany each posi- 
 tion he may assume with all the evidence upon which 
 his information is based. These authorities are from 
 the statements of living witnesses, who are at this day 
 (though far advanced in years) endowed with all the 
 vigor of mind which characterized them in the early 
 period of their lives, and are now enjoying an enviable 
 share of the confidence and esteem of their fellow-citi- 
 zens. 
 
 The names of John B. Jervis, Esq., Horatio Allen, 
 Esq., Benjamin H. Latrobe, Esq., Ross Winans, Esq., 
 and Peter Cooper, Esq., are well known and familiar 
 to our railroad communities, as identified in the early 
 days with railroad enterprise in America. To those 
 of our readers, however, who may not be acquainted 
 with the character and reputation of these accomplished 
 engineers and gentlemen, we will briefly state that 
 John B. Jervis, Esq., for many years a resident of B-ome, 
 in the State of New York, is one of the oldest (being 
 now nearly seventy-five years of age) and most skilful 
 engineers of the period of which we write. He was 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 the chief engineer of the railroad that imported from 
 England the first locomotive which turned a driving- 
 wheel upon the American Continent. He has been 
 engaged upon some of the most important works of 
 improvement in our country, and his reputation as an 
 accomplished engineer is widely known, not only in 
 this country, "but in Europe. Among the most impor- 
 tant public works upon which Mr. Jervis was employed 
 as chief engineer, we enumerate the Delaware and Hud- 
 son Canal and Eailroad; the Mohawk and Hudson 
 Railroad ; the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad ; the 
 Chenango Canal of New York ; the Eastern Division 
 of the Erie-Canal enlargement ; the Croton Aqueduct ; 
 the Hudson River Railroad; the Michigan Southern 
 and Northern Indiana Railroad ; and the Pittsburg and 
 Chicago Railroad. He was president of the Chicago and 
 Rock Island Railroad, and consulting engineer of the 
 Boston Water-works, and other important improve- 
 ments. Mr. Jervis was also the inventor of the plan of 
 having the truck under the front part of the locomotive, 
 to assist in sustaining the weight of the boiler, and in giv- 
 ing direction to the machine in running upon curves, a 
 plan now universally adopted, and found to be indispen- 
 sably necessary in engines of eight or more wheels, and 
 especially upon the short-curved railroads of America. 
 Mr. Jervis is still living at Rome, New York, in the full 
 possession of his vigor of mind, and we trust he may 
 live for many years, to enjoy the reputation he has so 
 richly earned by his valuable services to the railroad 
 enterprise of America. 
 
 Horatio Allen, Esq., is another eminent engineer of 
 America, and his evidence contributes much valuable 
 information to our history, which our readers will see 
 from his various communications to the author. 
 
16 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 Mr. Allen graduated at Columbia College, in the 
 State of New York, in 1823, commenced his professional 
 life in 1824, as civil engineer with Benjamin "Wright on 
 the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. In 1825 he was 
 engaged on the Delaware and Hudson Canal as resi- 
 dent engineer under John B. Jervis, Esq., chief engineer, 
 in 1827 resigned his connection with the Delaware and 
 Hudson Canal, in order to visit England in search of 
 professional information on railroad matters, that new 
 era in intercommunication and transportation being then 
 in process of development. During his visit to Eng- 
 land, he was requested to take charge of the contract 
 for the iron for the Delaware and Hudson Canal 
 Company's coal-road, and also for three locomotives, 
 being the first ever ordered and brought to this coun- 
 try. On his return, in 1829, Mr. Allen had charge of 
 the fitting up and putting in operation the first locomo- 
 tive, " the Stourbridge Lion," ever put on a railroad in 
 this country, and alone he stood upon its platform on 
 the first experimental trip, and his hand opened the 
 throttle-valve upon the engine that turned the first 
 driving-wheel in America. 
 
 In 1829 Mr. Allen was engaged as chief engineer 
 on the South Carolina Railroad, running from Charles- 
 ton to Augusta, Georgia, 136 miles. On this road was 
 put the first one hundred miles of iron in one continuous 
 line in the world. Another fact in connection with 
 this road, and to the credit of Mr. Allen, is of interest : 
 the road was built within the estimate of its cost. 
 
 In 1834 Mr. Allen went abroad, and was in Egypt 
 nearly three years. On returning, in 1837, he was en- 
 gaged as principal assistant engineer on the Croton 
 Aqueduct, under John B. Jervis, the chief engineer. On 
 completion of the aqueduct, Mr. Allen was one of, the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 Croton Aqueduct commissioners, and its engineer for 
 the introduction and distribution of the water. In 
 1842 Mr. Allen became one of the proprietors of the 
 Novelty Iron Works in New York. In this establish- 
 ment he continued as one of its managers and presi- 
 dent until 1870, when the works were closed. Prior to 
 Mr. Allen's connection with the Novelty Works, he was 
 president of the New York and Erie Kailroad, and was 
 consulting engineer of the road at the period of its 
 opening in 1845. In 1870 Mr. Allen became consult- 
 ing engineer of the East River Bridge, now in course of 
 construction, and which when completed will be looked 
 upon as a wonder of the age. Of this great work 
 Washington A. Roebling, Esq., is chief engineer. 
 
 To Benjamin H. Latrobe, Esq., we are also largely 
 indebted for the early history of the locomotive enter- 
 prise upon the Baltimore and Ohio Kailroad ; for the 
 drawing and full description of the sailing-car, invented 
 by Mr. Thomas; and for the drawing of the little 
 experimental machine, built to demonstrate the prin- 
 ciple of the practicability of locomotives upon short 
 curves, and the subsequent results from them. 
 
 Mr. Latrobe has constantly been in active employ- 
 ment upon some important public work in its engineer 
 department. Among which we name the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad. In the service of this company he 
 entered in 1830 as a member of the corps of engineers. 
 In 1842 he was appointed chief engineer, and continued 
 in that position until 1857. Since that time he has 
 rendered the road much valuable assistance as consult- 
 ing engineer. As chief engineer, Mr. Latrobe located 
 and built the railroad from Baltimore to Havre de 
 Grace, as a part of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and 
 Baltimore Railroad, in 1835-37, and the Northwestern 
 
18 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 Virginia Railroad from Grafton to Parkersburg (103 
 miles), from 1853-57. He has been consulting engineer 
 on several or on special occasions to a number of rail- 
 way works ; the most important were : the Hoosac Tun- 
 nel, Massachusetts ; the Philadelphia, "Wilmington and 
 Baltimore Railroad (which office he now holds) ; the 
 North Missouri Railroad ; the Blue Ridge Railroad, in 
 South Carolina ; the East River Bridge ; the Portland 
 and Ogdensburg Railroad ; the Hillsborough and Par- 
 kersburg Railroad; and the Columbus and Hocking 
 Valley Railroad. 
 
 Mr. Latrobe is the chief engineer of the Jones Falls 
 Improvement in the city of Baltimore ; and is now com- 
 pleting the Pittsburg and Connellsville Railroad, from 
 Pittsburg to Cumberland. 
 
 We will also quote freely from the letters of Mr. 
 David Matthew to the author in 1859, and we will 
 give in our work several certificates in reference to Mr. 
 Matthew's character and ability as an engineer, and a 
 reliable man. Mr. Matthew superintended the men 
 fitting up the first English locomotive imported into 
 this country, and he also had charge of the workmen 
 fitting up the first, second, and third locomotives 
 built in America — the last of which, after placing it 
 upon the road, he continued to run as the regular en- 
 gineer for a long time ; and his testimony is entitled to 
 all credit. 
 
 To Julius D. Petsch, Esq., who was for many years 
 the chief of the mechanical department upon the rail- 
 road upon which the first American-built locomotive 
 for actual service was run, we are indebted for many 
 valuable particulars concerning that event. 
 
 To several other prominent and well-known gentle- 
 men, whose letters and testimony will be found in the 
 
EARLY RAILROADS. 19 
 
 course of our narrative, wc are indebted, and under 
 great and lasting obligations. 
 
 Prominent among those private citizens is Mr. 
 Peter Cooper, of New- York City, a gentleman well 
 known throughout our country as one of the warmest 
 friends and advocates for the intellectual improvement 
 of the mechanical and laboring classes of our com- 
 munity. Mr. Cooper, as we will show in the progress 
 of our work, was the pioneer, the very first to experi- 
 ment upon the practicability of the locomotive system 
 in this country. We will show that he stepped out 
 from the desk of his mercantile office to become the 
 first locomotive-builder in this country, and his success 
 and efforts will be fully recorded as we progress in 
 our work. 
 
 The original letters from these sources (in reply to 
 the author's numerous inquiries for information) will 
 prove deeply interesting to the reader, and richly repay 
 the labor of their perusal, while, at the same time, 
 they will fill up the chain of evidence, as it were, and 
 point out the sources from which the author has gained 
 the desired information for his work, and will be given 
 in their proper places, word for word, as they were re- 
 ceived. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EARLY RAILROAD, 
 
 Many persons, otherwise well-informed upon general 
 topics, believe that railroads were constructed especially 
 for locomotives, as the best-adapted road for the accom- 
 modation of that peculiar machine and its train of cars. 
 
20 HISTORY OP THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 They never call to mind that a locomotive is a modern 
 invention, and, for want of access to works such as we 
 have referred to, they are not informed that a railroad 
 is an ancient institution (if we may apply such a term 
 to such a subject). They never have dreamed nor ever 
 imagined that this peculiar kind of road was invented 
 and in use several centuries ago, but, like the great 
 auxiliary, the locomotive, was very defective and sim- 
 ple in its primitive state, and since that time, like the 
 latter, has been subject to vast and continued improve- 
 ments. 
 
 Before, however, we enter upon the subject for 
 which these pages were designed — "'the history of the 
 first locomotives in America " — it will not, we trust, 
 be deemed inappropriate here to devote a small space 
 in our work in describing the peculiar kind of road 
 upon which the locomotive travels, now known uni- 
 versally as the railroad ; and to such information as we 
 have gathered of its origin and early progress. 
 
 Various devices have been employed, from the period 
 when wheel-carriages were first used, for facilitating the 
 movement over the ground in transportation. These 
 devices, however, were mostly limited to the smoothing, 
 levelling, and hardening the surface of the way. The 
 early Egyptians, in transporting the immense stones 
 they used in the erection of the vast pyramids from the 
 quarries, learned the advantage of hard, smooth, and 
 solid track-ways, and the remains of such, formed of 
 large blocks of stone, are said to have been found on 
 the line of the great road they constructed for this pur- 
 pose. 
 
 The ancient Eomans made also some approach to 
 the invention of railroads, in the celebrated Appian 
 Way. This was constructed of blocks of stone fitted 
 
EARLY RAILROADS. 21 
 
 closely together, the surface presenting a smooth and 
 hard track for the wheels. In modern times such tracks 
 or roadways were constructed in several European 
 cities — London, Pisa, Milan, and many others. 
 
 The first instance on record of rails being used on 
 highways was as early as the year 1630, over two and 
 a quarter centuries ago. They were invented by a 
 person named Beaumont, and built and used for the 
 transportation of coal from the mines near New- 
 castle, in England. 
 
 Old Roger North alludes to railways as being in 
 use in the neighborhood of the river Tyne in the year 
 1676, and he thus describes them: The rails of timber 
 were placed end to end and exactly straight, and in 
 two lines parallel to each other. On these bulky carts 
 were made to run on four rollers fitting these rails, 
 whereby the carriage was made so easy that one horse 
 would draw four or five chaldrons of coal at a load. 
 
 "We read of railways existing in Scotland in 1745, at 
 the time of the Scotch rebellion. These railways were 
 laid down between the Tranent coal-mines and the 
 harbor of Cockenzie, in East Lothian. Improvements 
 were made on these roads and continued until 1765, 
 when they began to assume the forms of our present 
 roads, even to the use of flanges upon the wheels; 
 but up to this period no iron surface was ever heard of. 
 The mode of constructing a railroad at that period was 
 as follows : After the surface was brought to as perfect 
 a level as possible — or incline, as the case might be 
 — square blocks of wood, called sleepers, about six feet 
 long, were laid two or three feet apart across the track ; 
 upon these two long strips of wood, six or seven inches 
 wide and about five inches deep, were fastened by pins 
 to the sleepers, and parallel to each other, but about 
 
22 HISTORY OP THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 four feet apart. Upon this wooden rail was spiked a 
 projecting round moulding of wood, and the wheels 
 were hollowed out like a pulley to fit upon the round 
 surface of the wooden moulding upon the rails. 
 
 The first iron rails that we find any written account 
 of were used at Whitehaven. They were cast-iron 
 mouldings, similar in shape to the wooden moulding just 
 described, and, like them, they were spiked down upon 
 the wooden rail to receive the weight and pressure of 
 the hollowed-out wheel, which, pressing entirely upon 
 the moulding of wood, soon rendered it unfit for use. 
 This iron substitute was a wonderful saving in this 
 respect. 
 
 Thirty years after, in 1767, five or six tons of the 
 same description of rails were cast at the Coalbrook 
 Dale Ironworks, at Shroj)shire. St. Froud, a French 
 traveller, describes these roads as being far superior to 
 all other kinds of roads ; that one horse, with perfect 
 ease, could draw a wagon loaded with five or six hun- 
 dred bushels of coal. 
 
 In 1776, the first iron rails we have any written ac- 
 count of were cast with a perpendicular ledge upon 
 the outer side, in order to keep the wheels from run- 
 ning off the track, and after a while the ledge was 
 changed to the inner side of the rail. 
 
 A railway of this kind was laid down at the Duke 
 of Norfolk's colliery, near Sheffield. The road was torn 
 up and destroyed by the laboring men of the colliery 
 in a riot, and Mr. Curr, its builder and projector, had 
 to save his life by flight, and concealed himself in a 
 wood three days and nights to escape the fury of the 
 excited rioters. 
 
 Objections were soon discovered in rails with flanges 
 either on the outside or inside, from their liability to 
 
EAELY BAILROADS. 23 
 
 obstruction by stones or dirt, which would impede the 
 progress and endanger the safety of the carriages. 
 
 A great step in advance was made in 1789, by Wil- 
 liam Jessop, in the construction of a railway in Lough- 
 borough, in Leicestershire, with the first cast-iron edge 
 rail, with flanges cast upon the wheels, instead of upon 
 the rail, as had been done a short time before. 
 
 In 1800, Mr. Benjamin Outram, of Little Eaton, in 
 Derbyshire, introduced stone props, instead of timber, 
 for supporting the ends or joinings of the rails. Tak- 
 ing the name from the projector, this kind of road was 
 distinguished as the Outram road, and since that time, 
 for brevity, all roads of this kind are called Tram- 
 roads ; as this plan was afterward applied to wooden 
 roads, where long stringers were used, with the iron 
 moulding as before described, and in our time the flat 
 iron bar nailed upon the stringers, these roads are all 
 familiarly known as Tram-roads. 
 
 Edge rails, as made by Jessop, were laid down in 
 1801, at the slate-quarry of Lord Penrhyn. The tire 
 of the wheel was hollowed out to fit the projecting 
 curve of the edged rail, but as the fit became soon too 
 tight by wear, it was afterwards changed to a flat sur- 
 face and rim of the wheel, and a flange around each 
 edge of it. So great was this last improvement, that it 
 was found that ten horses would do the work that had 
 employed four hundred to do upon common roads. 
 
 Edge rails were soon after introduced at the col- 
 lieries in England. They were made thin at the base 
 and spread in thickness at the top. These rails, intro- 
 duced in 1808, continued in use until 1820, when the 
 machinery was invented for rolling iron into suitable 
 shapes for rails. This was a great improvement, for, as 
 cast-iron rails could only be made three or four feet 
 
24 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 long, requiring frequent joints, the material was more 
 liable and subject to break, especially with heavy 
 weights passing over it. 
 
 Up to this time the motive power was the horse. 
 Many projects and schemes were talked of and proposed 
 for propelling the wagons. Sails were suggested, and 
 various other means were experimented upon, and 
 speedily abandoned, but steam was the most favored, 
 yet how to apply it was to be found out. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FIRST HEAD OF STEAM. 
 
 It is recorded, 130 years before the Christian era, 
 that the elder Hero of Alexandria is the first author 
 who gives an account of the application of the vapor 
 of boiling water as a power. Hero expressly ascribes 
 the sounds produced by the statue of Memnon to steam 
 generated in the pedestal and issuing from its mouth. 
 Champollion, who is the highest authority on this 
 point, declares that the Memnon of the Greeks is iden- 
 tical with Prince Amenophis II, one of the Egyptians 
 who reigned at Thebes, 1,600 years before Christ. 
 Therefore, if Hero's surmises of the Statue of Memnon 
 are correct, we have an application of steam before the 
 date of the exodus of the Israelites. Hero himself 
 constructed a toy, one that would raise water like a 
 fountain, keep a ball in equilibrium, and another giv- 
 ing a rotary motion to a ball ; but he does not give the 
 slightest hint that his invention or discovery could be 
 
FIRST HEAD OF STEAM. 25 
 
 made capable of any useful application, nor did he 
 imagine that he possessed a knowledge of a power that 
 was in future ages to produce such important results. 
 
 A knowledge of some of the properties of steam 
 seems to have been understood during the nourishing 
 periods and even to the decline of the Roman empire. 
 In the reign of Justinian, the architect Artemius, of 
 that empire, gave some experiments to demonstrate the> 
 power of steam or vapor of boiling water. He arranged 
 several vessels containing water, each covered with the 
 wide bottom of a tube, which rose to a narrower top, 
 with pipes extending to the rafters of an adjoining 
 house. When fire was kindled beneath the vessels, the 
 rafters were raised from their positions, and the house 
 shaken by the force of the steam ascending the tubes. 
 
 Cardan is the earliest modern author in whom we 
 detect any hint of a knowledge of the mechanical power 
 of steam. He gives a description of the eolipile, in a 
 work dated 1571. The instrument showed how a cur- 
 rent of air was made to follow the course of the steam 
 that issued from the neck of the eolipile. Modern 
 writers speak of various others who seemed to have 
 ideas of the mechanical power of steam. The most 
 worthy of notice are Baptista Porta, a Neapolitan, 
 Brancas, a Frenchman, and De Coss. Brancas proposed 
 to direct the' current of air issuing from an eolipile upon 
 the leaves of a wheel which, being set in motion, might 
 serve to move machinery. This method was imperfect 
 and wasteful, yet its attempt is deserving of praise, 
 inasmuch as he is the first person who entertained a 
 hope of realizing the vast benefits that steam has since 
 conferred upon the world. 
 
 One Marion de Lorme, in a letter to the Marquis 
 de-cinq Mars, in 1641, describes his visit to the mad- 
 
26 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 house, called the Bicetre, at Paris, in which he saw, 
 confined in a cell, a poor creature named Solomon de 
 Cause, who seemed to be one of the first to conceive 
 the idea, in 1615, of employing the steam or vapor 
 of boiling water as a power by which both carriages 
 on land and ships at sea could be propelled. Accom- 
 panying De Lorme in this visit to the mad-house, was 
 the Marquis of Worcester. After relating many curious 
 cases of madness, De Lorme writes that they saw a man 
 named Solomon de Cause, looking through the bars of 
 his cell. On seeing that he was noticed, Solomon ex- 
 claimed in a hoarse and melancholy voice : "lam not 
 mad ! I am not mad ! But I have made a discovery 
 that would enrich the country which would adopt it ; 
 but I am not mad ! I am not mad ! " " What has he dis- 
 covered ? " asked De Lorme of the guide. " Oh," replied 
 the keeper, " something trifling enough, of course. The 
 poor creature says that he has discovered a wonderful 
 power in the use of steam from boiling water. He 
 came from Normandy, about four years ago, to present 
 to the king a statement of the wonderful effects that 
 might be produced from his invention. The cardinal 
 sent him away without listening to him. Solomon 
 persisted, and followed the cardinal wherever he went, 
 and finally so annoyed him with his discovery, that he 
 had him shut up in the Bicetre, as a madman." 
 
 Of all those who attempted to apply steam to use- 
 ful purposes, the Marquis of Worcester fills the greatest 
 space. His ideas of steam, and its applications, are to 
 be found in a work called the " Century of Inventions," 
 originally published in London, in 1663. The marquis, 
 it is said, employed a mechanic thirty-five years to 
 make models of machines for the power of steam. 
 Many of these ideas appeared at the time absolutely 
 
B06TGN COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 CHESTNOT HILL, MASS. 
 
 FIRST HEAD OF STEAM. 2? 
 
 impossible, yet they have "been realized by modern in- 
 ventors. In all his projects, the expansive power of 
 steam alone was used. 
 
 That the steam-engine was not a mere theory in the 
 conception of Worcester, but was actually put into opera- 
 tion, a recent discovery has settled upon positive testi- 
 mony. The Grand-duke of Tuscany, Cosmo de Medicis, 
 travelled in England in 1656. The manuscript of his 
 travels remained unpublished until 1818. The follow- 
 ing is an extract : " His highness," that he might not 
 lose the day uselessly, " went again, after dinner, to the 
 other side of the city, as far as Vauxhall, to see a 
 machine, invented by my Lord Somerset, Marquis of 
 Worcester. It raises water more than forty geometrical 
 feet, by the power of one man only." Here, then, is a 
 description of an engine in actual operation. 
 
 In all these projects the expansive power of steam 
 was alone used ; the steam was made to act directly upon 
 the surface of the water ; in this way the use of high 
 steam is essential to success, and upon a large scale was 
 attended with danger in the low state of the mechanic 
 arts in those days, and various contrivances and im- 
 provements were introduced as in modern times. Con- 
 sequently their necessity became visible, and as early as 
 in 1680 the safety-valve, which has since been of such 
 importance in the construction of steam-engines, was 
 invented by Denys Pepin, a French Protestant. It was 
 made in the following manner : A conical aperture was 
 made in the lid or top of the boiler, and to this was fit- 
 ted a conical stopper, pressed into the aperture by a 
 weight suspended at the end of a lever. It was iden- 
 tical with the most usual form of safety-valves at the 
 present day. 
 
 It has often been written that the power of steam 
 
28 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 was first discovered by the Marquis of Worcester, from 
 observing the motion of the lid of a tea-kettle of boil- 
 ing water. It may be so, but we are more inclined to 
 believe that the marquis got his first idea of the power 
 of steam at the time of his visit to the Bicetre with 
 Marion de Lorme, when he saw poor Solomon, and heard 
 from his keeper the cause of his malady ; then experi- 
 mented and improved upon the hint. It does seem far 
 more likely that this poor madman, as he was consid- 
 ered, and who it must appear had neither means nor 
 friends to get him released from this thraldom, would 
 be the one to observe the effects of the steam upon the 
 lid of a tea-kettle than a proud English marquis. This, 
 however, we will leave for some one else to determine, 
 and resume our subject, although we cannot doubt 
 our readers will excuse this digression. 
 
 The motion of a piston in a cylinder suggested itself 
 to Pepin, first of all, as a method of adapting the ex- 
 pansive power of steam to produce mechanical effects. 
 
 The history of steam, applied to purposes of ac- 
 knowledged utility, commences with one Savary, a 
 Cornish miner, who in 1718 proposed the use of it to 
 free the mines from water; for as early as 1710 New- 
 comen and Cawley had completed the first steam-engine 
 in England, a patent for which had been issued in 1705. 
 
 Pepin constructed an engine for the Elector of Hesse 
 in 1707. Savary's engine was confined to a single ob- 
 ject, that of raising the water from the mines ; and even 
 this was done at a great disadvantage, from the imper- 
 fection of the principle, and the make-up of the machine ; 
 yet it was important as a step to the construction of 
 more perfect machines, and even it was itself of some 
 value when compared with the methods of freeing the 
 mines from water which were at that period in use. 
 
FIRST STEAMBOATS. 29 
 
 In 1759, over a century ago, the subject of steam 
 was first introduced to the mind of James Watt, and 
 his first engine was made soon after, or in 1769. He 
 was assisted by Dr. Robinson. 
 
 At a very early period the same Savary, before men- 
 tioned, proposed steam as a means of propelling car- 
 riages, but made no practical experiments. 
 
 The same James Watt in 1784 describes an engine 
 for propelling carriages on common roads, but, being too 
 much occupied in perfecting his condensing engine, 
 nothing further was done by him toward constructing 
 this locomotive. 
 
 Steam-engines, imperfect as they were at that early 
 period, appear to have been directed first to the pro- 
 pelling of boats upon the water rather than carriages j 
 upon the land. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FIKST STEAMBOATS. 
 
 Woecestee, in his " Century of Inventions," speaks 
 of the capacity for rowing of his engine, used in raising 
 water. 
 
 Savary proposed to make the water raised by his 
 engine turn a water-wheel within his vessel, which 
 should carry paddle-wheels acting on the outside ; and 
 Watt, as we are well assured, stated in conversation 
 that, had he not been prevented by the pressure of 
 other business, he would have made a steamboat. 
 
 In truth, before the time of Watt's improvement in 
 his steam-engine, no modification by which steam was 
 
30 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 applied to useful purposes, as raising water, would 
 have been able to propel vessels successfully. This is 
 exemplified by evidences found recently in an ancient 
 record, in which we have a description of a vessel pro- 
 pelled by steam. Blasco de Garay, an officer in the 
 service of the Emperor Charles V., made, at Barcelona, 
 in Spain, in the year 1543, an experiment in a vessel, 
 which he forced through the water by apparatus, of 
 which a large kettle with boiling water formed a con- 
 spicuous part. 
 
 De Garay was, therefore, not only the first inventor 
 of a steamboat, but the first (not even excepting Savary) 
 who was successful in applying steam to useful pur- 
 poses. De Garay, however, was too far in advance of 
 the spirit of the age to be able to introduce his inven- 
 tion into practice. His machinery was imperfect, and 
 the recollection of his experiment would have been lost 
 had not the record been accidentally found among the 
 ancient archives of the province of Catalonia. 
 
 This experiment was, therefore, without any prac- 
 tical result, and may be looked upon as a piece of curi- 
 ous antiquarian research rather than as an event filling 
 a space in the history of steamboats. 
 
 Among the early prime movers in seeking for the 
 means of applying steam to vessels, we will name Gene- 
 vois and the Comte d'Auxiron. The first of these, 
 whose attempts date as early as 1759, is chiefly remark- 
 able for the peculiarity of his apparatus, which resem- 
 bled the feet of a duck, opening when moved through 
 the water in the act of propulsion, and closing on its 
 return. 
 
 The latter, D'Auxiron, also made an experiment in 
 1774, but his boat moved so slowly and irregularly 
 that it was at once abandoned. 
 
FIRST STEAMBOATS. 31 
 
 In 1775 the elder Perrier, who afterward intro- 
 duced the manufacturing of steam-engines into France, 
 made an attempt in a steamboat, but was unsuc- 
 cessful. 
 
 The Marquis de Jouflroy continued the pursuit of 
 the same object. His first attempt was made in 1778, 
 at Baume les Dames, and in 1781 he built upon the 
 Saone a steam-vessel one hundred and fifty feet long 
 and fifteen feet wide. The report of his experiment 
 was made to the French Academy of Sciences, and was 
 said to be favorable. 
 
 No successful experiment could be looked for until 
 "Watt made public his double-acting engine, and the 
 improvements made in 1784 to keep up a continuous 
 and regular rotary motion. To America, then, we are 
 now to look for the first successful steamboat. 
 
 Conspicuous in the list of early experimenters in 
 steamboats are the names of Eumsey and Fitch. Both 
 constructed boats propelled by steam as early as 1783, 
 and models were exhibited to General Washington. 
 
 Fitch was the first to try his plan, and in 1785 he 
 succeeded in moving a boat upon the Delaware ; and it 
 was not until 1786 that Eumsey got his boat in motion 
 on the Potomac. Fitch's plan was a system of paddles. 
 Bumsey at first used a kind of pump, which drew in 
 water at the bow and forced it out at the stern of his 
 boat. He soon abandoned this plan of the pump, and 
 employed poles set in motion by cranks on the axis of 
 the fly-wheel of his engine, and intended to press against 
 the bottom of the river. Fitch's boat was propelled 
 through the water at the rate of four miles an hour. 
 Bumsey's invention never came to any valuable results. 
 
 Next, after Fitch and Bumsey, came an ingenious 
 gentleman named Miller, of Dolswinton, in Scotland, 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 who, in 1787, made a substitute for oars, and applied 
 wheels worked by men upon a crank ; afterward steam 
 was substituted by an engineer named Symington. 
 
 This boat was a double pleasure-boat upon a lake 
 in his grounds at Dolswinton. The trial was so success- 
 ful that Miller built a boat sixty feet long, and it is said 
 that it moved upon the Forth and Clyde Canal at the 
 rate of seven miles an hour ; but the vessel suffered so 
 much by the strain of the machinery that it soon be- 
 came unsafe and in danger of sinking, and was set aside, 
 and Mr. Miller's experiments were never resumed. 
 
 John Stevens, of Hoboken, next experimented in 
 steam-vessels, in 1791. His first attempt was made in 
 a boat with a rotary engine, but he soon substituted one 
 of Watt's machines, and navigated his vessel five or six 
 miles an hour. These experiments were continued up 
 to 1807, much to the detriment of his fortune. 
 
 The project of Gerrevois was revived in England 
 about this time by the Earl of Stanhope. An apparatus 
 like the feet of a duck was placed in a boat, and with 
 a powerful machine, but never gained a velocity over 
 three miles an hour. 
 
 In 1797, Chancellor Livingston, of New York, built 
 a steamboat on the Hudson River. He obtained from 
 the Legislature the right and exclusive privilege, on 
 condition that he would provide, within a year, a 
 boat impelled by steam that would go three miles an 
 hour. This he did not effect. In the year 1800 Stevens 
 and Livingston united and built a boat to be propelled 
 by a system of paddles, resembling a horizontal chain- 
 pump, and with one of the engines of Watt, but, in 
 consequence of the weakness of the vessel, the engine 
 would get out of line, and the experiment did not suc- 
 ceed. 
 
FIRST STEAMBOATS. 33 
 
 We have often heard and seen it written that steam- 
 boats were invented and first rnn by Fulton. Such was 
 not the case, as we have shown in the foregoing pages ; 
 but Fulton made the first successful experiment with a 
 steamboat with side- wheels, which is the plan adopted 
 ever since, excepting in propellers. 
 
 Fulton commenced his experiments in Paris, in 1803, 
 upon the Seine, with a small vessel with side- wheels, 
 driven by one of Watt's engines, adjusted for the pur- 
 pose, and the experiment was a success. He soon after 
 determined to construct a boat of a larger size, to be 
 tried in the United States. This vessel was built in 
 America ; but as the workshops could not at that time 
 construct the engine, one from Watt &, Bolton was 
 procured, and Fulton proceeded to England to superin- 
 tend its construction. The engine arrived in New York 
 early in 1806, and the vessel was set in motion in the 
 summer of 1807. The success of this experiment is well 
 known, and from that period steam-vessels have con- 
 tinued to increase in size and speed, from the humble 
 efforts of these early experimenters, until they now as- 
 sume the magnitude and magnificence of the floating 
 palaces of the present day. 
 
 The first steam-vessel that traversed the ocean was 
 the steamship Savannah, in 1817, and this early effort 
 demonstrated the principle that steamships could be 
 used upon the sea. The Savannah may be looked 
 upon as the pioneer, whose path has since been followed 
 by some of the largest and most magnificent specimens 
 of naval architecture in the world. 
 
 Though steam, in its application to navigation, had 
 been progressing rapidly, and even as early as 1807 at- 
 tained such a degree of usefulness as to cause it to be 
 looked upon as a fixed fact, yet its application in fa- 
 
34 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 cilitating intercommunication upon the land had not 
 been developed during a quarter of a century after- 
 ward. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 FIRST STEAM-CARRIAGE. 
 
 The first actual model of a steam-carriage, of which 
 we have a written account, was constructed by a French- 
 man, named Cugnot, who exhibited it before the Marquis 
 de Saxe, in 1763. He afterward, in 1769, built an engine 
 to run on common roads, at the expense of the French 
 monarch. As it is the first steam-carriage of which we 
 have any written account, and believing that it would 
 prove interesting to our readers, we copy this descrip- 
 tion of it from Appletons' Journal of Popular Litera- 
 ture, Science, and Art, August 17, 1869, as follows: 
 " One of the earliest efforts in the way of steam loco- 
 motion was the engine of Cugnot, of France, designed 
 to run on common roads. His first carriage was put in 
 motion by the impulsion of two single-acting cylinders, 
 the piston of which acted alternately on the single front 
 wheels. It travelled about three or four miles an hour, 
 and carried four persons ; but, from the smallness of the 
 boiler, it would not continue to work more than twelve 
 or fifteen minutes without stopping to get up steam.. 
 Cugnot's locomotive presented a simple and ingenious 
 form of a high-pressure engine, and, though of rude con- 
 struction, was a creditable piece of work, considering 
 the time. He made a second engine, with which severa] 
 successful trials were made in the streets of Paris, 
 
FIRST STEAM-CARRIAGE. 35 
 
 which excited muck interest. An accident, however, 
 put an end to his experiments. Turning the corner of 
 the street one day, near the Madeleine, when the ma- 
 chine was running at a speed of about three miles an 
 hour, it upset with a crash, and, being considered danger- 
 ous, was locked up in the Arsenal. Cugnot's locomo- 
 tive is still to be seen in the Museum of the Conserva- 
 toire des Arts et Metiers, at Paris, and is a most inter- 
 esting relic of early locomotion." 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 CUGNOT'S LOCOMOTIVE, 1769. 
 
 In 1784 William Symington conceived the idea of 
 steam being applied to propelling carriages, and in 
 1786 made a working model, but soon gave it up, and 
 nothing was ever after heard of the project. 
 
 The first English model of a steam-carriage was 
 made in 1784, by William Murdoch; this model was 
 upon the principle of the high pressure, and ran on 
 three wheels (for common roads, of course). It worked 
 to admiration, but nothing further was ever done to 
 bring the idea into a more practical form. . 
 
 A few years after, Thomas Allen, of London, pub- 
 lished the plan of a newly invented machine for carry- 
 ing goods, without the use of horses, and by the use 
 of steam alone for the motive power. His plan was 
 to have cogged wheels to run upon cogged rails. The 
 plan was all that was ever brought out. 
 
 > 
 
36 HISTORY OF "THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 In 1801 Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, a mill- 
 wright, who had entertained the idea, as early as 
 1772, of propelling wagons by the action of high 
 steam, was employed by the corporation of that city to 
 construct a dredging-machine. The experiment was of 
 a most remarkable character. The machine was, as you 
 may term it, an amphibious affair. He built both the 
 vessel and the machine at his works, a mile and a half 
 from the water. The whole weighing 42,000 lbs., it 
 was mounted upon wheels, to which motion was given 
 by the engine, and moved without any further aid from 
 the shop to the river. After the machine was in its 
 proper element, a wheel was then fixed to the stern of 
 the vessel, and the engine being again set in motion, 
 she was conveyed to her designed position. Here is the 
 first propeller. As late as the year 1800, wooden or 
 tram roads were general in all the coal and mining 
 districts in England, using horse-power for the means 
 of transportation of their coal or ore from the mines 
 to the point of shipment. 
 
 The first idea and proposition to introduce the rail- 
 road, imperfect as it then was, for the transportation of 
 goods and for commercial purposes generally, and to be 
 used as a highway between one city and another, as at 
 the present day, was made before the Literary and 
 Philosophical Society of Newcastle, England, by Mr. 
 Thomas, of Denton, on the 11th February, 1800. The 
 same idea was taken hold of in 1802, by a Mr. Edge- 
 worth, who urged the same plan for the transit of 
 passengers. He urges that stage-coaches might be 
 made to go at six miles an hour, and post-coaches 
 and gentlemen's travelling-carriages at eight miles an 
 hour, with one horse alone. He also suggested that 
 small stationary engines placed from distance to dis- 
 
FIRST STEAM-CARRIAGE. 37 
 
 tance might be made, and by the use of endless 
 chains draw the carriages, at a great diminution of 
 horse-power. 
 
 These ideas of Mr. Thomas were followed by a 
 recommendation from a Dr. Anderson, of Edinburgh, a 
 friend arid co-laborer with Watt in his experiments 
 upon the improvements in steam-engines. The doctor 
 dilated upon the subject with great warmth and en- 
 thusiasm. So apparently extravagant were his views 
 upon this his favorite topic considered, that many of 
 his friends thought his mind had become affected. 
 " If," said he, " we can diminish only one single farthing 
 in the cost of transportation and personal intercommuni- 
 cation, and you at once widen the circle of intercourse, 
 you form, as it were, a new creation — not only of stone 
 and earth, of trees and plants, but of men also; and, 
 what is of far greater consequence, you promote in- 
 dustry, happiness, and joy. The cost of all human con- 
 sumption would be reduced, the facilities of agriculture 
 promoted, time and distance would be almost annihi- 
 lated; the country would be brought nearer to the 
 town ; the number of horses to carry on traffic would 
 be diminished ; mines and manufactories would appear 
 in neighborhoods hitherto considered almost isolated 
 by distance; villages, towns, and even cities, would 
 spring up all through the country; and spots now 
 silent as the grave would be enlivened with the busy 
 hum of human voices, the sound of the hammer, and the 
 clatter of machinery ; the whole country would be, as 
 it were, revolutionized with life and activity, and a 
 general prosperity would be the result of this mighty 
 auxiliary to trade and commerce throughout the land." 
 
 How perfectly true were these arguments of Ander- 
 son, and how his predictions have been verified even in 
 
38 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 our own State ! ' What else could have developed the 
 boundless wealth of our mountain-regions but the intro- 
 duction of the railroad system and its powerful aux- 
 iliary the locomotive, by which means their hitherto in- 
 accessible fastnesses have been penetrated, and access 
 thereto made comparatively easy ; while their vast re- 
 sources of wealth in lumber, coal, minerals, and oil, 
 have been brought nearer to a market, and, but for this 
 system of transportation, they would to this day have 
 been locked up in impenetrable mystery in the deep 
 recesses of the mountains? " 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TKEVI THICK'S ENGINE. 
 
 While these propositions were developing, one 
 Richard Trevithick, a foreman in a Cornish tin-mine, 
 prompted, no doubt, by seeing the model engine which 
 Murdoch had constructed, determined to build a car- 
 riage to run on common roads, and a Mr. Vivian joined 
 him in the enterprise. They took out a patent in 
 1802. A description of this machine will not be un- 
 interesting to our readers : 
 
 This steam-carriage resembled a stage-coach, and 
 was upon four wheels. It had one horizontal cylinder, 
 which, together with the boiler and furnace-box, was 
 placed in the rear of the hind axle. The motion of the 
 piston was transmitted to a separate crank-axle, from 
 which, through the medium of spur-gear, the axle of the 
 driving-wheel derived its motion. It is worthy of note 
 
TREVITHICK'S ENGINE. 39 
 
 that the steam-racks and force-pumps, as also the bel- 
 lows used in generating combustion, were worked off 
 the same crank-axle. 
 
 This was the first successful high-pressure engine 
 constructed on the principle of moving a piston, by the 
 elasticity of steam, against the pressure of the atmos- 
 phere, and without a vacuum. Such an engine had 
 been described by Leopold, though in his apparatus the 
 pressure acted only on one side of the piston, while in 
 Trevithick's and Vivian's engine the piston was not 
 only raised but likewise depressed by the steam. This 
 was original with them, and of great merit. 
 
 This kind of carriage on common roads was toler- 
 ably successful. It was exhibited at the city of London, 
 and attracted great crowds to witness its performance ; 
 and it drew behind it a carriage filled with passengers. 
 But it soon became obvious that the roads in England 
 were too rough and uneven for the successful use of 
 such machines, and it was soon after abandoned by 
 Trevithick as a practical failure. 
 
 Trevithick next turned his attention to the inven- 
 tion of a steam-carriage or locomotive, to run upon the 
 tram-roads then in general use in England; and in 
 1804 he commenced his machine ; in the same year 
 it was completed and tried upon the Merthyr-Tydvil 
 Eailway, in South Wales. On this occasion it suc- 
 ceeded in drawing after it several wagons containing 
 ten tons of bar-iron, at the rate of five miles an hour. 
 The boiler of this machine was cylindrical in form, flat 
 at the ends, and constructed of cast-iron. The furnace 
 and flues were inside the boiler, in which a single cylin- 
 der of eight inches in diameter and four feet six inch 
 . stroke was immersed upright. Although this locomo- 
 tive, when tried upon the railroad as above stated, sue- 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 ceeded in drawing a considerable weight, and travelling 
 at a fair speed, from other causes it proved like his first 
 steam-carriage, a practical failure, and was soon aban- 
 doned. This experiment, however, may be considered 
 as the first attempt to adapt the locomotive to service 
 upon a railroad of which we have any written account. 
 
 The great difficulty and obstacle which at that 
 early day did more than any thing else to retard the 
 successful progress of the locomotive for railroad pur- 
 poses, was the idea that, upon the smooth surface of a 
 rail or iron plate then in use, the smooth surface of the 
 driving-wheel would not have adhesive power to cause 
 the engine to move forward, much less have a suffi- 
 cient friction to enable the machine, not only to go 
 ahead itself, but to draw a weight of carriages behind 
 it. To remedy this evil, Trevithick recommended, and 
 caused to be placed upon the surface of the driving- 
 wheels of his machine, heads of bolts and numerous 
 grooves, to produce the required adhesion. It proved 
 successful, but produced a succession of jolts veiy trying 
 upon the cast-iron plates upon the roads upon which 
 the experiments were tried, as well as upon the ma- 
 chine. 
 
 In 1811 a Mr. Blankensop, of Leeds, took out a pat- 
 ent for a machine and rail adapted to each other : a rack 
 or toothed rail was to be laid down along one side of 
 the track, into which a tooth-wheel of his locomotive 
 worked. The boiler of his engine was supported by a 
 carriage upon four wheels without teeth, and resting 
 immediately on the axles. These were entirely inde- 
 pendent of the working-parts of the engine, and merely 
 supported its weight, the progress being effected by the 
 motion of the cogged wheels working on the cogged. 
 rail. This engine began running on the railroad from 
 
TREVITHTCE'S ENGINE. 41 
 
 the Middleton collieries to the town of Leeds, about 
 three and a quarter miles, on the 12th of August, 1812. 
 For a number of years it was a permanent object of 
 curiosity, and was visited by crowds of strangers from 
 all parts. These engines (for several were afterward 
 constructed) drew after them thirty coal-cars, loaded, 
 at a speed of three and a quarter miles per hour, 
 and were in use for many years, and may justly be con- 
 sidered as the first instance of the employment of loco- 
 motive power for commercial purposes. 
 
 Another curious experiment was tried in 1812, to 
 overcome the want of friction upon the road and increase 
 the power of the engine. A Mr. Chapman, of New- 
 castle, took out a patent for this invention. The plan 
 was a chain stretched from one end of the road to the 
 other. The chain was passed once round a grooved 
 barrel-wheel under the centre of the engine, so that, 
 when the wheels turned, the locomotive would, as it 
 were, drag itself along the railway. The experiment 
 was tried with an engine constructed for the purpose on 
 the Heaton Railway, near Newcastle, but it was so 
 clumsy in its action that it was soon abandoned. 
 
 But the most remarkable, extravagant, and amusing 
 experiment of all, and one which must bring to the 
 countenance of our readers at the present day a smile, 
 was the one adopted by a Mr. Brunton, of the Butterby 
 Works, Derbyshire, in 1813, who took out a patent for 
 a machine which was to go upon legs like a horse. This 
 contrivance had two legs attached to the back part, 
 which, being alternately moved by the engine, pushed 
 it before them. These legs, or propellers, imitated the 
 legs of a man or the fore-legs of a horse, with joints, 
 and when worked by the machine alternately lifted 
 and pressed against the ground or road, propelling 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 the engine forward, as a man shoves a boat ahead by 
 pressing with a pole against the bottom of a river. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 "WILLIAM BKTTNTON LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 This contrivance was so singular and ingenious that 
 we cannot refrain from giving a description of it, taken 
 from a very interesting work upon road-making, by W. 
 M. Gillespie, A. M., C. E. 
 
 The legs are indicated by H K F and H hf. H rep- 
 resents the hip-joint, K and Jc the knee-joints, A and a 
 the ankle-joints, and F and f the feet. We will first 
 examine the action of the front leg. The knee, K, is 
 attached to the end of a piston-rod, which the steam 
 drives backward and forward in the horizontal cylinder, 
 C. When the piston is driven outward, it presses the 
 leg K F against the ground, and thus propels the engine 
 forward, as a man shoves a boat ahead by pressing with 
 a pole against the bottom of a river. As the engine 
 advances, the leg straightens, the point H is carried for- 
 ward, and the extremity, M, of the bent lever H M, is 
 raised. A cord, M S, being attached to S, the shin of 
 the leg, the motion of the lever tightens the cord, and 
 finally raises the foot from the ground, and prepares it 
 
TREVITHICK'S ENGINE. 43 
 
 to take a fresh step where the reversed action of the 
 piston has lowered it again. The action of the other 
 leg is precisely similar, but motion communicated to it 
 from the first one. Just above the knee of the front leg, 
 at N, is attached a rod, on which is a toothed rack, R. 
 Working in it is a cog-wheel, which enters also a second 
 rack, r, below it, which is connected by a second rod 
 with point n of the other leg. When the piston is driven 
 out and pushes the engine from the knee, the rack R is 
 drawn backward, and turns the cog-wheel, which then 
 draws the lower rack r forward, and operates on the 
 hind leg precisely as the piston-rod does on the front 
 one, and thus the legs take alternate steps, and walk on 
 with the engine. 
 
 This locomotive or " mechanical traveller," as it 
 was termed by its inventor, moved on a railway at the 
 rate of two and a half miles per hour, with the tractive 
 force of four horses. Mr. Brunton's machine, however, 
 never got beyond the experimental state, for, on one of 
 its trials, it unhappily blew up, killing and wounding 
 several of the by-standers, was never repaired, but laid 
 aside as one of the failures of the times. 
 
 These experiments, though failures in their results, 
 were followed up by a Mr. Blackett, of Wylam, whose 
 persevering efforts paved the way for the future labors 
 of George Stephenson. 
 
 To make his experiments Mr. Blackett ordered one 
 of the locomotives of the Trevithick patent, and also 
 employed rack-rails and tooth driving-wheels like 
 Blankensop's, and had his road altered for the occasion. 
 This engine was the most awkwardly-constructed ma- 
 chine imaginable. It had a single cylinder six inches 
 in diameter, and a fly-wheel working on one side to carry 
 the cranks over the dead-points. The boiler was of cast- 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 iron, and the weight of the whole was about six tons ; 
 a wooden frame was supported by four pairs of wheels, 
 and a barrel of water placed upon another frame sus- 
 tained by two pairs of wheels served as a tender. "When 
 all was ready, the word was given to go ahead, but the 
 engine would not move an inch ; when it was finally set 
 in motion, it flew to pieces, and the workmen and spec- 
 tators, with Mr. Blackett at their head, scattered and fled 
 in every direction ! The machine, or what was left of it, 
 was taken off the road, and afterward a portion of it 
 was used as a pump at one of the mines. 
 
 Mr. Blackett was not, however, discouraged. His 
 next experiment was an engine with a single eight-inch 
 cylinder, which was fitted with a fly-wheel, the driving- 
 wheel on one side being cogged in order to enable it to 
 travel on the rack-rail. This engine proved more suc- 
 cessful than its predecessors, and, although it was 
 clumsy and unsightly, it was capable of drawing eight 
 or nine wagons loaded with coal to the shipping-point 
 at Lemington ; its weight, however, was too great for the 
 road, and the cast-iron rails were continually breaking. 
 Its work was by no means successful. It crept along 
 at a snail's pace, sometimes taking six hours to go five 
 miles to the landing-place. It was continually getting 
 off the track, and there it would stick. Horses would 
 then have to be sent out to pull it on the track. The 
 engine often broke down ; its pumps, plugs, and cranks 
 would get wrong, then the horses again would be 
 needed to drag the machine back to the shop. In fact, 
 it at last got so cranky that the horses were frequently 
 sent out to follow the engine to be in readiness to draw 
 it along when it gave out. At last it was abandoned. 
 
 Notwithstanding the repeated failures, and the 
 amount of money expended on these experiments, Mr. 
 
GEORGE STEPHENSON. 45 
 
 Blackett persevered. In 1813 he made an experiment 
 with a frame upon fonr wheels, to determine the much- 
 disputed point, the adhesive power of a smooth-surfaced 
 driving-wheel upon a smooth-surfaced rail. Six men 
 were placed upon this frame, which was fitted up with 
 a windlass attached by gearing to the several wheels. 
 When the men worked the windlass, the adhesion was 
 found sufficient to enable them to propel the machine 
 without slipping. This experiment settled the diffi- 
 culty which was always thought to be in the way of 
 the successful use of the locomotive upon the smooth 
 surface of a railroad with smooth-surfaced driving- 
 wheels, proving that rack-rails, tooth-wheels, endless 
 chains, and legs, were useless requisites to the success- 
 ful use of a locomotive with smooth-surfaced driving- 
 wheels upon a smooth-surfaced railroad-track, and draw- 
 ing loaded wagons behind it. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GEOKGE STEPHENSON. 
 
 While Mr. Blackett was building locomotives and 
 experimenting with them, George Stephenson, then en- 
 joying a high reputation for his ingenuity and skill as 
 a machinist, was deliberating in his mind on the possi- 
 bility of locomotives being made and improved so 
 as eventually to supersede the use of horse-power 
 upon tram-roads ; but the want of means, and the diffi- 
 culty of obtaining skilful mechanics at that early day 
 to do the requisite work, retarded him in his long- 
 cherished idea of making a machine that would answer 
 
46 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 effectually the purpose for which the locomotive was 
 intended. True it was that Blankensop's engine, built 
 in 1813, had been in use upon the tram- way at Wylain, 
 and improvements were subsequently made so that a 
 machine had been constructed and run upon the tram- 
 way between Kenton and Cox Lodge, which was enabled 
 to draw after it sixteen loaded cars, of about seventy 
 tons, at the rate of three miles an hour. Yet this engine, 
 and others like it, were far from being perfect, or adapt- 
 ed to the purpose for which they were intended, being 
 clumsy, cumbrous, and awkward, in all their move- 
 ments. Mr. Stephenson saw one of these at work, and 
 when asked by one of his companions what he thought 
 of it, he replied that he " could make a better one than 
 that;" and, to accomplish this, he devoted his whole 
 mind and energies, the result of which we will show 
 hereafter. 
 
 It will not, we trust, be deemed out of place to 
 devote a small space in our pages to give, as briefly 
 as possible, some of the early history of this afterward 
 most distinguished engineer and machinist, who may 
 be justly looked upon as the father of the locomotive 
 system in England, now so successful and essential to 
 its commerce and manufactures. His history may tend 
 to impress upon the mind of any youthful reader and 
 mechanic who may be now, as he once was, a poor boy, 
 how a young man, by industry and perseverance in a 
 good cause, may ultimately build up for himself a posi- 
 tion which would lead eventually to eminence and fame. 
 
 George Stephensow was born on June 9, 1781, in 
 a small colliery village called Wylam, on the north 
 bank of the river Tyne. The tram-road between New- 
 castle and Carlisle runs along the opposite bank of the 
 river from the coal-pits to the shipping-point. Kobert 
 
GEORGE STEPHENSON. 47 
 
 Stephenson, the father of George, was a poor, hard- 
 working man, and supported his family entirely from 
 his own wages of less at first than, but afterward raised 
 to, twelve shillings a week. 
 
 The wagons loaded with coal passed by Wylam 
 several times a day. These wagons were drawn by 
 horses ; for locomotives had not been dreamed of by the 
 most visionary of that early period. George's first 
 wages were twopence per day, to herd some cows owned 
 by a neighbor which were allowed to feed along the 
 road ; to watch and keep them off the tram-road, and 
 out of the way of the coal-wagons ; also, to close the 
 gates after the day's work of the wagons was over. 
 
 The old mine being worked out, the Stephenson 
 family removed to the new opening at Dudley Burn, 
 where Robert, the father, worked as fireman. George's 
 first work about these mines was at what is known as a 
 picker. His duty was to clean the coal of stone, slate, 
 and other impurities, at wages advanced to sixpence 
 per day, and, after promotion, raised to eighteen-pence 
 per day. 
 
 After several removals to new openings, as the coal 
 would be worked out in the old, George, who had 
 always lived at home, and was now about fifteen years 
 of age, found himself at the new opening, at Jolly's Close, 
 where he was promoted to the position of fireman, at 
 the opening called " Mid Mill Winnin." There he re- 
 mained two years, and was then again removed to a new 
 pit near Throckly Bridge, where he worked, and his 
 wages were raised to twelve shillings per week. He 
 next worked at a new opening called Water Row, where 
 a pumping machine was erected, and George, who was 
 then seventeen years of age, was placed in charge as 
 plugman and engineer, while his father worked under 
 
48 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 him as the fireman. At that time he never suffered an 
 opportunity to pass without improving himself in the 
 knowledge of his engine. When not at work, and while 
 others, employed in and about the mines, would be 
 spending their time and earnings in drinking and idle 
 sports, George employed himself in taking to pieces his 
 engine, to possess himself of knowledge and of every 
 j>eculiarity about it. By these means he became thor- 
 oughly acquainted with his engine, and, if at any time 
 it got wrong, he was able to adjust and even repair it, 
 without calling in the aid of the chief engineer of the 
 colliery. At this time (for want of an opportunity), 
 George Stephenson, now entering upon the very thresh- 
 old of manhood, could not read, nor did he even 
 know his letters. The first rudiments of his education 
 were derived from one Robert Cowen, who had a night- 
 school in the village of Wallbottle ; with him he took 
 lessons in spelling and reading, three nights in the 
 week, paying threepence per week for his tuition. 
 Notwithstanding these obstacles in his way, George 
 labored, studied, and persevered, and at eighteen he 
 was able to write his own name. 
 
 In 1799 he attended another night school, at New- 
 burn. His teacher was one Andrew Robinson, from 
 whom he learned his arithmetic. During his leisure 
 hours he employed himself in working out the sums 
 set him by Robinson, and in the evening handed in his 
 slate to the master for examination and a fresh supply 
 of sums for his study. George's wages now amounted 
 to £1 15s. 6d. to £2, per fortnight. To this he added 
 his earnings for shoe-mending and shoe-making, which 
 he had taken up. 
 
 In 1804 he walked on foot to Scotland, to take 
 charge of one of Bolton &, Watt's engines. He re- 
 
STEPHENSON'S ENGINE 49 
 
 turned, after a year's absence, to Killingworth, on foot, 
 as he had gone, and was soon at work as brakesman at 
 the lifting engine on the West Moore pit. 
 
 In 1807 George Stephenson meditated upon emi- 
 grating to America; but found himself too poor to 
 pay his passage, and was compelled to abandon the 
 project. To his earnings then he added the repairing 
 of clocks and watches, and the cutting out of clothes 
 for the wives of the workmen to make up. Thus did 
 this energetic and untiring man persevere and labor for 
 advancement in knowledge, until he was promoted as 
 head engineer or plugman, as the engineer was called, 
 at the colliery. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 It was now that Mr. Stephenson, about twenty- 
 six years of age, set about the construction of his first 
 locomotive. As we before stated, the want of good 
 and skilful workmen was a great drawback. None of 
 the magnificent and ingenious machinery of the present 
 day to be seen in our machine-shops had been invented. 
 At that early period every part of the engine had to be 
 made by hand, and hammered into shape as a horse- 
 shoe was ; and John Thorswall, the colliery blacksmith, 
 was his chief workman ; and with all these disadvan- 
 tages and difficulties to contend with, Mr. Stephenson 
 persevered and finally completed his first locomotive. 
 
 It will no doubt be interesting to our mechanical 
 readers to have a full description of Mr. Stephenson's 
 
50 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 first effort. The boiler was cylindrical, eight feet long 
 and thirty-four inches in diameter, with an internal flue- 
 tube twenty inches wide passing through the boiler. 
 The engine had two vertical cylinders of eight inches 
 in diameter and two feet stroke, let into the boiler, 
 working the propelling gear, with cross-heads and con- 
 necting rods ; the power of the two cylinders was con- 
 tinued by means of spur-wheels, which communicated 
 the motive power to the wheels supporting the engine 
 upon the rails. The adoption of the spur-gear was the 
 chief peculiarity of this new engine ; it worked upon 
 what is termed the second motion. The chimney was of 
 wrought-iron, around which was a chamber extending 
 back to the feed-pumps, for the purpose of heating the 
 water previous to its injection into the boiler. The 
 engine had no springs, was mounted on a wooden 
 frame upon four wheels. In order, however, to equalize 
 the jolts and shocks which such an engine would en- 
 counter, the water-barrel, which served as a tender, 
 was fixed at the end of a lever and weighted, the other 
 end being connected with the frame of the carriage. 
 The wheels of this locomotive were all smooth, and it 
 was the first engine so constructed. After ten months' 
 labor, this locomotive was completed and put upon the 
 Killingwood Eailway on the 25th July, 1814, and tried. 
 On an ascending grade of one in four hundred and fifty 
 feet, this engine succeeded in drawing after it eight 
 loaded wagons of thirty tons' weight, at about four 
 miles an hour, and was the most successful working- 
 engine that had ever been constructed up to this period. 
 It was called "Blucher." Although successful, this 
 improvement over horse-power was not sufficient to 
 justify the abandonment of the latter. The great trou- 
 ble with this new machine was the inability of keeping 
 
STEPHENSON'S ENGINE. 51 
 
 up steam sufficient to answer its demands ; and this ex- 
 periment, like all its predecessors, might have been set 
 aside as a practical failure, had not Mr. Stephenson hit 
 upon (accidentally) the invention or discovery of the 
 steani-blast. The puffing and noise occasioned by the 
 escapement of the steam from the steam-pipe into the 
 open air, after it had performed its duty in the cylinder, 
 frightened the horses upon the common roads hard by 
 and near the vicinity of the crossings, and occasioned 
 much complaint to the authorities. ^ Mr. Stephenson 
 was warned by the police to abate the nuisance, or be 
 subject to a prosecution. IJTo remedy the evil he hit 
 upon the plan of discharging the surplus steam into 
 the smoke-stack, which produced a vacuum, and the 
 draught in his furnace became so perfect, that double the 
 quantity of steam was generated, and the power of his 
 engine increased to double its former capacity."^ This 
 was a triumph, and encouraged the inventor to further 
 experiments. Seeing all the defects of his first engine, 
 and the wonderful effects of the steam-blast in facilitat- 
 ing the combustion of the fuel used in generating steam, 
 Mr. Stephenson set about constructing his second en- 
 gine, the patent dated February 28, 1815. 
 
 This second locomotive we will describe, as we think 
 it will prove interesting to our readers, especially so to 
 our engine-drivers or engineers and our locomotive-ma- 
 chinists. 
 
 Like the first, this engine had two vertical cylinders, 
 communicating directly with each pair of the fore-wheels 
 which supported the engine, by means of a cross-head 
 and a pair of connecting-rods. It was soon seen that 
 the direct action from the cylinder to the wheels upon 
 such uneven roads would not answer with the rigidity 
 of the machinery, particularly the stiff connecting-rods 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 communicating from the wheels to the piston-heads. 
 To obviate this difficulty,(Mr. Stephenson invented and 
 applied the ball-and-socket joint upon his connecting- 
 rods, where they were attached to the pistons, and 
 crank-pins upon the crank-axles. J 
 
 Many other experiments were tried and as quickly 
 abandoned in England by this accomplished engineer, 
 whose name and reputation were as well known in 
 America as they were in England. These experiments 
 tended in a great measure to prevent our own country- 
 men subsequently from falling into the same errors and 
 mistakes that would be found in the pathway of the 
 early developments of this wonder of science and me- 
 chanics, the locomotive. 
 
 We will not believe but that a description, step by 
 step — from the first experiments by Trevithick, in 
 1804, on the Merthyr-Tydvil Eailway, in South Wales, 
 when his machine drew after it several wagons contain- 
 ing ten tons of bar-iron at the rate of five miles an hour, 
 to the experiments of Stephenson, with his far-famed 
 Rocket — will prove interesting to the machinists and 
 
 engineers 
 
 anions our readers, and we will continue our 
 
 accounts until we come to the date of our own experi- 
 ments in America. 
 
 It will be remembered by our readers that in the 
 Blucher the motion was continued by the spur-wheel 
 system, and its place was supplied by inserting into the 
 axle two cranks at right angles to each other, and this 
 method answered extremely well; but even here Mr. 
 Stephenson found obstacles, in the difficulty, at that 
 early day, of forging cranks of sufficient strength and 
 accuracy to answer the purpose, and stand the jars and 
 jolts occasioned by the rough roads, and he tried a sub- 
 stitute for the requisite object. This new arrangement 
 
STEPHENSON'S ENGINE. 53 
 
 was a chain which rolled over indented wheels on the 
 centre of each axle, and so arranged that the two pair 
 of wheels were effectually coupled and made to keep 
 pace with each other. This did well for a while, but 
 the chains soon proved troublesome, and were aban- 
 doned for the new plan of connecting the front and 
 hind wheels together by rods outside of the wheels, 
 instead of rods and cranks inside, as at first. This 
 method completely answered the purpose, and is in use 
 at the present day. 
 
 Although many other improvements were afterward 
 suggested to the fertile mind of Mr. Stephenson, and 
 introduced in the machinery of the locomotive Blucher, 
 yet, as a mechanical construction, it may be considered 
 as the type of the present successful locomotive system. 
 
 Mr. Stephenson was now left alone in locomotive 
 experiments and improvements: all the other experi- 
 mentalists before him quitted the field of that kind of 
 enterprise, and all their works in the shape of machines 
 were thrown away and entirely abandoned. 
 
 Eailways, as we have before stated, had been in suc- 
 cessful operation for many years, in the transportation 
 of coal and mineral ores from the mines to the places of 
 shipment. The idea had never been suggested to the 
 mind of any one, or had never, at least, been advocated, 
 to use them for general purposes of traffic, or, as at the 
 present time, for the transportation of goods, wares, 
 merchandise, produce, or for the transportation of passen- 
 gers from one city to another, until about the year 1800, 
 as we before stated, by a Mr. Thomas, who introduced 
 the subject before the Literary and Philosophical Society 
 of Newcastle, and a few years after by a Mr. Edgeworth, 
 and even then no other power was thought or dreamed 
 of but the horse-power then in use upon all the tram- 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 roads (as the railroads were called in all tlie mining 
 regions throughout England and wherever else they 
 were used), and which had by this time become general, 
 and was looked upon as one of the essential necessaries 
 for such enterprises. But the use of steam-power had 
 not entered the minds of the warmest advocates of rail- 
 roads for general purposes, as at the present day. 
 
 It was not until 1820 that the first suggestion of 
 using the locomotive (imperfect as it then was) in the 
 place of horse-power, was advocated by one Thomas 
 Gray, who devoted much of his time and money in 
 publishing articles and pamphlets upon the subject. 
 He pointed out the importance of such a road between 
 Liverpool and Manchester and other important points, 
 all of which have since been carried out. He was so 
 energetic and pertinacious in his efforts to impress it 
 upon the minds of the people, and so untiring in his 
 labors, that many pronounced him a bore, and those 
 who knew him declared that he was cracked or deranged 
 — -just as, nearly two hundred years before, poor Solo- 
 mon de Cause was shut up in a mad-house for advocat- 
 ing his discovery of a great power in the steam of 
 boiling water. 
 
 While Mr. Gray' was advocating the adoption of 
 railways for general transportation purposes, George 
 Stephenson was planning locomotives to run upon 
 them. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 FIRST TRAINS. 
 
 In 1819 the Hatton Colliery, in Durham, was altered 
 into a locomotive railroad, and Mr. Stephenson ap- 
 
FIRST TRAINS. 55 
 
 pointed its chief engineer. He soon began his labors, 
 and on the 18th of November, 1822, the road was opened 
 for the first time for locomotives. Crowds came from 
 all directions to witness the experiment. Five of Mr. 
 Stephenson's engines were upon the road that day, each 
 engine drawing after it seventeen wagons loaded, aver- 
 aging sixty-four tons, at the rate of four miles an 
 hour. 
 
 Mr. Stephenson next became chief engineer of the 
 Stockton and Darlington Railway, another coal-road 
 about being constructed. On account of the nature of 
 the ground over which this road would pass, and the 
 limited means put into Mr. Stephenson's hands for its 
 construction, he was compelled to adopt the incline- 
 plane system in those places where too much labor and 
 money would be required. Other parts of the road 
 were made for horse or steam power, which of the two 
 had not as yet been determined upon. The success of 
 Mr. Stephenson's locomotives had been tried and proved 
 practical, although as yet not a saving in the expense 
 of transportation. But Mr. Stephenson's views pre- 
 vailed, and when the road was finished, on the 27th of 
 September, 1825, he had three engines ready for its use, 
 They were built at his works, the first ever established 
 for locomotive manufacture. The Active, No. 1, was 
 the first built at this establishment. A great deal of 
 excitement and speculation arose throughout the coun- 
 try when the trial-day approached. The road was 
 ready, as we have stated. Great crowds were assem- 
 bled from every direction to witness the trial ; some, 
 more sanguine, came to witness its success, but far the 
 greater portion came to see the bubble burst. The 
 proceedings began at Brusselton incline, where the sta- 
 tionary engine drew a train up the incline on one side 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 and lowered it down on the other. These wagons were 
 loaded. 
 
 At the foot of this plane a locomotive, driven by 
 Mr. Stephenson himself, was attached to the train. It 
 consisted of six wagons loaded with coal and flour, next 
 a passenger-coach (the first ever run upon a railroad) 
 filled with the directors and their friends, then twenty- 
 one wagons fitted up with temporary seats for passengers, 
 and lastly came six wagons loaded with coal, making 
 in all twenty-eight vehicles. The word being given 
 that all was ready, the engine "began to move, gradually 
 at first, but afterward, in parts of the road, attained a 
 speed of twelve miles an hour. At that time the num- 
 ber of passengers amounted to 450, which would, with 
 the remainder of the load, amount to upward of ninety 
 tons. The train arrived at Darlington, eight and three- 
 quarter miles, in sixty -five minutes. Here it was 
 stopped, and a fresh supply of water was obtained, and 
 the six coal-cars for Darlington detached, and the word 
 given to go ahead. The engine started, and arrived at 
 Stockton, twelve miles, in three hours seven minutes, 
 including stoppages. 
 
 By the time the train reached Stockton, the number 
 of passengers amounted to over 600. 
 
 We will here mention that, when this road was first 
 contemplated, its projectors did not estimate the amount 
 of coal that would be transported over it above 10,000 
 tons per annum ; but before a very few years had elapsed, 
 from the facilities offered by the railroad system, with 
 locomotives instead of horse-power, the amount of coal 
 transported annually amounted to 500,000 tons, and has 
 since exceeded that amount. At this trial experiment, 
 September 27, 1825, the first passenger-car, or wagon 
 as it was called at that day, was put upon the road. It 
 
FIRST TRAINS. 57 
 
 had been ordered and made at Mr. Stephenson's works, 
 and had only arrived the day before the trial. It was 
 the vehicle in which the directors and their friends rode 
 upon the occasion. Although built by Mr. Stephenson, 
 it was a very modest and uncouth-looking affair, made 
 more for strength than for beauty. A row of seats ran 
 along each side of the interior, and a long table was 
 fixed in the centre, the access being by a doorway be- 
 hind, like an omnibus of the present day. This vehicle 
 was named the Experiment, and was the only carriage 
 for passengers upon the road for some time. It was, 
 however, the forerunner of a mighty traffic, and soon 
 after new and more improved passenger-carriages were 
 introduced upon the road, all at first drawn by horses. 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 THE FIBST EAILWAT OOAOH. 
 
 The Experiment was first regularly put upon the 
 road for passenger use on the 10th of October, 1825. It 
 was drawn by one horse, and performed a journey each 
 way daily between the two towns, twelve miles, in two 
 hours. This novel way of travelling soon became popu- 
 
58 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 lar among the people, and eventually proved so lucra- 
 tive and extensive, that the carriage could not contain 
 the number of applicants for a ride. Inside and outside 
 it was crowded, and every available spot was occupied. 
 The Experiment, however, was not worked by the 
 railroad company as passenger-cars are now, but was 
 let to other parties, they paying a certain toll for the 
 use of the road. It soon became a lucrative business, 
 and hotel-keepers and others embarked in the enter- 
 prise, and a strong opposition was raised up between 
 the rival owners or companies. The old carnage, the 
 Experiment, was found too heavy for one horse ; a new 
 one was placed in its stead, and the old pioneer was 
 afterward used as a railroad cabin near Shildon. To 
 the driver of the old Experiment the first introduction 
 of lights being used in passenger-cars, for the comfort of 
 passengers, is due. This honest and considerate driver, 
 whose name was Dixon, nightly purchased a penny 
 candle, and when he was belated and it became dark in 
 the carriage, he would light his candle and stick it upon 
 the table running along the centre of the carriage, be- 
 tween the two rows of seats, which added much to the 
 comfort of his patrons. 
 
 At that time the transportation of freight, like that 
 of passengers, was not confined to the company alone. 
 According to their charters, railroads were public high- 
 ways. Any individual or company had the right of 
 using the road with their own private wagons on pay- 
 ing a certain stipulated toll affixed by law. Like the 
 passenger- carriages, private individuals owned freight- 
 wagons for the transportation of produce or their own 
 manufactures to market, and used the road for the pur- 
 pose. This traffic, like the passenger transportation, 
 soon led to confusion and delays. Being a single-track 
 
FIRST TRAINS. 59 
 
 road, with only occasional sidings or turnonts here and 
 there apon its ronte, the carriages often met upon the 
 way, going in opposite directions. Then would begin 
 a violent contest "between the rival drivers, not only in 
 words, but sometimes resulting in blows, to determine 
 who should back to the siding and turn off to allow the 
 other to pass. In these contests not unfrequently the 
 passengers would take sides with their respective 
 drivers, and scenes of riot and pugilistic displays were 
 often the result of these contests, until one party or the 
 other would be compelled to succumb. After a while 
 this difficulty was somewhat diminished by the opposi- 
 tion parties coming to a kind of understanding that, 
 in meeting upon the track, the carriage containing the 
 lightest load should back off to the nearest siding ; and 
 finally it became a fixed rule that, whichever carriage 
 arrived last at the half-way post, planted between the 
 two sidings, should back off to allow the other to pass. 
 This plan, though it tended in a great measure to render 
 less frequent these difficulties and contests, subjected 
 the working of the road to much trouble and delay, 
 so that these private enterprises were superseded by 
 the company commencing the regular passenger trans- 
 portation system, which by that time became a source of 
 much importance in the traffic upon the road, and must 
 be considered as the first introduction of this source of 
 profit upon all railroads of our time, exceeding, in many 
 cases, the income from the freight department. 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FIRST DELIBERATIONS ON RAILROADS. 
 
 When the construction of that great work, the 
 Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, was commenced, 
 and even after it had been in progress for several years, 
 its directors had not determined the motive power to 
 be employed upon it. Horse-power had the strongest 
 advocates. Another method, and one having a number 
 of advocates, was that of stationary engines to draw the 
 trains along. By this method the line of road over 
 which the transport is conducted is divided into a num- 
 ber of short sections, at the extremity of each of which 
 an engine is placed. The wagons or carriages, when 
 drawn by any one of these engines to its own station, 
 are detached and connected with the extremity of the 
 chain worked by the next stationary engine, and thus 
 the journey is performed from station to station by 
 separate engines. It was proposed to divide the Liver- 
 pool and Manchester road into nineteen stations, or 
 sections of about a mile and a half each, with twenty- 
 one engines fixed at the different points to work the 
 chains forward. Not a single professional man of any 
 eminence could be found who preferred the locomotive 
 over the fixed-engine power as above, George Stephenson 
 only excepted. He stuck to the locomotive-power ; and 
 finally committees were appointed at his suggestion to 
 witness the performance of his locomotives employed 
 in hauling coal upon the Stockton and Darlington Rail- 
 road. The report from the chairman of one of these 
 committees states that, " although it would be practica- 
 ble to go at any speed that the size of the wheel and the 
 
FIRST DELIBERATIONS ON RAILROADS. 6] 
 
 number of strokes in the engine might allow, yet it 
 would not "be safe to go at a greater rate than nine or 
 ten miles an hour." This was considered a very high 
 rate of speed in those days. The completion of the 
 road was fast drawing nigh. The great tunnel at 
 Liverpool was finished; a firm road over Cheat-Moss 
 was completed ; and yet the directors had not settled in 
 their minds what power was to be used upon the road. 
 Prejudice still existed against the use of locomotives. 
 The road had been constructed throughout its entire 
 length in a most substantial manner, and cost upward 
 of £20,000 per mile, amounting to £820,000. The rails 
 used were made of forged iron, in lengths of fifteen feet 
 each, and weighed 175 lbs. each. At the distance of 
 every three feet the rail rests on blocks of stone, let into 
 the ground and containing about four cubic feet each. 
 Into each block, two holes, six inches deep and one inch 
 in diameter, are drilled; into these are driven oak 
 plugs, and the cast-iron chairs into which the rails are 
 fitted are spiked down to the plugs, forming a structure 
 of great solidity, and in every respect calculated for any J 
 power that might be determined upon by the Board. 
 
 Finally, in the spring of 1829, the directors ap- 
 pointed Messrs. Stephenson and Lock, and Messrs. 
 Walker and Eastrick, experienced engineers, to visit 
 the different railways where practical information re- 
 specting the comparative effects of stationary and loco- 
 motive engines could be obtained; and from these 
 gentlemen they received reports on the relative merits 
 of the two methods, according to their judgment. The 
 result of the comparison of the two systems was, that 
 the capital necessary to be advanced to establish a line 
 of stationary engines was considered greater than that 
 which was necessary to construct an equal power in 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 locomotives; that the annual expense for maintaining 
 the stationary engines was likewise greater than for the 
 locomotives, and consequently the expense of transpor- 
 tation by a stationary system was greater in like propor- 
 tion. The system of locomotive-power, therefore, was 
 entitled to the preference. Yet another consideration 
 influenced the directors in its favor, which was this: 
 Should an accident occur on any part of the railroad 
 worked by stationary engines, a suspension of work 
 along the entire road would be involved in the conse- 
 quences ; accidents arising from the fracture of any of 
 the chairs, or from any derangement in the working of 
 any of the fixed engines, would effectually stop the 
 intercourse along the entire line; while in the use of 
 locomotive-power an accident could only affect the par- 
 ticular train of carriages drawn by the engine to which 
 the mishap might occur. " The one system," says Mr. 
 Walker, in his report, " is like a chain extending from 
 Liverpool to Manchester, the failure of a single link of 
 which would destroy the whole ; while the other (the 
 locomotive system) is like a number of short and 
 unconnected chains, the destruction of any one of which 
 does not interfere with the effect of the others, and the 
 loss of which may be supplied by others with facility." 
 However, to determine the matter, a prize was offered 
 by the directors of £500 for a locomotive which 
 should be produced by a certain day, and perform a 
 certain duty, as follows : 
 
 1. The engine must effectually consume its own smoke. 
 
 2. The engine, if of six tons' weight, must be able to draw after 
 it, day by day, twenty tons' weight, including the tender and 
 water-tank, at ten miles an hour, with a pressure of steam upon 
 the boiler not exceeding fifty pounds to the square inch. 
 
 3. The boiler must have two safty-valves, neither of which 
 
FIRST DELIBERATIONS ON RAILROADS. 63 
 
 must be fastened down and one of them completely out of the 
 control of the engineer. 
 
 4. The engine and boiler must be supported upon springs and 
 rest on six wheels, the height of the whole not exceeding fifteen 
 feet to the top of the chimney. 
 
 5. The engine with water must not weigh more than six tons, 
 but an engine of less weight would be preferred, although draw- 
 ing a proportionally less load behind it ; if of only four and one- 
 half tons, it might be put on four wheels. 
 
 6. A mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine, showing 
 the steam-pressure about forty-five pounds to the square inch. 
 
 7 The engine must be delivered, complete and ready for trial, 
 at the Liverpool end of the railway, not later than October 1, 
 1829. 
 
 8. The price of the engine not to exceed £550. 
 
 The project and the conditions were thought to "be 
 preposterous. An eminent gentleman of Liverpool, 
 afterward inspector of steam-packets, said that " only a 
 parcel of charlatans would have issued such a set of 
 conditions ; " that it had been " proved to be impossible 
 to make a locomotive-engine to go ten miles an hour ; 
 but, if it was ever done, he would undertake to eat a 
 stewed engine- wheel for his breakfast ! " 
 
 The Stephenson locomotive factory was still in 
 operation at Newcastle, but for a long time it did not 
 pay expenses. Mr. Stephenson now set about the con- 
 struction of his far-famed engine the Rocket, to contend 
 for the prize just offered by the Liverpool and Manches- 
 ter railroad directors. As the name of Mr. Stephen- 
 son's Eocket is familiar in the mind of every railroad 
 engineer and machinist of the present day, we will de- 
 scribe it, for the information of all who feel interested 
 in the subject: The boiler of this new engine was 
 cylindrical in form, with flat ends; it was six feet in 
 length and three feet in diameter, the upper half of the 
 boiler used as a reservoir for the steam, the lower half 
 
64 
 
 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IX AMERICA. 
 
 "being filled with water ; through this lower part twenty- 
 five copper tubes three inches in diameter extended 
 with both ends open, one presented to the furnace or 
 fire-box, and the other end opening into the chimney. 
 The fire-box, two feet wide and three feet high, attached 
 immediately behind the boiler, was also surrounded 
 with water. The cylinders, two in number, were placed 
 on each side of the boiler in an oblique position, the 
 one end being nearly even with the top of the boiler, and 
 the other end pointing toward the centre of the foremost 
 driving pair of wheels, with which the connection was 
 made from the piston-rod by a pin to the outside of 
 the wheel. 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 THE SOCKET LOCOMOTrYE. 
 
 The Eocket with its load of water weighed only four 
 and one-quarter tons, and was supported upon four 
 
COMPETITION FOR PRIZES. 65 
 
 wheels (not coupled). The tender was four- wheeled, and 
 similar in shape to a wagon ; the foremost part contained 
 the fuel, and the hinder part a water-cask. 
 
 The engine, when completed, was shipped to Liver- 
 pool and ready for the trial, with the most sanguine 
 expectations of Mr. Stephenson of its success. 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 COMPETITION FOR PRIZES. 
 
 A great interest was manifested at Liverpool and 
 throughout the country at the approaching competition. 
 Engineers and scientific men arrived from all quarters 
 of the world, to witness the trial of mechanical skill 
 about to "be displayed. 
 
 On the day appointed the following engines were 
 upon the spot, and entered for the prize : 
 
 The Novelty, made "by Messrs. Braithwait and Ericsson. 
 The Saists-paeeil, made by Mr. Timothy Hockworth. 
 The Rocket, made by Messrs. Stephenson and Co., Newcastle. 
 The Peesevebahce, made by Mr. Burtstall. 
 
 The day of trial was changed from the 1st to the 
 6th of October, in order to give the new engines time to 
 get in good working-order. Many thousand spectators 
 were present. The Rocket, although not the first 
 entered, was, nevertheless, the first ready for the trial. 
 The piece of road to be used for the occasion was two 
 miles in length, upon which the locomotives were to 
 travel to and fro. The distance run by the Rocket 
 was about twelve miles in fifty-three minutes. The 
 
66 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 Novelty was next tried. It was a very complicated 
 machine, carrying the water and fuel upon the same 
 wheels as the engine, and the whole weighed three tons 
 one hundred lbs. On account of some difficulty in de- 
 termining the load she was to draw, she was not tested 
 like the Rocket, but was run over the road, making 
 sometimes twenty-four miles per hour. 
 
 Fig. 5. 
 
 THE NOVELTY LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 The Sans-pareil was next tried, but no particular 
 experiment was made on that clay. 
 
 The contest was postponed until the following day, 
 but, before the judges arrived upon the ground, the 
 bellows for creating the draught or blast in the Novelty 
 gave way, and it was incapable of going through its 
 performance. A defect was also discovered in the 
 boiler of the Sans-pareil, and time was allowed to get 
 it repaired. Meantime, Mr. Stephenson, to lessen the 
 disappointment to the vast crowd assembled to witness 
 these experiments by the delay, brought out the Rocket 
 and attached it to a coach containing thirty persons, 
 and ran it along the road at the rate of from twenty-six 
 
COMPETITION FOR PRIZES. 
 
 G7 
 
 to thirty miles an hour, much to the delight and gratifi- 
 cation of the spectators. The judges then ordered the 
 Rocket to be in readiness the following morning to go 
 through its trial according to the prescribed conditions. 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 THE SANS-PAEEIL LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 On the morning of October 8, 1829, the Rocket was 
 again upon the road for the contest. The fire-box was 
 filled with coke, the fire lighted, and the steam raised 
 until it lifted the safety-valve loaded to the pressure of 
 fifty pounds to the square inch. These preparations 
 occupied fifty-seven minutes. The engine being start- 
 ed on its journey, dragged after it thirteen tons' weight 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 in carriages or wagons, and made the first ten trips 
 backward and forward npon the two miles of the road, 
 running the thirty-five miles, including stoppages, in 
 one hour and forty-eight minutes. 
 
 The second ten trips were in like manner accom- 
 plished in two hours and three minutes. The maximum 
 velocity of the Rocket during the trial-trip was about 
 twenty-nine miles an hour, or three times the speed 
 that one of the judges had declared to be the limit of 
 possibility. 
 
 Neither the Novelty nor the Sans-pareil was ready 
 for trial until the 10th. The weight of carriages at- 
 tached to the Novelty was only seven tons. In start- 
 ing, the engine went off in fine style for the two miles, 
 but, on returning, the pipe for the forcing-pump burst 
 and put an end to the trial. The pipe having been re- 
 paired, the engine made a trial-trip, without a load, and 
 is said to have run from twenty-four to twenty-eight 
 miles an hour. 
 
 The Sans-pareil was not ready until the 13th, and, 
 when the boiler and tender were filled with water, it 
 weighed 400 lbs. beyond the prescribed conditions of 
 four-wheel engines ; but nevertheless the judges allowed 
 it to run upon the same footing as the others, and it 
 travelled at the average speed of fourteen miles an hour, 
 with its load ; but at the eighth trip the cold-water pipe 
 got out of order, and it could proceed no farther. It 
 was then determined by the judges to award the prize 
 to the successful engine on the following day, October 
 14th. 
 
 When the trial commenced, the Novelty again broke 
 down. The builder of the Sans-pareil requested an 
 other trial, but the judges decided that she was be- 
 yond the prescribed weight, and besides consumed and 
 
COMPETITION FOR PRIZES. 69 
 
 wasted too mucli coke to make her a successful com- 
 petitor, using 692 lbs. of coke per hour when running. 
 
 The Perseverance was then tried for the first time, 
 and found unable to move more than five or six miles 
 an hour. 
 
 The Eocket was the only engine that had performed 
 all the stipulated conditions, and the prize of £500 was 
 accordingly awarded to its makers. The Rocket had 
 eclipsed all other engines that had as yet been con- 
 structed, and determined the question of the use of 
 locomotive power upon the Liverpool and Manchester 
 Railroad. 
 
 Our narrative now brings us down to the period 
 when locomotives were first introduced into the United 
 States, a. d. 1829. Two important railroads had been 
 commenced, and were in successful working-order, as 
 far as they had been built. But horse-power upon 
 levels, and stationary engines upon steep inclines, were 
 the only powers resorted to. Locomotives had not yet 
 been introduced. The experiments in England had 
 been heard of in this country, and were frequently 
 discussed by those interested in the success of rail- 
 roads. The experiments of Mr. Stephenson had been 
 carefully watched. His name and fame, as an eminent 
 engineer, were familiar to the minds of the people of 
 this country. His success with his " Rocket " excited 
 the liveliest interest here, and equally as much so as in 
 England. His bearing off the £500 prize was hailed 
 with rapture by thousands in America, who admired 
 him for his genius and indomitable perseverance. 
 
 We will now leave Mr. Stephenson and his improve- 
 ments in England, and turn to the period of 1829, in 
 the United States, when, although, as before said, two 
 important railroads and two coal-roads were in success- 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 ful progress, or in operation in different sections of the 
 country, yet, as in England in its earliest day, for min- 
 ing purposes, only horse-power was used, and no attempt 
 had "been made to construct a locomotive, nor had one 
 been imported from abroad. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 EAILROADS IN AMERICA. 
 
 The first railroad built in the United States was 
 three miles in length, extending from the granite-quar- 
 ries of Quincy, Massachusetts, to the Neponset River. 
 This road was commenced in 1826, and completed in 
 1827. It was built with granite sleepers, seven and a 
 half feet long, laid eight feet apart. The rails, five 
 feet apart, were of pine, a foot deep, covered with an 
 oak plate, and these with flat bars of iron. 
 
 The second railroad was commenced in January, 
 1827, and completed in May of the same year, extend- 
 ing from the coal-mines in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, 
 to the Lehigh River, a distance of nine miles. From 
 the summit of the road, and within half a mile of the 
 mines, the descent by a plane was nine hundred and 
 eighty-two feet, inclined two hundred and twenty-five 
 feet to the river, and thence twenty-five feet in a shute 
 to the spot where the cars were discharged into the 
 boats. The cars descended by gravity with the loaded 
 wagons, and were drawn up again by mules. The 
 rails of the road were of timber, laid on wooden sleep- 
 ers, and strapped with flat iron bars. 
 
KAILKOADS IN AMEKICA. 71 
 
 In 1828 the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company 
 constructed a railroad from their coal-mines to Hones- 
 dale, the termination of their canal. The Baltimore and 
 Ohio Bailroad and the South Carolina Eailroad were 
 also commenced in the same year. 
 
 It is said that at the time (1812) when De Witt 
 Clinton was urging the passage, through the Legislature 
 of New York, of the act for the construction of the Erie 
 Canal, Colonel Stevens, of Hoboken, astonished that 
 body by announcing that he could build a railroad at 
 a much less cost than the proposed canal, and on which 
 the transportation, by means of cars drawn by steam 
 locomotives, could be carried on at a considerably 
 cheaper rate, and at a much higher degree of speed than 
 was possible on any canal. He laid before them the 
 results of his numerous and long-continued researches, 
 but his enemies openly laughed at him, and called him 
 a maniac, and even some of his best friends regarded 
 him as a man who had lost himself in experimental 
 science. Had he lived in the days of poor Solomon de 
 Cause or of Friar Bacon, he would probably, like those 
 eminent men, have been consigned to a dungeon. The 
 nineteenth century contented itself with sneering at 
 him as a visionary, and refused to entertain his propo- 
 sitions. His distinguished, wise, and sensible friend, 
 Chancellor Livingston, in a letter addressed to Stevens, 
 dated at Albany, March 2d, 1811, only a year before, 
 expresses his opinion of the railroad locomotive schemes 
 of which his friend was so strenuous an advocate. The 
 chancellor thus writes : 
 
 "I had before read of your very ingenious proposition as to 
 railway communication. I fear, however, on mature reflection, 
 that they will be liable to serious objections, and ultimately prove 
 more expensive than a canal. They must be double, so as to 
 
72 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 prevent the danger of two such heavy bodies meeting. The wall 
 on which they are placed must be at least four feet below the 
 surface, to avoid frost, and three feet above, to avoid snow, and 
 must be clasped with iron, and even then would hardly sustain so 
 heavy a weight as you propose moving at the rate of four miles 
 an hour on wheels. As to wood, it would not last a week. They 
 must be covered with iron, and that, too, very thick and strong. 
 The means of stopping these heavy carriages without a great 
 shock, and of preventing them from running on each other — for 
 there would be many running on the road at once — would be very 
 difficult. In case of accidental stops or necessary stays to take 
 wood or water, etc., many accidents would happen. The carriage 
 of condensing water would be very troublesome. Upon the whole, 
 I fear the expense would be much greater than that of canals, 
 without being so convenient." 
 
 And yet, only fourteen years afterward, such was 
 the rapid development of the steam locomotive, the 
 Legislature of the same State granted a charter incor- 
 porating the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, a line, 
 seventeen miles long, running between Albany and 
 Schenectady; and there are now no less than three 
 thousand one hundred and ninety-five miles of railway 
 in the State of New York alone. 
 
 Next to Colonel Stevens, and as early as 1819, we 
 have in the United States another advocate for railroads, 
 with steam locomotion. We learn, by an extract from the 
 current news of that day, copied from a literary paper 
 called Tlie Villager, that the following memorial was 
 presented to Congress at the previous session, which 
 was referred to the Committee on Commerce and Manu- 
 factures. The following is a copy of the document : 
 
 " The memorial of Benjamin Dearborn, of Boston, respectfully 
 represents that he has devised in theory a mode of propelling 
 wheel-carriages in a manner probably unknown in any country ; 
 and has perfectly satisfied his own mind of the practicability of 
 
RAILROADS IN AMERICA. 73 
 
 conveying mails and passengers with such celerity as has never 
 before been accomplished, and with complete security from rob- 
 beries on the highway. 
 
 " For obtaining these results, he relies on carriages propelled by 
 steam, on level railroads, and contemplates that they be furnished 
 with accommodations for passengers to take their meals and their 
 rest during the passage, as in packets ; that they be sufficiently 
 high for persons to walk in without stooping, and so capacious 
 as to accommodate twenty, thirty, or more passengers, with their 
 
 " The inequalities of the earth's surface will require levels of 
 various elevations in the railroads ; and your memorialist has 
 devised means which he believes will be completely effectual for lift- 
 ing the carriage, by the inherent power of its machinery, from one 
 level to another, as also for the passage of carriages by each other, 
 on the same road; and he feels confident that whenever such an 
 establishment shall be advanced to its most improved state, the 
 carriages will move with a rapidity at least equal to a mile in 
 three minutes. 
 
 " Protection from the attacks of assailants will be insured ; not 
 only by the celerity of the movement, but by weapons of defence 
 belonging to the carriage, and always kept ready in it to be 
 wielded by the number of passengers constantly travelling in 
 this spacious vehicle, where they would have liberty to stand erect, 
 and to exercise their arms in their own defence. 
 
 " The practicability of running steam-carriages on the common 
 road was long since advocated in a publication, by that ingenious 
 and useful citizen, Oliver Evans : your memorialist, therefore, does 
 not assume the merit of originating the idea of steam-carriages, 
 but only of modifying the system in such a manner as to produce 
 the results here stated, which could not be effected on a common 
 road. 
 
 " Relying upon the candor of the national council, this memo- 
 rial is laid before them with the desire that ingenious and scientific 
 artists, in the different sections of our country may be consulted, 
 by direction of Congress, on the probability of accomplishing the 
 purposes here anticipated; and that an experiment be made, if 
 sanctioned by their favorable opinions ; for if the design can be 
 put into successful operation by the Government, a great revenue 
 would eventually be derived from the establishment, besides the 
 advantages before enumerated." 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 We never have heard that any report was made by 
 the committee respecting it ; yet all these results have 
 been signally realized within a little more than a 
 third of a century. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FIRST ENGLISH LOCOMOTIVE BROUGHT TO AMERICA. 
 
 The competition in England for the £500 prize 
 attracted many distinguished engineers, scientific men, 
 and enterprising gentlemen, from all parts of the world, 
 to witness the contest. Among the engineers from 
 America was Horatio Allen, Esq., late assistant engi- 
 neer upon the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Rail- 
 road, who was on a trip to England to examine into 
 the improvements in the new mode of intercommunica- 
 tion. Another enterprising gentleman from America, 
 who went out expressly to witness these experiments, 
 was Mr. E. L. Miller, of Charleston, South Carolina. 
 Of this gentleman we shall hereafter have occasion to 
 speak more fully. While in Europe, Mr. Horatio Allen 
 was appointed by John B. Jervis, Esq., the chief engi- 
 neer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad 
 Company, to contract for the iron for the road just 
 graded, and also for three locomotives. Mr. Allen was 
 an excellent person for this important duty, as Mr. 
 Jervis well knew, having been associated with him in 
 the construction of the road ; he was an engineer of dis- 
 tinction and experience. We shall have to speak of 
 him hereafter, in connection with the running of the 
 
FIRST ENGLISH LOCOMOTIVE. 75 
 
 first locomotive imported and put upon a railroad in 
 America. 
 
 In this work the author has promised to substan- 
 tiate every position he may assume, by giving to the 
 readers all the evidence upon which his statements 
 are based, and thereby enable them to judge for them- 
 selves as to the correctness of his history. 
 
 On this visit of Mr. Allen to England, he purchased 
 for the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad 
 Company three locomotives. The " Stourbridge Lion " 
 was one of these, and the first, which soon after arrived 
 in New York. Its performances in the yard of the 
 works where it was landed (the West Point Foundery 
 Works, foot of Beach Street) were witnessed by thou- 
 sands, attracted by the novelty of the machine. In a 
 letter addressed to the author by David Matthew, Esq., 
 late of Philadelphia, who resided in New York in 1829, 
 and had charge of the men while fitting up the machin- 
 ery in the shops of the West Point Foundery Associa- 
 tion, to whom the author had addressed a letter making 
 some inquiries, he writes : 
 
 " Philadelphia, December 6, 1859. 
 
 "Me. Wm. H. Brown— 
 
 "Deab Sie : Yours of the 20th November is received, inquir- 
 ing about the first locomotive imported into this country; the first 
 built here, and on what date and railroad it was run. In compli- 
 ance with your request, I herewith with pleasure send you the fol- 
 lowing history, partly from memory and partly from records and 
 memoranda upon the subject in some documents I have preserved 
 among a file of old papers and documents. 
 
 "Some time about the middle of May, 1829, the locomotive 
 called the Stourbridge Lion arrived from England, on the ship 
 John Jay. It was landed at the wharf of the "West Point 
 Foundery Works, foot of Beach Street, New-York City. This 
 engine was in charge of Horatio Allen, Esq., assistant engineer of 
 the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad Company. The 
 
76 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 locomotive was blocked up in our yard, and steam put to it from 
 our works, and it became the object of curiosity to thousands who 
 visited the works from day to day, to see the curious " critter " 
 go through the motions only, as there was no road for it about the 
 premises. After a short stay in New York, about the 1st of July, 
 it was shipped up the North Kiver to Rondout, for the Delaware 
 and Hudson Canal Company, and thence by canal to Carbondale, 
 where it was tried upon their railroad at Honesdale, run a few 
 miles out upon the road, then taken off the track, the road not 
 being sufficiently strong to carry it. It was housed and held for 
 sale for many years." 
 
 So much, at present, for Mr. Matthew's letter upon 
 the first English locomotive in America. To this 
 letter, however, we will hereafter again refer. Mean- 
 time, for the information of such of our readers as may 
 not be acquainted with the character and reputation of 
 Mr. Matthew, we will refer to the following certificates 
 from prominent and well-known citizens : 
 
 " New York, March, 1831. 
 " Mr. David Matthew has served an apprenticeship of four 
 years and eleven months in the steam-engine factory of the 
 West Point Association, as a tinner and fitter-up, in course of 
 which time he has conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of 
 his employers, and I recommend him as a trusty and good work- 
 man. . "Wm. Kemble, 
 
 " Agent for the West Point Association." 
 
 " Albany, December 1, 1831. 
 " The bearer, Mr. David Matthew, has been employed to run 
 the locomotive De Witt Clinton on the Mohawk and Hudson Rail- 
 road, since the opening of the work. I have often been on the 
 engine with him, and seen much of his management and conduct 
 in reference to his business, and believe him to be a sober, indus- 
 trious man, and well qualified for such work. I think him very 
 prudent in managing an engine. 
 
 " John B. Jeevis, 
 " Chief Engineer Hudson and Mohawk Railroad" 
 
FIRST ENGLISH LOCOMOTIVE. 77 
 
 "Schenectady, September 24, 1835. 
 " By a resolution of the Board of Directors of the Utica and 
 Schenectady Railroad Company, passed September 23, 1835, 
 David Matthew is employed as chief locomotive engineer, at a 
 salary of one thousand one hundred dollars per year. 
 
 "Wm. C. Young, 
 
 " Chief Engineer." 
 
 "Office of the Utica and Schenectady Railroad Company. 
 
 " Albany, August 29, 1842. 
 " To whom it may concern : 
 
 " The hearer, Mr. David Matthew, has been employed by the 
 company during the past six and a half years, as chief locomotive 
 engineer and machinist, and in all respects has shown himself 
 honest, industrious, and intelligent, and is worthy of patronage and 
 confidence. 
 
 "Erasttjs Corning." 
 
 These and many other evidences of Mr. Matthew's 
 character and reliability could be produced, but the 
 foregoing will no doubt be sufficient. 
 
 From a mass of useful information received by the 
 author in several letters from John B. Jervis, Esq., who 
 was in 1829 chief engineer of the Delaware and Hud- 
 son Canal Company, we make the following extracts 
 in reference to the arrival of the first locomotive in 
 America : 
 
 " Rome, New York, July 11, 1810. 
 "Dear Sir: Tours of the 1st inst. was duly received ; absence 
 from home and special duties have delayed my answer. As it re- 
 quired the overhauling of papers forty years old, it could not be 
 done promptly. The name of the first locomotive ordered from Eng- 
 land, and the first in America, was the Stourbridge Lion, and to 
 your questions when and where it was landed, I will refer you to 
 the following letters addressed to me at the time, by Horatio 
 Allen, Esq., who was in New- York City waiting its arrival, and 
 had contracted for it when in England. On referring to my papers, 
 I find that the engine arrived at Rondout on the way to 
 Honesdale from New York, on the 4th of July, 1829. My recol- 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 lections are that it was put in motion on the Carbondale Railroad, 
 at Honesdale, in August, same year, most probably the early part 
 of August. This locomotive and two or three others were ob- 
 tained from Englaud for the said road, but only the Lion was set 
 up. It worked very well, and no doubt would have done good 
 service, had the trestle-work (of which there was a large portion 
 on the road) been sufficient to sustain the weight of the engine in 
 working. It was the intention of having engines of one and a 
 quarter ton on a wheel as the heaviest ; but the builders of the 
 engine at that time had little experience, and when the machine 
 was constructed it was found to have nearly two tons on a wheel, 
 and this the road was not designed for. Subsequently the road 
 has been made a gravity railroad, all the power in both directions 
 being stationary; which is no doubt the best economy for the 
 circumstances and nature of the traffic. 
 
 " Mr. Allen's letters, which follow, will give you all necessary 
 facts relative to the arrival of the first locomotive in America. 
 In regard to the present officers of the Delaware and Hudson 
 Canal Company, I have little acquaintance with them ; all the old 
 ones are gone, excepting, perhaps, Isaac N. Seymour, who was for 
 many years treasurer (now retired), and living in New York. 
 He could give you much information, by referring to the file of 
 letters for 1829, in the office of the company in New York, 
 including those of August ; they would give the time of the run- 
 ning of the engine at Honesdale, in letters from Mr. Horatio 
 Allen to myself. In your last letter to me, you make some inqui- 
 ries concerning my invention of the principle of using the truck 
 under the front part of the engine, to support and to govern the 
 machine in running curves. I believe I sent you, some time since, 
 a copy of my work upon railway property, etc. In that work, com- 
 mencing at page 153, you will find all the information upon that 
 subject you may desire. I shall only say here that I was the 
 inventor, and put in successful operation, the locomotive-truck. 
 
 " I notice that they are giving more attention to it in England, 
 where they heretofore had strong prejudices against it, and now 
 they attribute it, as a new thing, to Farlie, who introduced it in 
 some new and small machinery in England. All that Farlie has 
 done is simply to adopt my truck, "Wishing you great success in 
 your undertaking, I am very truly yours, 
 
 " John B. Jervis." 
 
DATE OP ITS RUNNING. 79 
 
 We will hereafter notice the improvement alluded to 
 by Mr. Jervis, in the last paragraph of his highly-inter- 
 resting letter, viz., the introduction of the truck under 
 the front part of the engine. Of this improvement he 
 is, no doubt, the inventor, having put it in successful 
 operation in this country, nearly forty years ago, as we 
 are prepared to show, England's claim to the contrary 
 notwithstanding. 
 
 "New York, May 12, 1829. 
 " John B. Jervis, Esq. : 
 
 . . . . " We at length have something definite on the 
 subject of our locomotive. The Canada, that sailed from Liver- 
 pool April 15th, arrived this afternoon, and brings us news of the 
 shipment of our locomotive, on April 8th, on the John Jay, which 
 has not yet got in, though it sailed one week before the Canada. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " Horatio Allen." 
 
 "New Yoke, May 17, 1829. 
 " John B. Jervis, Esq. : 
 
 . . . . " The John Jay has arrived, as I informed you. On 
 Monday the engine is to be landed, and sent to Kemble's establish- 
 ment. I hope to have it all together and in operation by Satur- 
 day next. Yours, 
 
 " Horatio Allen." 
 
 OHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 DATE OP ITS ETJKNING. 
 
 The exact date of the arrival and landing of the first 
 English locomotive that was ever run upon a railroad 
 in America being now settled by Mr. Horatio Allen's 
 letters to John B. Jervis, Esq., the next object of the 
 author was to learn upon what day that engine was 
 first run upon a railroad. For this purpose, by advice 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 of Mr. Jervis, he addressed a letter to 0. F. Young, Esq., 
 the present general superintendent of the Delaware 
 and Hudson Railroad and Canal Company. Previ- 
 ously to receiving Mr. Young's answer, the author ad- 
 dressed a letter to Thomas Dickson, Esq., the president 
 of the company, to which he received the following 
 reply. 
 
 "Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, 
 
 "Scranton, February 26, 18*70. 
 
 "Wm. H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 "Dear Sir: I have. yours of the 19th inst. C. F. Young, of 
 Honesdale, Pennsylvania, our general superintendent, has been 
 looking up, for you, the matters you refer to, and has doubtless 
 written you ere this. In a conversation I had with Mr. Young, a 
 few days ago, he told me that the time of the trial-trip he had 
 found positively to have been between the 3d and 8th of August, 
 1 829. That it was in 1829, and on one of the days mentioned, there 
 is not the shadow of a doubt, and that it was the first locomotive 
 run upon this continent is beyond question. 
 
 " We take pleasure in affording you every opportunity in mak- 
 ing your investigation ; and, that there may be no mistake, I will 
 enclose your letter to Mr. Young, that his attention may be called 
 to it again. 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 " Thomas Dickson, President" 
 
 Almost the same mail brought the long-looked-for 
 letter from Mr. Young ; and, as he gives the date of the 
 first day's trial near to the consummation of the author's 
 desire upon that subject, we will, as we promised our 
 readers, present Mr. Young's letter, just as it was writ- 
 ten, as every portion of it is of interest : 
 
 " Office of General Superintendent, 
 
 " Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, 
 
 u Honesdale, Pa., February 23, 1870. 
 
 "Wm. H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 " Dear Sir : I owe you an apology for the long delay in fur- 
 nishing you what information I might be able to obtain respecting 
 
DATE OF ITS RUNNING. 81 
 
 the date of the experimental trip of the first locomotive-engine 
 imported by our company. I waited to hear from a gentleman 
 who was to have examined a file of newspapers, published at 
 Montrose, Susquehanna County, in 1829 ; but I have not yet heard 
 from him. I have not been able, from any thing I can find in the 
 books or papers of the company, to fix the exact day on which the 
 trial-trip took place. I find from our collector's books, at Eddy- 
 ville, that two locomotive-engines were cleared at that office, and 
 started up the canal, July 16, 1829. I do not find any record of 
 their arrival at Honesdale, which was probably five or six days 
 thereafter. 
 
 " The old inhabitants of this place, who were present at the 
 time, agree that the experimental trip was made in August, 1829. 
 Hon. John Torry informs me that he finds in the books of his 
 father, Jason Torry, a charge against the Delaware and Hudson 
 Canal Company, dated August 3, 1829, for labor of men and 
 horses, drawing stones, ' this day,' to load a railroad-car. This 
 car, loaded, with stone, is understood and believed to be the one 
 which was to be attached to the locomotive on its trial-trip. I 
 find many, who were present at the time, remember the car-load 
 of stone designed to be attached to the locomotive on its trial-trip. 
 At the celebration, on the day the experiment was made, a young 
 man, by the name of Alva Adams, had his arm badly shattered 
 by the premature discharge of the cannon which was used. 
 Dr. E. T. Losey, who is now living here, assisted in amputating 
 the arm and afterward attended the patient. Dr. Losey finds the 
 charge on his books, for amputating, dated August 8, 1829. The 
 trial-trip, no doubt, took place some time from the 3d to the 8th 
 of August, 1829. Dr. Losey thinks the arm was amputated the 
 same day on which the injury was received ; but says he might 
 have omitted to make the charge for three or four days, but is not 
 certain of this. 
 
 " I have had the file of letters for 1829 examined, at our office 
 in New York, without finding any letters from John B. Jervis or 
 Horatio Allen which fix the date of the experiment. I am of opin- 
 ion that there were such letters, and that they have been lent 
 to some previous explorer, who has failed to return them. 
 
 "John B. Jervis's annual report for 1829 I have examined (it 
 is now in our New- York office) ; but, while he speaks of the causes 
 of failure as to the success of the locomotive, he does not give the 
 day on which the experiment was made. 
 
82 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 " I am sorry that I am unable to fix the exact day on which 
 the trial-trip of the first locomotive was made, but there is no 
 doubt it occurred some time from the 3d to the 8th of August, 
 1829. " Tours very truly, 
 
 " C. F. Yotjkg, 
 " General 
 
 Determined to leave no stone unturned and no 
 effort untried to establish the exact day the first loco- 
 motive was run upon a railroad in America, the author 
 (taking the hint from Mr. Young's letter) addressed 
 the postmaster of Montrose, relative to the old file of 
 newspapers said to be in existence, stating the object 
 of his inquiry. In a few days he received a rej)ly from 
 a lady, Miss Emily C. Blackman, offering her aid and 
 services in examining the said file, and through her 
 energy and perseverance he received much valuable 
 information, by following which, he was rewarded with 
 complete success. In one of Miss Blackman's letters, 
 she corroborates Mr. Young's information, by the fol- 
 lowing extract from the Montrose paper : 
 
 " Melancholy Accident. — We are informed that a young man, 
 by the name of Adams, was severely injured on Saturday last, at 
 Honesdale, by the sudden and unexpected discharge of a cannon. 
 Adams and others were engaged in firing signals on starting the 
 locomotive-engine." — From the Dundaff Republican, hut no date. 
 
 Through the kindness of Miss Blackman, the author 
 learned that a file of the Dundaff Republican of 1829 
 could be obtained from Dilton Yarrington, Esq., of 
 Carbondale ; who, on application, kindly forwarded the 
 same to the author. From this file, under date of Thurs- 
 day, August 13, 1829, we extract the following : 
 
 " Melancholy Accident. — "We are informed that a young man, 
 by the name of Adams, was severely injured on Saturday last, at 
 Honesdale," etc., etc. 
 
LANDING IN AMERICA. 
 
 " Saturday last," before Thursday, 13th, was the 8th 
 day of August, 1829, and, without a shadow of doubt, 
 the day the first locomotive turned a driving-wheel upon 
 a road on the American Continent. 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 LANDING IN AMEEICA. 
 
 The author was next at a loss how to account for 
 -the long interval, some six weeks or more, which elapsed 
 after the Stourbridge Lion arrived in New York, by 
 Mr. Allen's letter, before its first appearance upon the 
 railroad at Honesdale ; when the prompt and indefati- 
 gable lady correspondent, Miss Blackman, again came 
 to his relief with a statement abstracted from her own 
 private journal, which was as follows : 
 
 From Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, June 12, 1829. 
 
 " Locomotive-Engines. — "We yesterday attended the first exhi- 
 bition of a locomotive-engine, called The Lion, imported by the 
 Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, to be used upon their rail- 
 way. On Wednesday, the engine, just imported, was tried, and 
 gave such general satisfaction, that the present exhibition was 
 unanimously attended by gentlemen of science and particular 
 intelligence. The engine was put up in Mr. Kemble's manufactory, 
 by Horatio Allen, Esq., who went to England to purchase it for 
 the company, and it gives us great satisfaction to say that the 
 most important improvements which have lately been made in the 
 construction of these engines originated with him. It is of nine- 
 horse power, having a boiler sixteen and a half feet long, with two 
 cylinders, each of three-feet stroke. It is calculated to propel 
 from sixty to eighty tons, at five miles per hour. The power is 
 applied to each wheel at about twelve inches from the centre, and 
 
84 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 the adhesive power of the wheel, arising from the weight of the 
 engine, will give locomotion to the whole structure. 
 
 " The steam was raised by the LacTcawaxen coal, and sustained 
 (although there was no friction) at between forty and fifty pounds 
 to the inch. 
 
 " We were delighted with the performance of the engine, and 
 have no doubt but the enterprising company to whom it belongs 
 will reap a rich reward for their enterprise and perseverance. 
 
 " Pleased as we were, however, with the engine, we were much 
 more pleased with the practical demonstration offered, of the 
 importance and usefulness of the coal which the company propose 
 to bring to market. It is now reduced to a certainty that the 
 Lackawaxen coal will generate steam in sufficient quantity to 
 answer all the purposes to which it is applied, and this fact is not 
 only of great importance to the company, but is worth millions to 
 our State." 
 
 To the kindness of Mr. Yarrington, of Carbondale, 
 Pennsylvania, we are indebted for the opportunity to 
 examine an old file of the Dundaff Republican, pub- 
 lished in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, for the 
 year 1829. Under date of July 23, 1829, we find the 
 following, announcing the arrival at Honesdale of the 
 Stourbridge Lion from New- York, via Delaware and 
 Hudson Canal : 
 
 "The boats begin to arrive with the travelling-engines and 
 railroad machinery ; all is bustle and business. The engine in- 
 tended for this end of the road is a plain, stout work of immense 
 height, weighing about seven tons, and will travel four miles per 
 hour, with a train of thirty to thirty-six carriages, loaded with 
 two tons of coal each ; the engine is called the Stourbridge Lion, 
 its boiler being built something in shape of that animal, and 
 painted accordingly. Now imagine to yourself the appearance of 
 that animal, the body at least twelve feet in length and five in 
 diameter, travelling at the rate of four or five miles per hour, 
 together with a host of young ones in train, and you will have 
 some idea of the scene before us ; but the enchantment is broken, 
 and in a few days the whole will be set in motion, and we will now 
 give you information that, when the whole is in operation, we shall 
 
LANDING IN AMERICA. 85 
 
 give a general notice that we intend to hold a day of rejoicing on 
 the completion of the same, and shall give a general invitation to 
 our fellow-citizens to attend. 
 
 " We have procured a large cannon, and intend to station it on 
 the top of the high peak, to sound on the occasion. 
 
 " A Strict Observer." 
 
 The following description of the locomotive Stour- 
 bridge Lion and its first experimental trip, from the 
 pen of the Hon. John Tony, a resident of Honesdale, 
 and a spectator of the events on that occasion, we will 
 present in his own language : 
 
 " Honesdale, March 28, 1810. 
 
 "Wm. H. Brown, Esq.— 
 
 "Dear Sir : Yours of the 16th inst., asking for information and 
 particulars respecting the trial-trip of the first locomotive in Hones- 
 dale, came duly to hand. I have conversed with numerous persons 
 who I thought would be likely to remember incidents concerning 
 it, and have seen my brother, who kept my father's accounts in 
 1829 (but who was in Minnesota when C. F. Young, Esq., was 
 seeking information). 
 
 " From his memorandum made at the time, the precise date of 
 the trial is determined (viz., August 8, 1829). I have prepared a 
 statement embodying so many of the incidents as it seems to me 
 you would think of any interest, and probably including some 
 which might better be omitted, as well as some which you will 
 have obtained from other sources, and have appended as foot-notes 
 such copies of the entries I have found as relate to the subject. 
 
 " The statements I have made are partly from my own knowl- 
 edge, partly such as I have obtained from interviews with persons 
 who were present, and whose statements I consider reliable, and 
 partly from written memoranda, from which I have made extracts. 
 You can use so much of it as you think advisable, and in such 
 form as you please. 
 
 " Dr. Losey, to whom you wrote, died on the 9th inst. 
 
 " The first locomotive run by the Delaware and Hudson Canal 
 Company, on their railroad at Honesdale, was constructed in 
 Stourbridge, England (a manufacturing town on the river Stour, 
 some fifteen miles westward from Birmingham). 
 
86 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 " Its plan of construction was much less simple than that of 
 those now in use. From the great number of its rods and joints, 
 some who were observers of its experimental trial on the road, 
 describe it as looking like a mammoth grasshopper, having three 
 or four times the usual number of legs. Its driving-wheels were 
 of oak-wood, banded with a heavy wrought-iron tire, and the front 
 was ornamented with a large, fierce-looking face of a lion, in bold 
 relief, and it bore the name of ' Stourbridge Lion.' 1 
 
 " This locomotive and two others, purchased by or made for 
 the company in England, arrived in New York in May, 1829, and 
 it was expected the company's railroad would be completed in 
 time to have the celebration of the opening of the railroad, and of 
 the running of the first locomotive upon it, on the 4th of July of 
 that year. But the month August came before the railroad was 
 so far completed that the formal opening could be attempted. 
 
 " The locomotive having been transported by canal to Hones- 
 dale, the ' Stourbridge Lion ' was elevated, by the use of a tem- 
 porary inclined plane, to the level of the railroad, and put in run- 
 ning order, and placed upon the rails ; and every thing thus got 
 in readiness for the trial. On Saturday, August 8, 1829, the fire 
 was kindled and steam raised, and, under the management of Mr. 
 Horatio Allen, the ' wonderful machine ' was found capable of 
 moving, to the great joy of the crowd of excited spectators. 
 After running it back and forth on the portion of the road 
 between the canal basin and the high railroad-bridge across the 
 west branch of the Lackawaxen, Mr. Allen started it, with no per- 
 son accompanying him, and without any car being attached, and 
 ran it with good speed around the curve and across the bridge, and 
 up the railroad about one and a half mile, to where the railroad 
 was crossed by a common road-bridge, placed too low to admit of 
 the passage of the locomotive under it. Here he reversed the 
 engine and ran it back to the place of starting, greeted by the 
 shouting cheers of the people and the booming of cannon. Mr. 
 Alva Adams, a mechanic, while assisting to fire the cannon, had 
 his arm so badly shattered that amputation became necessary. 
 
 " After repeating the trial a few times, the ' Stourbridge Lion ' 
 was removed from the track and left standing by the side of the 
 railroad, with no covering but a temporary roof, until the approach 
 of winter. 
 
 " These experiments demonstrated that the manner of con- 
 struction of the railroad was not sufficiently firm and substantial 
 
LANDING IN AMERICA. 87 
 
 for a locomotive-road, the rails being of hemlock-timber, six 
 inches thick by twelve inches deep, keyed (or wedged) into gains 
 cut in cross-ties of hemlock-timber, placed ten feet apart, with 
 a flat bar of iron fastened by screws upon the top of the rail — the 
 gauge (or width) of track being four feet three inches. They also 
 demonstrated that the plan of construction of the locomotive was 
 not such as to afford a probability of its being successfully used 
 for the purpose designed, with any such changes in the road as 
 were then deemed reasonable. 
 
 " The failure of success was a great disappointment, not only 
 to the directors and stockholders of the company, but also to the 
 community, who were interested in the prosperity of the county. 
 
 " While thus standing by the side of the railroad, it was an 
 object of great dread to timid children who were obliged to pass 
 by it ; and many, now residing in Honesdale, remember the care 
 they were accustomed to take, when children, to avoid passing 
 near the fierce-looking 'lion.' In November, 1829, it was housed 
 in with rough boards, as it thus stood beside the railroad, 
 though some of the boards on the sides were soon displaced, to 
 give opportunity for the curious to examine it more readily. It 
 remained where thus housed some fourteen or fifteen years, until 
 so many of its parts were detached or broken, that it was entirely 
 disabled and considered worthless as a locomotive ; when the 
 boiler was removed to Carbondale, and used with a stationary 
 engine in one of the company's shops, and the wheels, axles, and 
 loose parts, were sold for old iron. Some of the loose parts are still 
 kept as mementos of the first locomotive run upon a railroad in 
 America. The boiler is now in use in Carbondale. 
 
 " In the original ' Labor Account ' kept by Mr. Stephen Torry, 
 for his father's Honesdale business, in 1829, is the following entry: 
 
 " ' Saturday, August 8, 1829. 
 
 " ' The locomotive-engine " Stourbridge Lion " was started by 
 steam this morning. — Alva Adams had his arm blown off while 
 firing the cannon. 
 
 " ' No work was done until after the middle of forenoon.' 
 
 " In the accounts kept by Stephen Torry for his father, in 
 1829, is a charge to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, 
 under date of 'November 7, 1829,' for 'boards to cover the 
 steam-engine.' 
 
88 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 "The foregoing extracts are true copies from the original 
 papers relating to Jason Torry's business. 
 
 " Respectfully, 
 
 "John Tokky." 
 
 Annexed we give a sketch of the "Stourbridge 
 Lion" from an original drawing of the machine, to- 
 gether with a description of the engine by Mr. David 
 Matthew, who had charge of the men who were em- 
 ployed to fit up the engine when it arrived in New 
 York, and had been landed at the works of the West 
 Point Foundery, New York. 
 
 Mr. Matthew writes, under date of December 6, 
 1859: 
 
 " The ' Stourbridge Lion ' was a four-wheeled engine, all drivers, 
 with all four wheels connected by pins in the wheels. The boiler 
 was a round, cylindrical one ; no drop part for the furnace, and 
 the smoke-box had a well-painted lion's head on it. The cylinders 
 were vertical, placed at the back and each side of the furnace, with 
 grasshopper-beams and connecting-rods from them to the crank- 
 pins in the wheels. The back wheels and the side-rods between 
 them and the front wheels ; the front end of the beams were sup- 
 ported by a pair of radius rods which formed the parallel motion. 
 This engine was built by Foster, Rastrick & Company, at Stour- 
 bridge, England." 
 
 CHAPTEK XVI 
 
 MORE FACTS OF THE STOURBRIDGE LION. 
 
 In September, 1829, a locomotive built by George 
 Stephenson, at his works in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, ar- 
 rived in New York and was to be seen, for some time, 
 in the yard of E. Dunscomb, Water Street ; its wheels 
 
MORE FACTS OF THE STOURBRIDGE LION. 89 
 
 were raised above tlie ground and kept running for the 
 amusement of the crowds attracted by its novelty, 
 Of this engine Mr. Horatio Allen speaks in a letter to 
 the author as follows : 
 
 "This locomotive, or motive (but not progressive motion), was 
 not the engine which made the first run on the railroad at Hones- 
 dale, Pennsylvania. This engine (built by Stephenson at New- 
 castle-upon-Tyne) was set up at an iron-yard on the East-River 
 side of New York, and being blocked up, so that the wheels could 
 not touch the ground, the engine could go through the motions 
 without running." 
 
 As we are determined that our history of the first 
 locomotives in America shall lack no evidence to sus- 
 tain the facts we record, we cannot close our testi- 
 mony in the case of the " Stourbridge Lion " without 
 removing an impression which many persons entertain, 
 and have often declared to the author, that this same 
 old engine, which came from England and made the 
 first trip on a railroad in America, is still in existence 
 somewhere in New England. Such is not the fact. 
 Notwithstanding the testimony upon this point to be 
 found in the latter part of the Hon. John Torry's letter 
 to the author, where he distinctly records the ultimate 
 fate of the Lion, we have another letter from an old 
 citizen of that region, the same gentleman who favored 
 us with the file of the Dundaff Republican, Mr. Dilton 
 Yarrington, from which we will extract such parts as 
 relate to the final disposition of this locomotive, thus : 
 
 " As far as the locomotive was concerned, it was considered a 
 failure from the very first time it was used. It stood around for 
 some years, and by degrees was taken to pieces and wasted away 
 like an old cripple. I worked up some of the fragments of it in 
 the shop in 1849. 
 
 . . . . " The boiler is now in use here in Carbondale, in a 
 foundery, where it has been in use for twenty years past, and is 
 
90 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 still considered reliable. The iron plates composing it are full 
 half an inch thick. 
 
 "Respectfully yours, 
 
 "D. Yabeington." 
 
 Mr. Yarrington was in the company's, employ, an 
 old citizen of that region, and lived in Dundaff from 
 1825 to 1847. 
 
 We will now close onr description of the events inci- 
 dent to the first locomotive in America, by giving our 
 readers Mr. Allen's account of his ride alone upon the 
 "Stourbridge Lion," in a speech made by him in 1851. 
 at Dunkirk, on the occasion of the celebration in honor 
 of the completion of the New York and Erie Railroad, 
 and transmitted by him to the author. After alluding 
 in terms of commendation to those who, by their talents 
 and perseverance, had carried through to a successful 
 completion the great work just finished, Mr. Allen 
 continued : 
 
 " Having occupied your time with these statements of perhaps 
 no great interest, but the omission of which would have been an 
 act of injustice, I have thought that, on this great railroad occasion, 
 a reference to some of the incidents in the early railroad history 
 of this country might be appropriate. To bring before you as 
 strikingly as in my power, it has occurred to me to lead your im- 
 agination to the conception of the scene which would present 
 itself if, on some fine morning, you were placed at an elevation, 
 aud gifted for the moment with a power of vision which would 
 command the railroad movements of the whole United States. 
 There would be presented an exciting picture of activity, in a 
 thousand iron horses starting forth from the various railroad 
 centres, or traversing the surface of the continent in all directions. 
 "When the imagination has attained to some conception of the 
 scene, let it seek to go back to the time when only one of these 
 iron monsters was in existence on this continent, and was moving 
 forth, the first of his mighty race. When was it? where was 
 it ? and who awakened its energies and directed its movements ? 
 It was in the year 1829, on the banks of the Lackawaxen, at the 
 
MORE FACTS OF THE STOURBRIDGE LION. 91 
 
 commencement of the railroad connecting the canal of the Dela- 
 ware and Hudson Company with their coal-mines, and he who 
 addresses you was the only person on that locomotive. 
 
 " The circumstances which led to my being left alone on the 
 engine were these : The road had been built in the summer, the 
 structure was of hemlock-timber, and the rails, of large dimensions, 
 notched on to caps placed far apart. The timber had cracked and 
 warped, from exposure to the sun. After about five hundred feet 
 of straight line, the road crossed the Lackawaxen Creek on a 
 trestle-work about thirty feet high, and with a curve of three hun- 
 dred and fifty or four hundred feet radius. The impression 
 was very general that the iron monster would either break down 
 the road or that it would leave the track at the curve and plunge 
 into the creek. My reply to such apprehension was, that it was 
 too late to consider the probability of such occurrences; that 
 there was no other course but to have the trial made of the 
 strange animal which had been brought here at such great expense, 
 but that it was not necessary that more than one should be in- 
 volved in its fate ; that I would take the first ride alone, and that 
 the time would come when I should look back to this incident 
 with great interest. As I placed my hand on the throttle-valve 
 handle I was undecided whether I would move slowly or with a fair 
 degree of speed ; but believing that the road would prove safe, and 
 preferring, if we did go down, to go down handsomely and without 
 any evidence of timidity, I started with considerable velocity, 
 passed the curve over the creek safely, and was soon out of hearing 
 of the cheers of the large assemblage present. At the end of two 
 or of three miles, I reversed the valves and returned without acci- 
 dent to the place of starting, having thus made the first railroad 
 trip by locomotive on the Western Hemisphere." 
 
 Our readers are doubtless now satisfied that to the 
 Delaware and Hudson Canal Company is justly due 
 the credit of having introduced and run upon their rail- 
 road the first locomotive that made a revolution with 
 its driving-wheel upon the American Continent. And 
 although this engine proved to be impracticable under 
 the circumstances, it was caused "by no defect in its con- 
 struction, or the principle involved, nor from a lack of 
 
92 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 power and ability to perform all the duties that might 
 have been required ; but from this cause alone, that the 
 road had not been built to sustain such a weight as it 
 was called upon to bear when this new instrument of 
 power was placed upon it. The road had been con- 
 structed for horse-power alone, as all other roads were 
 in this country at that early period, and for a long time 
 after, even in England. No idea of a locomotive had 
 then been conceived in this country. Nevertheless, 
 this machine was the forerunner of a mighty race of 
 iron monsters, which only twoscore years after were to 
 be seen traversing every section of the country, even 
 stretching their course from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
 We are informed by a letter just received from our 
 faithful correspondent, Miss Blackman, that the boiler 
 of the Stourbridge Lion may now be seen alongside of 
 the road near Carbondale, Pa., and offered for sale. It 
 has been removed from its position in the furnace, to 
 give place to a larger boiler required for the work. 
 The present owners demand $1,000 for it, as a relic of 
 the first locomotive in America. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 FIRST MEETING OF THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD 
 COMPANY. 
 
 The first meeting for the purpose of forming a rail- 
 road company in the United States, to connect the wa- 
 ters of the East with the waters of the West, was held 
 in the city of Baltimore, on the 12th day of February, 
 1827. The practicability of the project was left to a 
 
BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY. 93 
 
 committee who soon after reported at the second meet- 
 ing, on the 19th, and a resolntion was passed to obtain 
 a charter from the Legislature. The charter was ob- 
 tained, and on April 24, 1827, the company was organ- 
 ized, and the first board of directors elected. 
 
 The constrnction of the road was commenced by 
 laying a corner-stone, July 4, 1828, attended by one 
 of the most magnificent processions of the military and 
 civil associations, trades, and professions, ever wit- 
 nessed on any occasion in the United States. The author 
 was in Baltimore at that time, and participated as one 
 in the vast crowd assembled to take part in the impos- 
 ing ceremonies of that eventful day. Never in his life 
 (and he has been present on many demonstrations on 
 other occasions) has he witnessed a more magnificent 
 display than was made on that day. 
 
 The venerable Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, then 
 over ninety years of age, the only survivor of the sign- 
 ers of the Declaration of Independence, was present on 
 the occasion and laid the corner-stone of this stupen- 
 dous fabric, with appropriate ceremonies. It is related 
 that, on this occasion, after the imposing ceremonies 
 were over, the venerable patriot made use of the ex- 
 pression to one of his friends present : " I consider this 
 among the most important acts of my life, second only 
 to my signing the Declaration of Independence, if even 
 it be second to that ; " and to the end of his life he 
 continued a firm friend of the work. 
 
 The construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road was commenced in 1828, and completed in 1852. 
 On January 12, 1853, in honor of the completion of 
 the road, a magnificent banquet took place in Wheeling, 
 its western terminus. At that time it was the longest 
 railroad in the world. 
 
94 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 At this banquet Mr. Swarm, the president of the 
 company, in his address, made this "beautiful allusion 
 to the venerable and patriotic Carroll: "There are 
 those present who witnessed the enthusiasm which at- 
 tended the laying of the first stone, by the illustrious 
 Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. Clarum et venerabile 
 nomen" He then produced the trowel which had been 
 used by Mr. Carroll, and was still preserved by the com- 
 pany, with this memorandum on it : " This trowel was 
 used by Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, to lay the first 
 stone of the Baltimore and Ohio Kailroad, July 4, 
 1828." This interesting relic was received by the assem- 
 bled company with rapturous applause. Mr. John B. 
 Morris, who delivered the address for the president and 
 directors, took occasion to remark of Mr. Carroll, in 
 connection with the interesting event : " In the full pos- 
 session of all his mental powers, with his feelings and 
 affections still buoyant and warm, he now declares that 
 the proudest act of his life, and the most important 
 in its consequences to his country, was the signature of 
 the Declaration of Independence ; the next, the laying 
 of the corner-stone of the work which is to perpetuate 
 the union of the American States, and to make the 
 East and the "West as one household in the facilities 
 of intercourse and the feelings of mutual affection." 
 Benjamin H. Latrobe, Esq., then followed in a few brief 
 remarks, in reply to the beautiful and flattering allusion 
 made to his services by the president of the road. Mr. 
 Latrobe was the chief engineer of the long work just 
 completed, and to his great energy and ability, as well 
 as to his indomitable perseverance in overcoming all 
 obstacles, the success of this stupendous undertaking is 
 largely to be attributed. To the kindness of Mr. La- 
 trobe, also, is the author indebted for much of the 
 
BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY. 95 
 
 valuable information contained in these pages, and also 
 for the pen-and-ink drawing of the Peter Cooper engine, 
 of which we will speak in its proper place, and the 
 sketch and experiments of Mr. Thomas's sailing-car and 
 several other machines that sncceeded it. 
 
 As soon as the corner-stone of the road was laid, 
 preparations were made to push the work through with 
 as much energy and expedition as could be exercised in 
 the manner of construction for a railroad deemed ab- 
 solutely necessary at that early day. The amount of 
 expense involved in the prosecution of this work, when 
 compared with the construction of railroads at the 
 present day, only fills our minds with the more wonder 
 and admiration at the boldness displayed by the pro- 
 jectors of such a stupendous undertaking as the Balti- 
 more and Ohio Railroad. We will briefly describe the 
 mode of construction of this early road, as it will no 
 doubt prove interesting to our readers who are only 
 conversant with the present method of building rail- 
 roads. The method of construction was reported to the 
 author by a gentleman now living in Baltimore, who 
 was engaged in one of the branches of the enterprise 
 at the time, thus : 
 
 " After the ground was brought to a level for the track, two 
 square holes were dug, four feet apart, twenty inches wide, two 
 feet long, and two feet deep. In these holes broken stones 
 were put, sufficient to fill to the surface. They were then securely 
 rammed down. Each particle of stone was tested and passed 
 through an iron ring, to insure its proper dimensions. On this 
 point great care was taken that every stone should be of the uni- 
 form size required. After the foundation is made, a trench six 
 inches deep, and filled with stone, broken and tested with the ring 
 as at first, is extended across the track from one of the filled-up 
 holes to another opposite, upon which a sleeper made of cedar, 
 seven feet long, is laid. By this process the foundation of the 
 
96 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 rails is protected from the effects of dampness or frosts, and firm- 
 ness and stability are imparted to it. These cedar cross-pieces 
 were laid with great accuracy and care ; a spirit-level was used to 
 adjust them properly. In each end of these cedar cross-pieces, 
 immediately above the stone foundation, notches were cut and care- 
 fully levelled ; into these notches were laid wooden rails or string- 
 pieces, and securely kept in their places by wedges. These string- 
 pieces were of yellow pine, from twelve to twenty-four feet long 
 and six inches square, and slightly bevelled on the top of the 
 upper side, for the flange of the wheels, which at that time was on 
 the outside. On these string-pieces iron rails were placed and 
 securely nailed down with wrought-iron nails, four inches long. 
 The earth between these cedar sleepers was carefully removed, so 
 as not to come in contact with the bottom of the string- pieces, and 
 thus the decay, which otherwise might take place, was prevented. 
 Yet, with all these difficulties to contend with, our pioneers of the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad persevered until they brought their 
 work to a successful termination. After several miles of this 
 description of road had been made, long granite slabs were sub- 
 stituted for the cedar cross-pieces and the yellow-pine stringers. 
 Beyond Vinegar Hill, these huge blocks of this solid material 
 could be seen deposited along the track, and gangs of workmen 
 engaged in the various operations of dressing, drilling, laying, and 
 affixing the iron. 
 
 " When the track was finished to Vinegar Hill, a distance of 
 about seven miles, cars were put upon it for the accommodation 
 of the officers, and to gratify the curious by a ride." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 FIKST BRIGADE OF CARS. 
 
 Some of the newspaper notices of the events of that 
 day, and the schedules advertised by the company, will 
 no doubt be interesting to our readers and to railroad 
 men of the present time. We will give them as we 
 
FIKST BRIGADE OF CARS. 97 
 
 copied them from old files of the Baltimore newspapers. 
 The Baltimore American, May 20, 1830, said : 
 
 " We understand that a critical examination of the entire line 
 of the first division of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, between 
 this city and Ellicott's Mills, was made on Thursday last, by the 
 president and engineer of the company, for the purpose of testing 
 the solidity of the work. A car was loaded with double the 
 weight intended hereafter to be transported on a single wagon, and 
 was passed over the whole of the first and those parts of the 
 second track which are finished, and it is highly gratifying to 
 learn that, notwithstanding the recent heavy rains, which have 
 placed the work in the most unfavorable condition, it sustained 
 the pressure to the entire satisfaction of those interested in the 
 work. About seven and a quarter miles of the single track are 
 laid on wooden sleepers, and the remaining six and three-quarter 
 miles on stone slabs. Such is the stability of this mode of con- 
 struction that, in about 1 6,000 blocks, only forty were observed to 
 be the least affected by the pressure. The horse-path and ' turn-outs 1 
 are finished, and the necessary arrangements for horses and driv- 
 ers having been already made, we understand that it is the inten- 
 tion of the company to open the road for public travel on Mon- 
 day next, the 24th inst." 
 
 The Baltimore American, May 24, 1830, said : 
 
 " A brigade of cars will run three times a day each way from 
 Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills — passage 25 cents. 
 
 " This morning at nine o'clock, in pursuance with previous 
 arrangements of the mayor and the members of the two branches 
 of the City Council, the president, directors, engineer, and officers, 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the editors of the different 
 papers of the city, and a number of strangers, left the depot at 
 the intersection of the railroad with Pratt Street, on an excursion 
 to Ellicott's Mills. The procession was headed by the splendid 
 car Pioneer, in which, together with a number of others, rode the 
 venerable Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. Although the brigade 
 was of large dimensions and filled with passengers, it was drawn 
 with great ease by one horse at a rapid rate. The appearance which 
 they presented was novel and interesting in the extreme. A 
 great number of persons, attracted by the novelty of the sight, 
 
98 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 attended at the depot and along the course of the road, and all, 
 as far as we could learn, were unanimous in the expression of the 
 opinion that the experiment was calculated to dissipate the doubts 
 of those (if there be any such) who are yet skeptical as to the 
 manifold advantages of this over all other modes of fostering our 
 internal commerce. 
 
 " P. S. — Since the above was written, we learn that the party 
 of excursionists had returned, accomplishing the distance (thirteen 
 miles) in one hour and four minutes." 
 
 Another extract reads as follows : 
 
 " The weather yesterday being remarkably mild and pleasant, 
 vast numbers availed themselves of the opportunity to examine 
 the road and viaduct, and enjoy the gratification of a ride in one 
 of Winans's carriages. The Hon. the Postmaster-General, having 
 reached the city, and being desirous of visiting the road, accom- 
 panied the gentlemen attached to the road. A carriage being 
 brought out, the party, consisting of twenty-four ladies and gen- 
 tlemen, including the Postmaster-General, were drawn to the 
 viaduct by one horse, in actually a little less than six minutes. 
 After alighting to view the magnificent granite structure, the 
 party again seated themselves, and were conveyed back to Pratt 
 Street at the extraordinary rate of fifteen miles per hour. In 
 order to show the perfect ease and rapidity with which heavy 
 loads can be transported over well-constructed railroads, three 
 carriages were attached to each other, and, being filled with more 
 than eighty persons, were rapidly drawn by one horse, at the rate 
 of eight miles per hour. Average each person at 150 lbs., and esti- 
 mate the carriages at two and a half tons, a single horse actually 
 drew a load of eight and a half tons, at a speed of eight miles 
 per hour, and this extraordinary result was accomplished without 
 any apparent distress to the animal, or indeed uncommon exertion 
 on his part." 
 
 In another number of the American, we read that 
 an experiment was made for the transportation of two 
 hundred barrels of flour, with a single horse, with the 
 most triumphant success. The flour was deposited in a 
 train of eight cars, and made, together with the cars 
 
FIRST BRIGADE OF CARS. 99 
 
 and the passengers, an entire load of thirty tons. The 
 train was drawn, from Ellicott's Mills to the Relay 
 Honse, six and a half miles in forty-six minutes. The 
 horse was then changed, and the train, having again 
 started, reached the depot on Pratt Street in sixty-nine 
 minutes, thus accomplishing the thirteen miles in one 
 hour and fifty-four minutes, or at the rate of six and 
 three-fourths of a mile an hour. 
 
 We will close these extracts with the following 
 copy of an advertisement, made forty years ago, for the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad : 
 
 " Railroad Notice. — A sufficient number of cars being now 
 provided for the accommodation of passengers, notice is hereby- 
 given that the following arrangements for the arrival and departure 
 of carriages have been adopted, and will take effect on and after 
 Monday morning, the 5th inst., viz. : A brigade of cars will leave 
 the depot in Pratt Street at 6 and 10 o'clock A. m. and at 3 to 4 
 o'clock p. m., and will leave the depot at Ellicott's Mills at 6 and 
 at 8!- o'clock a. m., and at 12^ and 6 o'clock p. m. 
 
 " Way-passengers will provide themselves with tickets at the 
 office of the company in Baltimore, or at the depot at Pratt Street 
 or Ellicott's Mills, or at the Relay House, near Elk Ridge 
 Landing. 
 
 "The evening way-car for Ellicott's Mills will continue to 
 leave the depot, Pratt Street, at 6 o'clock p. m. as usual. 
 
 " N". B. — Positive orders have been issued to the drivers to 
 receive no passengers into any of the cars without tickets. P. S. 
 — Parties desirous to engage a car for the day, can be accommo- 
 dated after July 5th." 
 
 When we compare our present mode of travelling 
 from one city to another, over hundreds and thousands of 
 miles by railroads, being comfortably seated in the most 
 magnificent cars by day, and snugly resting by night in 
 commodious sleeping-cars, we cannot refrain from won- 
 der in attempting to conceive how our forefathers, forty 
 years ago, could content themselves to make a journey 
 
100 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 even in the most urgent cases, and at all seasons of the 
 year, in the old-fashioned stage-coaches over a rough 
 turnpike, or in canal-packets. But at that time noth- 
 ing better was known ; and the fast line of stages, and 
 the packet-line on the canal, were the best the country 
 could boast of, if we except the beautiful steamers that 
 navigated some of our rivers. The early methods of 
 travelling when railroads were first brought to notice 
 were only one remove, in convenience and improvement, 
 from those we have just described. 
 
 In connection with the early operations of the Balti- 
 more and Ohio Railroad, as compared with the present, 
 the following "travelling memoranda," published in 
 the New -York Gazette, in May, 1831, famish some 
 reminiscences worthy of preservation. 
 
 " TRAVELLING MEMORANDA. 
 
 " Messrs. Lang, Turner & Company : 
 
 " Having, last week, business in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and 
 the city of Washington, I started at six a. m. on Monday. In 
 order to show the facilities afforded at the present day to do much 
 business in a short time, I send you a sketch of my excursion. 
 
 " Left New York at six a. m. on Monday. Arrived in Philadel- 
 phia at five p. M. Called on four persons. Settled my business 
 with them by nine. Went to bed ; and started on Tuesday morn- 
 ing at six for Baltimore, where I arrived at five p. m. Got through 
 with my business there at half-past nine. Went to bed. Started 
 at four a. m. on Wednesday for Washington, and arrived a little 
 after nine a. m. Dressed, called on the President, and finished my 
 business with him. Dined at Gadsby's. Took a hack in the after- 
 noon, rode several miles, and completed my business with four 
 persons. Took tea with a friend. Slept at Gadsby's. Started at 
 four a. m. on Thursday, on my return. Arrived at Baltimore at 
 ten, visited the cathedral, Washington Monument and the water- 
 works, before dinner. Dined at Barnum's splendid hotel. Partook 
 of a bottle of wine with three Albanians ; at three mounted a car, 
 with twenty-two passengers, on railroad. Visited Ellicott's Mills, 
 thirteen miles from Baltimore. Returned to Baltimore before 
 
FIRST BRIGADE OF CARS. 101 
 
 dark. Took tea, and afterward, in a hack, visited the venerable 
 Mr. Carroll, of Carrollton. Returned to Barnum's. Went to bed ; 
 and started for Philadelphia, where I arrived at half-past six p. m. 
 Made several friendly visits. Went to bed. Started on Saturday 
 and reached New York at half-past five the same day. Was thus 
 absent nearly six days — travelling about six hundred miles, and 
 completing all my business at the expense of forty dollars and 
 seventy cents. 
 
 " The observations that I made were, that Baltimore and Phila- 
 delphia are looking up. In both places the bustle of business 
 reminded me of home, that is to say, New York. The canal which 
 connects the Delaware with the Chesapeake, through which I 
 passed in two hours, is a great and useful work. The railroad, 
 which already passes several miles beyond Ellicott's Mills, is a 
 most delightful and useful mode of conveyance. The car in which 
 I took my passage to Ellicott's Mills (four others in company) 
 contained twenty-two passengers, drawn by one horse, and the 
 time going the thirteen miles was one hour and a quarter. By the 
 1st of July the locomotives will be in operation upon the railroad, 
 when the same distance will be travelled in thirty minutes. 
 
 " Yours, etc., J. L." 
 
 Those who have seen and travelled only in the 
 comfortable and convenient passenger-cars of the present 
 day cannot comprehend the tedious progress with which 
 such improvements have been made. 
 
 The first passenger-car was like a market-car on rail- 
 road-wheels. Then came cars resembling the old-fash- 
 ioned stage-coach, with the same springs and leather 
 braces, and carrying nine passengers each, with a driver's 
 seat perched upon either end, as there was no such con- 
 trivance as a turn-table at that early day. For a long 
 time the cars were gaudily painted, with a small increase 
 in the size. One of those, built by Mr. Richard Imlay, 
 is thus described in the Baltimore American, August 4, 
 1830: 
 
 " A number of persons visited Monument Square, yesterday, 
 for the purpose of examining a very elegant railroad passenger- 
 
102 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 carriage, just finished by Mr. Imlay, and intended to be immedi- 
 ately placed on the road. 
 
 " The arrangement for the accommodation of passengers is, in 
 some respects, different from any other which has yet been adopted. 
 The body of the carriage will contain twelve persons, and the out- 
 side seats at either end will receive six, including the driver. On 
 the top of the carriage is placed a double sofa, running lengthwise, 
 which will accommodate twelve more. A wire netting rises from 
 two sides of the top of the carriage, to a height which renders the 
 top seats perfectly secure. The whole is surmounted by an iron 
 framework, with an awning to protect from the sun or rain. The 
 carriage, which is named the ' Ohio,' is very handsomely finished, 
 and will, we have no doubt, be a great favorite with the visitors 
 to the railroad, the number of whom, we are gratified to learn, 
 continues to be as great as it was at the opening of the road." 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The road to Ellicott's Mills was opened on May 24, 
 1830. Trains of cars like the above were called bri- 
 gades, and were continued until Ross Winans, Esq., 
 placed npon the track the first eight-wheel car ever 
 built for passengers, and called it by the appropriate 
 name of " Columbus." This car was a large box, such 
 as any carpenter could make ; • it had a truck of 
 four wheels at either end, the same as the eight- 
 wheel cars of the present time ; it also had seats on 
 the top, like the other cars hitherto used, which were 
 reached by a ladder at one of the corners. This was 
 followed by several odd-shaped contrivances ; one was 
 nicknamed the " Sea-serpent," another was known by the 
 
ROSS WINANS'S IMPROVEMENTS. 103 
 
 of the " Dromedary ; " next came the "Win- 
 chester pattern ; and this was followed by the " Wash- 
 ington," each an improvement on its predecessor. The 
 latter resembled three coach bodies combined in one, 
 and divided in the interior into three separate apart- 
 ments, and entered by doors on each side of each 
 apartment. The author remembers well, as if but 
 yesterday, riding in cars of this construction, in Oc- 
 tober, 1833, upon the railroad between South Am- 
 boy and Bordentown, which connected by steam- 
 boats both with New York and Philadelphia. As the 
 passengers landed and approached the cars to take 
 their seats, each car appeared surmounted with the 
 letter A, B, C, etc., in order, and each apartment was 
 numbered 1, 2, or 3. Thus the passenger, on examining 
 the ticket furnished to him on the steamboat, entered 
 the car and apartment designated thereon. These car- 
 riages continued on all the roads then operating be 
 tween the principal cities — as Boston and Providence 
 Philadelphia and New York, Philadelphia and Balti 
 more, and Baltimore and Washington — until the eight 
 wheel passenger car was brought into use, with the pas 
 sage-way the entire length between the seats, which 
 were placed on the sides, as at present. 
 
 When the design for this style of car came before 
 the board of directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road Company, there was quite a discussion whether 
 there should be an aisle in them, with entrances at each 
 end, and seats as at present, or whether the cars should 
 be in compartments, with entrances at the sides, with a 
 ledge outside for the conductor; and one of the argu- 
 ments against the aisle, verified by the result, as we 
 know, was the apprehension that it would often be one 
 long spittoon ! The possibility of this was admitted ; 
 
104 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 but other considerations prevailed in favor of the aisle, 
 which has continued to the present day. 
 
 Horatio Allen, Esq., in one of his letters to the 
 author, once said, in alluding to the improvements in 
 every department of railroad machinery, locomotives, 
 cars, etc.: 
 
 " It is generally believed that the railroad system was im- 
 ported into this country from England, full grown, but such is not 
 the case. This will be exemplified in no better instance than the 
 fact that in September, 1832, steel springs were first placed upon 
 the locomotive ' York ' and tender, as an experiment only, and they 
 demonstrated their utility and necessity in regulating the motion 
 and greatly diminishing the jar and consequent injury to the road. 
 This also suggested the propriety of making a further experiment, 
 by placing some of the burden-cars on springs, by which it was 
 found that they admitted of one-third more loading, without any 
 increase of damage to the road or car." 
 
 Two years earlier than this, however, other and im- 
 portant improvements had been made. One of the great 
 desideratums in the beginning of railroad enterprise in 
 this country, and to which no example could be applied, 
 was a plan to reduce the large amount of friction. 
 
 In the early period of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road, when no one dreamed of steam, horses were ex- 
 pected to do the work, and to reduce the friction of the 
 axles in the boxes was the object to be achieved. In 
 this extremity, Ross Winans, Esq., now living, a vener- 
 able citizen of Baltimore, came to the rescue with his 
 inventive genius. Dr. William Howard, an accom- 
 plished and scientific gentleman, had already patented 
 the application of the ordinary friction- wheel to a car, 
 where the main journal revolved on the exterior 
 periphery ; but Mr. Winans suspended his wheel by a 
 projecting flange, on the interior periphery of which the 
 
ROSS WINANS'S IMPROVEMENTS. 105 
 
 main axle revolved. This was the ne plus ultra of the 
 friction-wheel, and Mr. Winans became immortalized. 
 B. H. Latrobe, Esq., describes a scene in one of the upper 
 rooms of the Baltimore Exchange, where the vener- 
 able Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, who was the great 
 man, on all important occasions, was seated in a little 
 railroad car, drawn by a small weight attached to a 
 string passing over a pulley and dropping into the hall 
 below. Around him were all the prominent men of 
 Baltimore ; all were as much pleased as children with a 
 new toy. In fact, there was a verdant freshness about 
 all railroad objects in those days which it is wonderful 
 to conceive in this period of advance and improvement. 
 Not only was friction sought to be avoided, but all 
 sorts of experiments were tried, to improve the road.* 
 To ride in a railroad-car, in those days, was literally 
 to go " thundering " along. The roll of the wheel was 
 hammering the iron rails out of existence. When this 
 became known, after tens of thousands of dollars had 
 been thrown away, one of the directors, a man, too, of 
 general information, proposed to lay a thin slab of lead 
 between the- iron and the stone, to relieve the concus- 
 sion. Luckily, this costly experiment, which would 
 have furnished the sportsmen of the interior with slugs 
 and bullets without cost, was not carried into effect. 
 We only mention this now, to show how crude were 
 the notions of the wisest men, touching railroads in their 
 infancy, in this country, and to indicate the obstacles 
 our forefathers had to contend with in the early days 
 of their construction. With no example before them 
 to follow, with no experience before them to govern, 
 every thing had to be tested by actual experiment. 
 
 * Iron strips were laid, for miles and miles, on stone curbs, on the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad. 
 
L06 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 FIRST EXPERIMENTAL LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 The first locomotive ever built in the United States 
 was constructed to determine a principle, at that early 
 period, susceptible of a great diversity of opinions, even 
 among the engineers and scientific men of that day, viz., 
 the ability of a locomotive to keep upon the track in run- 
 ning a curve. When steam made its appearance on the 
 Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, in England, it 
 attracted much attention in this countiy, and the ques- 
 tion of its early adoption became the subject of a great 
 deal of speculation and argument. There was this diffi- 
 culty in the way of introducing an English engine upon 
 an American road : In England the roads were virtually 
 straight, or with very long curves ; but in America they 
 were full of curves, sometimes of as small a radius as 
 two hundred feet. There was not capital enough in 
 the United States, applicable to railroad purposes, to 
 justify engineers in setting Nature at defiance in their 
 construction. If a tunnel through a spur could be saved, 
 in an American railroad, by a track round it, the tunnel 
 would be avoided, and a circuitous route adopted, al- 
 though the distance was increased for miles in conse- 
 quence ; so, if embankments could be saved by heading 
 valleys in place of crossing them, it was done. This led 
 to sharp curves upon the American roads, where there 
 would be straight lines in England. 
 
 No better illustration of this is to be seen than near 
 the Relay House, or Washington Junction, of the Balti- 
 
EXPERIMENTAL LOCOMOTIVES. 107 
 
 more and Ohio Railroad, where the curve, as the road 
 turned into the gorge of the Patapsco, was originally 
 located, with less than three hundred feet radius, to 
 avoid the necessity of the cut that has since been made 
 through the rocky northern jaw of the gorge. A tunnel, 
 too, is now cut at the Point of Rocks, through the hard 
 intractable material which is there met with, in a spur 
 of the Catoctin Mountain. In the first instance, the 
 road was located to avoid it. 
 
 The first locomotive, then built to demonstrate its 
 adaptability to a curved road, was constructed by Mr. 
 Peter Cooper, of New York, long and most favorably 
 known as the founder of the far-famed Cooper Institute 
 in that city. Mr. Cooper's locomotive was built at the 
 St. Clair Works, near Baltimore, and was first run upon 
 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the summer of 
 1829, nearly two years before that first really successful 
 locomotive (as it was described in the Ledger, and built 
 by Messrs. Tyler and Baldwin) was tried upon the 
 Germantown and Norristown Railroad, in 1832. What 
 success Mr. Cooper's locomotive displayed on its first 
 trial-trip we will describe : 
 
 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, as we have before 
 stated, was the first of any extent begun in America ; 
 and the first built for the purposes of trade and com- 
 merce, as nearly all are at the present day. Previous 
 to the year 1826, no railroad, even in England, had been 
 constructed for the general conveyance of passengers 
 or merchandise between two distant points. A few 
 railroads had been constructed for local purposes, such 
 as the conveyance of coal or ores from the mines to the 
 points of shipment on navigable streams ; but, for general 
 purposes of travel or transportation, they were still re- 
 garded as an untried experiment, and the question had 
 
108 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 not been settled whether stationary engines or horse- 
 power would be the most available. The Stockton and 
 Darlington Railway, the Killingsworth, and several 
 others in England, all coal-roads, had experimented 
 with locomotives, but no one of them was satisfied 
 that the locomotive would ever advantageously super- 
 sede horse-power. The Liverpool and Manchester Rail- 
 road had just been completed, but the question had not 
 been settled what power should be used upon it. The 
 same might be said of railroads in America — one or two 
 short roads, for mining purposes, having been construc- 
 ted, using horse-power. 
 
 We have devoted the foregoing remarks to the 
 early history of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, not 
 only from the fact that it was the first railroad in the 
 United States, commenced for the actual traffic and 
 commerce of the community between two distant sec- 
 tions of the country, the far-off West with the East, 
 but because it was the railroad upon which the first 
 locomotive built in the United States was successfully 
 introduced. We allude to the machine constructed by 
 Mr. Peter Cooper, in 1829 ; * and, although this was but 
 a liliputian affair, it nevertheless became the forerun- 
 ner of a race of iron giants who sprang into existence as 
 soon as the principle was established, for the demonstra- 
 tion of which Mr. Cooper had brought forth his " Tom 
 Thumb " locomotive. The cause which led him, at this 
 time, to deviate from the path of his legitimate business, 
 to become the builder of the first American locomotive, 
 will be better explained by the perusal of his letter to 
 the author, in answer to some inquiries upon that sub- 
 ject, dated 
 
 * First experiment made m that year, then altered and successfully experi 
 mented with in 1830. 
 
EXPERIMENTAL LOCOMOTIVES. 109 
 
 New York, May 18, 1869 
 Me. William H. Brown — 
 
 "My dear Sir : In reply to your kind favor of the 10th inst., 
 I write to say that I am not sure that I have a drawing or sketch 
 of the little locomotive placed by me on the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad, in the summer of 1829, to the best of my recol- 
 lection. 
 
 " The engine was a very small and insignificant affair. It was 
 made at a time when I had become the owner of all the land now 
 belonging to the Canton Company, the value of which, I believe, 
 depended almost entirely upon the success of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad. 
 
 " At that time an opinion had become prevalent that the road 
 was ruined for steam locomotives, by reason of the short curves 
 found necessary to get around the various points of rocks found 
 m their course. Under these discouraging circumstances many 
 of the principal stockholders were about abandoning the work, 
 and were only prevented from forfeiting their stock by my persuad- 
 ing them that a locomotive could be so made as to pass success- 
 fully around the short curves then found in the road, which only 
 extended thirteen miles, to Ellicott's Mills. 
 
 " When I had completed the engine, I invited the directors to 
 witness an experiment, Some thirty-six persons entered one of 
 the passenger-cars, and four rode on the locomotive, which carried 
 its own fuel and water; and made the first passage, of thirteen 
 miles, over an average ascending grade of eighteen feet to the mile, 
 in one hour and twelve minutes. We made the return-trip in 
 fifty-seven minutes. 
 
 " I regret my inability to make such a sketch of the engine as 
 I would be willing to send you at this moment, without further 
 time to do so. 
 
 " Yours with great respect, 
 
 "Pktbe Cooper." 
 
 The following letter from Benjamin H. Latrobe, Esq., 
 the chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
 during its construction, addressed to the author, and 
 containing a description and sketch of the sailing-car 
 invented by Mr. Evan Thomas, and experimented with 
 upon the road, and also his promise of a future sketch 
 
110 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 of the Peter Cooper locomotive, will no doubt be inter- 
 esting to our readers : 
 
 East Hampton, Long Island, August 4, 1869. 
 Wm. H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 " Dear Sir : Your letter to me, of the 26th July, has been 
 forwarded to me at this place, where I am on a visit with my 
 family. It will give me pleasure to give you what information I 
 can upon the subject upon which you inquire, but I cannot do this 
 so well here, as I could after my return to Baltimore, and communi- 
 cating with my brother, who, as counsel of the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad Company, entered its service a couple of years before I 
 did, as a subordinate in the engineer corps, on the 1st of July, 1830. 
 
 " I well recollect the little experimental locomotive of Mr. 
 Peter Cooper, and also the sailing-car of Mr. Evan Thomas ; but 
 I could not give you a reliable sketch of the former at present, 
 but, as to the latter, it was ' a basket body,' like that of a sleigh, 
 and had a mast, and, if I recollect, ' a square sail, and was mounted 
 upon four wheels of equal size.' It ran equally well in either direc- 
 tion, but of course only in that in which the wind happened to be 
 blowing at the time, although it would go with the wind abaft the 
 beam, but at a speed proportioned to the angle with a line of the 
 sails. It was but a clever toy, but had its use at the time in show- 
 ing how little power of propulsion was necessary upon a railway, 
 compared with the best of the roads that had preceded it. Mr. 
 Cooper's engine had, I remember, a vertical tubular boiler, and 
 he was, at the time of its being placed on the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad in the summer of 1829, regarded as the first suggester of 
 that form of boiler,* although Mr. Booth, the treasurer of the 
 Liverpool and Manchester Railway, had proposed it for the Rocket 
 engine about the same time ; upon this point, however, I am not 
 posted. Were I at home I would refer to some books and memo- 
 randa there, which, together with an interchange of recollections 
 with my brother, would enable me to speak more specifically. The 
 mode of applying the power to the wheels I do not remember. I 
 had just entered the company's service, and my thoughts were 
 directed more to learning the use of the levelling instrument and 
 transit, and how to run curves with the latter, than to the rolling 
 machinery of the railroad. 
 
 * Mr. Cooper has since informed the author that, for want of regular tubes (not 
 then ever used), he substituted gun-barrels for tubes. 
 
EXPERIMENTAL LOCOMOTIVES. Ill 
 
 " I recollect very distinctly, however, a trip which this little 
 locomotive of ' Alderman Cooper's,' as he was then called, made 
 to Ellicott's Mills, where I was stationed. It must have been 
 in July or August, 1830. It brought out several of the directors, 
 and my brother was one of the party, and I remember following 
 it a little distance down the road, after it had started with much 
 puffing and leaking of steam from some of its joints. 
 
 " It was in size (and power too, I might say) about the scale of 
 Evan Thomas's sailing-car ; yet it was, as the first step in the use 
 of steam on that road, a highly important one. 
 
 "Its fuel, I think, was anthracite coal, the use of which, in the 
 engines which succeeded it, was a favorite idea with the company, 
 and influenced the form of the locomotives employed upon the 
 road for several subsequent years. 
 
 " The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, stimulated by the example 
 of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, next year (1830) offered 
 a premium of $500 to the constructor of the locomotive which 
 would draw fifteen tons, gross weight, fifteen miles an hour. This 
 advertisement brought upon the road an odd collection of four or 
 five original American ideas, of which it is much to be regretted 
 that photographs and indeed detailed drawings have not been pre- 
 served. Among these was a rotary engine, by a Mr. Childs, which, 
 I believe, never made a revolution of its wheels, certainly not in 
 the form of the locomotive. The engine which took the premium 
 was built by Mr. Phineas Davis, which was the model for those 
 built after it for three or four years. 
 
 " I cannot add more just now, and, as I shall not be in Balti- 
 more (except to post this) for three or four weeks, I must delay 
 writing until then. 
 
 " Respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 " Benjamin H. Latrobe." 
 
112 HISTORY OF THE FIEST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PETER COOPER LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 Mr. Latrobe's next letter informed the author that 
 he had then a rough sketch of the Peter Cooper ma- 
 chine, taken by his brother, John H. B. Latrobe, Esq., 
 counsellor for the company ; but he desired to submit 
 the sketch to Mr. Ross Winans, for his examination and 
 opinion, before he transmitted it. 
 
 Baltimore, November 20, 1869. 
 Wm. H. Browx, Esq. — 
 
 " Dear Sir : I have now seen Mr. Winans, and shown him the 
 rough sketch of the Peter Cooper locomotive, referred to in my 
 former letter. I send, upon the next page, a copy of the sketch, 
 which presents as near an approach to a picture of the machine as 
 at this distant day is possible to exhibit. Mr. Ross Winans tells 
 me that Mr. Cooper brought the boiler from New York, in the 
 spring or early in the summer of 1829; and it was on a frame, 
 and rested on four wheels belonging to the company ; the road was 
 then used thirteen miles to Ellicott's Mills, and with horse-power. 
 The boiler was tubular, and upright in position. Mr. Winans does 
 not recollect the dimensions of it, although he says it lay in his 
 shops for several years. He thinks it was not more than twenty 
 inches in diameter, and, perhaps, from five to six feet high. There 
 was a single cylinder of three and one-quarter inches in diameter, 
 fourteen and one-quarter inches stroke, that projected its piston- 
 rod and connecting-rod, so as to take hold of the crank by direct 
 action. 
 
 " On the crank-shaft, which rested on the frame of the car, was 
 a spur-wheel which geared with a pinion on the forward road- 
 wheels so as to increase speed ; the road-wheels being only two 
 and one-half feet in diameter. 
 
 " The fuel was anthracite coal, and an artificial draught, in the 
 fire-box at the bottom of the boiler, was created by a fan, driven 
 by a belt passing around a wooden drum attached to one of the 
 road-wheels, and a pulley on the fan-shaft as shown in the sketch. 
 
PETER COOPER LOCOMOTIVE. 113 
 
 " Mr. Winans says that Mr. Cooper at first proposed to com- 
 municate the reciprocating motion of the piston-rod to the road- 
 wheels by an arrangement which I cannot accurately describe, but 
 the experiment did not satisfy Mr. Cooper on trial, and the com- 
 mon crank action was substituted, and the favorable results ob- 
 tained, which are described in Mr. Winans's letter of August 28, 
 1830, published in the Railroad Record of Cincinnati, on the 8th 
 of July last. Mr. Cooper, if applied to, could perhaps furnish 
 some interesting additional particulars about this engine, which 
 was undoubtedly the very first American locomotive. 
 
 " Mr. Winans, after examining the sketch, pronounces it sub- 
 stantially correct as to the general features of the engine ; the 
 details, many of course ideal, must be very defective. The num- 
 ber, size, and length of the tubes are not known, only their position 
 in the boiler. 
 
 " The road-wheels were two and a half feet in diameter ; the 
 axles had outside bearings upon Winans's friction wheels. The 
 axle on which the pinion was fixed was kept from lateral or longi- 
 tudinal movement, so as to preserve its position with respect to 
 the spur-wheel. 
 
 " Your friend's sketch of the horse-car, you sent for my inspec- 
 tion, gives the general idea of it, and it is made with a spirit that 
 shows him to be a good draughtsman and knowing to the ' points 
 of a horse,' better than myself — the thing was as much like one 
 of those horse-powers, of which we see so many, along railways 
 at the stations, for cutting-up wood for the locomotives. The 
 hinged or slatted platform, on which the horse walked, turned 
 round a drum ; on this was a spur-wheel working in a pinion on the 
 road-wheel axle ; so that this gearing gave considerable speed to 
 the car, with a moderate one to the horse. I remember well the 
 adventure with the cow, mentioned by my brother in his lecture, 
 to which you refer. I agree with him and Mr. Winans that the 
 successful experiment with the Cooper engine was in 1830, as it was 
 the year I entered the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company's 
 service, and some of the particulars are permanently fixed upon 
 my memory. 
 
 " I cannot add more just now, and, as I shall not be in Balti- 
 more for three or four weeks, I must delay writing. 
 
 " Respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 " Ben j. H. Lateobe." 
 
114 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 In 1829 Mr. Cooper made some experiments with 
 his little locomotive, built upon the principle he first 
 adopted ; but, as it did not perform as well as he ex- 
 pected and desired, he changed his plan, and, after 
 some delays, made, as one may say, the first actual ex- 
 perimental trip on Saturday, August 28, 1830. A full 
 and particular account of this experiment has been 
 given the author by Mr. Winans himself, who was 
 present on the occasion, and took a lively interest in 
 the result. Mr. Winans writes : 
 
 " On Saturday, the 28th of August last, 1830, the first railroad- 
 car propelled by steam proceeded the whole distance from Balti- 
 more to Ellicott's Mills, and tested a most important principle — that 
 curvatures of 400 feet radius offer no material impediment to the 
 use of steam-power on railroads, when the wheels are constructed 
 with a cone, on the principle ascertained by Mr. Knight, chief 
 engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, to be ap- 
 plicable to such curvatures. The engineers in England have been 
 so decidedly of opinion that locomotive steam-engines could not 
 be used on curved rails, that it was much doubted whether the 
 many curvatures on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad would not ex- 
 clude the use of steam-power. We congratulate our fellow-citizens 
 on the conclusive proof, which removes forever all doubt on this 
 subject, and establishes the fact that steam-power may be used on 
 our road with as much facility and effect as that of horses, at a 
 very reduced expense. 
 
 " The engine " (Cooper's locomotive-engine) " started from Pratt 
 Street depot, taking the lead of a train of carriages. The power 
 of the engine is a little, if any, over that of one horse, and it can 
 therefore only be regarded as a working model. Immediately on 
 front of, and connected with it, was a passenger-carriage contain- 
 ing (including the engine attendants) twenty-four persons. The 
 aggregate weight of carriages, persons, fuel, and water, as nearly 
 as could be ascertained, was estimated to be from four to four 
 and a half tons. Notwithstanding the great disproportion of the 
 moving power to the load, the following highly-gratifying results 
 were obtained; the time was accurately noted by disinterested 
 gentlemen, of the first respectability : 
 
PETER COOPER LOCOMOTIVE 115 
 
 First mile — performed in six minutes ana ifty seconds, the 
 steam in the onset not being fully raised. 
 
 Second mile — performed in five minutes ; one minute was lost 
 in altering the switch, to pass from one track to the other. 
 
 Third mile — travelled in six minutes ; two minutes lost in 
 changing from one track to the other, the switch not being in the 
 right place. 
 
 Fourth mile — was travelled in four minutes and thirty seconds. 
 
 Fifth mile — occupied five minutes and twenty-five seconds. 
 
 Sixth mile — travelled in six minutes ; one minute was lost in 
 changing to the other track. 
 
 Seventh mile — travelled in five minutes and thirty seconds ; the 
 engine stoped at the middle depot for fifteen minutes to receive a 
 supply of water. 
 
 Eighth mile — performed in six minutes. 
 
 Ninth mile — performed in five minutes and forty-five seconds, 
 the engine traversing an ascent of thirteen feet per mile, and en- 
 countering the numerous curves which abound in this part of the 
 road. 
 
 Tenth mile — performed in seven minutes; the engine still 
 ascending at the rate of thirteen feet per mile, and the road much 
 curved. 
 
 Eleventh mile — in seven minutes and thirty seconds ; the same 
 disadvantages of an ascending and curved line of road being still 
 encountered. 
 
 Twelfth mile — in seven minutes and thirty seconds ; the ascent 
 here being increased to eighteen feet per mile and the line curved. 
 
 Thirteenth mile — in six minutes and thirty seconds, the same 
 disadvantages of an ascending and curved line being encountered 
 as on the preceding mile. 
 
 " Making the aggregate passage of thirteen miles, under the cir- 
 cumstances detailed, in the space of one hour and fifteen minutes. 
 
 " On the return of the locomotive-engine at six o'clock in the 
 evening, the following results were realized, there being four addi- 
 tional passengers, or thirty in all, seated in the attached carriage : 
 
 First mile — travelled in five minutes. 
 
 Second mile — travelled in four minutes. 
 
 Third mile — travelled in four minutes six seconds. 
 
 Fourth mile — travelled in four minutes. 
 
 Fifth mile — travelled in four minutes four seconds. 
 
116 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 Sixth mile — travelled in four minutes five seconds. 
 
 (Four minutes occupied in taking in a supply of water.) 
 Seventh mile — travelled in five minutes. 
 Eighth mile — travelled in three minutes fifty seconds. 
 Ninth mile — travelled in four minutes twenty-five seconds. 
 Tenth mile — travelled in four minutes ten seconds. 
 Eleventh mile — travelled in four minutes forty seconds. 
 Twelfth mile — travelled in four minutes fifty seconds. 
 Thirteenth mile — travelled in four minutes fifty seconds. 
 
 Making the entire passage of thirteen miles in sixty-one minutes, 
 including the four minutes lost in taking in water at the middle 
 depot. If this -be deducted, it will give precisely fifty-seven min- 
 utes in travelling the distance. 
 
 " It should also be borne in mind that these are experiments 
 merely, and that several material improvements have already sug- 
 gested themselves to the inventor. The result, under all the cir- 
 cumstances, is highly satisfactory, and constitutes another triumph 
 of the efforts of American genius." 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 As much as we have written and quoted respecting 
 this first experimental locomotive of Mr. Peter Cooper, 
 we still cannot leave the subject without giving our 
 readers a description of that first trip, from the pen of 
 H. B. Latrobe, Esq., the counsellor of the company, 
 who was one of the passengers on that occasion. Mr. 
 Latrobe thus describes the adventure : 
 
 " For a brief season it was believed that this feature of the 
 early American roads would prevent the use of locomotive-engines. 
 The contrary was demonstrated by a gentleman still living in an 
 active and ripe old age, honored and beloved, distinguished for 
 his private worth and for his public benefactions ; one of those to 
 
LATROBE'S DESCRIPTION. 117 
 
 whom wealth seems to have been granted by Providence that men 
 might know how wealth might be used to benefit one's fellow- 
 creatures. The speaker refers to Mr. Peter Cooper, of New York. 
 Mr. Cooper was satisfied that steam might be adapted to the 
 curved roads which he saw would be built in the United States ; 
 and he came to Baltimore, which then possessed the only one on 
 which he could experiment to vindicate his belief, and he built 
 an engine to demonstrate his belief. The machine was not 
 larger than the hand-cars used by workmen to transfer them- 
 selves from place to place ; and, as the writer now recalls its ap- 
 pearance, the only wonder is, that so apparently insignificant a 
 contrivance could ever have been regarded as competent to the 
 smallest results. But Mr. Cooper was wiser than many of the 
 wisest around him. His engine could not have weighed a ton, but 
 he saw in it a principle which the forty-ton engines of to-day have 
 but served to develop and demonstrate. 
 
 " The boiler of Mr. Cooper's engine was not as large as the 
 kitchen boiler attached to many a range in modern mansions ; it 
 was of about the same diameter, but not much more than half as 
 high. It stood upright in the car, and was filled above the furnace, 
 which occupied the lower section, with vertical tubes. The cylin- 
 der was but three and a half inches in diameter, and speed was 
 gotten up by gearing. No natural draught could have been suffi- 
 cient to keep up steam in so small a boiler ; and Mr. Cooper used, 
 therefore, a blowing-apparatus, driven by a drum attached to one 
 of the car-wheels, over which passed a cord that in its turn 
 worked a pulley on the shaft of the blower. Among the first 
 buildings erected at Mount Clare was a large car-house, in which 
 railroad-tracks were laid at right angles with the road-track, com- 
 municating with the latter by a turn-table, a liliputian affair in- 
 deed compared with the revolving platforms, its successors, now 
 in use. 
 
 " In this car-shop, Mr. Cooper had his engine, and here steam 
 was first raised ; and it seems as though it were within the last 
 week that the speaker saw Mr. George Brown, the treasurer of the 
 company, one of our most estimable citizens, his father Mr. Alex- 
 ander Brown, Mr. Philip E. Thomas, and one or two more, watch 
 Mr. Cooper, as with his own hands he opened the throttle, ad- 
 mitted the steam into the cylinder, and saw the crank-substitute 
 operate successfully with a clacking noise, while the machine 
 moved slowly forward with some of the by-standers, who had 
 
118 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 stepped upon it. And this was the first locomotive for railroad 
 purposes ever built in America ; and this was the first transpor- 
 tation of persons by steam that had ever taken place on this side 
 of the Atlantic, on an American-built locomotive. 
 
 " Mr. Cooper's success was such as to induce him to try a trip 
 to Ellicott's Mills, on which occasion an open car, the first used 
 upon the road already mentioned, having been attached to the 
 engine, and filled with the directors and some friends, the speaker 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 A SIDE VIEW OF PETEK COOPER'S LOCOMOTIVE, THE " TOM THUMB." 
 [From an original drawing expressly for this work.] 
 
 among the rest, the first journey by steam in America on an 
 American locomotive was commenced. The trip was most inter- 
 esting. The curves were passed without difficulty, at a speed of 
 fifteen miles an hour ; the grades were ascended with comparative 
 ease ; the day was fine, the company in the highest spirits, and 
 some excited gentlemen of the party pulled out memorandum-books, 
 and when at the highest speed, which was eighteen miles an hour, 
 wrote their names and some connected sentences, to prove that 
 even at that great velocity it was possible to do so. The return trip 
 
Exciting Trial of Speed between Mr. Peter Cooper's Locomotive, " Tom Thumb," and one of Stockton & Stokes's Horse-Cars. 
 
 The trial took place on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, on the 28th August, 1830. The sketch represents the moment the Engine overtook and passed the Horse-Car, the passengers filled with excitement. 
 
 (See Mr. Latrobe's description, page 116.) 
 
LATROBE'S DESCRIPTION. 119 
 
 from the Mills, a distance of thirteen miles, was made in fifty-seven 
 minutes. This was in the summer of 1830, but the triumph of 
 this Tom Thumb engine was not altogether without a drawback. 
 The great stage proprietors of the day were Stockton and Stokes ; 
 and on that occasion a gallant gray, of great beauty and power, was 
 driven by them from town, attached to another car on the second 
 track — for the company had begun by making two tracks to the 
 Mills — and met the engine at the Relay House, on its way back. 
 From this point it was determined to have a race home ; and, the 
 start being even, away went horse and engine, the snort of the one 
 and the puff of the other keeping time and time. 
 
 " At first the gray had the best of it, for his steam would be 
 applied to the greatest advantage on the instant, while the engine 
 had to wait until the rotation of the wheels set the blower to 
 work. The horse was perhaps a quarter of a mile ahead, when 
 the safety-valve of the engine lifted, and the thin blue vapor issu- 
 ing from it showed an excess of steam. The blower whistled, the 
 steam blew off in vapory clouds, the pace increased, the passengers 
 shouted, the engine gained on the horse, soon it lapped him — 
 the silk was plied — the race was neck and neck, nose and nose- 
 then the engine passed the horse, and a great hurrah hailed the 
 victory. But it was not repeated, for just at this time, w T hen the 
 gray master was about giving up, the band which drove the pulley, 
 which moved the blower, slipped from the drum, the safety-valve 
 ceased to scream, and the engine, for want of breath, began to 
 wheeze and pant. In vain Mr. Cooper, who was his own en- 
 gineer and fireman, lacerated his hands in attempting to replace 
 the band upon the wheel ; in vain he tried to urge the fire with 
 light wood : the horse gained on the machine and passed it, and, 
 although the band was presently replaced, and steam again did 
 its best, the horse was too far ahead to be overtaken, and came in 
 the winner of the race. But the real victory was with Mr. Cooper, 
 notwithstanding. He had held fast to the faith that was in him, 
 and had demonstrated its truth beyond peradventure. All honor 
 to his name ! In a patent-case, tried many years afterward, the 
 boiler of Mr. Cooper's engine became, in some connection which 
 has been forgotten, important as a piece of evidence. It was 
 hunted for and found among some old rubbish at Mount Clair. It 
 was difficult to imagine that it had ever generated steam enough 
 to drive a coffee-mill, much less that it had performed the feats 
 here narrrated. In the 3Iusee <P Artillerie at Paris there are pre- 
 served old cannon, contemporary, almost, with Crecy and Poictiers. 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 In some great museum of internal improvement, and some such will 
 at a future day be gotten up, Mr. Peter Cooper's boiler should 
 hold an equalty prominent and far more honored place ; for, while 
 the old weapons of destruction were ministers of man's wrath, 
 the contrivance we have described was one of the most potential 
 instruments in making available, in America, that vast system 
 which unites remote people, and promotes that peace on earth and 
 good-will to men which angels have proclaimed." 
 
 We will also take pleasure here in laying before onr 
 readers the following highly-interesting letter from 
 Ross Winans, Esq., the inventor of the friction-wheels 
 now in general nse on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 
 It gives a comparative view of the performance of the 
 locomotive-engine of the Messrs. Stephenson, of Eng- 
 land, contrasted with that of Mr. Cooper : 
 
 Baltimore, August 28, 1830. 
 Philip E. Thomas, Esq., President Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
 Company — 
 
 " Sir : The performance of the working model of experimental 
 locomotive-engine of Mr. Cooper has been such to-day as to induce 
 me to attempt a hasty comparison of its dimensions and perform- 
 ances with some of the late celebrated English locomotives, hav- 
 ing witnessed the grand locomotive exhibition at Liverpool in 
 October last, for the £500 purse, and many other interesting ex- 
 periments by the Novelty and Rocket since that time. As Mr. 
 Cooper's engine has been got up in a temporary manner, and for 
 experiment only, and has been on the road but a few days, it will 
 be no more than justice to make the comparison with some of the 
 early experiments of the English engines. I have, therefore, se- 
 lected the experiment of the Rocket in October, on the result of 
 which the premium of £500 was awarded to Mr. Stephenson, its 
 builder, for having produced the most efficient locomotive-engine, 
 etc. 
 
 " The Rocket is professedly an eight horse-power when working 
 at a moderate speed, but, when working at high velocities, she is 
 said to be more than eight horse-power. Its furnace is two feet 
 wide by three feet high ; the boiler is six feet long and three feet 
 in diameter. 
 
ROSS WINANS'S COMPARISONS. 121 
 
 " The furnace is outside of the main boiler, and has an external 
 casing, between which and the fireplace there is a space of three 
 inches filled with water and communicating with the boiler. The 
 heated air from the furnace is circulated through the boiler by 
 means of twenty-five pipes of two inches internal diameter. It has 
 two working cylinders of eight inches internal diameter and fifteen 
 inches in length each, or thereabouts. The road-wheels to which 
 the motion is communicated are four feet eight and a half inches 
 in diameter. Mr. Cooper's engine has but one working cylinder 
 of three and one-fourth inches diameter, and fourteen and a half 
 inch stroke of piston, with a boiler proportionably small, or nearly 
 so. The wheels of the engine to which the motion is communi- 
 cated are two and a half feet in diameter, making it necessary to 
 gear with wheel and pinion to get speed, by which means a con- 
 siderable consumption of power is experienced. Tou will perceive 
 by the foregoing that the capacity, or number of cubic inches, con- 
 tained in the cylinder of Mr. Cooper's engine is only about one- 
 fourteenth part of that contained in the two cylinders of the Rocket; 
 consequently, it can only use one-fourteenth the quantity of steam 
 under the same pressure when each engine is making the same 
 number of strokes per minute, which is nearly the case when the 
 two engines are going at equal speed on the road. The total 
 weight moved in the experiment above alluded to by the Rocket, 
 including her own weight, was seventeen tons on the level road 
 at an average speed of twelve and a half miles the hour, thereby 
 exhibiting (agreeably to Vignoles's late table of the power of loco- 
 motive-engines) a little less than a six-horse engine. 
 
 " Mr. Cooper's engine has to-day moved a gross weight of four 
 and a half tons from the depot to Ellicott's Mills and back in the 
 space of two hours and ten minutes, which, as you are aware, the 
 distance being twenty-six miles, gives an average speed of twelve 
 miles to the hour. As the engine returned with its load to the 
 same point whence it started, the acclivities and declivities 
 of the road were, of course, balanced ; and at least as much time 
 and power (if not more) were required to traverse the whole dis- 
 tance as would have been on a level road ; therefore (agreeably 
 to the aforesaid tables of M. Vignoles) Mr. Cooper's engine ex- 
 hibited an average force during the time it was running of 1.43 
 horse power, or nearly one and a half, which is more than three 
 times as much power as the Rocket exhibited during the experi- 
 ment above described, in proportion to the cylindrical capacity of 
 
122 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 the respective engines. This, no doubt, originated in a consider- 
 able degree from the steam being used in Mr. Cooper's engine at 
 a higher pressure than in the Rocket. We are, however, not able 
 to come to any very correct conclusion as to what extent this 
 cause prevailed (Mr. Cooper's steam-gauge not being accurately 
 weighed), which prevents a more minute comparison being made. 
 It may be said that subsequent practice and experience with the 
 Rocket have enabled her constructor to produce more favorable 
 results, which is no doubt the case ; but we have every reason 
 to expect a similar effect with regard to Mr. Cooper's engine, judg- 
 ing from what we have witnessed, each exhibition of its power 
 being, as yet, an improvement upon the one that preceded it. It 
 is, however, too small and too temporary in its construction to 
 expect a great deal, from the friction of the parts ; the beat lost in 
 a small engine being much greater in proportion to the power 
 than in a large one. But to-day's experiments must, I think, es- 
 tablish, beyond a doubt, the practicability of using locomotive 
 steam-power on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for the convey- 
 ance of passengers and goods at such speed and with such safety 
 (when compared with other modes) as will be perfectly satisfac- 
 tory to all parties concerned, and with such economy as must be 
 highly flattering to the interests of the company. It has been 
 doubted by many whether the unavoidable numerous short curves 
 on the line of your road and inclined planes would not render the 
 use of locomotive-power impracticable ; but the velocity with 
 which we have been propelled to-day by steam-power round some 
 of the shortest curves (to wit, from fifteen to eighteen miles per 
 hour) without the slightest appearance of danger, and with very 
 little, if any, increased resistance, as there was no appreciable fall- 
 ing off in the rate of speed, and the slight diminution in speed in 
 passing up the inclined planes, some of which were nearly twenty 
 feet to the mile, must, I think, put an end to such doubts, and at 
 once show the capability of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to do 
 much more than was at first anticipated or promised by its pro- 
 jectors and supporters. 
 
 " Yery respectfully, 
 
 "Ross Wdtans." 
 
HORSE AND SAILING CARS. 
 
 123 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 HOESE AND SAILING CARS. 
 
 As we stated in a previous page, a competitor that 
 steam had to contend with on the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad was " horse-power." A horse was placed in 
 a car and made to walk on an endless apron or belt, 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 HORSE-POWER LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 and to communicate motion to the wheels, as in the 
 horse-power machines of the present day. The machine 
 worked indifferently well ; but, on one occasion, when 
 
124 HISTOKY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 drawing a car filled with editors and other representa- 
 tives of the press, it ran into a cow, and the passengers, 
 having been tilted out and rolled down an embank- 
 ment, were naturally enough unanimous in condemning 
 the contrivance. And so the horse-power car, after 
 countless bad jokes had been perpetrated on the cowed 
 editors, passed out of existence, and probably out of 
 mind. 
 
 Following the horse-power car came the Meteor. 
 This was a sailing- vehicle, the invention of Mr. Evan 
 Thomas, who was, perhaps, the first person, as already 
 mentioned, who advocated railroads in Baltimore. The 
 Meteor required a good gale to drive it, and would only 
 run when the wind was what sailors call abaft, or on 
 the quarter. Head-winds were fatal to it, and Mr. 
 Thomas was afraid to trust a strong side-wind lest the 
 vehicle might be upset ; so it rarely made its appearance 
 except a northwester was blowing, when it would be 
 dragged out to the farther end of the Mount Clair em- 
 bankment, and come back, literally with flying colors. 
 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad being the first in oper- 
 ation in this country, and ' almost the first in the world 
 for the transportation of passengers and merchandise, 
 of course was visited by crowds from almost every sec- 
 tion of the United States, as well as from parts of Eu- 
 rope. Among them was Baron Krudener, envoy from 
 Russia, who, by invitation of Mr. Thomas, made an ex- 
 cursion in the sailing-car, managing the sail himself. 
 On his return from the trip, he declared he had never 
 before travelled so agreeably. Mr. Thomas caused a 
 model sailing-car to be constructed, which he presented 
 to the baron, with the respects of the company, to be for- 
 warded to the emperor. This courtesy on the part of 
 Mr. Thomas was handsomely acknowledged by the baron. 
 
HORSE AND SAILING CARS. 
 
 125 
 
 Like the torse-car, the sailing-car had its day. It 
 was an amusing toy— nothing more — and is referred to 
 now as an illustration of the crudity of the ideas pre- 
 vailing forty years ago in reference to railroads. 
 
 Fig. 11. 
 
 SAILING-OAK. 
 
 It was after the demonstration by Peter Cooper that 
 the Baltimore and Susquehanna Kailroad Company, 
 now the Northern Central, imported the Herald from 
 England. It ran off the track continually, and was 
 useless. Its unfitness, with its large wheels, for use on 
 our curved roads was at once apparent, and it had to 
 be altered to obviate the difficulty. It was, however, 
 
126 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 antedated by the engine of Mr. Cooper and other locomo- 
 tives, as we shall show ; yet it excited great admiration 
 for its beauty, and even its driver, an Englishman named 
 John, became a person of consequence. When he came 
 down from the engine to oil it, the crowd surrounded 
 him, as the boys at a race surround the dismounted 
 jockeys on the course. The whole American world 
 were railroad children in the days we speak of. 
 
 The contest for the right of way along the Potomac 
 between the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the 
 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Companies — the prelimi- 
 nary proceedings, in which counsel on both sides, with 
 surveyors at their heels like moss-troopers, scouted the 
 banks of the river from the Point of Rocks to Williams- 
 port, ferreted out the proprietors of almost inaccessible 
 cliffs, besieged them in their dwellings to obtain grants 
 of the right of way, described what railroads were, 
 oftentimes to men whose knowledge of highways was 
 confined to mountain-paths, made diagrams and draw- 
 ings of cars and tracks unlike any thing that ever ex- 
 isted before or which ever came afterward, and were 
 believed by an ignorance that was only greater than 
 their own — these proceedings alone would furnish more 
 than a dozen chapters, but our limits will not allow us 
 to record them. The route to the mountains lay up the 
 valley of the Potomac, and the struggle for priority of 
 claim was a prolonged and exciting one. 
 
^s 
 
 - 
 
 'm4$&* 
 
 I'ETER COOPT-P. 
 
PETER COOPER. 127 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 PETEE COOPER. 
 
 Mr. Peter Cooper, of New York, like his great 
 contemporary, George Stephenson, of England, may be 
 justly looked upon as the pioneer of the locomotive 
 system in America. Undoubtedly he built the first 
 locomotive ever constructed here ; and although (as we 
 have stated before) his little machine was not intended 
 for practical purposes or employment upon a railroad, 
 yet it was designed to demonstrate a fact then very 
 much doubted, namely, the ability of a locomotive to 
 travel on the short-curved roads in this country, which 
 Mr. Cooper's successful performance set at rest forever. 
 Like George Stephenson, Mr. Cooper commenced his 
 career in life from the very foot of the ladder, and, like 
 him also, by his indomitable perseverance and industry, 
 clambered step by step from one round to another, as- 
 cending until he reached the proud pinnacle of the top- 
 most round, as a pioneer in the great achievements of 
 the locomotive, now an indispensable necessity for the 
 successful prosecution of trade and commerce through- 
 out the world. 
 
 From New York Evening Mail, July 1, 1869. 
 
 " The history of a poor boy, without education or influential 
 friends, who, by honesty, industry, and persistence, raised himself 
 to a position of wealth and reputation, cannot but be interesting. 
 Such, if properly told, would be the life of Peter Cooper — a man 
 who, perhaps, as much as any other citizen of New York, has left 
 his mark on his associates, and has placed his name in imperish- 
 able remembrance. 
 
 " He was born in the city of New York, February 12, 1791. His 
 
128 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 maternal grandfather, John Campbell, was Mayor of New York, 
 and deputy quartermaster-general during the Revolutionary War, 
 in which his father also served as a lieutenant. Mr. Cooper's 
 father was a respectable hatter, and, as soon as young Cooper was 
 old enough to pick fur from the rabbit-skins used in making hats, 
 he was set to work. He had no opportunities for education, and 
 only attended school one or two months in his life. ' I have never 
 had any time to get an education,' he once almost pathetically re- 
 marked, ' and all that I know I have had to pick up as I went 
 along.' 
 
 " He remained in the hat business with his father until he had 
 mastered it in all its branches, and during much of the time, after 
 he had finished his labors for the day, he would work until late at 
 night with some carver's tools which his grandmother gave him, in 
 order to eke out his small wages. 
 
 " We, who go to our places of business at nine, or less, and 
 leave at five, can little realize the toil which falls to the lot of 
 mechanics. The Cooper Institute is the result of the recollections 
 of those early days, and was intended to help poor boys in the 
 same situation as he had been. Young Cooper afterward went 
 into the brewing business, at which he remained about two years. 
 He then served the usual apprenticeship to coach making, and 
 finally went into the cloth-shearing business with his brother. For 
 some time he succeeded very well, but after the War of 1812 his 
 business was so injured by the introduction of foreign cloths that 
 he left it and began cabinet-making. He gave this up after a 
 while, and opened a grocery-store on the present site of the Cooper 
 Union, where he carried on a small retail trade for some time. He 
 finally bought a woollen factory with his savings, and since that 
 time has steadily prospered. He has since tried his hand at other 
 kinds of business, but the largest part of his fortune was gained 
 by the manufacture of glue and by his iron-works. He has shown 
 a Yankee talent for undertaking different speculations, as well as 
 great shrewdness and prudence in conducting them. 
 
 " In 1830 he erected extensive iron-works at Canton, near Bal- 
 timore, where he built from his own designs the first locomotive 
 ever turned out on this continent. He carried on large wire and roll- 
 ing mills at Trenton, New Jersey, and was the first person to roll 
 wrought-iron beams for fire-proof buildings. He has been much 
 interested in the progress of telegraphy, and has been an officer in 
 several leading telegraph associations. 
 
PETER COOPER. 129 
 
 " It was while serving as an alderman, forty years ago, that 
 Mr. Cooper conceived the idea of the ' Cooper Union.' A fellow- 
 officer who had visited the iScoles d? Industrie, in Paris, and been 
 much impressed with their utility and attractions, described them 
 to him and suggested that they would be well suited for introduc- 
 tion into this country. The thought thus planted in Mr. Cooper's 
 mind, remained for long years, germinated, took root, and grew 
 into the accomplishment of his design. 
 
 " Let those who think it an easy thing to do good, ponder the 
 lesson taught by Mr. Cooper's experience in building the Institute. 
 The mere saving and donating the money for the purpose was but a 
 fraction of the work performed. Great difficulties had to be over- 
 come in designing so unique a building. Mr. Cooper was deter- 
 mined that it should be fire-proof, consequently a separate foundery 
 had to be erected to forge the iron used in the construction ; when 
 this was done, the estimated outlay fell short twenty-five thousand 
 dollars of the actual cost. Countless other obstacles had to be 
 overcome, and finally the Institute was completed, at an immense 
 cost over its estimated expense. In fact, it took all Mr. Cooper's 
 money to finish it, and he was comparatively a poor man when all 
 the bills were paid ; but, as if to reward his sacrifices, his business 
 has since improved, until he is now richer than ever. 
 
 "What greater triumph could be desired, than to have ac- 
 complished such a work as the Institute as it now stands, with its 
 classes for young men and women, its scientific, literary, art, and 
 music schools, reading-room, and other features, and what greater 
 honor could be desired than to go down to posterity as its found- 
 er ? Let the voices of those who have received its benefits be a 
 paean to the memory of its originator, and let his name share the 
 glory of their deeds ! 
 
 " But nothing is complete in life without its disagreeable side, 
 and noble as have been Mr. Cooper's motives, and open as were his 
 plans in erecting this institution, not a few persons have avowed 
 their belief that it was all done with self-interested views. 
 
 " After this, who can expect gratitude from the world ? 
 
 " Mr. Cooper's personal appearance is familiar to every New- 
 Yorker. He is of middle stature, with silver locks and beard, and 
 a venerable and benevolent face. He is best known by his old 
 white hat, which, like Horace Greeley's, is characteristic of the 
 man. He commonly drives about in an old-fashioned one-horse 
 chaise, drawn by a steady mare, the whole turn-out looking as if 
 
130 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 it belonged to some well-to-do farmer or retired tradesman, rather 
 than a million n aire. 
 
 " The key to Mr. Cooper's life and deeds is to be found in 
 those few words which we have heard from his own lips : ' I re- 
 solved that I would repay every benefit which I had received by 
 conferring an equal benefit on some of my fellow-men.' 
 
 " His success in business has been greatly due to a faculty for 
 taking up enterprises which had been abandoned by other people, 
 and by dint of perseverance and hard work making them succeed. 
 In the main, however, he has gained his ends by attending to his 
 affairs in person, and has always strictly followed Dr. Franklin's 
 principle — ' The eye of the master is worth all of his servants.' 
 Even at his present advanced age he does not neglect this rule, 
 but keeps a strict eye upon the affairs of the Cooper Union." 
 
 We cannot leave Mr. Cooper, even now, without de- 
 voting a few pages of our work to record his last act 
 of generosity, benevolence, and philanthropy, toward 
 the meritorious poor and industrious classes of our com- 
 munity, in his munificent bequest of one hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars to be used in the establishment 
 and endowment of a library, where the hard-working 
 and deserving classes, who desire repose and relaxation 
 after the toils of the clay, can seek recreation and infor- 
 mation from the great store of useful books he has 
 placed within their reach, where all may participate 
 who feel a desire of so doing, and know that they are 
 welcome. 
 
 On the day of this munificent bequest, Mr. Cooper 
 reached his eightieth birthday, February 12, 1871. On 
 that occasion a most interesting interview took place 
 between the graduating class of the Institute and their 
 venerable benefactor and friend. Being assembled in 
 the large hall of the Institute, the class, in an interest- 
 ing address, expressed their heart-felt gratitude to the 
 venerable donor for the valuable gift he had that day 
 bestowed upon them — a gift which they hoped and 
 
PETER COOPER. 131 
 
 trusted would, from the results for many years to come, 
 bring to their minds the eightieth anniversary of his 
 birth, a period of life prolonged, by the providence of 
 Almighty God, beyond the term usually allotted to a 
 ripe old age, yet retaining all that ' vigor of body, 
 strength of mind, and warmth of heart, which promise 
 many years of usefulness and honor. 
 
 To their address Mr. Cooper replied in a most feel- 
 ing and interesting manner, and we only regret now 
 that our limited space will not allow us to embody in 
 our present work his appropriate remarks upon this 
 deeply interesting occasion, as we feel assured that 
 they would prove most useful and instructive to many 
 of our readers, who, no doubt, may be found among 
 the mechanics and working-classes of the community. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 PRIZE FOR BEST LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 We will now resume our history of the early loco- 
 motives in America, believing that our readers will par- 
 don our digression. 
 
 As it may be interesting to railroad engineers and 
 machinists, we insert here the conditions required and 
 the premium offered by the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road Company for the best locomotive of American 
 manufacture, which were referred to in Mr. Latrobe's 
 letter to the author : 
 
 "Office of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, 
 
 "January 4, 1831. 
 " The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, being desirous 
 of obtaining a supply of locomotive-engines of American manufac- 
 
132 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 ture, adapted to their road, the president and directors hereby 
 give public notice that they will pay the sum of four thousand 
 dollars for the most approved engine which shall be delivered for 
 trial upon the road, on or before the 1st of June, 1831 ; and they 
 will also pay three thousand five hundred dollars for the engine 
 which shall be adjudged the next best, and be delivered as afore- 
 said, subject to the following conditions, to wit : 
 
 " First. The engine must burn coke or coal, and must consume 
 its own smoke. 
 
 " Second. The engine, when in operation, must not exceed 
 three and one-half tons' weight, and must, on a level road, be ca- 
 pable of drawing, day by day, fifteen tons, inclusive of the weight 
 of the wagons, fifteen miles per hour. The company to furnish 
 wagons of Winans's construction, the friction of which will not 
 exceed five pounds to the ton. 
 
 " Third. In deciding on the relative advantages of the several 
 engines, the company will take into consideration their respective 
 weights, power, and durability, and, all other things being equal, 
 will adjudge a preference to the engine weighing the least. 
 
 " Fourth. The flanges are to run on the inside of the rails. 
 The form of the cone and flanges, and the tread of the wheels, 
 must be such as are now in use on the road. If the working- 
 parts are so connected as to work with the adhesion of all the four 
 wheels, then all the wheels shall be of equal diameter, not to ex- 
 ceed three feet ; but if the connection be such as to work with the 
 adhesion of two wheels only, then those two wheels may have a 
 diameter not exceeding four feet, and the other two wheels shall 
 be two and a half feet in diameter, and shall work with Winans's 
 friction- wheels, which last will be furnished upon application to 
 the company. The flanges to be four feet seven and a half inches 
 apart, from outside to outside. The wheels to be coupled four 
 feet from centre to centre, in order to suit curves of short radius. 
 
 "Fifth. The pressure of steam not to exceed one hundred 
 pounds to the square inch, and, as a less pressure will be preferred, 
 the company, in deciding on the advantages of the several engines, 
 will take into consideration their relative degrees of pressure. 
 The company will be at liberty to put the boiler, fire-tube, cylinder, 
 etc., to the test of a pressure of water not exceeding three times 
 the pressure of the steam intended to be worked, without being 
 answerable for any damage the machine may receive in conse- 
 quence of such test. 
 
PRIZE FOR BEST LOCOMOTIVE. 133 
 
 " Sixth. There must be two safety-valves, one of which must 
 he completely out of the reach of the engine-man, and neither of 
 which must be fastened down while the engine is working. 
 
 " Seventh. The engine and boiler must be supported on springs 
 and rest on four wheels, and the height from the ground to the top 
 of the chimney must not exceed twelve feet. 
 
 "Eighth. There must be a mercurial gauge affixed to the 
 machine, with an index-rod, showing the steam-pressure above 
 fifty pounds per square inch, and constructed to blow out at one 
 hundred and twenty pounds. 
 
 " Ninth. The engines which may appear to offer the greatest 
 advantages will be subjected to the performance of thirty days' 
 regular work on the road ; at the end of which time, if they shall 
 have proved durable, and continue to be capable of performing 
 agreeably to their first exhibition, as aforesaid, they will be 
 received and paid for as here stipulated. 
 
 " P. E. Thomas, President. 
 
 " N". B. — The railroad company will provide and will furnish a 
 tender and a supply of water and fuel for trial. Persons desirous 
 of examining the road, or of obtaining more minute information, 
 are invited to address themselves to the president of the company. 
 The least radius of curvature of the road is four hundred feet. 
 Competitors who arrive with their engines before the 1st of June, 
 will be allowed to make experiments on the road previous to that 
 day. 
 
 " The editors of the National Gazette, Philadelphia, Commer- 
 cial Advertiser, New York, and Pittsburg Statesman, will copy 
 the above once a week, for four weeks, and forward their bills to 
 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company." 
 
 As Mr. Latrobe says in his letter before quoted, 
 Phineas Davis's engine, built at York, Pennsylvania, 
 was the only one which came up to the require- 
 ments of the company. After a trial, and several modi- 
 fications and changes, each as it suggested itself, late in 
 the summer of 1831, the Davis (or rather "Davis and 
 Gartners ") engine was found capable of pulling on the 
 part of the road between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES rN AMERICA. 
 
 thirteen miles, four loaded cars of the gross weight of 
 fourteen tons, in about one hour. 
 
 This engine was mounted on wheels like those of 
 the ordinary cars, thirty inches in diameter, and its 
 velocity was effected by means of gearing with a spur- 
 wheel and pinion on one of the axles of the road- 
 wheels. 
 
 In the construction of the road from Baltimore to 
 the Point of Rocks, every mode hitherto suggested by 
 science or experience had been tested, and thus the work 
 must be regarded as having the honor of solving most 
 of the problems which presented themselves in this 
 early period of railroads in this country. The granite, 
 and the iron rail ; the wood and iron, on stone blocks ; 
 the wood and iron on wooden sleepers, supported by 
 broken stone; the same supported by longitudinal 
 ground-sills in place of broken stones ; the log-rail, 
 formed of trunks of trees, worked to a surface on one 
 side to receive the iron, and supported by wooden 
 sleepers; and the wrought-iron rails of the English 
 mode — had all been laid down, and as early as 1832 
 formed different portions of the work. Great credit is 
 therefore due to the engineers and workmen of this 
 road, for the patience displayed in carrying out their 
 work, at that time the longest in the world ; nothing in 
 England could approach it in the magnitude and extent 
 of its plan. These men labored long, at great cost, and 
 with a diligence which is worthy of all praise. Their 
 road and workshops have been a lecture-room to thou- 
 sands who are now practising and improving upon their 
 hard-earned experience. 
 
FIRST AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 FIEST AMEEICAN LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 While these events were transpiring in Maryland, 
 through the progress of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road, a similar enterprise, nearly equal in its magnitude, 
 and fully so in importance, had been started in another 
 section of the country. The practicability of establish- 
 ing a railroad communication between the city of 
 Charleston, South Carolina, and Hamburg, on the west- 
 ern border of the State, a distance of one hundred and 
 thirty-six miles, must have been talked of, and even 
 some primary steps taken for its consummation, as early 
 as 1827. We have seen, in an old file of the Charles- 
 ton Courier, dated December, 1827, the following copy 
 of a letter from Columbia, the capital of the State, where 
 the Legislature was in session at the time. It says : 
 
 "The committee to whom the Charleston memorial was re- 
 ferred is divided in opinion on the propriety of an appropriation 
 for the survey of the country between Charleston and Hamburg. 
 Some of the committee think that if the railroad is to be the work 
 of a company, who is to receive all the profits, the whole expense 
 should be borne by the company. And again, that if a survey be 
 effected by the State, it would not be done so satisfactorily to the 
 community as it probably would be if managed by individuals 
 immediately interested." 
 
 However, a bill, granting a charter for the South 
 Carolina Railroad, was passed December 19, 1827. 
 Fifteen days after, on January 4, 1828, a meeting of 
 the citizens was called, and a committee appointed to 
 report on that charter at the next meeting. The second 
 
136 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 meeting was called in the Charleston Courier, January 
 7, 1828, as follows: 
 
 " A meeting of the citizens is requested at the City Hall, this 
 day, at 1 o'clock, to take into consideration the report of the com- 
 mittee on the subject of the railroad from this city to Hamburg. 
 At a previous meeting on January 4th, the sub-committee had 
 reported unfavorably. This committee pointed out many parts 
 of the General Act of the Legislature for incorporating companies 
 for constructing turnpike-roads, bridges, and ferries, that were 
 inapplicable to a railroad company, as the bill now before the 
 Legislature." 
 
 On the reassembling of the Legislature, January 21, 
 1828, after the usual Christmas recess, Mr. Black pre- 
 sented a memorial praying amendments to the act of 
 the last session, and a new bill was reported on the 22d. 
 
 January 29, 1828, the present charter of the South 
 Carolina Railroad was granted. A motion had been 
 made to strike out the provision exempting the property 
 of the road from taxation. The yeas and nays were 
 taken — yeas 13, nays 22 — and the bill passed. 
 
 The stockholders organized as a company on the 
 12th of May, 1828, being the second railroad company 
 formed in the United States for commercial purposes 
 and the transportation of passengers and freight. 
 
 At one of the earliest meetings of the projectors, 
 Horatio Allen, Esq. (before mentioned), well known as 
 an experienced engineer, had been invited by them 
 to fill the position of chief engineer of the contemplated 
 work. In compliance with their request, Mr. Allen made 
 a report at the first meeting, five days after their organ- 
 ization, recommending the kind of road to be con- 
 structed and the kind of power best calculated to be 
 used upon the road. Having visited England to ex- 
 amine the progress so far made in railroads and locomo- 
 
FIRST AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE. 137 
 
 tive power, and having been requested, while in Eng- 
 land, by John B. Jervis, Esq., chief engineer of the Dela- 
 ware and Hudson Railroad, to contract for the iron for 
 that road, and procure for it three first-class locomotives, 
 the Charleston Railroad directors had confidence in his 
 skill and judgment. In his report at this first meeting, 
 Mr. Allen used all the arguments at his command to 
 recommend the construction of the road for locomotive- 
 power, and with such success that at the meeting on 
 January 14, 1830, when the report was acted upon, the 
 Hon. Thomas Bennett offered a resolution to the effect 
 that the locomotive alone should be used upon the road, 
 and in selecting that power for its application to rail- 
 roads, the maturity of which will be reached within 
 the time of constructing the road, would render 
 the application of animal power a great abuse of the 
 gifts of genius and science. The resolution was unani- 
 mously carried. 
 
 At the celebration in Dunkirk, New York, in 1852, 
 in commemoration of the completion of the New York 
 and Erie Railway, Mr. Allen, alluding to this subject 
 in his address, makes use of the following language : 
 
 " At the same period, that is, prior to the great locomotive 
 trial in England, and when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
 Company were so strongly impressed in favor of horse-power, 
 it became necessary for me, as engineer of the South Carolina 
 Railroad Company, to decide for what power that road should 
 he built. The road was one hundred and thirty-six miles 
 long. From the character of the country, the plan of the 
 road would be naturally influenced by the kind of power 
 adopted. Stationary power was out of the question, but the 
 opinion was held, by many of great intelligence, that horse-power 
 should at least be commenced with. In the report I made on this 
 important question, I submitted such comparative estimate of the 
 results of horse-power and locomotive-power as the information 
 then to be had appeared to me to sustain. That estimate was in 
 
138 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 favor of locomotive-power, but I rested the decision of the question 
 on the position that, what the performance of a horse was and 
 would be, every one knew ; but the man was not living who would 
 undertake to say what the locomotive was yet to do ; and I may 
 add that, after more than thirty years have elapsed, during every 
 one of which the soundness of this position has gained new grounds 
 to sustain it, he would be a bold man who would say that we had 
 attained the limit in the performance, and esj)ecially in the econo- 
 my of performance, of this great mechanical blessing to mankind. 
 In the recommendation of this report in favor of locomotive-power 
 the Board of the South Carolina Railroad Company unanimously 
 concurred, and, as this decision was the first on any railway built 
 for general freight and passenger business in this country or in 
 England, it has been referred to as one of the interesting facts in 
 the early history of railroads." 
 
 The preparations for the work were at once com- 
 menced, and the road was begun in 1829. Six miles 
 were completed in that year. 
 
 Like the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a number of 
 experiments were tried with different powers. 
 
 The company offered a premium of $500 for the 
 best locomotive by horse-power. This premium was 
 awarded to Mr. C. E. Detmold, who invented one 
 worked on an endless-chain platform. "When this 
 horse-power locomotive was completed and tested upon 
 the road, it carried twelve passengers " at the rate of 
 twelve miles an hour. 
 
 A sailing-car, or a car propelled by the wind, was 
 also tested upon the road in 1829-30. A description 
 of one of the trips upon this machine we copy from the 
 Charleston Courier, March 20, 1830 : 
 
 " Sailing on Land. — A sail was set on a car on our railroad 
 yesterday afternoon, in the presence of a large concourse of spec- 
 tators. Fifteen gentlemen got on board and flew off at the rate 
 of twelve to fourteen miles an hour. Thirteen persons and three 
 tons of iron were carried about ten miles an hour. The preparations 
 
HORSE-POWER LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 A 
 
 .., ; yaM 
 
 Horse-power locomotive invented by C. E. Detmold, the succes?ful 
 competitor for the prize of $500 offered by the South Carolina Railroad, 
 as it appeared on this road in 1829-30. 
 
FIRST AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE. 139 
 
 for sailing were very hastily got up, and of course were not of the 
 best kind ; but owing to this circumstance the experiment afforded 
 high sport. The wind blew very fresh from about northeast, 
 which, as a sailor would say, was ' abeam,' and would drive the 
 car either way with equal speed. When going at the rate of about 
 twelve miles an hour and loaded with fifteen passengers, the mast 
 went by the board, with the sail and rigging attached, carrying 
 with them several of the crew. The wreck was descried by several 
 friendly shipmasters, who kindly rendered assistance in rigging a 
 jury-mast, and the car was again soon put under way. During 
 the afternoon the wind changed so as to bring it nearly ahead 
 when going in one direction ; but this did not stop the sport, as it 
 was ascertained that the car would sail within four points of the 
 wind. We understand it is intended by some of our seamen to 
 rig a car properly, and shortly to exhibit their skill in managing a 
 vessel on land." 
 
 The president of the road, Mr. Tupper, in one of 
 his reports to the board, informs them that on March 1, 
 1830, the committee to whom the matter was referred 
 had reported that they had accepted the offer of 
 Mr. E. L. Miller, of Charleston, to construct a loco- 
 motive at the West Point Foundery, in New York, and 
 that it should perform at the rate of ten miles per hour, 
 instead of eight, as first proposed, and carry three times 
 her weight, which was required the year before, on the 
 Liverpool and Manchester Hailroad, at the trial for the 
 premium of £500. 
 
 Mr. Miller immediately set about the construction 
 of his locomotive. His plans and specifications were 
 drawn out by the same Mr. Detmold,who had invented 
 the horse-power locomotive on the Charleston road, and 
 who was then living in New York. 
 
 Meantime the work on the road was pushed for- 
 ward, and another mile completed, making seven miles 
 ready for use., and many more under contract and fast 
 approaching completion. 
 
140 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 FURTHER TRIALS. 
 
 Mr. David Matthew, who was foreman of the 
 hands fitting up machinery in the West Point Foundery, 
 and had charge of those fitting up the Stourbridge 
 Lion, when she came from England, also had charge of 
 the men fitting up the " Best Friend," the first loco- 
 motive ever built in America, for actual service on a 
 railroad. In the same letter, which he addressed to the 
 author in 1859, after describing the Stourbridge Lion, 
 he thus continues : 
 
 " The first American-built locomotive for actual service upon a 
 railroad was called the ' Best Friend of Charleston.' I had charge 
 of the hands fitting up this engine ; this was in 1830, shortly after 
 the Stourbridge Lion had been tried in our yard, and some modi- 
 fications made to it. The locomotive ' Best Friend of Charleston ' 
 was contracted for by Mr. E. L. Miller, of Charleston. The Best 
 Friend was a four-wheel engine, all four wheels drivers. Two in- 
 clined cylinders at an angle, working down on a double crank, 
 inside of the frame, with the wheels outside of the frame, each 
 wheel connecting together outside, with outside rods. The wheels 
 were iron hub, wooden spokes and felloes, with iron tire, and iron 
 web and pins in the wheels to connect the outside rods to. 
 
 " The boiler was a vertical one, in form of an old-fashioned 
 porter-bottle, the furnace at the bottom surrounded with water, 
 and all filled inside full of what we called teats, running out from 
 the sides and top, with alternate stays to support the crown of the 
 furnace ; the smoke and gas passing out through the sides at 
 several points, into an outside jacket ; which had the chimney on 
 it. The boiler sat on a frame wpon four wheels, with the connect- 
 ing-rods running by it to come into the crank-shaft. The cylin- 
 ders were about six inches in the bore, and sixteen inches' 
 stroke. Wheels about four and a half feet in diameter. The 
 whole machine weighed about four and a half tons. It was 
 
FURTHER TRIALS. 141 
 
 shipped to Charleston, South Carolina, for the Charleston and 
 Hamburg Railroad, in the fall of 1830, and was put upon that 
 road during the winter. 
 
 " It was the first locomotive built in America, was exhibited 
 at our shop under steam for some time, and visited by many. 
 She was shipped to Charleston on board of the ship Niagara, in 
 October, 1830." 
 
 Prof. Samuel Henry Dickson, of the Jefferson 
 Medical College of Philadelphia, in a recent letter to 
 the author, describes his visit to the West Point Foun- 
 dery-works in New York, in 1830. At this time the 
 " Best Friend of Charleston," the first locomotive ever 
 built in America, for actual service upon a railroad, was 
 just completed, and about to be shipped to Charleston. 
 Prof. Dickson writes as follows : 
 
 "Philadelphia, May 30, 1871. 
 
 "Wm. H. Brown, Esq.— 
 
 " Dear Sir : In reply to your courteous letter of inquiry, just 
 received, I regret that I can give you nothing better than general 
 though very definite reminiscences. Dates, circumstantial details, 
 and printed statements, such as would best suit your purpose, have 
 faded from my mind, and all written memoranda of that distant 
 time have perished amid the general ruin at the South. 
 
 " But I recollect that, being on a tour among my Northern 
 friends in the summer of 1830, I was written to on the part of 
 the board of directors of the Charleston and Hamburg Railroad 
 (the South Carolina Railroad), and requested, as one of that body, 
 to visit the foundery of Mr. Gouverneur Kemble, to look at a loco- 
 motive-engine which he was building for our road, and report as to 
 its general appearance, and the prospect of its completion by the 
 appointed time. 
 
 " Our contract had been made with Mr. E. L. Miller, who en- 
 gaged with Mr. Kemble to build the machine. Mr. Miller accom- 
 panied me to the workshop, where I saw with intense interest and 
 great satisfaction, not unmixed with some pride too, the first loco- 
 motive constructed in this country. Never having seen a loco- 
 motive, and being neither engineer nor mechanic, I could not of 
 course presume to pronounce upon its merits, and was as curious 
 10 
 
142 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 and anxious about the result of our experiment as any one inter- 
 ested. But I had read and heard a good deal on the subject, and 
 did not hesitate to recommend the prompt acceptance of the 
 engine from the contractor, and to congratulate my fellow-direc- 
 tors upon its promise of decided utility and advantage to our great 
 enterprise. 
 
 " Mr. Miller named it, I think, ' The Best Friend,' and it was 
 forwarded to Charleston late that fall or early in the winter, when 
 it was at once put upon the road. It did not disappoint our hopes, 
 but proved in capacity and serviceable qualities all that we had 
 expected. It was run long and successfully, under the charge of 
 Mr. Darrell, one of our young native machinists. I am under the 
 impression that it was one day blown up through the carelessness 
 of a negro fireman, that it was soon repaired and replaced upon 
 the road. Of its ultimate fate I am not certain, but believe that, 
 after having attained a ripe old age, in process of time it finally 
 wore out, and was thrown aside, the common destiny of man and 
 all his works. 
 
 " I am glad to hear of the gratifying progress of your book, 
 and know that its publication will not long be delayed. Wishing 
 you the large and profitable success, as an author, which your 
 energy and perseverance so richly deserve, and all other forms of 
 happiness and prosperity, 
 
 " I remain, very truly, 
 
 " Your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 "Samuel Henkt Dickson." 
 
 The author examined the order-book recently at 
 the West Point Company's Foundery, at Cold Spring, 
 Putnam County, on the Hudson River, for some reminis- 
 cences of the old " Best Friend," but all he could find 
 (the old books having been lost or mislaid) was the 
 following order from the New- York office, dated April 
 6, 1830, as follows: "Two cylinders, see pattern loco- 
 motive-engine, nozzles for exhaust cast right and left." 
 
 The above shows that the engine was commenced, 
 as Mr. Matthew states, in the spring of 1830. 
 
 The following paragraph appeared in the diaries- 
 ton Courier, October 23, 1830 : 
 
FURTHER TRIALS. 143 
 
 " Locomotive Steam-Engine. — " We understand that the 
 steam-engine intended for our road is on board the ship Niagara, 
 which arrived in the offing last night." 
 
 As no machinist came out with the locomotive, the 
 superintendent of the railroad applied to Mr. Thomas 
 Dotterer, of the firm of Dotterer <fe Eason, machinists 
 and engineers, to pnt the machine together and prepare 
 her for the road. These gentlemen appointed Mr. 
 Julius D. Petsch, who was foreman in their workshops, 
 to discharge this duty. Mr. Petsch, at their request, 
 undertook the task, and selected as an assistant Mr. 
 Nicholas "W". Darrell, a young man just out of his time 
 in their workshops. These gentlemen (Mr. Petsch and 
 his assistant Mr. Darrell) immediately set about fitting 
 up the " Best Friend " for the road, and so energetically . 
 did they work that in a few days all was ready. Before 
 the 1st of Nov., 1830, several experimental trials, at 
 short distances, were made to see that all was right; 
 and on the 2d of November, with Mr. Darrell in charge, 
 Mr. Miller, accompanied by several gentlemen in a car, 
 made a trial-trip. 
 
 The result of this trial-trip we learn from the follow- 
 ing letter from the chief engineer, Horatio Allen, in the 
 Charleston Courier, November 3, 1830 : 
 
 " The public will regret to learn that an accident has happened 
 to a pair of the wheels of the locomotive-engine lately put upon 
 the railroad. To prevent any misunderstanding or exaggeration, 
 it is proper to communicate the facts. The change of direction 
 which takes place when a carriage enters a curved part of a road 
 is effected by the action of the flange which is attached to the rim 
 against the iron rail. A lateral strain is then brought to act on 
 the spokes of the wheel, and in this present instance they have 
 proved too weak to resist it, and from this circumstance the acci- 
 dent has originated. The spokes were discovered to spring, and 
 fears were entertained by Mr. Miller, shortly after he commenced 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 running his engine. Yesterday he experimented with it for this 
 especial purpose, and after having proceeded to the extremity of 
 the road, and almost completed his return, during which time the 
 operation of the engine was in the highest degree satisfactory, the 
 forward wheel was sprung inward, so much so as to leave the rail 
 entirely ; and the engine, after proceeding about twenty feet, was 
 stopped with both the front wheels off the rail, and some of the 
 spokes much injured. 
 
 "It is as singular as satisfactory that no other part of the 
 frame, machinery, or boiler, exhibited the least derangement, afford- 
 ing the most decisive proof of the correctness of the proportions 
 and the excellence of the work. It is but justice to state that the 
 wheels were made after the English wheels, the most approved 
 until the construction of the wrought-iron ones. A short time will 
 be required to replace the wheels, when the engine will again be 
 put in motion. 
 
 "No personal injury happened to any of the individuals, either 
 on the passenger-car or engine. 
 
 " Horatio Allen." 
 
 We next hear of the " Best Friend " through the 
 report of President Tapper to the board of directors. 
 After speaking of Mr. Miller's contract to furnish a 
 locomotive, etc., he continues : 
 
 "On the 14th and 15th of December, 1830, the engine was 
 tried, and proved her force and efficiency to be double that con- 
 tracted for ; running at the rate of sixteen to twenty-one miles an 
 hour, with forty to fifty passengers in some four or five cars, and, 
 without the cars, thirty to thirty-five miles per hour." 
 
 " Jockey of York," an amnsing sporting writer, gives 
 an account of a trip on Christmas-day, in his peculiar 
 style, in the Charleston Courier, December 29, 1830 : 
 
 " Sporting Intelligence. — Our distant friends no doubt are 
 desirous to know the result of our Christmas sports. The celebra- 
 tion season was altogether novel and interesting. The iron horse 
 ' Best Friend ' was entered for the purse, about a fortnight since, 
 to ' run against time.' The ' heat ' was, that he should run ten 
 
FURTHER TRIALS. 145 
 
 miles an hour, carrying three times his own weight. He was 
 trained every day preparatory to the great trial of speed. Doubts 
 were at first entertained as to 'his wind,' when everybody ac- 
 knowledged he had sufficient 'bottom.' The 'Best Friend' is 
 out of a horse bred by Messrs. Watt & Bolton, and of the 
 same breed as the Novelty and Rocket, which contended for the 
 purse of £500, at the late Liverpool and Manchester races. By - 
 crossing the breed with a Columbian sire, he has 'eclipsed' his 
 progenitors upon the European, and stands unrivalled upon the 
 American turf. The knowing ones have already hinted that his 
 dam was ' half salamander, half alligator ' as he eats fire, breathes 
 steam, and feeds upon light-wood. All doubts, however, of his 
 being 'short-winded' have been dissipated, and it is now confi- 
 dently believed that he can run one hundred miles without ' flag- 
 ging,' for, like Pat, after the foot-race at Donnybrook Fair, when 
 being questioned if he was ' out of breath,' he replied, ' No, faith, 
 I'm only likely to be troubled with too much of it.' But, Mr. 
 Editor, allegory apart, I am the ' odd fellow ' of the one hundred 
 and forty-one persons who were drawn or rather whisked through 
 the air by the iron horse or locomotive-engine, on Christmas- 
 day— 
 
 ' Which sped through the air like a meteor swift, 
 While the crowds from around it did fearfully drift 
 To the right and the left, as it passed.' 
 
 \ 
 
 " We flew on the wings of the wind at the varied speed of 
 
 fifteen to twenty-five miles an hour, annihilating ' time and space,' 
 and, like the renowned John Gilpin, ' leaving all the world behind.' 
 A venerable friend of mine, seventy-five years of age, gravely re- 
 marked he thought it was passing through life rather too quick, 
 as the journey at least was a very short one. 'Very true, my 
 good sir,' said I. ' We cannot, however, just now take time for 
 those sage reflections on matters and things in general so neces- 
 sary to our mental and moral improvement.' It was nineteen 
 minutes five and one-fourth seconds since we started, and we dis- 
 covered ourselves beyond the forks of the State and Dorchester 
 roads. Somebody exclaimed the engine was ' waltzing.' I looked 
 around, and 'tis a fact, Mr. Editor; notwithstanding the apparent 
 absence of every moving principle of grace or agility, it turned 
 round as nimbly as a miss of sixteen : but I swear by the spec- 
 tacles I shall one day or other wear, that either the road or the 1 *—• 
 engine turned round like a top — in proof of which I appeal to my j 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 own pumps — if it did not afterward chass'e to the left and remain 
 there until the three cars led off a country-dance before it. Never 
 did reviewing general present a more warlike front to troops pass- 
 ing on line of march than did this same knight-errant, ' clad in his 
 iron-bound armor.' As each car came in front, it gave us three 
 whiffs of steam in acknowledgment that the compliment to our 
 company was felt and appreciated. Never were the three ruffles 
 of the drum more gratifying to my feelings when military ardor 
 ' fired my breast.' On our return, it again headed the column. 
 We came to Sans-Souci in quick and double-quick time. Here we 
 stopped to take up a recruiting-party — darted forth like a live 
 rocket, scattering sparks and flames on either side — passed over 
 three salt-water creeks, hop, step, and jump, and landed us all safe 
 at the Lines before any of us had time to determine whether or 
 not it was prudent to be scared. It beats the Dumb Chess-Player 
 all hollow. Your obedient servant, 
 
 "Jockey of York." 
 
 It will be borne in mind, from the foregoing extract 
 of " Jockey of York," that the " Best Friend" made an 
 excursion trip on Christmas-day, December 25, 1830. 
 
 These extracts, from one of the most respectable 
 journals of the time, will tend to prove that as early as 
 the months of November and December, 1830, and 
 January, 1831, the "Best Friend" was in existence, aryd 
 running upon the South Carolina Railroad : 
 
 From the Charleston Courier, January 11, 1831. 
 
 " On Saturday last, the first anniversary of the commencement 
 of the railroad was celebrated. Notice having been previously 
 given, inviting the stockholders, about one hundred and fifty as- 
 sembled in the course of the morning at the company's building 
 in Line Street, together with a number of invited guests. The 
 weather the day and night previous had been stormy, and the 
 morning was cold and cloudy. Anticipating a postponement of 
 the ceremonies, the locomotive-engine ' Best Friend, of Charleston,' 
 had been taken to pieces for cleaning, but upon the assembling of 
 the company she was put in order, the cylinders new packed, and 
 at the word, the apparatus ready for movement. The first trip 
 
The "Best Friend," the First Locomotive built in the United States for actual service on a Railroad. 
 
 The "Best Friend" was built at the West Point Foundery Shops, in New York City, for the South Carolina Railroad, arrived in Charleston by ship Niagara October 23d, and after several experimental trials, in November and December, 
 1880, made the first excursion trip, as above, on Saturday, 15th January, 1831, heiug the anniversary of the commencement of the road. (See extract ft.. in ' %arlest09i < burier, page 152.) 
 
EXPLOSION OF "BEST FRIEND." 147 
 
 was performed with two pleasure-cars attached, and a small car- 
 riage, fitted for the occasion, npon which was a detachment of 
 United States troops and a field-piece which had been politely 
 granted by Major Belton for the occasion. 
 
 " Upon the return of the engine, it was found necessary to 
 tighten the packing, which occasioned some little delay. At about 
 one o'clock she again started with three cars attached, upon which 
 were upward of one hundred passengers. At two o'clock a Feder- 
 al salute was fired by the detachment of troops stationed upon the 
 remains of the fortification erected during the Revolution near the 
 Quarter House. At four o'clock the company commenced return- 
 ing, and were all safely landed at Line Street before six. The 
 number of passengers brought down, which was performed in two 
 trips, was estimated at upward of two hundred. A band of music 
 enlivened the scene, and great hilarity and good-humor prevailed 
 throughout the day." 
 
 The " Best Friend " continued to do the necessary- 
 work of the road, hauling materials, workmen, ballast, 
 lumber, etc., used in the construction, during all of 
 which time she was in charge of Mr. Nicholas W. Dar- 
 rell, who had assisted Mr. Petsch in putting her to- 
 gether and on the road when she first came out to 
 Charleston. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 EXPLOSION OF "BEST FEIEND." 
 
 On Friday the 17th of June, 1831, the boiler of the 
 
 " Best Friend " exploded. As this is the first boiler- 
 explosion upon a locomotive on record in America, we 
 will give the account of the accident and its conse- 
 quences, from an article in the Charleston Courier, June 
 18, 1831 : 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 "Saturday Morning, June 18, 1831. 
 
 " The locomotive ' Best Friend ' started yesterday morning to 
 meet the lumber-cars at the Forks of the Road, and, while turning 
 on the revolving platform, the steam was suffered to accumulate 
 by the negligence of the fireman, a negro, who, pressing on the 
 safety-valve, prevented the surplus steam from escaping, by which 
 means the boiler burst at the bottom, was forced inward, and in- 
 jured Mr. Darrell, the engineer, and two negroes. The one had 
 his thigh broken, and the other received a severe cut in the face 
 and a slight one in the flesh part of the breast. Mr. Darrell was 
 scalded from the shoulder-blade down his back. The boiler was 
 thrown to the distance of twenty-five feet. None of the persons 
 are dangerously injured except the negro, who had his thigh 
 broken. The accident occurred in consequence of the negro hold- 
 ing down the safety-valve while Mr. Darrell, the engineer, was 
 assisting to arrange the lumber-cars, and thereby not permitting 
 the necessary escape of steam above the pressure the engine was 
 allowed to carry." 
 
 The wreck of the old " Best Friend " was taken by- 
 Mr. Julius D. Petsch for repairs and suck alterations as 
 were found upon experiment to be necessary. 
 
 Eailroad men of tke present day will no doubt ask, 
 " Why was the engineer, Mr. Darrell, not at his post 
 upon the engine, and why was he attending to the ar- 
 rangement of the lumber-cars, leaving his engine in 
 charge of his negro fireman ? " To these questions we 
 will reply by stating that, at that early day in railroad 
 aifairs, no such officers of a train as conductors, flagmen, 
 or brakemen, had been instituted. The engineers of 
 locomotives, like the drivers of the old-fashioned stage- 
 coaches in by-gone days, and of the horse-cars used 
 upon railroads, had to do their own hitching up, etc. 
 Hence the reason why Mr. Darrell was not on the en- 
 gine during the arrangement of the train. At that time 
 every thing had to be learned as the necessity demanded 
 it. Previous to the explosion of the " Best Friend," an 
 
EXPLOSION OF "BEST FRIEND." 149 
 
 accident occurred at a switch, which is explained by 
 Mr. Allen, the chief engineer, and which called for a 
 new order from the directors, which we will insert as 
 an illustration of our remarks in the case of the explo- 
 sion: 
 
 " Charleston, May 14, 1831. 
 " To Elias Horry, Esq., President — 
 
 " Sir : I hasten to communicate the causes which produced the 
 accident of yesterday afternoon. It originated in the wild de- 
 rangement of the tongue, which guides the wheel through the 
 turnout, by some ill-disposed person, and was rendered injurious to 
 the car by the imprudent speed allowed by those who had the 
 management of the engine — the tongue having been nailed to its 
 proper position, but was made loose by removing the fastening, 
 and was probably shaken from its place by the speed with which 
 the engine and one car had preceded the one injured. Directions 
 have been given to pass the turnout at moderate speed, and the 
 attention of the person in charge to be constantly kept on the road 
 in advance of the engine. 
 
 " Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 "Horatio Allen." 
 
 Extract from the minutes, July 3, 1831, in reference 
 to the order above alluded to by Mr. Allen : 
 
 " Hesolved, That in future not over twenty-five passengers be 
 allowed to go on each car. That the locomotive shall not travel 
 at a greater speed when there is attached: 
 
 " One car and passengers at fifteen miles an hour. 
 
 " Two cars and passengers at twelve miles an hour. 
 
 " Three cars and passengers at ten miles an hour. 
 
 " And that directions be given to that effect." 
 
 The foregoing will no doubt draw a smile upon the 
 faces of engineers and railroad-men of the present day. 
 It only serves to show the crudeness of railroad experi- 
 ence, at that early day, of locomotives. 
 
 The following letter from Mr. Nicholas W. Darrell, 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IX AMERICA. 
 
 the first locomotive-engineer in America, will, we trnst, 
 be read with interest, especially by Ms fellow-engineers 
 and railroad-men. It was received in answer to some 
 inquiries made of him by the author, in reference to the 
 "Best Friend." 
 
 " Charleston, September 2, 1869. 
 
 "Me. Wm. H. Bbotvtt— 
 
 " Deae Sie : Your letter came to hand a few days ago, and 
 I now hasten to reply to it, with all the information I can give you 
 upon the subject at this distant day, drawn from memory alone, 
 as I have no notes to which to refer. 
 
 "In the spring of 1830, Mr. E. L. Miller, of our city, entered 
 into a contract to furnish the South Carolina Railroad with a loco- 
 motive that should travel ten miles an hour, and draw three times 
 its own weight. 
 
 " Under this contract Mr. Miller brought out his engine, which 
 was built at the "West Point Foundery in New-York City. 
 
 " The engine arrived by the ship Niagara in Charleston, in the 
 latter part of October, 1830. The engine was called the 'Best 
 Friend, of Charleston.' Mr. Julius D. Petsch and myself had 
 served our apprenticeship with Mr. Thomas Dotterer, of the firm 
 of Dotterer & Eason, as machinists and engineers, and were en- 
 gaged to put this engine together, and made the first run or trial- 
 trip, when she proved equal to double the stipulations of the con- 
 tract, running at the rate of sixteen to twenty-one miles an hour, 
 with forty or fifty passengers in four or five cars, and making 
 thirty to thirty-five miles per hour without cars. From this date 
 I was regularly engaged as the engineer of the ' Best Friend,' the 
 first locomotive ever built and run in this country, in the actual 
 service of a company. 
 
 " In June, 1831, the boiler of the ' Best Friend ' exploded, while 
 in charge of myself. She was rebuilt by Mr. Julius D. Petsch, who 
 substituted straight axles and cast wheels and wrought tires, for 
 crank-axles and wood wheels with iron tires. Her name was also 
 changed, and called the ' Phoenix.' 
 
 " In February, 1831, after the arrival of the ' Best Friend,' a 
 second engine, called the ' West Point,' arrived in Charleston, and 
 was put upon the road. Of this engine I was also engineer. 
 When the ' Friend ' was repaired, she was run by Henry Raworth 
 as engineer, and name changed to Phcenix. 
 
EXPLOSION OF "BEST FRIEND." 151 
 
 " I continued to run the ' West Point ' until the first eight- 
 wheel engine was "brought out, called the ' South Carolina,' built 
 in New York, after plans of Mr. Horatio Allen, then chief en- 
 gineer of the South Carolina Railroad. 
 
 " Julius D. Petsch, Nicholas W. Darrell (myself), John Eason, 
 and Henry Raworth, were the first to run locomotives. We were 
 all apprentices of Mr. Thomas Dotterer, and natives of Charleston. 
 I have been constantly in the employ of the South Carolina Rail- 
 road from December 8, 1830, to the present time ; was born on the 
 12th day of November, 1807. 
 
 " Attached is a rough sketch of the ' Best Friend,' made from 
 recollection alone, yet I was so long upon the machine, and had 
 her so many years before my eyes, that her general form and ap- 
 pearance can never be forgotten. I have shown the sketch to 
 many of the old hands now Irving, and they all exclaim at once, 
 * There is the old " Best Friend ! " ' 
 
 " When I run the ' Best Friend,' I had a negro fireman to fire, 
 clean, and grease the machine. This negro, annoyed at the noise 
 occasioned by the blowing off the steam, fastened the valve-lever 
 down and sat upon it, which caused the explosion, badly injuring 
 him, from the effects of which he died afterward, and scalding me. 
 
 " I hope this information will be of service to you. H you re- 
 quire any other facts in reference to the first engines, let me hear 
 from you. 
 
 " Tours with great respect, 
 
 "Nicholas W. Dakreix, 
 " First Superintendent of Machinery, 
 
 " South Carolina Railroad" 
 
 The following letter from James M. Eason, Esq., of 
 Charleston, Sonth Carolina, who is a manufacturer of 
 steam-engines, boilers, and machinery, will serve to es- 
 tablish the fact that, not only was the South Carolina 
 Eailroad the very first in the world "built expressly for 
 locomotives, but it was also the pioneer in having the 
 first locomotive for actual service in America built for 
 their use ; also the first to order a locomotive to be 
 built in their midst and by one of their own native 
 mechanics and citizens : 
 
152 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 "Office of J. M. Eason & Brother, Manufacturers op 
 "Steam-Engines, Boilers, and Machinery. 
 
 "Charleston, S. C, September 24, 1869. 
 "William H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 " Dear Sir : I enclose you a note from old Mr. Darrell, and also 
 a photograph of him which I prevailed upon him to have taken for 
 you. 
 
 " If of any interest to you, I could send you a photograph of 
 Thomas Dotterer, who, in early railroad days, built the ' Native,' 
 the first locomotive ever built with outside connections and straight 
 axles. After the explosion of the ' Best Friend,' Mr. Petsch took 
 the wreck to Mr. Dotterer's shop to rebuild, as the railroad company 
 had at that time no shop. In repairing the 'Best Friend,' Mr. 
 Petsch changed the double-crank axle to a straight axle, made cast- 
 iron wheels, changed the position of the cylinders, and made the 
 first outside connection, so universal at the present day, and was 
 then appointed master-machinist of the road. 
 
 " I remember the first trip of the ' Native.' She had been 
 started out to run up the road, and I well remember the great 
 prejudice which Mr. Dotterer had to encounter against his plan of 
 outside connections, which was then urged to this effect : that the 
 power, being applied to the end of the axle, would rack the road to 
 pieces and the engine too ; that the thing (not calling it an engine) 
 would not do, etc. But, nothing daunted, he made the engine and 
 sent it out. Evening came, and the locomotive, probably the 
 second ever run on the road, certainly the first after the ' West 
 Point,' did not arrive with the train. Great uneasiness was mani- 
 fested by the officers of the company, for in those days everybody 
 interested attended at the arrival of a locomotive. Finally night 
 came on ; neither the regular train nor the little ' Native ' (for she 
 only weighed about four tons) was in sight, and the murmurings 
 could be heard in knots of persons and officials, that the damned 
 thing had broken the road, or blown up, or some other casualty 
 had happened to her, and prevented the arrival of the other loco- 
 motive and train. 
 
 " Now, my dear sir, imagine Mr. Dotterer's feelings ; but be- 
 hold him, the man of genius, standing amid the bickerings of men, 
 almost fearing that his little engine was the cause of the delay, 
 when a voice cried out, ' She's coming ! ' and the sparks from the 
 smoke-pipe were observed (for in those days spark-arresters were 
 not perfected). Then a general rush to hear the news, to see what 
 
SECOND AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE. 153 
 
 caused the detention, and learn the fate of the poor home-made 
 ' Native,' when lo ! a cry from a faithful friend of Mr. Dotterer, 
 ' Why, 'tis the Native pulling locomotive and train ! ' Then look 
 at Thomas Dotterer, with a heart full, with tear-drops in his eyes, 
 as the smile of successful championship and confidence in his work 
 played upon his countenance. I stood beside him at that moment, 
 and shared with him in his pride. If I had the time and the abil- 
 ity, I could gather many interesting facts of early railroad times 
 here in our old city, for I can remember many things. But I only 
 intended to enclose to you Mr. Darrell's letter and his photograph, 
 and trust you will excuse me for thus intruding on your valuable 
 time. Yery respectfully, yours, etc., 
 
 "James M. Easok." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 SECOND AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE. 
 
 The second locomotive for the South Carolina Rail- 
 road, and also the second built in this country, ar- 
 rived at Charleston by the ship Lafayette on Monday, 
 February 28, 1831. This engine was ordered from the 
 West Point Foundery, and constructed from plans sent 
 by Horatio Allen, Esq., the chief engineer of the road. 
 Of this locomotive, Mr. David Matthew, after describ- 
 ing in his letter to the author, in 1859, the " Stourbridge 
 Lion " and the " Best Friend " locomotives, thus con- 
 tinues : 
 
 "American locomotive number two was called the 'West 
 Point.' This engine was contracted for by Horatio Allen, and was 
 commenced by me, David Matthew, in the fall of 1830, and com- 
 pleted and shipped to the Charleston and Hamburg Kailroad about 
 the middle of February, 1831. This locomotive had the same size 
 of engine, frame, wheels, and cranks, as the ' Best Friend,' but had 
 
154 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 a horizontal tubular boiler. The tubes were two and a half inches 
 in diameter and about six feet long." 
 
 After this engine was run upon the road for some 
 time, a trial of her speed was made, which is thns de- 
 scribed in the Charleston Courier, March 12, 1831 : 
 
 " On Saturday afternoon, March 5, 1831, the locomotive 'West 
 Point ' underwent a trial of speed, with the barrier car and four 
 cars for passengers, on our railroad. There were one hundred and 
 seventeen passengers, of which number fifty were ladies in the four 
 cars and nine persons on the engine, with six bales of cotton on 
 the barrier car, and the trip to the Five-mile House, two and three- 
 fourths miles, was completed in eleven minutes, where the cars were 
 stopped to oil the axles about two minutes. The two and one- 
 fourth miles to the forks of Dorchester road were completed in 
 eight minutes. The safety has been insured by the introduction 
 of the barrier-car * and the improvements in the formation of the 
 flange of the wheels, which we learn was made by a young me- 
 chanic of this city, Mr. Julius D. Petsch, in the company's service. 
 The new locomotive worked admirably, and the safety-valve being 
 out of the reach of any person but the engineer, will contribute to 
 the prevention of accidents in future, such as befell the ' Best 
 Friend.' " 
 
 As we before stated, Mr. Nicholas W. Darrell was 
 the engineer who ran this machine from the time it was 
 put on the road. He thus describes it in a letter to the 
 author : 
 
 " Chakleston, S. C, September 23, 1869. 
 
 " Mr. William H. Brown — 
 
 " Respected Sir : I have received your favor of the 22d of 
 August, and would have answered it before this time, but, being 
 quite indisposed in health, I have been prevented. 
 
 " It gives me pleasure to know that the information and sketch 
 of the ' Best Friend ' I sent in my last letter is of any service to 
 you. I will now give you such information of the second locomo- 
 
 * A car with bales of cotton fixed up as a rampart between the locomotive and 
 passenger cars. 
 
The "Weist Point." the Second Locomotive built in the United States for actual service on a Railroad 
 
SECOND AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE. 155 
 
 tive for our road as my memory serves. The engine was named 
 the ' West Point.' The boiler was horizontal, with tubes or flues 
 running lengthwise with the boiler, about five or six feet long and, 
 I think, about three inches in diameter. I think their number was 
 six or eight. These tubes, or flues, or whatever you may call 
 them, were riveted to the fire-box and to the other end of the 
 boiler. They were made of iron, and the water in the boiler sur- 
 rounded them, and the flame and smoke passed through the tubes 
 into the smoke-box. 
 
 " The engine was similar in every respect to the ' Best Friend,' 
 except in the boiler. I herewith send you a rough sketch of the 
 machine as near as I can recollect. 
 
 " Several persons now living, and who saw the engine at that 
 time, think that the sketch looks very much like the old ' West 
 Point.' Hoping that this brief information may lead to some more 
 important results from some more valuable source, I remain, dear 
 sir, Yery respectfully, etc., 
 
 " Nicholas W. Dakrell, 
 " Formerly Superintendent of Machinery, South Carolina 
 
 MailroacV 
 
 - Tristram Tupper, Esq., the president of the South 
 Carolina Railroad, in one of his reports under the head 
 of " The History of the Road," gives an extract from the 
 report of the Hon. Thomas Bennett, four days after the 
 building of the road had commenced, as follows : 
 
 " The locomotive shall alone be used. The perfection of this 
 power in its application to railroads is fast maturing, and will 
 certainly reach, within the period of constructing our road, a 
 degree of excellence which will render the application of animal 
 power a gross abuse to the gifts of genius and science." 
 
 " This," continues Mr. Tupper, " was assuming a great 
 deal, when animal power was used, years afterward, on 
 all the other railroads then in progress in this country. 
 But what, then, were our expectations as regards the 
 performance of a locomotive ? 
 
 " On March 1, 1830, a committee reported that they 
 
156 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 had accepted the offer of Mr. E. L. Miller to construct 
 a locomotive-engine in New York, at the West Point 
 Foundery ; and that she should perform at the rate of 
 ten miles an hour, instead of eight as first proposed, and 
 carry three times her weight, which was required the 
 year before on the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, 
 at a trial of engines for the premium of ,£500, which 
 Mr. Miller went out to witness. Mr. Miller's engine, 
 under this contract, was brought out by him in the fall 
 of 1830, and on the 14th and 15th of December, 1830, 
 had her trial and proved her power and efficiency to be 
 double those contracted for. She was the first locomo- 
 tive-engine built in the United States to run on a rail- 
 road. She was first called the ' Best Friend,' but 
 having her boiler burst in June, 1831, and renewed in 
 Charleston, she was afterward called the l Phoenix.' 
 This engine was built according to the plan and under 
 the personal direction of our talented and enterprising 
 fellow-citizen E. L. Miller, Esq." 
 
 At the time this engine was engaged, 1830, Mr. 
 Miller led the van among the advocates of steam over 
 horse or any other power for railroads. Public opinion 
 was, at that time, much divided on the subject; the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company leaned in favor 
 of horse-power; but, nothing daunted by the weight of 
 their authority, Mr. Miller persevered, and, with an 
 unyielding fixedness of purpose, proposed to construct 
 an engine, on his own responsibility, equal to the best 
 then in use in England. He succeeded, and to him 
 belongs the honor of planning and constructing the 
 " Best Friend," the first locomotive ever built and worked 
 on a railroad in the United States. 
 
 The directors of the South Carolina Railroad, there- 
 fore, are not only entitled to the credit of having had 
 
SECOND AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE. 157 
 
 built for their railroad, and run upon it, the first locomo- 
 tive built in the United States, for the practical use of 
 their road, but they are also entitled to the credit of 
 being the pioneers in having their railroad the first, not 
 only in America but the first in the world, constructed 
 from the very beginning for the use of locomotive- 
 power. 
 
 "When the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was com- 
 menced, nearly a year before, from the lack of experience 
 and under the advice of the best English engineers, the 
 track was designed and constructed for horse-power, 
 and not until it had been built as far as Ellicott's Mills, 
 a distance of thirteen miles, did the subject of locomo- 
 tives come under deliberation ; as Mr. Peter Cooper states 
 in his letter to the author : " The road, in the opinion 
 of the largest stockholders, was considered ruined for 
 locomotives, which at that time began to show some 
 signs of advancement and improvement in England, 
 and they refused, in many instances, to advance another 
 dollar toward its completion ; " when Mr. Cooper's little 
 locomotive, the " Tom Thumb," demonstrated the fact 
 that, although the road was really built for horse-power, 
 locomotives could be run upon it successfully. But 
 with the Charleston Railroad directors there was no 
 such doubt. At the first meeting of the board, the 
 chief engineer of the road, Horatio Allen, made his able 
 report on the kind of power the road should be con- 
 structed to sustain, and this report was followed by 
 that memorable resolution of Mr. Bennett that it should 
 be built for locomotive-power ; and this resolution was 
 unanimously adopted and acted upon in the contract 
 with Mr. Miller to furnish a locomotive. 
 
 11 
 
158 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 FIRST IOCOIOTIVE-ENGINEEES. 
 
 We have mentioned the name of Mr. Nicholas W. 
 Darrell (whose likeness is herewith presented) as the 
 first engineer of the two first-built locomotives in 
 America ; and we are also indebted to him for the de- 
 scriptions and the sketches of these pioneer machines 
 for railroad usefulness, the " Best Friend, of Charleston," 
 and the "West Point." 
 
 A few months only after we received from Mr. 
 DarrelPs own hand these letters of description and 
 sketches, the old veteran in railroad service, from his 
 age and infirmities, yielded up his spirit to the God 
 that gave it, and died in Charleston, the place of his 
 nativity, and of his long career of usefulness, on the 4th 
 of December, 1869, beloved and regretted by all who 
 knew him. 
 
 In December, 1830, Mr. Darrell stood upon the plat- 
 form of the " Best Friend " as its engineer. What ima- 
 gination could then have conceived any thing like our 
 present system of railroads, covering a continent with a 
 net-work of iron stretching out its arms from the Atlan- 
 tic to the Pacific ? Yet, at that very time and place, 
 1830, at Charleston, existed one of the small beginnings. 
 The man who helped to give the initial impulse to 
 the wheels of locomotion has recently departed this 
 life, beloved and respected by a large circle of friends 
 and acquaintances, but almost unknown to the public ; 
 yet, in Charleston, he was known and appreciated. His 
 body was attended to its last resting-place by the entire 
 force of officials and employes of the South Carolina 
 
ft* 
 
 N. "W. DARUELL. 
 
FIRST LOCOMOTIVE-ENGINEERS. 159 
 
 Railroad Company, and numerous friends, and the work- 
 shops were closed in token of respect for the first loco- 
 motive-engineer in America. 
 
 Next to Nicholas W. Darrell comes the veteran en- 
 gineer, Mr. Henry G. Raworth, another employe of the 
 South Carolina Railroad from its very Ibeginning. 
 When the Best Friend was blown up through the igno- 
 rance of the negro fireman, the wreck was taken by 
 Mr. Julius D. Petsch to Mr. Dotterer's shop for repairs, 
 as we mentioned in another chapter. Young Raworth, 
 an apprentice of Mr. Dotterer, assisted Mr. Petsch in 
 the work upon the engine, and when again ready for 
 the road, and the name changed to the "Phoenix," 
 Mr. Raworth ran it as engineer, and in that capacity 
 has continued to serve the company up to the present 
 time, and is now running an engine on the road, a pe- 
 riod of consecutive service of over forty-two years. 
 During all this time Mr. Raworth was never in the 
 service of any other railroad, and never out of the ser- 
 vice of the South Carolina Railroad, excepting only once 
 during the Seminole War, when the Government applied 
 to the South Carolina Railroad for an engineer to run 
 the engine of a small steamboat engaged in transport- 
 ing troops and supplies in the Everglades of Florida. 
 On this duty Mr. Raworth was engaged ten months, 
 then returned to his old position, resumed his engine, 
 and is running now (August 1, 1873). In the fall of 
 1871, the author (when he visited South Carolina to 
 examine the records of the old roads for statistics for 
 his " History of the First Locomotives in America ") 
 had the pleasure of several interviews, and a ride upon 
 the locomotive over his entire route, with Mr. Raworth, 
 and received much valuable information as to the early 
 
160 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN AMERICA. 
 
 history of the road. During the ride on the locomotive 
 with Mr. Raworth, the author saw and conversed with 
 another veteran in the service of the South Carolina 
 Railroad, in the person of Mr. Raworth's old negro 
 fireman. This faithful assistant has been Mr. Raworth's 
 fireman on the locomotive successively from one to 
 another, as occasion required a change, for a period 
 of over nineteen years, and during all that time never 
 quitted Mr. Raworth. Between these two, Mr. Ra- 
 worth and his fireman, the most friendly understanding 
 has existed. 
 
 In one of Mr. Raworth's letters to the author, June 
 IV, 1872, he states that his old negro fireman, " Adam 
 Perry," was formerly the property of Major John 
 Schmidt, of Barnwell District, South Carolina, who 
 hired him to Mr. George B. Lythgoe, who was employed 
 on the road as assistant civil engineer at that time ; 
 that Adam had been with him, in October coming, 
 nineteen years ; and in reference to his character would 
 say that he was faithful, industrious, strictly temperate, 
 and a most moral negro; always respectful to his 
 superiors when a slave, and since a freeman, and has 
 been working on the road in different positions thirty- 
 seven years. Mr. Raworth also wrote that he had 
 a white fireman for seventeen years, whose name was 
 Thornton Randall, who died two years ago. When 
 running on Aikin Hill, he had both firemen. The 
 most perfect friendly relationship existed between 
 these men. " You would " (he writes) " never hear an 
 improper word from them ; they were always kind to 
 each other." 
 
 The president of the road informed the author, 
 when in Charleston, that, during all the period of Mr. 
 Raworth's service, as a locomotive-engineer, the engine 
 
FIRST LOCOMOTIVE- ENGINEERS. 161 
 
 was never in the shops an hour for repairs, excepting only 
 when actually worn out from constant hard work, and 
 some of its parts required renewing. Both Mr. Ra- 
 worth and his firemen, white and black, have been 
 total-abstinence men all their lives, and much, if not 
 all, of this remarkable exemption from accident and 
 disaster of all kinds incident to railroad running, 
 may be attributed to that excellent trait in their char- 
 acters. 
 
 During the author's ride on the locomotive last fall 
 with Mr. Raworth, the veteran was well, hearty, and 
 in the finest spirits, and in his own peculiar way he said 
 that he had been running so long, a period now of 
 nineteen consecutive years, over the same route and 
 between the same two points, that he had become so 
 familiar with every feature on it, that if the division 
 boss removed one of the spikes, or put another in its 
 place, he was sure to notice it. The same was the case 
 with his old fireman. He thought he would be fit 
 for service for ten years yet, and then the company 
 would switch him off on some comfortable siding, put a 
 shed over him, and take care of him the rest of his 
 life, as they had done with old Darrell, another of 
 their faithful servants, as the first and second locomo- 
 tive-engineers in America. 
 
 Since the foregoing was prepared for our present 
 volume, we received, on August 16th, from the railroad 
 veteran, Mr. Raworth, the following letter, enclosing 
 the photographs of himself and his old negro fire- 
 man: 
 
 "Aiken, S. C, August 11, 1873. 
 " Mk. Wm. H. Brown— 
 
 " Dear Sir : Yours is received. I am very sorry I had to keep 
 you so long for our photographs. My old fireman has been very 
 
162 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN AMERICA. 
 
 sick, which is the reason why I could not send them earlier. Adam 
 Perry has worked on the South Carolina Railroad thirty-seven years, 
 and nineteen years with me as my fireman. Hoping the photo- 
 graphs will be in time for you, 
 
 " I remain, very respectfully, 
 
 " H. G. Rawoeth." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 horatio alley's letter. 
 
 We will now close our history of the first and second 
 American-built locomotives, by giving in this place 
 Horatio Allen's communication to the author on several 
 points of interest, to which we have alluded in the pre- 
 ceding pages. Mr. Allen's letter is as follows : 
 
 "New York, March 1, 1869. 
 "Me. Weluah H. Browst — 
 
 " Dear Sir : You ask me for some incidents in the early his- 
 tory of railroads and locomotives in this country, of which I have 
 personal knowledge. 
 
 " Being one of the first of American engineers who gave atten- 
 tion to the subject, at the time when the indications were that a 
 new era in intercommunication was about to open, and having 
 visited England to obtain the information that existed at that 
 time, and having given special attention to what was to be, and 
 proved to be, the vital element of the new era — the locomotive — I, 
 of necessity, was a party to many events of interest at this day. 
 It has always been my intention to place on record some of the 
 earlier incidents ; but the postponement to a more convenient 
 time, which the business engagements of life have led to, will leave 
 this intention unfulfilled. 
 
 • " At your request, and, as you say, it may be of some value to 
 you personally, I will briefly refer to one or two events of the 
 
HORATIO ALLEN'S LETTER. 163 
 
 character of that contained in the quotation sent me. The quota- 
 tion is from remarks made by me at the opening of the New York 
 and Erie Railroad in 1852. 
 
 " It is often and, perhaps, generally thought that the railroad 
 system was imported full grown. Such is not the fact, and it 
 would greatly interest many Americans to have presented the 
 part that was taken in this country in the development of this 
 great instrumentality of modern times. I have not the time to 
 present it, but I will refer to one or two events. One was the run- 
 ning of the first locomotive on a railroad on this continent. Here- 
 with I send the remarks made by me at the opening of the New 
 York and Erie Railroad, to which I will only add, that the loco- 
 motive was built under my directions in England, set up and run 
 as described in 1829. 
 
 " The first decision in the world to build a railroad expressly 
 for locomotive-power, for general freight and passenger business, 
 was in this country, and at a period of time which gives especial 
 interest to that decision. In the year 1829, it was my duty, as 
 chief engineer of the South Carolina Railroad, to report to the di- 
 rectors as to the plan of construction of that work, in length one 
 hundred and thirty-five miles. 
 
 " At that time, the question of motive power was in the follow- 
 ing position : In England, the Liverpool and Manchester company 
 had referred the question of motive-power to a commission of two 
 engineers of great eminence, James Walker, of London, and John 
 W. Rastrick, of Stone Bridge. These gentlemen, after a thorough 
 examination of the whole subject, united in an elaborate report, 
 accompanied by maps, etc., showing how the system recommended 
 was to be carried out, and that system was a series of stationary 
 engines, placed one to three miles apart, which, through long 
 ropes, were to draw the trains from one engine to the other. 
 
 " On this side the water, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
 Company had sixteen miles in operation by horse-power. By cor- 
 respondence with the gentlemen who had the beginning of that 
 great enterprise in hand, I was informed that they were advised 
 by English engineers, consulted on the subject, to build their road 
 for horse-power. 
 
 " At this time, and with this intimation before me, I made my 
 report to the directors of the South Carolina Railroad Company. 
 In that report I made such comparison between horse-power and 
 locomotive-power as the information at the time enabled me to 
 
164 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 make. I presented my conclusion that the comparison was in 
 favor of locomotive-power, and I based my recommendation, that 
 the road should he built for locomotive-power, essentially on the 
 ground that there was no reason to believe that the breed of 
 horses would be materially improved, but that the present breed 
 of locomotives was to furnish a power of which no one knew its 
 limit, and which would far exceed its present performances. At 
 the meeting where this report was submitted, the directors, before 
 they left their seats, passed the resolution unanimously that the 
 South Carolina Railroad should be built solely for locomotive-power. 
 
 " To one other circumstance in connection with the same road 
 I will refer. I had early come to the conclusion that to make the 
 locomotive the instrument that would be required, it must furnish 
 more power in one instrument and one engineer ; that it was plain 
 that the materials, and that, too, of the road which carried the loco- 
 motive, limited the weight to rest under each wheel, and that, as 
 more power required more weight, there must, of necessity, be 
 more wheels, and that, if more wheels are required, power must be 
 made in reference to curves and change of grade. In reports made 
 in 1830-'31, I set forth the combinations by which such provision 
 could be made. At that time the locomotives in England were all 
 on four wheels, and it was maintained by a strong English influ- 
 ence that it was not for us, in America, to depart from English 
 usage. The subject was matter of discussion for a winter. I took 
 the position (English usage to the contrary notwithstanding) that 
 no long road for general passenger and freight purposes could 
 maintain itself without the use of eight-wheel locomotives, and 
 that probably ten-wheel locomotives would also be found desir- 
 able. Experience has amply sustained my position. My efforts 
 were successful, and in 1831 the first eight-wheel locomotives were 
 built on my plans and under my direction. The combinations by 
 which provision was made for curves and changes of grade are 
 substantially those so generally used on eight-wheel locomotives 
 and eight-wheel passenger-cars. 
 
 " It is of some interest that their introduction, without patent, 
 was in a great degree the means of saving the railroad companies 
 and the public from charges for their use. 
 
 " It is with difficulty that I have found time to put on paper, in 
 this brief way, this reply to your inquiries. 
 
 " Yours respectfully, 
 
 "Horatio Allen. 
 
CLAIMS TO FIRST LOCOMOTIVES. 165 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 CLAIMS TO FIKST LOCOMOTIVES. 
 
 In" previous pages the author has stated that he was 
 mainly induced to compile this history in consequence 
 of the numerous statements in the public journals, 
 giving what they supposed to be correct accounts 
 or histories of the first locomotive built and run upon a 
 railroad in the United States, and his desire to settle 
 that much-disputed question of the first locomotive that 
 was in the actual service of a company. The following 
 from the Philadelphia Public Ledger, of January 18, 
 1869, is a sample of those statements which have, from 
 time to time, been spread before the public, as the 
 true history of the first locomotive. Since this state- 
 ment was published in the Ledger, the author has been 
 frequently told that the first American locomotive was 
 built in Philadelphia, and run upon the Germantown 
 and Morristown Railroad, in 1832. The communica- 
 tion in the Ledger reads thus : 
 
 "The first really effective locomotive in America," says Mr. 
 Haskell, in the Goachmdker > s Journal, " was built in Philadelphia, 
 from a draught by Rufus Tyler, a brother-in-law of the late Matthias 
 Baldwin, of Philadelphia. Messrs. Tyler & Baldwin had formed 
 a co-partnership and entered into business at the corner of Sixth 
 and Miner Streets, Philadelphia, where the plans and patterns were 
 made and the building of the iron horse commenced. In conse- 
 quence of a misunderstanding, the partnership was dissolved, and 
 Mr. Baldwin continued the business, removing to a shop in Lodge 
 Alley, where the engine was completed. Mr. Tyler was at that 
 time considered the best mechanic in America. The wheels of 
 the engine were made of wood, with broad rims and thick tires, 
 the flange being bolted on the side. It was called ' Old Ironsides,' 
 
166 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 and was built in 1832. At eight o'clock in the morning, she was 
 first put in motion on the Germantown and Norristown Railroad at 
 their depot, Ninth and Greene Streets. She ran a mile an hour, 
 and was considered the wonder of the clay. On trial, it was ascer- 
 tained that the wheels were too light to draw the tender, and to 
 obviate this difficulty we had the tender placed in front of the 
 engine, which kept the wheels on the track. Mr. Baldwin, the 
 machinist, and myself, pushed the engine ahead, until we obtained 
 some speed, when we all jumped on the engine, our weight keep- 
 ing the wheels from slipping on the track. The boiler being too 
 small for the engine, steam was only generated fast enough to 
 keep the engine in motion a short time, so that we were compelled 
 to alternately push and ride until we arrived at Germantown 
 depot, where we rested and took some refreshments at the expense 
 of the hotel-keeper at that place. 
 
 " At four o'clock we started on our return to Philadelphia, 
 alternately riding and pushing in the same manner that we had 
 come. Upon arriving at a turn on the road, at the up-grade, the 
 engine suddenly stopped, when, upon examination, it was found 
 that the connecting pipe between the water-tank and the boiler 
 had been frozen, and the steam was all out of the boiler. It was 
 then about eight o'clock, and was growing each moment colder. 
 ' Necessity knows no law,' and so, after a short consultation, we 
 made a summary appropriation of sundry panels of a post-and-rail 
 fence close to the track, and started a fire underneath the pipe to 
 thaw it. In a short time thereafter we had steam up and resumed 
 our journey toward Philadelphia, arriving at the depot about 
 eleven o'clock. Several successive trials were made during the fol- 
 lowing year; after each, Mr. Baldwin added improvements and 
 made alterations in the machinery. In about a year it was found 
 that the grease had saturated the hubs and loosened the spokes, 
 and they finally went to pieces, and were replaced by new ones. 
 This same engine is still in existence in Vermont." 
 
 When the author read this description in the Ledger, 
 with the astounding caption that preceded it, viz., " The 
 first really effective engine in America," he could not 
 restrain his wonder. His surprise was only increased 
 when he tried to imagine what the editor could be 
 thinking about when he suffered such a communication 
 
CLAIMS TO FIRST LOCOMOTIVES. 167 
 
 to enter the columns of his valuable journal. When 
 the author tried to imagine the appearance of this ex- 
 cursion-party to and from Grermantown — first pushing 
 awhile, then jumping on for a ride, then off again for 
 another push, and on again for another ride — he was 
 forcibly reminded of a scene he has often witnessed 
 after the boss and his hands, on a railroad division, 
 had knocked off for dinner, when a parcel of school- 
 boys amused themselves with a ride upon the unoc- 
 cupied hand-car. 
 
 If Philadelphia will claim this specimen of a loco- 
 motive as her share in the enterprise of introducing this 
 indispensable machine into the United States, and as 
 late as 1832, she is welcome to enjoy it; and her 
 mechanics maybe justly proud of their handiwork ; for 
 they had certainly made no improvement upon the 
 English locomotives, several of which were at that 
 time (December, 1832) in this country ; besides the fact 
 that there had been built in this country, between the 
 years 1829 and '31, one most successful experimental 
 locomotive by Mr. Peter Cooper, of New York, which 
 we describe in full, and also there had been built in 
 1830 and '31 several American locomotives for actual 
 railroad service, which were in successful operation, 
 as we have already shown, viz., the " Best Friend " and 
 the " West Point," for the Charleston Railroad. An- 
 other article upon the subject of early locomotives, 
 or rather, as it is headed, " The first train of cars by 
 steam in America," we read in the Boston Advertiser of 
 January, 1869, as follows : 
 
 " The First Steam-train in America." — In the superintend- 
 ent's office at the Providence Railroad Station, in this city, is 
 a picture of the first steam railroad train in America, run from 
 Albany to Sehenectady, over the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, in 
 
168 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 1831. The train consisted of a locomotive, tender, and two cars. 
 The locomotive, named the ' John Bull,' and imported from Eng- 
 land, was of very simple and uncouth construction, and might be 
 mistaken in these days for a pile-driver. Its cylinders were five 
 and a half inches in diameter, and sixteen inches' stroke, and the 
 connecting-rods worked on double cranks on the front axle. It 
 weighed four tons. John Hampson, an Englishman, was the 
 engineer. The tender was a simple frame, with a platform, upon 
 which were placed a heap of wood used for fuel, and two crates 
 filled with similar combustibles. This vehicle had also a passenger- 
 box in the rear. The cars were patterned after the old stage- 
 coaches, resembling somewhat the railroad-coaches still used in 
 England, and were coupled with three links instead of one, as at 
 present. Twelve passengers occupied the inside seats, and three 
 were seated outside. Among them were Mr. Thurlow Weed and 
 ex-Governor Yates. Their portraits, and those of their fellow- 
 passengers, which the picture gives in sombre and sharply-defined 
 silhouette, would readily be recognized by any one acquainted 
 with them when they made the excursion. The picture is photo- 
 graphed by Messrs. J. L. Howard & Co., of Springfield, from the 
 original, in the possession of the Connecticut Histoiical Society." 
 
 The original picture of the engine and train of cars, 
 from which the photograph just described was taken, 
 was executed by the author of this history, and pre- 
 sented by him to the Connecticut Historical Society at 
 Hartford. This photograph copy has since been litho- 
 graphed for Thomas Jariny, at the lithographic estab- 
 lishment of Sage & Son, Buffalo, in 1865. 
 
 The original picture, presented by the author to the 
 Connecticut Historical Society, was done on the very day 
 the engine made its first trip with a train of cars. At- 
 tached to this lithograph Mr. Jarmy has given a kind of 
 history of the machine, as follows : " View of the first 
 American railroad train, as it appeared ready for start- 
 ing, on the Mohawk and Hudson Railway, the first part 
 of the New York Central Railroad from Albany to 
 Schenectady, about the 31st of July, 1832, executed at 
 
CLAIMS TO FIRST LOCOMOTIVES. 169 
 
 the time on black paper with a pair of scissors, "by a Mr. 
 Brown, of Pennsylvania, and lithographed from a pho- 
 tograph of the original picture in the possession of the 
 Connecticut Historical Society." Mr. Jarmy also goes 
 on to describe and name the passengers in the cars, and 
 gives the cost and charges of the importation of the 
 engine at the custom-house, New York, and the date, 
 November 12, 1831, as the freight of said locomotive, 
 the " John Bull," per schooner Eclipse, from New York 
 to Albany. With regard to this lithograph, which, no 
 doubt, many railroad men look upon as authentic, the 
 author will say that, so far as the representation of the 
 engine and train of cars, together with the passen- 
 gers, is concerned, the copy really is correct, nor can 
 the author complain at his name being given as the 
 artist who took the original sketch in the Connecticut 
 Historical Society rooms ; but the public should be in- 
 formed of the utter inaccuracy in the historical portion 
 of the lithographic copy. The locomotive drawn by the 
 author on that occasion was not the English engine, 
 " John Bull," as Mr. Jarmy represents, but the American- 
 built locomotive " De Witt Clinton." It was sketched on 
 the 9th day of August, 1831, the day of the first excur- 
 sion-trip with a train of cars attached.. Several experi- 
 ments during the previous month of July had been 
 made with different kinds of fuel, to discover that 
 which would be best suited for its use. 
 
170 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN NEW TORE:. 
 
 This locomotive, the " De Witt Clinton," stood upon 
 the track already fired up, and with a train of some five 
 or six passenger-coaches attached to it (two only were 
 represented in our sketch, for want of room.) These 
 passenger-coaches were of the old-fashioned stage-coach 
 pattern, with a driver's seat or box upon either end out- 
 side. They had hitherto been used upon the road for 
 passengers, and drawn by horse-power. At this early 
 day when the road was just built, passengers took a 
 car at the foot of the inclined plane in Albany, and 
 were drawn up by a stationary engine to the top of the 
 hill where the regular track commenced. Horses were 
 then hitched to the cars and proceeded to the other end 
 of the road, where another inclined plane, not then built, 
 but soon after completed, with a stationary engine, 
 lowered the cars into Schenectady. (Both these planes 
 are now removed.) On arriving at the top of the plane 
 at Albany on this memorable occasion, the engine and 
 train were seen standing upon the track. The peculiar 
 appearance of the machine and train (the first ever seen 
 by the author) arrested his attention, and he at once 
 resolved to make a sketch of the singular-looking affair 
 and its equally singular-looking appendages. Drawing 
 from his pocket a letter just received of a few lines only, 
 written upon a whole sheet of paper (no envelopes were 
 used at that day), and substituting his hat for a desk, 
 he commenced his sketch of the unique machine standing 
 before him. Meantime the excursionists were entering 
 the cars, and the author had taken a hasty, rough draw- 
 
FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN NEW YORK. 171 
 
 ing of the machine, the tender, the individual standing 
 on the platform of the machine as its engineer, and the 
 shape of the first passenger-coach, when a tin horn was 
 sounded and the word was given, " All aboard," by Mr. 
 John T. Clark, the master of transportation, who acted 
 as conductor on that memorable occasion. No such 
 officer as a conductor had been required upon a rail- 
 road before locomotives and long trains of cars were 
 adopted. Before this event, in place of conductors, the 
 drivers of the single-horse cars collected the tickets or 
 fare, as omnibus-drivers do at the present time. 
 
 On this occasion, the two first cars, or coaches, as 
 they were then called, and the third also, were just as 
 the two are represented in our sketch. The remainder 
 of the cars on the train were surmounted with seats 
 made of rough plank to accommodate the vast crowd of 
 anxious expectants assembled to witness the experiment 
 and participate in this first ride on a railroad train 
 drawn by a locomotive. The cars were crowded inside 
 and outside ; not an available position was unoccupied. 
 Two persons stood ready for every place where one could 
 be accommodated, and the train started on its route, 
 leaving hundreds of the disappointed standing around. 
 
 As there were no coverings or awnings to protect 
 the deck-passengers upon the tops of the cars from the 
 sun, the smoke, and the sparks, and as it was in the hot 
 season of the year, the combustible nature of their gar- 
 ments, summer coats, straw hats, and umbrellas, soon 
 became apparent, and a ludicrous scene was enacted 
 among the outside excursionists before the train had 
 run the first two miles. 
 
 The author was an inside passenger on that ever- 
 memorable occasion. We say memorable, for it was 
 one never to be forgotten. It was on the 9th day of 
 
172 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 August, 1831, when what was represented and known to 
 be the first American locomotive ever run upon a rail- 
 road in the State of New York. Thus the sketch in our 
 work, representing a locomotive, tender, and two passen- 
 ger-cars attached, is, as we before stated, a truthful repre- 
 sentation of one of the first railroad trains in America, 
 and the very first run in the State of New York, and 
 followed soon after the last successful locomotive experi- 
 ments by Mr. Peter Cooper on the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad, and the advent of the first American-built 
 locomotives for actual service upon the Charleston and 
 Hamburg Railroad, in South Carolina. It was the 
 third locomotive built in America for actual service. 
 This engine was named the " De Witt Clinton," and is 
 thus described by Mr. David Matthew, in his letter to 
 the author in 1859 : 
 
 t 
 "American engine No. 3 was called the 'De Witt Clinton.' 
 
 It was contracted for by John B. Jervis, Esq., at the West Point 
 Foundery, and was commenced by me to fit up in April, 1831, soon 
 after the engines 'Best Friend' and 'West Point' were completed 
 and forwarded to Charleston. 
 
 " I left New York with the ' De Witt ' on the 25th of June, 
 1831, and had steam on to commence running in one week from 
 that time. The ' De Witt ' had two cylinders five and a half inches 
 in diameter and sixteen inches' stroke; four wheels, all drivers, 
 four and a half feet diameter, with all the spokes turned and 
 finished. The spokes were wrought-iron, hubs cast-iron, and the 
 wheels tired with wrought-iron, inside crank and outside connect- 
 ing-rods to connect all four wheels ; a tubular boiler with drop 
 furnace, two fire-doors, one above the other ; copper tubes two and 
 a half inches in diameter and about six feet long ; cylinders on an 
 incline, and the pumps worked vertically by bell-crank. This en- 
 gine weighed about three and a half tons without water, and would 
 run thirty miles an hour with three to five cars on a level, with 
 anthracite coal, and was the first engine run in the State of New 
 York on a raik-oad." 
 
FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN NEW YORK. 173 
 
 On this first excursion, on the 9th day of August, 
 1831, as no such officer as a conductor had been required 
 upon the road, where hitherto no connected train of 
 cars had been run, but where each driver officiated as 
 collector of fares, Mr. John T. Clark, as the first passen- 
 ger railroad conductor in the North, stepping from plat- 
 form to platform outside the cars, collected the tickets 
 which had been sold at hotels and other places through 
 the city. When he finished his tour, he mounted upon 
 the tender attached to the engine, and, sitting upon the 
 little buggy-seat, as represented in our sketch, he gave 
 the signal with a tin horn, and the train started on its 
 way. But how shall we describe that start, my readers ? 
 It was not that quiet, imperceptible motion which char- 
 acterizes the first impulsive movements of the passenger- 
 engines of the present day. Not so. There came a 
 sudden jerk, that bounded the sitters from their places, 
 to. the great detriment of their high-top fashionable 
 beavers, from the close proximity to the roofs of the 
 cars. This first jerk being over, the engine proceeded 
 on its route with considerable velocity for those times, 
 when compared with stage-coaches, until it arrived at a 
 water-station, when it suddenly brought up with jerk 
 No. 2, to the further amusement of some of the excur- 
 sionists. Mr. Clark retained his elevated seat, thank- 
 ing his stars for its close proximity to the tall smoke- 
 pipe of the machine, in allowing the smoke and sparks 
 to pass over his head. At the water-station a short 
 stop was made, and a successful experiment tried, to 
 remedy the unpleasant jerks. A plan was soon hit 
 upon and put into execution. The three links in the 
 couplings of the cars were stretched to their utmost 
 tension, a rail, from a fence in the neighborhood, was 
 placed between each pair of cars and made fast by means 
 
 12 
 
174 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 of the packing-yarn for the cylinders, a bountiful supply 
 being on hand (as the present brass-ring substitute had 
 not then been invented). This arrangement improved 
 the order of things, and it was found to answer the 
 purpose, when the signal was again given, and the 
 engine started. 
 
 In a short time the engine (after frightening the 
 horses attached to all sorts of vehicles filled with the 
 people from the surrounding country, or congregated all 
 along at every available position near the road, to get a 
 view of the singular-looking machine and its long train 
 of cars ; after causing thus innumerable capsizes and 
 smash-ups of the vehicles and the tumbling of the 
 spectators in every direction to the right and left) 
 arrived at the head of the inclined plane at Schenecta- 
 dy, amid the cheers and welcomes of thousands, assem- 
 bled to witness the arrival of the iron horse and its 
 living freight. 
 
 After some time passed in the ancient city of Sche- 
 nectady, and ample refreshments had been afforded, the 
 word was given by conductor Clark to prepare for the 
 return. The excursionists resumed their seats, and in 
 due time, without any accident or delay, the train arrived 
 at the point from which it had first started, the head of 
 the inclined plane at Albany. The passengers were 
 pleased with the adventures of the day, and no rueful 
 countenances were to be seen, excepting occasionally 
 when one encountered in his walks in the city a former 
 driver of the horse-cars, who saw that the grave had 
 that day been dug, and the end of horse-power was at 
 hand. 
 
 After the return to Albany, the author made a 
 clean copy from his rough sketch of the engine " De 
 "Witt Clinton," and also the likeness of the engineer of 
 
THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE AND TRAIN OF PASSENGER-CARS EVER RUN IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 
 
 The American Locomotive " De ^Titt Clinton," Mr. David Matthew, Engineer. 
 
 'Hi.- I.., Hi,- - I)- \V, 
 
 • taken— forty yen 
 
 ~illsiiss3 || mHRRC || k^^^Iniiiv^ 
 
 I ..,:-„!.■ .,..,|- , 
 
 in M-n,]. I-;.,,. M,j,„ \I, ,...,, ,1,1 H:iv-. Hi._,l.-l\,.,-t ,1.1.- ,.i N'.-i, V,.rk, \I- On Mi'v, Jos. Alexander, of tli 
 ■ lln- ili-iv.-rs iili.n lli „. I, „l l„,„ drawn by liorsc-powcr, bin on lln- o,-. -i-iun in-re occupied by til 
 
FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN NEW YORK. 175 
 
 the day, Mr. David Matthew, wlio controlled its move- 
 ments on this memorable first occasion. As the tin 
 horn sounded the signal for starting, just as the author 
 had sketched the shape of the first of the passenger-cars 
 in the train, he supplied the place of passengers with 
 the likeness of several of the old citizens of Albany. 
 Hence the appearance of Mr. Thurlow Weed, ex-Gov- 
 ernor Yates, and others, as named in the article from the 
 Boston Advertiser. This original picture, as we have 
 before stated, was presented to the Connecticut Histor- 
 ical Society by the author. It has since been photo- 
 graphed by J. L. Howard & Company, of Hartford, and 
 from this photograph the copy in lithograph by Sage & 
 Son was taken; but the engine is there erroneously 
 called an English machine, the " John Bull," and John 
 Hampson, an Englishman, is said to have been the 
 engineer. A second copy of this sketch, calculated to 
 mislead the public, has just been circulated by a firm 
 in Boston, called the Antique Publishing Company, 75 
 Haverhill Street, and copyrighted in 1870. This 
 picture, like the one by Sage & Son, is taken from the 
 same photograph of the author's original sketch in the 
 Hartford Institute, and in its history, like the other, 
 purports to be a likeness of the English locomotive 
 " John Bull," and an Englishman, John Hampson, the 
 engineer. In this volume we shall furnish the evidence 
 to show that the original picture in the Connecticut 
 Historical Society Booms was a time representation of 
 the American locomotive " De Witt Clinton," the third 
 American locomotive built for actual service, and the 
 first American-built locomotive run in the State of 
 New York; Sage & Son, and the Boston Antique 
 Publishing Company, to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
176 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIV. 
 
 FURTHER EVIDENCES. 
 
 The following letter is from Mr. David Matthew. 
 It is further evidence that the " De Witt Clinton," and 
 not an English engine, was the first one to run on the 
 road from Albany to Schenectady, in August, 1831 : 
 
 " Philadelphia, February 13, I860. 
 "William H. Beown, Esq. — 
 
 "Deae Sie: Yours of January 17th is at hand. Having 
 been absent, my reply has been delayed until this date. I will en- 
 deavor to answer your several questions as correctly as I possibly 
 can, in the absence of records. 
 
 " First. I did run the ' De Witt Clinton,' on the 9th day of 
 August, 1831, and every day that it run from the 2d day of July, 
 when first put on the road, to December 1, 1831. 
 
 " Second. There was no English-built engine upon the road, 
 until the ' Robert Fulton,' made by Stephenson, arrived, which 
 was about the last of August. About the middle of September it 
 was tried on the road, and commenced regular trips soon after. 
 On the excursion-trip in September, the Fulton was assigned to 
 haul the train, but something got wrong about the supply-pipe, 
 and my engine, the 'De Witt Clinton,' was called out for that duty, 
 4 and did it well. 
 
 "Third. I did know John Hampson and Adam Robinson. 
 John Hampson was my assistant. He left West Point Foundery 
 with me, and when the ' Robert Fulton ' arrived and was placed on 
 the road, he took her to run. Adam Robinson became my fireman 
 on the ' De Witt Clinton' when we began to make regular trips. 
 
 "When the 'John Bull' came out, nearly a year afterward, 
 John Hampson took her to run. Both of these men are now dead. 
 John Hampson left the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad early in 
 1832. He brought the second engine from New York that was 
 run on the Germantown and Philadelphia Railroad. He next took 
 the ' Davy Crocket ' to the Saratoga Railroad ; then took charge 
 of the Camden and Amboy Railroad machine-shops at Borden- 
 
FURTHER EVIDENCES. 177 
 
 town. Thence he went to the New Orleans and Carrollton Rail- 
 road, on a salary of five thousand dollars per year, where he re- 
 mained several years. 
 
 " Adam Robinson was killed by accident on a railroad. 
 
 " Will you please procure and send to me one of the drawings, 
 or photographs, from the original picture you took in Albany, of 
 the old ' De Witt Clinton ' and train of cars ? I saw the original 
 picture at your room in Albany, and was forcibly struck by the 
 accuracy of your likeness to the old machine, the cars, and the pas- 
 sengers, several of whom I knew well. 
 
 " If I can give you any other information, write to me at once, 
 and I will try to be more prompt in my reply. 
 " Respectfully yours, 
 
 " David Matthew, 
 
 " 205 Pear Street, Philadelphia." 
 
 From the freight-bills, custoni-house charges, etc., 
 etc., attached by Sage & Son to their lithograph copy of 
 a photograph of the original picture in the Hartford 
 Institute, the author is inclined to believe that these refer 
 to those made upon the first English locomotive for the 
 Mohawk and Hudson Kailroad, which was the " Eobert 
 Fulton." This machine, as we see in the following 
 articles from the Albany Argus of that period, arrived 
 by the ship Mary Howland, from Liverpool, early in 
 September, 1831. In several articles of the Argus, in 
 which this engine is spoken of, it is called the " John 
 Bull." This was done in allusion to the country where 
 it was made, in the same manner as the Argus also uses 
 the words " Brother Jonathan " when speaking of the 
 " De Witt Clinton." These sobriquets are familiarly ap- 
 plied and understood by every one when speaking of the 
 natives of either country. 
 
 A locomotive named the " John Bull " came from 
 England, subsequently, but not for nearly a year after 
 the events we are now recording. 
 
 Messrs. Sage & Son give the following as the costs 
 
178 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 and charges as per invoice of locomotive-engine, per ship 
 Mary Howland, from Liverpool, $3,763.67. Custom 
 fees, $1,017.25. Freight-bills, September 18, 1831, 
 $88.67. 
 
 The following extracts from the Albany Argus will 
 clearly show that the West Point Foundery engine was 
 the first to run upon the Mohawk and Hudson Eailroad, 
 and that no English locomotive was in existence upon 
 that road until the " Eobert Fulton," built by Stephen- 
 son, arrived about the last of August, and was put on 
 the road the 16th or 17th of September after: 
 
 {From the Albany Argus, July 25, 1831.) 
 
 " Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. — We travelled over part of 
 this road on Saturday, which is ready to receive the cars on Mon- 
 day next, the 1st of August, if not earlier. The road will be open 
 from the head of Lydius Street to the brow of the hill at Schenec- 
 tady, a distance of about twelve miles and a half, and travelling 
 "upon it will be forthwith commenced. "We learn that the company 
 have decided on using steam-power alone. The company will 
 begin their operations with an engine from the West Point 
 Foundery, which we understand will be placed on the road for 
 service on Wednesday, the 27th, being precisely twelve months 
 from the day the ceremony of breaking ground was performed 
 last year. 
 
 " In less than a month the company expect from England one 
 of Mr. Stephenson's engines, similar to those now in use on the 
 Liverpool and Manchester Railway. 
 
 " The work, we have no doubt, will do credit to the skill of the 
 engineer, John B. Jervis, Esq." 
 
 " Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. — On Saturday this work 
 was completed and prepared for the passage of the cars. On that 
 day an experiment was made with the locomotive ' De Witt Clin- 
 ton,' from the West Point Foundery, but, owing to some defect in 
 the ignition of the Lackawanna coal, the speed did not at any time 
 exceed six or seven miles an hour. On Saturday next, if the 
 weather is favorable, the company propose to celebrate the com- 
 pletion of the work, so far, by inviting our citizens to a ride 
 through the entire line." 
 
FURTHER EVIDENCES. 179 
 
 {From the Albany Argus, August 11, 1831.) 
 " Mohawk and Hudson Railroad., — On Monday, August 9, 
 1831, the 'De Witt Clinton,' attached to a train of cars, passed 
 over the road from plane to plane, to the delight of a large crowd 
 assembled to witness the performance. The engine performed 
 the entire route in less than one hour, including stoppages, and on 
 a part of the road its speed was at the rate of thirty miles an 
 hour." 
 
 {From the Albany Argus, August 27, 1831.) 
 Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. — The company having 
 received their locomotive from England by the Mary Howland, it 
 will, we understand, be in operation on the road in the course of 
 a few days. It is called the ' Robert Fulton.' " 
 
 {From the Albany Argus, September 3, 1831.) 
 " Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. — Another trial was made 
 on Thursday with the locomotive ' De Witt Clinton.' It performed 
 the passage from Schenectady to this city in fifty minutes. 
 Among the passengers was Brigadier-General Scott, of the United 
 States Army." 
 
 {From the Albany Argus, September 9, 1831.) 
 " Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. — The American locomotive 
 'De Witt Clinton' came down yesterday morning in forty-six 
 minutes. The fuel was wood. A trial of the English locomotive 
 will probably be made on Tuesday next. The power and weight 
 of this engine are double those of the American engine." 
 
 {From the Albany Argus, September 19, 1831.) 
 " Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. — Trials of the English loco- 
 motive were made on the 16th and 17th. They were, we under- 
 stand, entirely successful, and particularly so with the use of 
 anthracite coal. The engine was propelled with ease at the rate 
 of from fifteen to twenty miles an hour, and will commence her 
 regular trips this day." 
 
 The next we hear of the English locomotive, after 
 the foregoing experiments, relates to transactions of 
 the following week. The author was present, and re- 
 members well every incident on that interesting occa- 
 
130 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 sion, as they are recorded in the Argus, and, had the 
 English machine performed the duty which was as- 
 signed to her on that clay, there is no doubt a sketch 
 of her appearance would have found a place in our 
 present volume. But the author did not " see it." The 
 Albany Argus, September 26, 1831, says: 
 
 "Railkoad Excursion. — On Saturday, September 24th, a 
 numerous company, at the request of the president and directors 
 of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company, enjoyed a 
 very gratifying ride upon the road. The company consisted of 
 the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, members of the Senate, no-w- 
 in session as a Court of Errors, our Senators in Congress, the Chan- 
 cellor and Judges of the Supreme and District Courts, State 
 officers, the president of the Board of Assistants and members 
 of the Common Council of the city of New York, the Mayor, 
 Recorder, and corporation of the city, and several citizens of 
 New York, Albany, and Schenectady. 
 
 " Owing to a defect in one of the supply-pipes of the English 
 locomotive, that powerful engine was not brought into service, 
 and the party, having been delayed in consequence, did not leave 
 the head of Lydius Street until nearly twelve o'clock. They then 
 started with a train of ten cars, three drawn by the American 
 locomotive ' De Witt Clinton,' and seven by a single horse each. 
 The appearance of this fine cavalcade, if it may be so called, was 
 highly imposing. The trip was performed by the locomotive in 
 forty-six minutes, and by the cars drawn by horses in about an 
 hour and a quarter. From the head of the plane, about a quarter 
 of a mile from Schenectady, the company were conveyed in car- 
 riages to Davis's Hotel, where they were joined by several citizens 
 of Schenectady, and partook of a dinner that reflected credit upon 
 the proprietor of that well-known establishment. Among the 
 toasts offered was one which has been verified to the letter, viz. : 
 ' The Buffalo Railroad — may we soon breakfast in Utica, dine in 
 Rochester, and sup with our friends on Lake Erie ! ' After dinner 
 the company repaired to the head of the plane, and resumed their 
 seats for the return to Albany. It was an imposing spectacle. 
 It was a practical illustration of the great preference of this mode 
 of travel and conveyance. The American locomotive started with 
 a train of five cars, containing nineteen or twenty persons each, 
 
FURTHER EVIDENCES. }c>l 
 
 besides the tender, and never did ' Brother Jonathan,' as it was 
 familiarly called, perform the trip in more beautiful style. It 
 came down with its train in thirty-eight minutes, being at the rate 
 of nineteen miles an hour, the last six miles were performed in 
 fourteen minutes. The cavalcade with horses came down in sixty- 
 eight minutes. 
 
 " 'Brother Jonathan,' as it is familiarly called, is as yet decid- 
 edly in advance of ' John Bull.' " 
 
 We give the foregoing extracts from the Argus 
 merely to prove more conclusively that the " De Witt 
 Clinton " was the locomotive sketched by the author on 
 the 9th day of August, and not an English engine, as 
 some parties have represented. On neither of these ex- 
 cursions was the Enodish locomotive in use. On the ex- 
 cursion of the 9th of August the English engine had 
 not yet arrived, and on the excursion of the 24th of 
 September her supply-pipe was not in order, and the 
 American locomotive "De Witt Clinton" performed 
 the duty successfully, as is recorded in the Albany 
 Argus just quoted. It was on the occasion of the 
 excursion on the 9th day of August, 1831, with the "De 
 Witt Clinton," as mentioned in the article in the 
 Albany Argus of August 11th, that the author made 
 the sketch of the locomotive, the engineer, the tender, 
 coaches, and passengers in the train, which was exhibit- 
 ed at his studio, and attracted great crowds for several 
 weeks during his professional sojourn in Albany. This 
 picture the author soon after presented to the Connecti- 
 cut Historical Society, where it may be seen at the 
 present time. In 1858 or '59 this original picture was 
 photographed by J. L. Howard & Company, of Hart- 
 ford, and a copy obtained by the author. 
 
182 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE JUDGE'S FIRST RIDE. 
 
 Since this photograph has been in the possession of 
 the author, he has been often asked why the engine and 
 train are represented in the unique and sombre style in 
 which they appear in profile, or black outline. To 
 this inquiry he will reply by informing those who are 
 not familiar with the facts, that, from his earliest recol- 
 lection, he has been gifted with a rare and peculiar 
 talent or faculty (entirely intuitive in him) of executing 
 with wonderful facility and accuracy the outlines or 
 form of any person or object from a single glance of the 
 eye, and without any machinery whatever, but with a 
 pair of common scissors and a piece of black paper. 
 
 This peculiar style of outline portraiture, or shaping 
 exact resemblances of persons or objects with black 
 paper, and commonly known as profiles, was invented, 
 according to the elder Disraeli, in 1757, in Paris, and 
 called by the French silhouette. In the author this 
 faculty was not confined to shaping the mere outlines of 
 persons or faces, but was extended to portraying entire 
 family groups, military companies, fire companies with 
 their engines and hose-carriages, sporting-scenes, race- 
 courses, and marine views, representing a harbor and 
 shipping. All were executed in black paper, and with a 
 pair of scissors. Hence, in the same style he executed the 
 above-mentioned likeness of the locomotive "De Witt 
 Clinton," with the cars and passengers, and afterward 
 presented the same to the Connecticut Historical Society. 
 This rare and peculiar faculty or gift was so strongly 
 developed in the author, that all objects, when once 
 
THE JUDGE'S FIRST RIDE. 183 
 
 presented to the eye, are, as it were, photographed upon 
 his brain, so much so, and with such indelibility, that 
 it was not actually necessary for an individual to be 
 present and stand for a likeness. A glance for a mo- 
 ment at an individual in some accustomed position or 
 attitude only was necessary, and the likeness could be 
 produced hours, days, weeks, and often years thereafter, 
 entirely from memory alone. 
 
 The author, for several years, made a very lucrative 
 business by the exercise of this peculiar faculty of 
 taking likenesses, and during that time visited all the 
 principal cities of the country. His first object on visit- 
 ing a new field for the exercise of his art was to notice 
 several prominent and well-known citizens as they 
 walked upon the streets, and place their likenesses most 
 accurately upon paper as evidences of his skill in this 
 peculiar art and his wonderful memory of persons and 
 forms. 
 
 It so happened that, on one of the author's profes- 
 sional visits to the city of Albany, that a trip, which 
 was then supposed to be the first train of cars drawn 
 by a locomotive in America, was run upon the Mo- 
 hawk and Hudson Kailroad. A graphic and particular 
 description of this same first trip is given in a letter 
 from a well-known and distinguished gentleman, now 
 over eighty years of age, who is one of the few sur- 
 vivors. The letter is as follows : 
 
 " Ridge-way, Pa., June 24, 18 TO. 
 " William H. Browst, Esq. — 
 
 "Dear Sir: Tour note of the 21st inst., asking for my rec- 
 ollections of such incidents as impressed themselves on my mind 
 in the ever-memorable first trip by locomotive-power from Albany 
 to Schenectady in 1831, is before me. In the early part of the 
 month of August of that year I left Philadelphia for Canandaigua, 
 
184: HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 New York, travelling by stages and steamboats by way of New 
 York to Albany. Stopping at the latter place with my friend 
 J. M. Hughes, now of Cleveland, Ohio, I learned that a locomotive 
 had arrived there, and that it would make its first trip over the 
 road to Schenectady the next day. I concluded to He over and 
 gratify my curiosity with a first ride after a locomotive. 
 
 "That locomotive, the train of cars, together with the incidents 
 of the day, made a very vivid impression on my mind. I can now 
 look back from one of Pullman's palace-cars, over a period of forty 
 years, and see that train, together with all the improvements that 
 have been made in railroad travel since that time, for I have been 
 a constant traveller for over half a century, and have observed the 
 steady and constant progression, in motive-power and railroad 
 facilities up to the present time. And now, taking 1870 as a stand- 
 point, looking back and forward forty years, who can say that the 
 next forty years will not exceed the past in railroad intercommuni- 
 cation, and that Dr. Kramer's theory of using compressed air as 
 a motive power may not, ere that, be brought into general use, 
 and that the engineer will manage his whole train with the same 
 facility and ease that the Mexican caballero starts, runs, and stops 
 his horse ? 
 
 " I am not machinist enough to give a description of the loco- 
 motive that drew us over the road that day, but recollect distinct- 
 ly the general ' make-up ' of the train. The sketch you showed me 
 when I was last at your place, taken by you in your peculiar style, 
 is very correct, and brings to my mind, as vividly as though only 
 seen yesterday, the engine and train as it appeared on that never- 
 to-be-forgotten occasion. 
 
 " The train was composed of coach-bodies, mostly from Thorpe 
 & Sprague's stage-coaches, placed upon trucks. The trucks were 
 coupled together with chains or chain-links, leaving from two to 
 three feet slack, and when the locomotive started it took up the 
 slack by jerks, with sufficient force to jerk the passengers, who sat 
 on seats across the top of the coaches, out from under their hats, 
 and in stopping they came together with such force as to send 
 them flying from their seats. 
 
 " They used dry pitch-pine for fuel, and, there being no smoke 
 or spark-catcher to the chimney or smoke-stack, a volume of black 
 smoke, strongly impregnated with sparks, coals, and cinders, came 
 pouring back the whole length of the train. Each of the outside 
 passengers who had an umbrella raised it as a protection against 
 
THE JUDGE'S FIRST RIDE. 185 
 
 the smoke and fire. They were found to be but a momentary pro- 
 tection, for I think in the first mile the last one went overboard, 
 all having their covers burnt off from the frames, when a general 
 mM'ee took place among the deck-passengers, each whipping his 
 neighbor to put out the fire. They presented a very motley ap- 
 pearance on arriving at the first station.. There rails were pro- 
 cured and lashed between the trucks, taking the slack out of the 
 coupling-chains, thereby affording us a more steady run to the top 
 of the inclined plane at Schenectady. 
 
 " The incidents off the train were quite as striking as those on 
 the train. A general notice having been given of the contem- 
 plated trip, excited not only the curiosity of those living along the 
 line of the road, but those living remote from it, causing a large 
 collection of people at all the intersecting roads along the line of 
 the route. Everybody, together with his wife and all his children, 
 came from a distance with all kinds of conveyances, being as ig- 
 norant of what was coming as their horses, drove up to the road 
 as near as they could get, only looking for the best position to get 
 a view of the train. As it approached, the horses took fright and 
 wheeled, upsetting buggies, carriages, and wagons, and leaving 
 for parts unknown to the passenger, if not to their owners, and it 
 is not now positively known if some of them have yet stopped. 
 Such is a hasty sketch of my recollection of my first ride after a 
 locomotive. 
 
 " Hoping that your contemplated history of early locomotives 
 in America may be appreciated by the reading public, and a pecu- 
 niary success to yourself, 
 
 " I remain truly yours, 
 
 "J. L. Gillis." 
 
 The writer of the foregoing letter, Judge Gillis, is a 
 native of the State of New York, and is now eighty 
 years of age. He served in the War of 1812, and was 
 wounded at the battle of Lundy's Lane. He moved to 
 Ridgeway, Pennsylvania, in 1822, then in Jefferson 
 County, now the seat of justice of Elk County. He was 
 an active member of the Masonic fraternity in the State 
 of New York previous to his removal to Pennsylvania. 
 Four years later, in 1826, when political anti-masonry 
 
136 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 took its rise in that State, in order to show the extent of 
 the conspiracy for the abduction of one Morgan, a bill 
 of indictment was procured against Judge Gillis and 
 others at Canandaigua. As soon as he heard of such 
 indictment, he returned to the State of New York and 
 surrendered himself to the court and was placed undel 
 bonds of ten thousand dollars for his appearance at the 
 next term. He visited that county nine terms of the 
 court, the prosecutors putting the case off at each term. 
 Finally, the trial came off in 1829, and he was acquitted, 
 no evidence being found for conviction.* Judge Gillis 
 has served his district in the House and Senate of the 
 State Legislature and in Congress. He was an active 
 and ardent supporter of internal improvement in the 
 State of Pennsylvania, and one of the earliest advocates 
 of the construction of the line of railroad from Phila- 
 delphia to Erie, which he supported until completed. 
 He was appointed Judge of the Court of Jefferson 
 County in 1843, and reappointed in 1844 as one of the 
 first Judges of Elk County. In 1862 Judge Gillis re- 
 moved to Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa, where 
 he now resides. 
 
 In 1859 the author, having quitted the profession 
 of artist, was living in Huntingdon County, Pennsyl- 
 vania, as an employe of the Huntingdon and Broad 
 Top Railroad. Many years had passed away since he 
 had thought of the " De Witt Clinton," when he re- 
 ceived from an unknown hand a newspaper containing 
 a paragraph marked with a pen to attract his attention. 
 It revived in his memory his old picture of the " De 
 Witt Clinton" and his visit to Hartford very many 
 years before. The paragraph was as follows : 
 
 * It was some time during his trips to attend trial that Judge Gillis rode in the 
 cars after a locomotive. 
 
THE JUDGE'S FIRST RIDE. 187 
 
 " A Rare Cueiositt. — We were this day shown by Mr. Brad- 
 ley, Secretary of the Fort "Wayne and Chicago Railroad, at Pitts- 
 burg, a photograph copy of the first American locomotive ever 
 built in this country and run upon a railroad in the United 
 States. The photograph was made from the original picture 
 now in the Connecticut Historical Society, and was taken by a 
 Mr. Brown in his peculiar style of art. It was cut out of black 
 paper with a pair of common scissors. In the cars we recognize 
 the likenesses of several of the old citizens of Albany, Thurlow 
 Weed, Esq., ex-Governor Meigs, old Hays, of New York, the 
 celebrated thief-catcher, and several others. The picture is exe- 
 cuted with great skill and fidelity, and is a rare curiosity when 
 compared with the locomotives and trains of the present day." 
 
 The author then determined to procure a copy of 
 his old work, and applied to Mr. Bradley for informa- 
 tion, which he obtained, and also to J. L. Howard, Esq., 
 of Hartford, from whom he received the following 
 letter : 
 
 "Hartford, Conn., May 26, 1859. 
 " William H. Brown - , Esq. — 
 
 " Dear Sir : We have neglected to answer your very pleasant 
 letter of the 5th of March, not from any hesitation in complying 
 with your request, which we are happy to do, recognizing a right 
 in the grandfather to have one of his own children's children, 
 but, anticipating an opportunity of sending it as far as Altoona 
 free of cost, like the present, we have allowed time to pass. 
 
 " Have you any memorandum of the precise time this train 
 was run? — 1832 is as near as we can locate the time. Please say 
 if you have any memorandum of the persons who are represented 
 in the cars. We personally remember you well, having had our 
 figure cut out by you when in this city. 
 
 " With respect, and very truly yours, 
 
 " James L. Howard & Co." 
 
 A few days after receiving the above letter, the pic- 
 ture arrived by Adams's Express, free of cost and 
 charges. The author is at a loss how to describe his 
 pleasurable feelings of pride and satisfaction when, after 
 
188 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 a lapse of twenty-eight years, he placed his eyes upon 
 this specimen of his handiwork which he never ex- 
 pected to behold again, rescued as it was from almost 
 absolute forgetfulness. Every curve and angle in the 
 outline became as vivid as on the day when it was exe- 
 cuted. The likenesses of the citizens represented in the 
 cars were as fresh in his memory as if only seen the day 
 before, and he was, as it were, transferred again to 
 Albany and its associations. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 LETTEES FROM OFFICIALS. 
 
 Desirous of receiving some authentic statistics of 
 this first locomotive, the author addressed a letter to 
 Erastus Corning, Esq., who was president of the road 
 at that time, and the following answer was received : 
 
 " New York Central Railroad, President's Office, 
 " Albany, December 9, 1859. 
 
 "Mr. William H. Brown — 
 
 "Dear Sir: Tours, respecting the introduction of the first 
 locomotive on the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, and asking 
 information in relation thereto, was duly received. 
 
 " I referred your communication to John T. Clark, Esq., of 
 Utica, who was at the time resident engineer and superintend- 
 ent of transportation, requesting of him such information as he 
 might be ahle to furnish. I send you herewith his reply, and 
 by American and Adams's Express a photograph copy of the 
 sketch in the Hartford Atheneeum. I remember well your origi- 
 nal cutting in black paper of the first locomotive, the ' De Witt 
 Clinton,' and her train of cars. I was forcibly struck on viewing 
 it by its accurate resemblance to the engine and train of cars 
 attached. Yours very respectfully, 
 
 "Erastus Corking." 
 
LETTERS FROM OFFICIALS. 189 
 
 The following is Mr. Clark's reply to Mr. Coming's 
 letter. It was forwarded to the author : 
 
 Utica, N. Y., November 21, 1859. 
 " Hon. Erastus Corning, Albany — 
 
 "My dear Sir: I received, on the 18th inst., your note, with 
 Mr. Brown's letter to you, seeking for information as to the time 
 when the first experiment was made, with a locomotive-engine, on 
 the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, and other particulars in re- 
 lation to the early history of the road. 
 
 " Before answering your letter, I wished to consult Mr. John 
 B. Jervis, of Rome, to procure from him some facts in relation to 
 details in the construction of the first locomotive. I went to 
 Rome on Saturday for that purpose alone, but, not finding him at 
 home, I send you to day such facts as I can gather from memory, 
 and some papers in my possession. 
 
 "The first experiment with steam upon the road was made 
 with the locomotive ' De Witt Clinton,' in the latter part of July, 
 1831. This engine was built at the West Point Foundery Works, 
 New York. A Mr. Matthew had charge of the hands fitting up 
 the machine, and came with it in chai'ge to Albany. This engine 
 was contracted for by John B. Jervis, Esq., the chief engineer of 
 the road. The estimated weight of the ' De Witt Clinton ' was 
 about six tons. It was mounted on four wheels, of about five feet 
 diameter each, and had single drivers. The hubs and rims of the 
 wheels were of cast-iron, with wrought-iron spokes and tires. I 
 feel certain that the ' De Witt Clinton ' had an iron tank or tender 
 on four wheels. The first locomotive-engine which came from 
 England, and was afterward put on the road, was made by Ste- 
 phenson, and was called the 'Robert Fulton.' This engine was 
 double the size and weight of the ' De Witt Clinton.' It arrived 
 about the latter part of August, 1831, and was put on the road 
 about the 10th to the 20th of September following. On the occa- 
 sion of an excursion which was to take place the latter part of 
 September, great preparations were made for a large crowd of 
 passengers, as the Governor, judges of the courts, and members 
 of the Legislature, were expected to participate in the ride, and 
 consequently the most powerful engine, the ' Robert Fulton,' pull 
 the train. But it did not so happen : something (I do not remem- 
 ber now) got wrong with ' Robert Fulton,' and ' De Witt Clinton ' 
 took his place at the head of the train, which being too heavy for 
 13 
 
190 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 so small a machine, a part only was attached to the 'De Witt 
 Clinton,' and the remainder were drawn each car by a horse, mak- 
 ing a very amusing-looking cavalcade. I think ' Fulton ' would 
 have done better and have been more at home upon the Hudson 
 River than on the stand upon the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. 
 However, on that occasion the little ' De Witt ' acquitted herself 
 well, and got to the end of the road long before her companions by 
 horse-power arrived, and did the same in returning. Mr. Brown's 
 sketch was taken on the first excursion with the ' De Witt Clin- 
 ton,' before the time of this second excursion, and the arrival in 
 this country of the first locomotive from England, the ' Fulton,' for 
 our road. The second locomotive which came from England ar- 
 rived nearly a year after — perhaps not so long, but I remember it 
 was late in the fall of the year. This second engine came without 
 a tank or a tender. A temporary arrangement was made for supply- 
 ing this English engine with water by means of a cask with the ca- 
 pacity of about three hundred gallons, made in the usual form and 
 manner of a cask, and resting on saddles of wood fastened to a frame 
 of the same material ; and the whole, being mounted on four light 
 cast-iron wheels, presented a very novel appearance. 
 
 " This English locomotive was called the ' John Bull,' and had 
 four driving-wheels of four feet diameter. The hubs and naves 
 of the wheels were made of cast-iron, the spokes and rim or felloes 
 were made of wood and secured by wrought-iron flanged tires. It 
 is, perhaps, needless to say that after this engine was put in use, 
 those parts of the wheels made of wood gave audible complaint of 
 hard service. The ' shrieking ' of the machine caused no little 
 merriment among the knights of the whip, who were yet reluctant 
 in believing that the beautiful tandem teams which they had the 
 honor of driving formerly over the road, at the rate of twelve 
 miles an hour, ' could ever be superseded by such a cursed-looking 
 iron concern as that, as it was broken-winded already ! ' 
 
 " The first regular trip for the public with a locomotive was on 
 the 9th day of August, 1831, with the 'De Witt Clinton.' A few 
 experiments had been made with her previous to that date. 
 
 " Mr. John B. Jervis was chief engineer of the road, and the 
 undersigned was resident engineer and superintendent of trans- 
 portation ; and he had the honor and satisfaction of receiving, with 
 his own hands, the first fifty cents for regular established passen- 
 ger-fare ever received on any railroad in the United States, as he 
 believes. The names of the first three engine drivers employed by 
 
LETTERS FROM OFFICIALS. 191 
 
 the company were David Matthew, who first run the ' De Witt 
 Clinton,' John Hampson, and Adam Robinson. 
 
 "It has been said by some that the first locomotive-engine 
 actually run in this country in the transportation of passengers on 
 a railroad, was upon the Charleston Railroad, in South Carolina, 
 drawn by an engine called the ' Best Friend,' but this I believe is 
 a mistake. The fact can easily be obtained by Mr. Brown address- 
 ing a letter to Horatio Allen, Esq., now of the Novelty "Works, 
 New York. Mr. Allen was the chief engineer of the Charleston 
 road in its commencement, and would know of this incident. 
 
 " I recollect seeing Mr. Brown's sketch of the ' De Witt Clin- 
 ton ' and her train of cars executed in black paper, in his peculiar 
 style, when he was in Albany; and I could not but admire the 
 wonderful correctness of his likenesses to the engine, engineer, and 
 the old citizens of Albany, who are represented in the cars as 
 passengers. 
 
 " I am very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 " John T. Clark, Utica." 
 
 We will now add the following letter from John B. 
 Jer vis, Esq., the chief engineer of the road, showing that 
 the sketch of the engine and train of cars which appears 
 in onr work is the " De Witt Clinton," an American 
 locomotive, the first ever run in the State of New York, 
 and not, as has "been represented in Sage & Son's litho- 
 graph, the "John Bull," an English engine and the 
 first attached to a passenger-train in the United States, 
 or as published since that time, by the Antique Publish- 
 ing Company", of Boston, in 1870, as the " John Bull." 
 
 "Rome, N. Y., April 20, 1869. 
 "William H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 "Dear Sir: Yours of the 15th inst. was duly received. I 
 have no memoranda to refer to ; but my memory serves me that 
 you are correct in saying that the first engine or locomotive run 
 upon the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was named the ' De Witt 
 Clinton,' and the date of the first trip correct, viz., the 9th day of 
 August, 1831. The engine was built under a contract I made (as 
 chief engineer of the road) with the West Point Association in 
 
192 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 New- York City. Late in the same year, the English engine the 
 ' John Bull,' was imported from England, for the same road. Mr. 
 David Matthew was the machinist who put up the ' De Witt 
 Clinton,' and run it, and no doubt his statements upon the sub- 
 ject are reliable. I do know, positively, that an American-built 
 locomotive was put in successful use upon a railroad in this coun- 
 try prior to the ' De Witt Clinton ; ' my own impression is that 
 there were two on the South Carolina Railroad. 
 
 " Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 "John B. Jervis." 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVII. 
 
 ADDITIONAL LETTERS. 
 
 Having heard a short time since from an old citizen 
 of Albany, who knew the individuals whose likenesses 
 appear as passengers in the sketch of the "De Witt 
 Clinton " and train, that, excepting Judge Gillis, whose 
 letter we have already given, only two now survive 
 that memorable event, namely, Erastus Corning, Esq., 
 and Thurlow Weed, Esq., the author addressed them 
 upon the subject, calling their recollections to his pro- 
 fessional visit to Albany in 1831, and his original pro- 
 file cutting of the first locomotive and train. He soon 
 received the following interesting replies, which serve 
 to prove the authenticity of his original in the Connec- 
 ticut Historical Society : 
 
 " Albany, K T., May 30, 1870. 
 
 "William H. Beown, Esq. — 
 
 "My dear Sir: I have before me your letter of May 19th, 
 1870, referring to your proposed ' History of the Early Locomo- 
 tives of America.' 
 
 " It gives me great pleasure to testify to the correctness of the 
 
ADDITIONAL LETTERS. 193 
 
 photograph copy of your original cutting of the locomotive ' De 
 "Witt Clinton,' and the train of cars which passed over the Mohawk 
 and Hudson Railroad, I think in August, 1831. 
 
 " I submitted a letter on the subject, written by you, in the 
 year 1859, to Mr. John T. Clark, and sent you his reply, with a 
 photograph copy of your picture. 
 
 " The likenesses of the passengers in the train are excellent, and 
 probably the only collection of the kind in existence. Your 
 forthcoming book will be a very interesting one and a valuable 
 addition to railroad literature. I look for the appearance of it 
 with the anticipation that it will be profitable and instructive. 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " Eeastus Corking." 
 
 The second letter was from Thurlow Weed, Esq., 
 and was written by the veteran's daughter, Miss Harriet 
 A. Weed, who acted as his amanuensis : 
 
 " New York, February 5, 1870. 
 "Mr. William H. Brown — 
 
 " Dear Sir : My father, who is not himself able to write, de- 
 sires me to express his thanks for your interesting and welcome 
 letter. He remembers you as temporarily residing at Albany. 
 He also remembers your peculiar skill in fashioning paper pictures. 
 Early in the day of photographs, a copy of your picture was sent 
 to us from Hartford. My father has often been applied to for the 
 names of the passengers, but could not remember them all. He 
 does, however, remember Lewis Benedict, John Townsend, Wil- 
 liam Alexander, John J. Boyd, John Meigs (high constable of 
 Albany), John J. De Graffs, and Hugh Robinson, of Schenectady. 
 He thinks also that Billy Winne was one, and he remembers your 
 being there looking at the engine. 
 
 " The best likeness we have of my deceased brother James is 
 from your sketch of him as a member of the Burgess's Corps of 
 Albany. 
 
 " The photograph copy of your Albany and Schenectady Rail- 
 road engine, copied from the original in the Connecticut Historical 
 Society, now hangs in our library, looking precisely as my father 
 remembers it while being fired-up for its first trip to Schenectady, 
 thirty-eight or thirty-nine (nobody here can tell whether it was 
 in 1831 or 1832) years ago. 
 
194 HISTOEY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 " My father says that he shall look for your hook with much 
 interest. He, too, as fast as his impaired health permits, is putting 
 his recollections together, with the material for history in his pos- 
 session, on paper, with a view to publication. 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 " Harriet A. Weed." 
 
 Before we close this portion of our evidence, we can- 
 not refrain from giving to our readers a second letter 
 from John B. Jervis, Esq., who was chief engineer of 
 the road, in reply to the author, who had transmitted 
 to him some documents for his examination. This let- 
 ter reads as follows : 
 
 " Rome, N". T., Atigust 24, 1870. 
 " William H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 " My dear Sir : Yours of the 22d inst. came to hand this 
 A. m. I have been quite interested in reading the letters and 
 papers you sent me. The photograph picture of the first locomo- 
 tive and passenger-train that certainly was the first run on the 
 Mohawk and Hudson Railroad (Schenectady and Albany, now a 
 portion of the New York Central Railroad) is a good representa- 
 tion. 
 
 " The engine was the ' De Witt Clinton ' (and not the ' John 
 Bull,' as the newspaper scrap from the Boston Advertiser gives it). 
 There can be no doubt on this point — engine, tender, and cars, are 
 an unequivocal delineation. 
 
 " I have had a copy of this picture for several years. 
 
 " I cannot speak as to exact date when the train was run, but 
 it was about midsummer of 1831. 
 
 " I have no doubt Mr. Clark is correct as to the date trials were 
 made, the latter part of July. The excursion-train was most prob- 
 ably made, as Mr. Clark states, on August 9, 1831. Mr. Clark's 
 account of the building of the engine, at the shops of the West 
 Point Foundery, in New York, is correct. I think, indeed I am 
 certain, the English engine ' John Bull ' did not arrive until the 
 spring of 1832. 
 
 " I was quite interested in your biographical remarks, and hope 
 the great labor you have given to prepare a correct history of 
 the locomotive may prove amply remunerative. I shall be glad to 
 
ADDITIONAL LETTERS. 195 
 
 see your book. It is a very important subject. Great progress has 
 been made, and there is yet much to be done. I sometimes feel a 
 desire to resume attention to this matter, but my age (seventy-five 
 years) admonishes me that it is better to be quiet. 
 
 " Very truly your friend, 
 
 "John B. Jeevts." 
 
 We will now add to our history of the early loco- 
 motives built in America, by giving Mr. William Kem- 
 ble's letter to the author upon the subject. Mr. Kem- 
 ble was superintendent and manager of the West Point 
 Foundeiy Works, in the city of New York, from 1829 
 to 1831, and for many years after. 
 
 "West Point Foundery Office, 
 
 "New York, June 12, 18*71. 
 "Me. William H. Beowk — 
 
 " Deae Sie : Your letter informs me that you are about to 
 publish a history of the early locomotives built in America, and 
 ask me for some particulars respecting the first locomotives built 
 at our shops. 
 
 " It gives me great pleasure, sir, to comply with your wishes 
 on that subject ; and I will commence by saying that the first 
 locomotive ever run in this country was imported from England, 
 and was called the ' Stourbridge Lion.' It came out in the spi'ing 
 of 1829; was in charge of Horatio Allen, Esq. ; was landed from 
 the ship John Jay at our wharf and put up at our works. This 
 locomotive was for the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad 
 Company. 
 
 " The first locomotive ever constructed in this country and for 
 actual service upon a railroad, was undoubtedly built at our works. 
 It was contracted for by Colonel E. L. Miller, of Charleston, South 
 Carolina, for the South Carolina Railroad. It was commenced 
 early in the summer of 1830, and completed and sent to Charleston 
 by the ship ISTiagai-a in the month of October of that year. This 
 engine was called the ' Best Friend.' 
 
 " The second locomotive constructed in America was also built 
 at our works, and for the South Carolina Railroad. This engine 
 was contracted for by Horatio Allen, Esq., the chief engineer of 
 the road, and was built from drawings sent out by him. 
 
196 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 " This locomotive was called the ' West Point.' It was finished 
 and sent to Charleston by the ship Lafayette, in February, 1831. 
 
 " A third locomotive was soon after constructed at our shops. 
 This machine was contracted for by John B. Jervis, Esq., chief 
 engineer of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, and was finished 
 and forwarded to Albany in June or early in July, 1831. This 
 engine was called the ' De Witt Clinton.' Mr. David Matthew, 
 who had charge of the hands fitting up all these engines, went on 
 to Albany with the ' Clinton ' to put it on the road and to run it. 
 
 " There can be no doubt whatever but that these locomotives, 
 the ' Best Friend,' the ' West Point,' and the ' De Witt Clinton,' 
 were the first ever built in America for actual service on a railroad. 
 Prior to and during that time, from 1829 to 1831, several small ma- 
 chines for experimental purposes were built and tried, but the 
 three above named were the first ordered to be built in America 
 for actual service upon a railroad. 
 
 " Hoping these facts may be of service to you in your forth- 
 coming work, I remain, dear sir, 
 
 " Tours respectfully 
 
 "William Kemble." 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXVIII. 
 
 THE AUTHOR'S ART. 
 
 The following are a few of over a thousand news- 
 paper comments and letters upon the author's skill 
 in the various departments of his art. They are given 
 here merely as proofs that our readers may rely upon 
 the accuracy of the representation of the "De Witt 
 Clinton " engine, cars, and passengers which accompanies 
 our work, and appears in simple black outline. 
 
 {From the Albany Argus, August, 1831.) 
 
 " Decidedly the best thing we have seen for many a day we 
 met with yesterday in dropping into the rooms of Mr. William H. 
 
THE AUTHOR'S ART. 197 
 
 Brown, the artist, on State Street. He has taken some of the best 
 likenesses of a number of our citizens in his peculiar style, namely, 
 cut out of black paper with a pair of common scissors. The one 
 of our old and esteemed neighbor, Job Gould, is decidedly the 
 most striking picture we have ever looked upon. The facility and 
 correctness with which Mr. Brown takes these likenesses are really 
 astonishing. 
 
 " We recognized also, at a single glance, others as natural as 
 life itself. For instance, the venerable penny postman, Billy 
 Winne, Jerry Jewell, Mr. Alexander, little Chapman, the dwarf, 
 Mr. Carter, of the Clinton, John J. Quackenboss, ex-Governor 
 Meigs, Thurlow Weed, General Root, Mr. Phelps, Mr. Van Zant, 
 and a host of others, and, what is the most astonishing feature 
 about them, they were all taken from memory. These individuals 
 were pointed out to Mr. Brown upon the street as well-known 
 characters in our city, and, after several hours, were transferred 
 by his magic scissors upon paper, if not quite as large as life, at 
 least twice as natural." 
 
 {From the Albany Evening Journal.) 
 
 " Our friend Mr. William H. Brown, the inimitable artist, has 
 fairly taken the patronage of our citizens by storm. From morn 
 to night his rooms are besieged by anxious applicants, awaiting 
 their chance for the operation of his magic scissors. For every 
 one accommodated, three stand ready as successors. We are grati- 
 fied at the result of Mr. Brown's visit among us, not more for the 
 encouragement extended to superlative skill than the satisfaction 
 of witnessing individual worth so highly appreciated. He has re- 
 cently taken in one large picture the entire Burgess's Corps, with 
 staff and band in full parade, in which the likeness of each individ- 
 ual member is presented with an accuracy truly surprising, and 
 stamps Mr. Brown as a perfect master of his profession. Those 
 who have not seen his portraitures should embrace the earliest op- 
 portunity, as he remains, we regret to say, but one week longer, 
 his departure for that time being deferred for the purpose of taking 
 the likenesses of Engine Company No. 2. The courteous and 
 cheerful deportment of Mr. Brown toward his visitors renders a 
 visit to his rooms most agreeable and instructive." 
 
 {From tlie St. Louis Bulletin.) 
 "Great Doings at Brown's. — This wonderful artist — yes, 
 we will out with it — the immortal Brown — has just completed the 
 
198 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 most splendid thing in his line that was ever seen in this city. It 
 is nothing less than a profile likeness of the St. Louis engine, the 
 two hose-carriages, and sixty-five members of that valiant and in- 
 vincible corps. The members are all in the uniform of the com- 
 pany, forty attached to the drag-ropes of the engine, thirteen to 
 the ropes of one hose-carriage and twelve to the other. We will 
 take the liberty of styling it a panoramic view of the St. Louis 
 Fire Company, and we are compelled to say that in this kind of 
 panorama all other artists must bow in humble submission before 
 the scissors and the skill of the unequalled Brown. This method 
 of styling it will not be deemed inappropriate when we tell you 
 that the whole picture occupies .a space of twenty-five feet in 
 length. The representation of the engine is beautiful indeed, and 
 true to the very letter, and is all the work of a pair of small 
 scissors and black paper. On the opposite side of the artist's room 
 may be seen another specimen of his skill in a second picture of 
 the same kind, representing the Missouri Fire Company, with her 
 engine, hose-carriage, and tender, with fifty-nine men in all. The 
 company are represented in their winter costume as returning from 
 a fire or drill, the whole picture presenting a fine and novel ap- 
 pearance, and are perfect and characteristic likenesses. The two 
 pictures are intended as decorations for their several engine- 
 houses." 
 
 "Armory Natchez Fencibles. 
 
 " At a called meeting of the Natchez Fencibles, held at their 
 armory on Thursday evening, June 13, 1844, the following resolu- 
 tions were unanimously adopted : 
 
 " 1. Resolved, That the thanks of this company be tendered to 
 Mr. William H. Brown for the admirable picture of this corps, 
 just completed by him, which, in all its details, fully sustains the 
 high artistical reputation of Mr. Brown, and has won the undivided 
 admiration of the members of the Natchez Fencibles. 
 
 " 2. Resolved, That the foregoing resolution be published in 
 the Daily Courier. 
 
 "Levi S. Harrisox, 
 
 " Secretary Natchez Fencibles.'''' 
 
 " Washington, September 20, 1843 
 " William H. Browk, Esq. — 
 
 "My dear Sir: Yours, postmarked Philadelphia, 1st Sep- 
 tember, addressed to me at Accomac Court-House, Virginia, I 
 
THE AUTHOE'S ART. 199 
 
 found on my arrival here last evening. I am under very many 
 obligations to you for not publishing or printing the letter referred 
 to by you without giving me the opportunity which you have so 
 kindly done to correct its many imperfections. I do not desire 
 it to-be published while it contains a single hard word or thought 
 of any human being. I never have deliberately and wantonly 
 wounded a fellow-being, though I have often done so, sometimes 
 from a sense of duty and sometimes impetuously. Even if I were 
 inclined to lash any one for ' lashing's ' sake, I do not think your 
 intended volume would be the proper place for it. I do not prize 
 my fame for the faculty of saying severe things very highly; and 
 he who is gifted with the power and constrained by the necessity 
 of saying harsh things, or even of speaking out his mind and feel- 
 ings strongly, however honestly, in this world, is not apt to be 
 blessed with the mild judgments of men himself. I trust now that, 
 having passed the profile stage of life, and got into the author's 
 line, you can look at the world full-face. I have often seen and 
 admired your productions and the wonderful faculty of fixing the 
 resemblance of men on paper with the aid of your scissors and 
 black paper only. I have never failed to recognize a striking 
 likeness to the original in all I have seen even of the most casual 
 acquaintance. 
 
 " With thanks for your kindness, and the flattering notice you 
 propose to take of my humble self, I am, 
 
 " Gratefully yours, 
 
 "Henry A. Wise." 
 
 " Lindenwald, September 6, 1843. 
 
 " William H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 " Dear Sir : It affords me much satisfaction to embrace the 
 opportunity you have presented me, to express the very favorable 
 * opinion I entertain of your skill in your peculiar style of profile 
 cutting ; and with my best wishes for your success in your forth- 
 coming work.* Very truly yours, 
 
 "M. Van Buren." 
 
 " Washington, January 12, 1845. 
 "William H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 " Dear Sir : I take pleasure in bearing testimony to your 
 great aptitude in taking likenesses in your way, and the fidelity 
 with which they are executed. I wish you great success in the 
 
 * " National Portrait Gallery." 
 
200 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 work you are about to publish, and do not doubt but that you will 
 make it worthy of public patronage. With great respect, 
 
 "I am, etc., 
 
 " J. C. Calhoun." 
 
 "Washington City, January 13, 1843. 
 
 " William H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 " My dear Sir : Your favor of the 3d instant is before me, 
 and in reply I will say that the likenesses of the members of Con- 
 gress and other public men of the times, taken by you in your 
 peculiar and characteristic style, are remarkably correct, and 
 easily recognized at a glance. 
 
 " My friends unite in saying that the one you took of myself is 
 a striking likeness. I cannot, however, see its resemblance to the 
 original as I do in all the others. It is an old and very true say- 
 ing, ' that if we could see ourselves as others see us,' etc. 
 
 "I wish you great success in your contemplated work. It 
 cannot otherwise than prove acceptable to the public, who feel an 
 interest in the records of men who have devoted their best facul- 
 ties to their country's service, which your ' Portrait Gallery ' will 
 exhibit. With great respect, 
 
 "Tours truly, 
 
 " Daniel Webster." 
 
 " Lexington, Et., October 13, 1843. 
 " William H. Brown, Esq. — 
 
 " Dear Sir : Your favor of the 2d instant is received. I well 
 remember your collection of the likenesses of our public men, 
 members of Congress, the Cabinet, and other officials in and 
 about Washington City, and I will say that I was particularly 
 struck with their truthfulness. That of the Hon. John Randolph, 
 of Roanoke, is the very perfection of your art. I shall not soon 
 forget the amusement you afforded the visitors at the Blue Lick 
 Springs last summer, by your delineations of many of them in 
 your peculiar and characteristic style of portraiture, unequalled by 
 any other artist in that way I have ever seen. 
 
 " The work you propose to publish will, no doubt, be an inter- 
 esting acquisition to the reading public, and I request you here to 
 put my name down in the list of your subscribers for a copy as 
 soon as it is ready for distribution. With great respect, I remain, 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 "Henry Clay." 
 
RECAPITULATION. 201 
 
 The foregoing letters are in allusion to a " Portrait- 
 Gallery of Distinguished Public Men," published by the 
 author a few years after. They are referred to in this 
 work merely as further evidences of the author's skill 
 in his peculiar art of sketching in black paper outline 
 or profile, that our readers may rely upon the correct- 
 ness of the representation of the " De Witt Clinton " 
 and train, which we insert. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 We trust that we have now faithfully performed 
 the task undertaken by us, when we commenced these 
 pages ; and we believe that our readers will not enter- 
 tain a doubt, from the chain of authentic and reliable 
 evidence we have brought before them, that the first 
 locomotive ever run upon a railroad in this country was 
 the "Stourbridge Lion," imported from England in 
 1829. We have shown that this machine was ordered 
 by John B. Jervis, Esq., the chief engineer of the Dela-. 
 ware and Hudson Canal and Railroad Company, to be 
 used upon their road, which connected with their canal ; 
 that Horatio Allen, Esq., the assistant engineer under 
 Mr. Jervis, was on a visit to England, and witnessed 
 the experiments then made in the contest for the prize 
 of £500 offered by the Liverpool and Manchester Pail- 
 road for the locomotive that should perform certain re- 
 quisitions ; that Mr. Allen was instructed by Mr. Jer- 
 vis to contract for three locomotives for the Delaware 
 
202 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 and Hudson Railroad ; that the first of these engines, 
 the "Stourbridge Lion," arrived in the city of New 
 York by the ship John Jay on the 17th of May, 1829, 
 and was set up by Mr. Allen in the yard of the West 
 Point Foundery Works, then in the city, and, with 
 steam from the shops, publicly exhibited for several 
 weeks, and visited by thousands attracted by the novel- 
 ty of the machine. 
 
 We have shown that the " Stourbridge Lion " was 
 next shipped up the Hudson River to Rondout, where 
 it arrived on the 4th of July, 1829, and thence for- 
 warded by the Delaware and Hudson Canal to Hones- 
 dale, where it was landed on the 23d of July, was im- 
 mediately placed upon the company's railroad, and made 
 its first trial-trip under steam on Saturday, the 8th day 
 of August, 1829, in the presence of several thousand 
 spectators attracted from all parts of the country to 
 witness the advent of the first locomotive in America. 
 We have also shown that on that memorable occasion 
 Mr. Allen stood alone upon the engine, and with 
 his own hand opened the valve that gave the impulse 
 to the driving-wheel that made the first revolution upon 
 a railroad in America. 
 
 From the most reliable sources our readers have 
 been informed that the first locomotive ever built in 
 America was a "Liliputian" affair, made for experi- 
 mental purposes alone. It was nevertheless a locomo- 
 tive, and was built by Peter Cooper, Esq., of New York, 
 well and most favorably known as the founder and 
 patron of the Cooper Institute of that city. This little 
 machine of Mr. Cooper's (we call it little because it 
 weighed less than a ton) was expressly built to de- 
 monstrate a principle upon the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad with regard to the capability of a locomotive 
 
RECAPITULATION. 203 
 
 to sustain itself upon the track in running curves — a 
 much and almost universally disputed point among 
 engineers and scientific men of that early period in rail- 
 road experience. 
 
 From the evidences we have given, our readers must 
 now be convinced that the very first locomotive built 
 in America for actual service was ordered by and made 
 for the South Carolina Railroad then just commenced, 
 and but a few miles completed. This first locomotive 
 was contracted for by E. L. Miller, Esq., an enterprising 
 gentleman of Charleston, who had visited England and 
 witnessed the contest for the £500 prize. Mr. Miller 
 had his locomotive constructed at the West Point 
 Foundery Works in the city of New York. Mr. David 
 Matthew, then a foreman in the machine-shops, had 
 charge of the hands fitting up this machine or locomo- 
 tive. It was called by Mr. Miller the " Best Friend, of 
 Charleston," and was forwarded by ship Niagara, and 
 arrived in Charleston on the 23d of October, 1830. No 
 person accompanied this locomotive from the works in 
 New York to put it up and try its abilities upon a road. 
 That duty was performed by Mr. Julius D. Petsch, 
 foreman of Mr. Thomas Dotterer's machine-shops in 
 Charleston, assisted by Nicholas W. Darrell, a young 
 man just out of his time. The first experiments with a 
 train, we have shown, took place on the 2d of Novem- 
 ber, and again on the 14th and 15th of December, 1830, 
 on which last trial-trip before the public, as from the 
 first, the machine was in charge of Mr. Darrell as engi- 
 neer, who continued to act in that capacity until the 
 June following, when, through the ignorance of the 
 negro fireman, the " Best Friend " exploded, severely 
 scalding Mr. Darrell, and resulting finally in the death 
 of the negro from his injuries. 
 
204 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 We have given evidence to show that the second 
 locomotive built in America was likewise constructed 
 at the West Point Foundery Works, and for the South 
 Carolina Railroad. This machine was ordered by Ho- 
 ratio Allen, Esq., the chief engineer of the road, and 
 made from plans and drawings sent out by him. The 
 engine was completed and forwarded by the ship La- 
 fayette, and arrived in Charleston on the 28th day of 
 February, 1831, and made her first successful trial-trip 
 over the road on the 5th of March, 1831. This loco- 
 motive was called the " West Point," and was in charge 
 of Mr. Darrell, who meantime had recovered from the 
 injuries received by the explosion of the "Best Friend." 
 Mr. David Matthew also had charge of the hands fitting 
 up the " West Point " as well as the " Best Friend " at 
 the Foundery Works, New York. 
 
 We have produced satisfactory evidence to prove 
 that the third successful locomotive constructed in 
 America was the " De Witt Clinton," built also at the 
 West Point Works for the Mohawk and Hudson Rail- 
 road. This engine was completed and taken to Albany 
 the latter part of June, 1831, in charge of Mr. David 
 Matthew, who put it upon the road, and, after several 
 experimental trials in July, made the first excursion- 
 trip with a train of cars on the 9th day of August, 1831, 
 as represented in the author's sketch taken upon the 
 spot just as the train was about to start. 
 
 We have shown that about this time (midsummer, 
 1831) the locomotive built by Mr. Davis at York, Penn- 
 sylvania, was put upon the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road, as the most effective of the number presented at 
 the trial for the prize offered by that company. Of the 
 doings of this engine, we have a further and more par- 
 ticular account in an extract we make from a work 
 
EECAPITULATION. 205 
 
 entitled a "History and Description of the Baltimore 
 and Ohio Railroad," presented to us by B. H. Latrobe, 
 Esq., of that road, thus : 
 
 " In pursuance of this call upon American genius, made by the 
 directors, three locomotives were produced upon the road, only 
 one of which, however, was made to answer any good purpose. 
 This engine, called ' The York,' was built at York, Pennsylvania, 
 by Phineas Davis (or rather Davis and Gartner), and, after 
 undergoing certain modifications, was found capable of conveying 
 fifteen tons at fifteen miles per hour on a level portion of the 
 road. It was employed on that part of the road between Balti- 
 more and Ellicott's Mills, and generally performed the trip to 
 the Mills in one hour, with four cars, being a gross weight of 
 about fourteen tons. This engine was mouuted on wheels, like 
 those of the common cars, of thirty inches diameter, and the 
 velocity was obtained by means of gearing with a spur-wheel and 
 pinion on one of the axles of the road-wheels. 
 
 " The curvatures were all travelled with great facility by this 
 engine, its greatest velocity, for a short time, on straight parts of 
 the road, having been at the rate of thirty miles per hour, while it 
 frequently attained that of twenty miles, and often travelled in 
 curvatures of four hundred feet radius, at the rate of fifteen miles 
 per hour. The fuel used was anthracite coal, and answered well ; 
 but the engine, weighing but three and a half tons, was found too 
 light for advantageous use in ascending grades. The performance 
 of this engine fully confirmed the board and its engineer corps 
 that locomotives might be successfully used on a railway having 
 curves of four hundred feet radius, and from that time forward 
 every encouragement was given by the company to the inventive 
 genius of the country to improve on the partially successful experi- 
 mental engine that had been produced by Mr. Davis. 
 
 "In September, 1835, Mr. Davis met with a sudden and un- 
 expected death. He was riding upon the tender of a new locomo- 
 tive, on its trial-trip upon the Washington branch, accompanied 
 by a large number of his employes on an excursion to the capital. 
 The engine struck the end of a broken rail and was thrown off* the 
 track. Mr. Davis was hurled with great force against the engine, 
 causing his instantaneous death. This melancholy event produced 
 a deep gloom over the excursionists and the whole community 
 where Mr. Davis was known. In his death the Baltimore and 
 14 
 
206 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 Ohio Railroad met with a great loss. He was an able and ingeni- 
 ous mechanic, and one of the most indefatigable assistants to the 
 company, in its experimental and mechanical department." 
 
 But to resume our history. We have shown that, as 
 early as 1831, the first eight- wheeled locomotive ever 
 built, either in England or America, was construct- 
 ed from plans by Horatio Allen, Esq., and put upon the 
 South Carolina Railroad. This machine was made at 
 the West Point Foundery Works, and forwarded to 
 Charleston in charge of Mr. John Degnon, who run it 
 for a short time until accepted by the road, and then it 
 was placed in charge of Mr. Darrell. 
 
 We have, in the course of our narrative, shown that 
 the South Carolina Railroad was the first railroad in 
 the world built expressly for locomotive-power ; that 
 when Mr. Bennett's famous resolution to that effect was 
 unanimously adopted by its board of directors, the 
 directors of the road from Liverpool to Manchester in 
 England, just completed, had not yet determined what 
 kind of power should be used upon the road. A 
 majority of the committee of engineers, appointed to 
 examine and report upon that important matter, were 
 in favor of stationary engines with long chains or ropes 
 to draw the trains over the road. George Stephenson, 
 being one of their number, was alone in favor of the 
 locomotive. Again we show that the first one hundred 
 consecutive miles of iron rails upon a road was laid 
 upon the South Carolina Railroad. These statements, 
 though startling to the minds of many, are nevertheless 
 true, and can be sustained by the best authority, and 
 without a shadow of doubt. 
 
 Mr. William K enable, who was in charge of the 
 West Point Works during the year 1829, and after- 
 ward while these machines were built, in his letter to 
 
FIRST TRUCK-ENGINE 207 
 
 the author fully sustains all the facts connected with 
 the early history of the English engine " Stourbridge 
 Lion," and the first three American engines built in the 
 United States, viz., the "Best Friend," the "West 
 Point," and the "De Witt Clinton;" and no further 
 evidence is required to establish these facts. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 FIRST TRUCK-ENGINE. 
 
 These experiments on the South Carolina Railroad 
 paved the way for several others which soon after 
 followed, and at this day they are looked upon as more 
 remarkable, from the early date in locomotive enterprise 
 in which they were attempted, and with such surpris- 
 ing results. One of the most important of these early 
 efforts was the introduction of the truck under the 
 front part of the machine, to assist in sustaining the 
 weight of the boiler, and to give direction to the 
 machine in running upon curves. 
 
 As this truck attachment has now become so univer- 
 sally adopted, and has never been patented, we will give 
 a description of the first machine ever built which used 
 it. We take it from a letter received by the author 
 from Mr. David Matthew, who superintended the hands 
 while constructing the machine. Mr. Matthew thus 
 writes : 
 
 "American locomotive No. 1, second series, was built at the 
 "West Point Foundery "Works, for the Mohawk and Hudson Rail- 
 road, from plans sent by John B. Jervis, Esq., chief engineer of that 
 road. I left New York in August, 1832, with the engine in charge 
 
208 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 to place on the road and run it. This was the first bogie engine 
 or truck used under the front part, ever built in this country or 
 any other. The engine had nine and a half inch cylinders, six- 
 teen-inch stroke, and had two pairs of driving-wheels five feet in 
 diameter, and set aft the furnace ; had four wheels, thirty-three 
 inches' diameter, in the truck. This truck was placed under the 
 front end of the boiler for support, attached by a strong pin, and 
 worked upon friction-rollers so as easily to follow the curves of 
 the road, as the fore-wheels of a carriage upon common roads. 
 
 " The boiler-furnace was five feet long, by thirty-four inches 
 wide, with three-inch tubes, and made to burn anthracite coal. 
 With this engine I have crossed the Mohawk and Hudson Kail- 
 road from plane to plane, fourteen miles, in thirteen minutes, mak- 
 ing one stop for water. I have tried her speed upon a level, straight 
 line, and have made one mile in forty-five seconds by the watch. 
 She was the fastest and steadiest engine I have ever run or seen, 
 and she worked with the greatest ease. 
 
 " The first of this kind of engine, with the truck in front, ever 
 built in England, was the ' Davy Crocket,' constructed by Robert 
 Stephenson, for the Saratoga Railroad Company, from drawings 
 and plans sent out to him by John B. Jervis, Esq., who was the 
 inventor of this attachment. I never tried this engine at her 
 speed, but all her movements were with similar ease, and it did 
 not work us all over to take eighteen to twenty cars over the road. 
 This machine was placed on the road in 1833, and run for many 
 years. She had two driving-wheels aft and four truck-wheels. 
 The driving-wheels were aft the furnace, which plan was adopted 
 by M. W. Baldwin, who claims this as the general arrangement. 
 But the original plans and drawings, from the inventor, John B. 
 Jervis, Esq., are yet in my possession." 
 
 Of this engine Mr. Jervis thus speaks in a letter 
 addressed to the author, April 20, 1869 : 
 
 "Not satisfied with the working of four-wheel engines, in the 
 fall of 1831 I made a plan with a set of trucks as leading- wheels, 
 which was executed by the West Point Foundery Association, New- 
 York City. 
 
 " This engine gave rise to the plan of truck-leading, or rather 
 this engine was made on the plan which is now in general use on 
 American railways. 
 
FIRST TRUCK-ENGINE. 209 
 
 " Mr. David Matthew was the machinist who put up this truck- 
 machine. I regard it as the greatest point that an American 
 engineer, in the face of English practice, should have devised a 
 plan, which at the time was considered very radical, of introdu- 
 cing a truck to support the end of the frame and guide the motion 
 of the engine, and which, after thirty-seven years of experience, is 
 now adopted on every engine of nearly fifty thousand miles of rail- 
 road in America." 
 
 During the past forty years, while railroads were 
 stretching forth their iron arms over vast sections of 
 our country, and indeed of the civilized world, and 
 even through the wild and thinly-populated domains 
 of the savage, where exist vast forests and hitherto 
 pathless deserts of sand, locomotives, those absolute 
 essentials to the economy and success of these enter- 
 prises, were in like manner making giant strides in the 
 way of improvement, from the " Rocket " of Stephenson 
 in England, and the " Best Friend, of Charleston," in 
 this country, to the perfection which characterizes the 
 first-class locomotive of the present day. When we 
 compare the performances of these and their readiness 
 at all hours, and under all circumstances, to brave the 
 torrents, the winds, and the snows of the most terrific 
 tempest, we cannot but call to mind an advertisement 
 in a Philadelphia paper in 1832. This we will extract 
 just as it appeared. It will, no doubt, draw a smile 
 upon the faces of our present locomotive engineers. It 
 reads thus : 
 
 " Notice to the Public. — The engine, with a train of cars, 
 will be run daily, commencing this day, when the weather is fair ; 
 when the weather is not fair, the horses will draw the cars. Pas- 
 sengers are requested to be punctual at the hour of starting." 
 
 "When we contemplate the rapid march made, upon 
 this continent alone, in railroad and locomotive im- 
 
210 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 provement, it seems like the work of enchantment. 
 The mind is bewildered and almost carried away in its 
 efforts to keep pace with or follow its giant strides. 
 
 Let ns (by way of illustration) conduct our reader 
 for a few moments to some imaginary eminence, from 
 which his eye could command in one sweep the entire 
 surface of our country. Let him turn his gaze toward 
 the north, the south, the east, or the west, even across 
 the Eocky Mountains to the shores of the broad Pacific, 
 and he will behold a scene of life and industiy which 
 few could be prepared to believe had been developed in 
 less than half a century. And then let him predict the 
 future — if he can. Lead his mind back to the period 
 just forty years ago, when, on the 15th day of Decem- 
 ber, 1830, the first locomotive built in America for 
 actual service upon a railroad, and known as the " Best 
 Friend, of Charleston," started out upon its solitary 
 journey, a few miles only in extent, upon the unfinished 
 track of the South Carolina Railroad — the second rail- 
 road commenced in this country for commercial pur- 
 poses, and the first railroad in the world built expressly 
 for locomotive-power. Let him contemplate this scene 
 for a moment, then turn his mind to the one presented 
 to him at the present day ; all over the wide expanse of 
 our Union, behold the countless railroads extending for 
 thousands of miles in every direction, bearing upon their 
 rails their droves of iron horses, of every imaginary 
 form and pattern, dashing with lightning-speed from 
 city to city, with their long and heavy trains of living, 
 breathing human creatures, or with their lengthened 
 trains of freight-cars, loaded with thousands of tons of 
 the products of the industry of the people, adding mill- 
 ions to the trade and commerce of the nation, rushing 
 on, overcoming all obstacles, crossing wide, deep, and 
 
FIRST TRUCK-ENGINE. 211 
 
 rapid rivers, ascending the steepest grades, or driving 
 headlong through lengthened tunnels — then ask the be- 
 holder if we have yet reached the summit, the consumma- 
 tion, the ultimatum of this great instrumentality in the 
 advancement of the trade and commerce of our prosper- 
 ous republic. He will answer, " No ! No one can tell — 
 no one can predict — no mind can conceive — no figures 
 can compute the sum of what will be the progress in 
 the next forty years of this great achievement of the 
 present century, in the railroad and its iron steed." 
 
 Forty years ago an imported locomotive (weighing 
 scarcely a half-dozen tons) made the first experimental 
 trip, of a few miles only, upon a coal-road belonging to 
 the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. This ma- 
 chine proved to be too heavy for the structure, and its 
 innumerable trestles and bridges, and it was abandoned, 
 and the road soon after remodelled into a graded one 
 with stationary engines, as was recommended about the 
 same time (1829) by the most prominent English engi- 
 neers to the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester 
 Railroad, in preference to the locomotive system, which 
 they looked upon as impracticable. 
 
 Not the least daunted or discouraged by the failure 
 of this first experiment at home, and the opinions and 
 examples before them in England, the directors of the 
 South Carolina Raifroad, at their first regular meeting, 
 only five days after their organization, passed unani- 
 mously that memorable resolution in these very words : 
 "that their railroad should be built for locomotive- 
 power alone ; that in selecting that power in its applica- 
 tion to railroads, the maturity of which will be reached 
 within the time of constructing their road, and render 
 the application of animal power a great abuse of the 
 gifts of genius and science." Their example was fob 
 
212 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 lowed in quick succession on several railroads soon after 
 in the progress of construction, and continued to spread 
 with unprecedented rapidity to the present day. 
 
 We cannot quit the subject without again drawing 
 before our readers a comparison between the locomo- 
 tive passenger-trains of the present day and those of 
 forty years ago, when the old-fashioned stage-coach- 
 body pattern was the model for the first-class passenger- 
 cars, as represented in the author's sketch, in this vol- 
 ume, of the " De Witt Clinton " and train. When we 
 compare these vehicles with the splendid drawing-room, 
 sleeping, and dining-room cars now coming into use 
 upon some of the principal railroad thoroughfares and 
 soon to become universal ; and when the old and famil- 
 iar voice of the conductor, announcing " Twenty min- 
 utes for dinner," will no longer be heard, but, instead 
 thereof, the hungry traveller will be ushered into a 
 splendid dining-saloon (attached to the train) and 
 vying in elegance with the most sumptuous apartment, 
 furnished and provided with all the concomitants of a 
 well-appointed hotel, a table groaning under the weight 
 of well cooked and prepared provisions, followed by 
 all the luxuries of the various seasons through which 
 they travel, served by polite and attentive waiters; 
 and, at length, at the end of a well-enjoyed meal, the 
 traveller will find himself some twenty-five or thirty 
 miles farther advanced upon his journey than when he 
 took his seat at the summons to dinner — all, all seems 
 like the work of enchantment ! In no other language, 
 perhaps, can we better illustrate the wonderful strides 
 made in the march of improvement, and the facilities 
 of intercommunication within less than a quarter of a 
 century, than by quoting here the words of John H. B. 
 Latrobe, Esq., the eminent counsellor of the Baltimore 
 
FIRST TRUCK-ENGINE. 213 
 
 and Ohio Railroad, at a banquet given in Wheeling in 
 1853, on the successful completion of that great enter- 
 prise : 
 
 " With your permission, Mr. President, I will read, as my text 
 for what I propose to say, the following extract from the Virginia 
 Gazette, published in 1836: 'The Baltimore and Ohio Wagon 
 Company, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars (one- 
 fourth of which is paid in), transport goods and produce between 
 Wheeling and Baltimore. One wagon departs and arrives daily 
 from each of these places, with a load weighing from two and a 
 quarter to two and a half tons, and occupying eight days upon the 
 road, and arrangements are in progress to increase the number of 
 daily arrivals and departures, from one to three wagons, and event- 
 ually to five.' 
 
 " Were a new edition to be prepared for the Virginia Gazette, 
 and the paragraph relating to the intercourse of the two cities, 
 Wheeling and Baltimore, to be placed side by side, how modest 
 would appear to have been the conception of its author, only six- 
 teen years ago ! 
 
 " The arrangements to which we refer, carried out by a differ- 
 ent company it is true, but still the arrangements, uniting Wheel- 
 ing and Baltimore, have resulted in the existence of a company 
 with a capital of twelve million dollars, all of which has been paid 
 in ; having in charge a work which, when completed and stocked, 
 as it is intended that it shall be, will represent a capital of about 
 twenty million dollars, and whose preparations, so soon as the 
 delays attending the first use of all good public works shall have 
 been surmounted, will insure the daily transportation, between the 
 Ohio and Baltimore, of a thousand tons of goods and produce 
 in the space of thirty-six hours now, and who can tell how much 
 faster ere a few years have been added to the less than the quarter 
 of a century just referred to. 
 
 " Why, Mr. President, the weight of the tonnage-engine alone 
 used by this railroad company almost equals the weight of the 
 five loads that limited the hopes of the wagon company, teams, 
 wagons, and all ; and behind this engine there rolls at the uni- 
 form speed of twelve miles an hour three hundred tons of gross 
 weight, one-half of which is the exchange which the Western 
 valleys send to the cities of the Atlantic border. We talk of the 
 course of empire. Its type is the locomotive and its train, whose 
 
214 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IX AMERICA. 
 
 tread is the tread of a giant, from hill-top to hill-top. We speak 
 of the array of a conqueror: where is there a conqueror like 
 steam ? Its panoply, too, is of iron ; man has made it not less 
 than mortal, as it performs the work of one hundred thousand of 
 men's hands, and, as it is impatient of delay, it rushes through 
 and through the bosom of the hills, its white and feathery plume 
 is the ensign of a daring, a courage that treads its way through 
 the forest, or climbs the side of the mountain, and a power which, 
 while it may find its comparison in the crest of Henry IY. at 
 Ivry, is the precursor of the triumphs, not of war, but of peace, as 
 they build up the fame, not of heroes, but of the people. . . . 
 That the fruition of these hopes will disappoint no reasonable ex- 
 pectations, but surpass them all, who of us can doubt ? The West 
 built up Baltimore — first with the pack-saddle, then with the 
 county road, then with the turnpike — as it is now about to employ 
 the greatest agent of modern times to realize for us the destiny 
 appointed by Providence, when the waters of the fountains of the 
 Potomac are made to flow from the same hills that sent their 
 tribute to the Ohio." 
 
 In what language would Mr. Latrobe (who still lives 
 to see it) express the wonderful results of the sixteen 
 years which have succeeded the events we have just 
 recorded ? What comparison now would he draw of 
 the daily transit over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
 with that daily wagon-load of from two and one-fourth 
 to two and a half tons, and the ultimate prospect of it 
 reaching five wagon-loads per day ? 
 
 Again, on this memorable occasion, the completion 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the arrival of 
 the first locomotive and train from Baltimore at Wheel- 
 ing, a guest from Cleveland, James A. Briggs, Esq., 
 made these appropriate remarks in allusion to the 
 march of internal improvements in railways and loco- 
 motives : 
 
 "This is an occasion of no common interest. The men of 
 Maryland, and Virginia, and Ohio, and Pennsylvania, have met 
 here to commemorate the completion of one of the great lines of 
 
FIRST TRUCK-ENGINE. 215 
 
 trade and travel between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ohio River. 
 This line of railroad is a great work. It was originated by men 
 who had the capacity to conceive great designs and the courage 
 to execute them. The work is finished. The iron horse has trav- 
 elled on his iron pathway from the ' Monumental City ' over the 
 Alleghanies to this not long since frontier settlement, but now the 
 flourishing city of Wheeling. Here, in this room, are men who 
 have heard the warwhoop of the Indian on this very spot, and to- 
 day they have heard the shrill whistle of the locomotive. How 
 wonderful that such changes have come within the memory of 
 those who still live ! And this is a change which tells not of war 
 and carnage — not of cities desolated, and villages ruined, and 
 fields laid waste — but of the progress of the arts of peace, of the 
 advancement of a high order of civilization, and of the onward 
 course of the car of Christianity, freighted with innumerable bless- 
 ings for the whole world-wide family of man. ... I do most 
 cordially congratulate the people of Maryland and Virginia upon 
 the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It is one 
 link in the chain which binds us together as a nation. While 
 I am now speaking, the locomotive that drinks and smokes, and is 
 a ' fast fellow,' is thundering along on his iron track from the 
 ' Queen City ' of Ohio, and from the far-off prairies of Illinois, 
 heading long trains freighted with men and the products of the 
 rich fields of the West to Eastern markets. 
 
 " As I stood last evening on the bank of the Ohio, looking at 
 the beautiful and magnificent iron bridge which spans the river 
 like a bow, and gemmed and sparkling as it was with a thousand 
 lights, I could but believe that the tall pipes of the majestic 
 steamers would, in all coming time, bow as they passed to this 
 grand work of the genius of man. Last March, a goodly number 
 of the people of Cleveland and the Reserve were here to celebrate 
 the completion of the railroad from the Lake to Wellsville. We are 
 hereto-night to rejoice over the advent of the iron horse from 
 Baltimore to Wheeling, and, before this year shall have passed 
 away, to be numbered with the years that have gone, we hope 
 the last link in the line of railroad between Baltimore and Cleve- 
 land will be finished ; and then, in return for your energies and 
 enterprise and hospitality, we trust you may be invited to par- 
 take of true and genuine Yankee hospitality in the ' Forest City,' 
 'the City upon the Lake-shore,' and although the season may 
 make it winter without, we can assure you that the warmth of the 
 heart shall make it summer within." 
 
 , 
 
216 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 All this has been verified, and Low much more will 
 be accomplished within the next forty years to come no 
 man can predict ; for even now the author has noticed 
 advertisements announcing through-tickets for sale for 
 the round-trip from New York to San Francisco, passing 
 through all the intermediate cities on the plains and re- 
 turning, with beautiful and comfortable parlor, dining- 
 room, dressing-room, and sleeping cars throughout the 
 entire route. Price ninety dollars for the round-trip. 
 N. B. — Excursionists have the privilege of going by 
 any train or at any time, without restriction. 
 
 Another announcement on a much more extensive 
 scale may now be seen posted up at all the hotels and 
 railroad offices in the city of New York, and no doubt 
 by this time in all other cities, which reads as follows : 
 
 " Great Excursion to Europe and the East. 
 
 "Visiting London, the seat of the last war in France, Switzer- 
 land, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Vesuvius, Greece, the pyramids of 
 Gizeh ; returning to Venice and Vienna to spend the carnival 
 there, and over Paris to New York. 
 
 "Prices $1,500, $1,200, $1,000, gold. 
 
 " Concerning the participation for four or five months, includ- 
 ing excellent board, with wine, free entrance to all sights, partly 
 to theatres and concerts, all drives in carriages, on horses, and in 
 boats or gondolas ; free guiding all during the voyage, free lug- 
 gage, the use of tents, saddles, jars, and the escort of Bedouins, 
 on the land-tour through Palestine. 
 
 " A courier, a physician, a lady companion for the ladies, and a 
 servant speaking all forecoming languages, accompanying the 
 party. 
 
 " Only first-class steamers and hotels will be frequented ; the 
 undertaking provides for every thing, and the greatest attention 
 paid to ladies. Apply to 
 
 "Messrs. Kunhardt & Company, 
 
 " 61 Broad Street, New York, 
 " Or at the Universal Excursion Company, 
 
 "Prescott House, 531 Broadway, New York." 
 
FIRST TRUCK-ENGINE. 217 
 
 This company (well known in Europe) was present 
 with two parties at the inauguration of the Suez Canal 
 in Egypt, November, 1869. Excursions under their 
 charge are made every year to Spain and Portugal; 
 Norway, Sweden, and Russia; Italy, Greece, Turkey, 
 Palestine, and Egypt, a trip up the Nile included ; and 
 special excursions twice a year to London, Paris, Vienna, 
 and Venice, staying over the carnival. Doubtless in a 
 few years these prices above will be regarded as fabu- 
 lous. Competition has already commenced in the routes 
 to the Pacific coast, as appears by the following : 
 
 " Union Pacific Railroad. — Two hundred and twenty-six 
 miles saved for Chicago by the Union Pacific Railroad, via Omaha. 
 One hundred and thirty-five miles saved from Indianapolis. One 
 hundred and seventeen miles saved from Cincinnati. Twenty- 
 five miles saved from St. Louis to Salt Lake City, Sacramento, 
 San Francisco, Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, Australia, China, 
 Japan, and India. The best route to Denver, Colorado, New 
 Mexico, and Arizona. 
 
 " Remember that only those tickets via Omaha are sure of 
 places in the through Pullman palace cars. For sale at all the 
 principal ticket-offices in the United States and Canada." 
 
 • All this is the work of the locomotive, under the 
 impulse of that powerful yet invisible offspring from 
 two of the most conflicting elements brought within con- 
 trol, by the ingenuity of man, in the invention of the 
 steam-engine, advanced as it now is to a stage of per- 
 fection in less than a century. 
 
 In the present improved state of this machine, it 
 seems to be a thing almost endowed with human intelli- 
 gence. It regulates with perfect accuracy and uniform- 
 ity the number of its revolutions in a given time ; it 
 regulates the quantity of steam required to do its work ; 
 it opens and shuts its valves with absolute precision as 
 to time and manner ; it helps itself to all the water it 
 
218 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 wants ; it oils its own joints, and, when any thing goes 
 wrong which it cannot itself rectify, it gives timely 
 warning to its attendant. Yet, with all these talents 
 and qualities, and even when fully capable of exerting 
 the power of six hundred or a thousand horses, it is 
 obedient to the hand of a child. Its food is coal or 
 wood, or any thing combustible ; 'it consumes nothing 
 when idle ; it never tires or wants to rest or sleej) ; it 
 is not subject to malady when originally made well, 
 and only refuses to work when worn out with age ; it 
 is equally active in all climates, and will do work of 
 any kind ; it is a water-pumper, a miner, a sawyer, a 
 tanner, a stone-cutter, a turner, a carpenter, a black- 
 smith, a cotton-spinner, a weaver, a sailor ; in short, it is 
 a mechanic in every branch of art. It has revolution- 
 ized the whole domain of human industry, and almost 
 every year is adding to its power and its conquests. In 
 our manufactures, arts, commerce, and our social ac- 
 commodations, it is constantly achieving what, less than 
 fifty years ago, would have been accounted marvellous 
 or an impossibility; it can engrave a seal, and crush 
 masses of the hardest metal like wax before it ; draw 
 out, without breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and 
 lift a ship like a feather in the air ! It can embroider 
 muslin, and forge huge anchors ; cut steel into ribbons, 
 and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the wind 
 and waves ; and in the shape of a locomotive, or iron 
 horse, it can now be seen daily and hourly dragging 
 after it, on a railroad, hundreds of tons of merchandise 
 and crowds of living freight, in the shape of men or 
 animals, or an army of soldiers with all their munitions 
 of war, at the rate of thirty miles or more an hour. 
 
 The locomotive, the most potent and at the same 
 time the most perfectly controllable of all our mechani- 
 
FIRST TRUCK-ENGINE. 219 
 
 cal agencies, has already been impelled at the flying 
 speed of thirty, forty, and even sixty miles an hour ; and 
 if so much has been done already, it would be rash to 
 say or conclude that this is to be its ultimatum. After 
 the results of the last few years, we ash, has it yet 
 reached its limits \ No. Only as late as 1837 or '38, 
 twenty-three years ago, the editor of a well-known and 
 popular magazine in New York, the Knickerbocker, in 
 noticing in its columns Parker's " Journal of an Explor- 
 ing Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains," predicted the 
 ultimate building of a railroad to the Pacific. After 
 briefly extracting some of the scenes and interesting 
 objects, together with the adventures described by the 
 explorers, before and after crossing the " Black Hills," 
 he thus writes : 
 
 "There would seem to be no insurmountable barrier to the 
 construction of a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific. No 
 greater elevations would need to be overcome, than have been sur- 
 mounted on the Portage and Ohio Railroad. And the work will 
 be accomplished. Let this prediction be marked. This great 
 chain of communication will be made with links of iron. vThe 
 treasures of the earth in that wide region are not destined to be 
 lost. The mountains of coal, the vast meadow seas, the fields of 
 salt, the mighty forests, with their trees two hundred and fifty- 
 feet in height, the stores of magnesia, the crystallized lakes of 
 valuable salts — these were not formed to be unemployed and 
 wasted. The reader is now living who will make a railroad trip 
 across the vast continent. 
 
 " The granite mountain will melt before the hand of enter- 
 prise ; valleys will be raised, and the unwearying fire-steed will 
 spout his hot, white breath where silence has reigned since the 
 morning hymn of young Creation was pealed over mountain, flood, 
 and field. The mammoth's bone and the bison's horn, buried for 
 centuries, and long since turned to stone, will be bared to the day 
 by the laborers of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company ; 
 rocks which stand now as on the night when Noah's deluge first 
 dried, will heave beneath the action of ' villanous saltpetre ;' and 
 
220 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 when the prairie stretches away ' like the round ocean,' girded 
 with the sky, with its wood-fringed streams, its flower-enamelled 
 turf, and its herds of startled buffaloes, shall sweep the long, 
 hissing train of cars, crowded with passengers for the Pacific sea- 
 board. The very realms of Chaos and old Night will be invaded ; 
 while in place of the roar of wild beasts, or howl of wild Indians, 
 will be heard the lowing of herds, the bleating of flocks ; the 
 plough will cleave the sods of many a rich valley and fruitful hill, 
 while from many a dark bosom shall go up the pure prayer to the 
 Great Spirit." 
 
 The foregoing passage was copied at the time of its 
 publication into one or two metropolitan daily journals, 
 and, while its manner was courteously commended, it 
 was pronounced visionary and absurd in its specula- 
 tions ; and yet, ere a dozen years had passed, such were 
 the manifest improvements in railroads and locomotives, 
 that the very ablest and most influential of these jour- 
 nals expressed its convictions that the time was close at 
 hand when the nation would put forth its strength and 
 commence the greatest and most important work ever 
 devised or contemplated by man. A national railroad, 
 designed to connect the inhabitants on our Atlantic 
 border with our colonists lying on the coast of the Pa- 
 cific ; a national railroad traversing a vast continent, and 
 passing over two thousand miles of wilderness still in 
 the undisputed possession of the red-man, the buffalo, 
 and the bear ; a national railroad that shall become the 
 highway of nations for the commerce of the Eastern 
 world, and make New York its great depot ; a national 
 railroad, the cost of which will not fall much short of 
 a hundred million dollars, and which will not really 
 cost the nation one dollar, but increase its natural reve- 
 nues more than five times its cost, by reason of the 
 value it will impart to our public domain — such an 
 enterprise is indeed a project worthy of the age in 
 
FIRST TRUCK-ENGINE. 221 
 
 which we live. The subject was soon before the coun- 
 try ; and our readers will admire with us the eloquence 
 of Thomas H. Benton, the Missouri Senator, in his 
 speech before the Pacific Railroad Convention held in 
 St. Louis : 
 
 " We live in extraordinary times, and are called upon to ele- 
 vate ourselves to the grandeur of the occasion. Three and a half 
 centuries ago the great Columbus — the man who was afterward 
 carried home in chains from the New World which he had dis- 
 covered — this great Columbus, in the year 1492, departed from 
 Europe to arrive in the East by going to the West. It was a sub- 
 lime conception. He was in the line of success, when the inter- 
 vention of two continents, not dreamed of before, arrested his 
 progress. Now, in the nineteeth century, mechanical genius 
 enables the great design to be fulfilled. In the beginning, and in 
 barbarous ages, the sea was a barrier to the intercourse of nations : 
 it separated nations. Mechanical genius, in inventing the ship, 
 converted that barrier into a facility. Then land and continents 
 became the obstruction. The two Americas intervening have 
 prevented Europe and Asia from communicating in the straight 
 line. For three centuries and a half this obstacle has frustrated 
 the grand design of Columbus. Now, in our day, mechanical 
 genius has again triumphed over the obstacles of Nature, and con- 
 verted into a facility that which had so long been an impassable 
 obstacle. The steam-car has worked upon the land, and among 
 enlightened nations, and to a degree far transcending it, the 
 miracle which the ship, in barbarous ages, worked upon the ocean. 
 The land has now become the facility for the most distant com- 
 munications, the conveyance being invented which annihilates both 
 time and space. We hold the intervening land ; we hold the ob- 
 stacle which stopped Columbus ; we are in the line between Europe 
 and Asia. 
 
 " We have it in our power to remove that obstacle, to convert 
 it into a facility, and to carry him on to his land of promise and 
 of hope with a rapidity, a precision, and a safety, unknown to all 
 ocean navigation. A king and a queen started him upon his great 
 enterprise ; it lies in the hands of a republic to complete it. It is 
 in our hands — we, the people of the United States, of this first half 
 of the nineteenth century. Let us rise to the grandeur of the 
 15 
 
222 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 occasion. Let us complete the grand design of Columbus by putting 
 Europe and Asia into communication, and that to our advantage, 
 through the heart of our own country. Let us give to his ships, 
 converted into cars, a continuous course unknown to all former 
 times. Let us make the iron road, and make it from sea to sea ; 
 States and individuals making it east of the Mississippi, the nation 
 making it west. Let us now, in this convention, rise above every 
 thing sectional, personal, local; let us beseech the national legis- 
 lature to build the great road upon the great national line which 
 unites Europe and Asia — the line which will find on our continent 
 the bay of San Francisco at one end, St. Louis in the middle, the 
 national metropolis and great commercial emporiums at the other ; 
 and which shall be adorned with its crowning honor, the colossal 
 statue of the great Columbus, whose design it accomplishes, hewn 
 from the granite mass of a peak of the Rocky Mountains, overlook- 
 ing the road, the mountain itself the pedestal and the statue a part 
 of the mountain, pointing, with outstretched arm, to the western 
 horizon, and saying to the flying passenger, ' There is the East ; 
 there is India ! ' " 
 
 This has been consummated; and is it all that is 
 to be ? We answer, No ! Almost every daily revolu- 
 tion of the earth upon its axis develops some new idea, 
 some improvement upon what has already been accom- 
 plished in bringing the railroad and its auxiliary, the 
 locomotive, nearer and nearer to a state of perfec- 
 tion. Within the last few years the construction of the 
 narrow gauge has, as we may almost say, been conceived 
 and sprung into existence, and, from experiments made, 
 it has been demonstrated to a certainty to possess all 
 the advantages that could have been conceived, even 
 exceeding the most sanguine expectations of its pro- 
 jectors, and deciding its ultimate success. 
 
 The future improvement in the locomotive, when 
 fully consummated, before another half century shall 
 pass away, will confer upon man nearly as much new 
 power and new enjoyment as if he were actually en- 
 dowed with wings. 
 
LOCOMOTIVE-WORKS. . 223 
 
 The locomotive is truly the king of machines and a 
 permanent realization of the genii of the Eastern fable, 
 whose supernatural powers were at the command of man. 
 When the next fifty years have rolled around, how little . 
 will men think of what we now call distance ! The 
 term will be obsolete in our vocabulary, and become 
 entirely forgotten. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI 
 
 LOCOMOTIVE- WOKKS. 
 
 When we contemplate the progress made in loco- 
 motives within the last forty years, how forcibly comes 
 to our mind the old but often the very truthful saying, 
 " From small beginnings great results sometimes turn 
 out ! " 
 
 Let us look back to the year 1830, to Mr. Peter 
 Cooper's experimental locomotive, the " Tom Thumb," 
 and in the same year to Colonel Miller's contract to 
 construct, for the South Carolina Railroad, a locomo- 
 tive to perform at the rate of ten miles an hour, and 
 draw fifteen tons' weight. This required, for construc- 
 tion, several months at the West Point Foundery 
 Works. None of the beautiful machinery of the 
 present day, for every department of mechanical labor, 
 was then dreamed of, and the only tools at command 
 were the rasp, the anvil, and sledge. Compare that 
 work with the magnificent system which characterizes 
 the locomotive works of the present day. Compare 
 that with what we witnessed a few days ago in a visit 
 
224 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 and examination of one of the principal works devoted 
 to the manufacture of that powerful machine. We 
 allude to the locomotive-works in the ancient city 
 of Schenectady, with a representation of which we 
 present our readers. Schenectady is one of the old- 
 est cities in the State of New York, and one of 
 the points of termination of the first railroad ever built 
 in the State — that very same road over which the first 
 passenger train drawn "by a locomotive in the State was 
 run in 1831, which event we have fully described in a 
 former chapter, and Schenectady can now point with 
 pride to having in its limits one of the largest and 
 most perfect works for the construction of the locomo- 
 tive to be found in America or in the world. 
 
 How few individuals who journey thousands of 
 miles upon a railroad ever give a passing thought to 
 the origin and history of that most powerful machine 
 by which they, are spirited along, as it were, annihilat- 
 ing both time and distance ! We are often surprised 
 at the want of interest displayed by them in the con- 
 templation of the iron horse, if we may so call it, who 
 draws them along as on the wings of the wind to their 
 destination. We, ourselves, always like to stare at the 
 giant locomotive. For us it possesses any amount of 
 school-boy fascination. If we, when travelling, have a 
 few moments to spare at the depot, we are sure to find 
 ourselves strolling in the direction of the engine and 
 contemplating, in silent admiration and wonder, its 
 immense size, its strength, and its marvellous power 
 and construction. We look back and think of the 
 old-fashioned four-horse coach of former times, and 
 contrast the sound of the tin horn with the steam- 
 whistle, the old chain skid with the Creamer brake ; 
 the compliments of the passengers to the heavy-coated 
 
LOCOMOTIVE-WOKKS. 225 
 
 coachman on his making twelve miles an hour, and the 
 coolness with which we now travel thirty, thirty-five, 
 and even fifty miles an hour with the locomotive. 
 Our forefathers did not believe at first in the locomo- 
 tive. The wise men of fifty years ago regarded rail- 
 roads by steam beyond the reach of practical science. 
 We gave our readers in a former portion of our work 
 Chancellor Livingston's letter to Colonel Stevens, of 
 Hoboken, as a specimen of public opinion of that time. 
 "What would Chancellor Livingston say now about the 
 locomotive crossing the American Continent on its rail- 
 road in six days and a half, when he doubted Stevens's 
 project of loads of five tons carried on proposed rail- 
 roads at five miles an hour ! What would the chancel- 
 lor say now to our present freight-engines, weighing, 
 as they frequently do, over forty tons each, and draw- 
 ing a train of a hundred cars, each with a load of eight 
 tons of merchandise, in all one thousand tons; and 
 what would he say, if now alive, and he were to be 
 told that the Schenectady Locomotive Works here in 
 his own State, and the works we visited a few days 
 ago, turned out one of such engines every three days 
 throughout the year ! These locomotives, too, are not 
 like the playthings of forty years ago — Peter Cooper's 
 Tom Thumb, for instance, which we have described in 
 a former chapter, which, on August 28, 1830, per- 
 formed the astonishing feat of outrunning a horse-car 
 on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, in a contest for the 
 trial of speed ; or the first locomotive built for actual 
 service on a railroad in America, The Best Friend, of 
 Charleston, the contract for which was that it should 
 run ten miles an hour and draw three times its weight, 
 and from the president's report after its trials, that " it 
 had exceeded their most sanguine expectations, draw- 
 
226 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 ing fifty passengers at fifteen miles an hour on the 
 straight and level parts of their road." Not such lo- 
 comotives as these, but we alluded to the first-class 
 locomotives of the present day. Schenectady can point 
 with pride to her locomotive-works, established now 
 over twenty-one years. These works are situated about 
 a quarter of a mile from the depot, between the Cen- 
 tral and Saratoga Railroad tracks. 
 
 The building devoted to the machine and erecting 
 shops is of two stories, most substantially built, and 
 is 350 feet long by 80 wide. The machine-shops are 
 perfectly bewildering. Looking down their length, 
 the various machines used for the work look like 
 groves of trees, from which all the branches have been 
 cut, leaving only the trunks. Here in the two shops is 
 a respectable list of these machines, and it must be 
 borne in mind that each and every one of them is most 
 elaborate and costly. Sixty turning-lathes. A turn- 
 ing-lathe for iron with its cold chisel gives a forcible 
 expression of the scriptural idea, "iron entering the 
 soul." It grinds its sharp edge mercilessly into the 
 metal, and turns out shavings too hot to handle. 
 There are fifty iron planes, thirty drill-presses, fifteen 
 bolt-cutters, seven slotting and five shearing machines, 
 and all these of the newest and most approved patents. 
 In the erecting shops we saw the locomotive in every 
 stage of construction, from the boiler-sheet until its 
 name has been painted on the tender, before it starts 
 out on its rushing journey through locomotive life. 
 "When we visited these works on our tour of investiga- 
 tion a few weeks since, we saw eleven locomotives in 
 course of erection, besides several in the repair and 
 painting shops, and two ready to go out. About sixty 
 days are occupied in building an engine from the time 
 
LOCOMOTIVE-WORKS. 227 
 
 the flat iron plates go into the boiler-shops until the 
 entire machine is completed in all its various parts and 
 ready for firing up in active service. An engine varies 
 in weight from 40,000 to 80,000 pounds, and, if it be a 
 large one, with its tender will not weigh less than 
 125,000 pounds. The weight of a single driving-wheel 
 is 1,800 pounds, and the machine will cost from 
 $10,000 to $18,000. 
 
 The progress of engine-building may, to a certain 
 extent, be judged of from their progressive cost. Of 
 the cost of the earlier locomotives it would be idle to 
 
 make a comparison ; but thirty years ago the building 
 of locomotives had come to years of discretion, though 
 far from maturity. In 1842 the average cost of a 
 locomotive was $6,500; in 1852, $7,500; in 1862, 
 $8,500, and in 1872, about $11,500. An engine, with 
 fair wear and tear, will last ten or eleven years. 
 
 There are some interesting points with regard to 
 the construction of engines at the Schenectady works. 
 The framework of the tenders is all made of iron, 
 which, in addition to giving greatly increased strength, 
 considerably decreases the weight of the tender ; the 
 wooden beams, formerly in use, requiring to be very 
 massive and cumbrous in order to stand the jar and 
 
228 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN" AMERICA. 
 
 strain on them. Some of the drills are marvellous ; we 
 saw on our visit steam-drills drilling the great cast- 
 steel plates, through which all the boiler flues open 
 into the furnace. The plates are half an inch in thick- 
 ness, and the holes two and one-sixteenth inches in 
 diameter. But this operation of drilling so large a 
 hole in solid cast-steel (it is done in less than five 
 minutes) must be seen to be fully appreciated. In the 
 blacksmith's shop it is most interesting to watch the 
 forging together of the huge iron beams which form 
 the pedestals of the engine ; not the least astonishing 
 part of it, the precision with which the smiths wield 
 their ponderous sledge-hammers, often weighing twenty- 
 nine or thirty pounds, and strike the exact spot point- 
 ed out to them by the foreman. 
 
 In the boiler-shop there is a new and most power- 
 ful machine for riveting the seams of the boiler. The 
 old method was for a man inside the boiler to pass a 
 red-hot bolt with one hand through the punched holes, 
 and for two men to pound the protruding part into an 
 outside head with hammers. The new method is car- 
 ried out by machinery. The boiler is hoisted, end 
 upward, over a side anvil, in which is a die fitting the 
 existing head of the red-hot bolt. When the man 
 inside the boiler has put the bolt through the hole, he 
 turns the boiler so that the bolt-head fits into the die. 
 A powerful steam hammer, with a corresponding die, 
 is driven with immense force against the outside end of 
 the bolt, in a moment pressing it into shape. This has 
 the additional advantage of pressing the two plates 
 tightly together, at the very moment the second bolt- 
 head on the outside is formed. 
 
 Besides the erecting and machine shops, there are 
 the blacksmith-shop, 225 by 70 feet; boiler-shop, 150 
 
LOCOMOTIVE-WOKKS. 229 
 
 "by 95 feet ; iron and brass founderies, pattern and 
 carpenter shops. There is also a building where there 
 are " stalls " for ten engines. We suppose the iron 
 horse is entitled to its stall the same as any other 
 horse. Increased facilities for engine-building have 
 lately been introduced into the works, and it is antici- 
 pated that the works will turn out at least 120 locomo- 
 tives during the current year. As it is, the company 
 keep constantly employed from 700 to 800 men, and 
 have supplied engines to and have orders now from 
 every section of the United States and South America. 
 
 In the brief space allotted to us in our present 
 work, we are unable to describe and follow out more 
 fully the great facilities brought into successful use by 
 this company in the construction of the locomotive, 
 this wonderful invention of the present century. A 
 week could be pleasantly and profitably occupied in a 
 ramble through the various departments of these ex- 
 tensive works, and a quire of paper would be needed 
 to chronicle all that would be seen to interest and in- 
 struct. 
 
 These works furnish with promptness and dispatch 
 the best and most improved coal and wood burning 
 locomotives, and all railroad machinery, tires, etc., etc., 
 and also do repairs and rebuild locomotives ; and their 
 works, being located on the New York Central Rail- 
 road, near the centre of the State, possess superior 
 facilities for forwarding their work to any part of the 
 country. John C. Ellis is president, Walter Mc- 
 Queen is superintendent, and Charles G. Ellis is treas- 
 urer. 
 
230 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLII. 
 
 CAR- WORKS. 
 
 Following close upon the footsteps of the locomo- 
 tive in its progress toward that perfection it has at- 
 tained at the present day, conies that necessary append- 
 age in all the various uses to which it is applied, 
 from the plain and substantial freight-car, capable of 
 transporting with ease and safety its tons of valuable 
 merchandise, the products of the industry of the mill- 
 ions of our people, up to the magnificent passenger 
 palace-cars of the present day, vying with each other 
 in every thing that could contribute to the pleasures 
 and comfort of the travelling occupant. The introduc- 
 tion of the railroad and its concomitants has developed 
 and given employment to thousands in those branches 
 of mechanical industry unknown and not dreamed of 
 half a century gone by. In one particular we allude 
 to the extensive railroad-car works of the present day. 
 Most prominent among these branches of industry and 
 enterprise stand the complete and well-appointed car- 
 works of Messrs. Gilbert, Bush & Co., at Troy, New 
 York. 
 
 Being in Troy a few weeks since, the author paid a 
 visit of observation to these extensive works, and, with 
 a friend, well posted in the ramifications of the estab- 
 lishment, as a guide, made a minute examination of 
 every department of the extensive and well-arranged 
 premises, from which we gather the following facts : 
 
 The Green Island Car Works, as they are familiarly 
 known, being situated on that island between East and 
 West Troy, date their origin from the early history of 
 
III H 
 
CAR-WORKS. 231 
 
 manufacturing in this section. About sixty years ago 
 an unpretending manufactory for building carriages 
 and stages was started on Sixth Street, in Troy, on the 
 present site of the Union Depot. In a very few years 
 this manufactory became extensively known to the dif- 
 ferent stage companies throughout the country, as one 
 of the most reliable existing sources of supply for the 
 vehicles which formed an important part of their equip- 
 ments for facilitating travel. The term " Troy stages " 
 became a synonym e for strength, elegance, and durabil- 
 ity, and the work of the concern was to be found run- 
 ning in all parts of the nation — even in the extreme 
 Southern States. In the early beginning of the street- 
 car introduction into our principal cities, that new 
 branch of business was added to the stage and carriage 
 works, Sixth Street, the firm of Eaton & Gilbert fur- 
 nishing the new instrument of conveyance used in the 
 city of Boston for many years after their introduction, 
 and nearly monopolized the patronage of the leading 
 lines in New York City. 
 
 In February, 1853, the erection of the Green Island 
 car-shops was commenced; but previous to this the 
 firm of Eaton & Gilbert had become thoroughly iden- 
 tified with the inauguration and progress of steam rail- 
 roading in this country. 
 
 One of the senior members of the present firm of 
 Gilbert, Bush & Co. assisted Mr. James Goold in the 
 construction of the pioneer train of cars, the primitive 
 apparatus that had the honor of conveying, with 
 others, the renowned Thurlow Weed over the Mohawk 
 & Hudson Railroad, on the occasion of the memorable 
 experimental trip between Albany and Schenectady, a 
 sketch of which locomotive, cars, and passengers was 
 made upon the spot at the time by the author of this 
 
232 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 history, and afterward presented to the Connecticut His- 
 torical Society, at Hartford. 
 
 At the time Eaton <fc Gilbert transferred their base 
 of operations from Troy to Green Island, the latter 
 place was comparatively little better off as regards 
 population than the legendary habitation of one Rob- 
 inson Crusoe is reported to have been. But the erec- 
 tion of the Green Island car-shops inaugurated a new 
 era. The employes of the company reejuired homes 
 convenient to the scene of their labors, and building 
 improvements became the order of the day; and at 
 present it is safe to assert that Green Island is one of 
 the most flourishing suburbs of the city of Troy, a 
 result largely due to the fact that the Green Island 
 Car "Works have there established " a local habitation 
 and a name." 
 
 In August, 1864, the car- works were almost entire- 
 ly destroyed by fire; but the proprietors, nothing 
 daunted by the calamity, immediately proceeded to re- 
 build the establishment upon a new and improved plan. 
 It now covers an area of ground measuring over eight 
 acres, and is one of the most complete manufactories 
 the author has ever seen, and he has seen many in his 
 day throughout the country. 
 
 The facilities for transportation and for the receipt 
 of the immense quantities of coal, iron, and lumber 
 used, are unsurpassed. A dock frontage of six hun- 
 dred feet on the Mohawk Basin furnishes easy commu- 
 nication with the Hudson River and Erie Canal. The 
 Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroad, running close to the 
 works, supplies accommodations for running cars on 
 their own wheels to all parts of the United States and 
 the Canadas accessible by rail. 
 
 The reputation of this firm for manufacturing su- 
 
CAR-WORKS. 233 
 
 perior woik is not confined to the United States or 
 Canada, but has long since penetrated into South 
 America, Mexico, and other distant countries. In the 
 early days of steam railroading in South America, 
 English manufacturers nearly monopolized the patron- 
 age in this line of that country ; but, since that time, 
 foreign competition has been placed at defiance by 
 Gilbert, Bush & Co., and now the arrival of an English 
 car is a rarity in the southern portion of our hemi- 
 sphere. 
 
 In passing through the works a few weeks since, 
 our attention was attracted to a very peculiar style of 
 car, intended for shipment to Chili. Although in some 
 respects similar to our regular passenger-car, this is 
 furnished with state-rooms like those of a drawing- 
 room car. It is elaborately finished in mahogany, and 
 presents a handsome appearance. 
 
 The cars intended to be shipped to distant parts, 
 unlike those used in this region, are made in sections, 
 for the purpose of allowing them to be packed in a 
 very small compass for transportation. We saw on 
 our visit, ready for shipment, the sides, ends, tops, and 
 floors, of fifteen cars all packed in less space than one 
 car would occupy when put together. Each of these 
 cars, preparatory to shipment, is put together in the 
 works. Each hole and mortice is made according to 
 standard scales, so that, in case of the loss of any part 
 of the car in the process of transportation, a duplicate 
 can be immediately forwarded, on application of the 
 purchaser. Each piece, as well as the boxes, contain- 
 ing the small iron- work, such as screws, bolts, etc., is 
 numbered and registered at the ofiice. As many as 
 forty cars have been shipped in an ordinary canal 
 freight-barge, and on arriving at New York the con- 
 
234 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 tents of these barges are transferred to ships bound 
 for such countries as Mexico and South America. The 
 cars from this concern are extensively ordered from 
 Chili and Peru, and no car-factory in the world is bet- 
 ter known to projectors of railroads in South America 
 than that of Gilbert, Bush <fc Co. 
 
 There is a wonderful difference between the first 
 steam-cars in early times and the rolling palaces now 
 turned out by this establishment. They are continu- 
 ally turning out for Mr. Wagner the finest sleeping-cars 
 ever run upon a road, with all the approved novelties 
 yet developed, and vast improvements upon the first 
 sleeping-cars. To be " rocked in the cradle of the 
 deep " is all very nice, and extremely poetic ; but the 
 idea of seeking " tired Nature's sweet restorer " through 
 that lulling influence, the gentle motion of a palatial, 
 comfortable Wagner sleeping-car, as it skims along like 
 a streak of lightning on wheels, suits much better, in 
 these days of fast travelling, the practical fancy of your 
 American business-man. The construction of sleeping- 
 cars forms a prominent feature in the operations of 
 Gilbert, Bush & Co. ; but all other vehicles are manu- 
 factured by them. They make all sizes, to suit the 
 different gauges, and their prices range from $500 to 
 $18,000 per car. The immense buildings of the con- 
 cern are substantial two-story brick structures. If 
 placed end to end, these would reach a distance of over 
 two miles. The railroad-tracks connecting the different 
 buildings have turn-tables for handling the cars as they 
 progress toward completion, and will aggregate one 
 mile in length. When necessary, the firm find room 
 for manufacturing eighty cars at a time. All the iron 
 used is either cast in the founclery of the firm or forged 
 in their own blacksmith-shop. 
 
CAR-WORKS. 235 
 
 The multifarious mechanical operations of the con- 
 cern are particularly suggestive. Here are different 
 departments for cabinet-makers, wood-workers, mould- 
 ers, blacksmiths, machinists, plumbers, silver-platers, 
 upholsterers, painters, lantern-makers — ten distinct 
 kinds of business, and each department larger than 
 many a respectable manufactory in the country. 
 
 Among the patrons of this firm are numbered a 
 large majority of the most substantial railroad com- 
 panies in the United States — those who prefer to pay 
 and are able to pay a fair price for a first-class car. 
 One secret of the reputation of the firm is, that no 
 inferior or careless workmen are ever retained in their 
 employ. 
 
 The force of hands employed ranges from 350 to 
 400. Of iron, over 3,600 tons are yearly worked up ; 
 and of lumber, 2,500,000 feet. Only the most perfectly 
 seasoned lumber is allowed to enter into the composi- 
 tion of the cars. They use extensively black walnut, 
 Georgia pine, white-wood, oak, and many other cost- 
 ly varieties of lumber. One of the equipments of 
 their thoroughly appointed lumber-yard is worthy of 
 notice. It is used for drying the lumber by steam, and 
 consists of an immense horizontal cylinder of iron. 
 The lumber submitted to the action of this apparatus 
 becomes as dry in fifteen minutes as if exposed to the 
 open air for two or three years. 
 
 The firm of Gilbert, Bush &, Co. consists of Uri 
 Gilbert, Walter E. Bush, Wni. E. Gilbert, Walter E. 
 Bush, Jr., and Edward G. Gilbert. Mr. Uri Gilbert, 
 the senior partner, has been connected with the concern 
 for over fifty years. He has seen American steam rail- 
 roading grow up from a mere experiment to its present 
 wonderful proportions, and has also enjoyed the gratifi- 
 
236 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 cation of knowing that the establishment of which he 
 is the head was keeping pace with that marvellous 
 growth. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 STREET-CAR WORKS. 
 
 The facility presented for the transportation of 
 passengers from one city to another by the introduc- 
 tion of this great achievement of the present half-cen- 
 tury, the railroad, became so soon apj3arent that from 
 its earliest beginnings, and even before it had emerged 
 from its infancy or attained its present stage of perfec- 
 tion, the public became clamorous for its introduction 
 into the streets and thoroughfares of our principal cities. 
 They soon became dissatisfied with the old-fashioned 
 stage and omnibus and all the other primitive means 
 of conveyance, such as our forefathers indulged in, and 
 regarded as luxuries in transportation. These (to the 
 present generation)were considered as too far behind the 
 times, and should be immediately dispensed with, to 
 make way for the railroad and street cars. This change 
 was soon accomplished. The experiment was tried, and 
 has now become an indispensable necessity. When we 
 now experience how comparatively close together the 
 most distant parts of our extensive cities are brought by 
 this great instrumentality, the railroad and street car, 
 the wonder is how our forefathers were content so long 
 without them. Forty or fifty passengers sometimes 
 ride upon a single car, when heretofore a dozen was 
 the ultimatum of an omnibus or old-fashioned lumber- 
 ing stage-coach, the only means of cheap transportation 
 from place to place throughout our cities. 
 
STREET-CAR WORKS. 
 
 237 
 
 The first charter for what are termed city passenger 
 or horse railroads was obtained in the city of New 
 York and known as the New York & Harlem, and this 
 was the first road of the kind ever constructed, and was 
 opened in 1832. A portion of it within the city limits, 
 that portion below Twenty-seventh Street in the city of 
 New York, was always worked by horse-power. No 
 other road of the kind was completed till 1852, when 
 the Sixth Avenue was opened to the public. This was 
 followed in 1853 by the Second and Third Avenues, in 
 1854 by the Eighth, and in 1859 by the Ninth Avenue. 
 
 The success of these roads is a remarkable illustra- 
 tion of their adaptedness to the wants of large cities, 
 
 and they have since been adopted and introduced in 
 every city of any size in the United States, and, indeed, 
 throughout the civilized world. 
 
 The saving effected by city passenger roads over 
 the cost of transportation of passengers in cities in 
 coaches and omnibus is as great as that effected by the 
 railroad over the ordinary highway. 
 
 The first passenger-car for street railroad purposes 
 
 was built by Mr. John Stephenson, the senior partner of 
 
 the now extensive and enterprising firm of John Ste- 
 16 V 
 
238 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA 
 
 phenson<fc Co., organized in 1867, and located at No. 47 
 Twenty-seventh Street, New York. This first street- 
 car was named, in compliment to the president of the 
 company, the " John Mason." To Mr. Stephenson we are 
 indebted for the beautiful cut representing this pioneer 
 in street railroad cars. The driver of this car was a 
 well-known knight of the whip, Lank O'Dell, who al- 
 ways drove a pair of gray horses. 
 
 The first trial or experimental trip was a most im- 
 portant affair in New York. The road commenced 
 about Prince Street and the Bowery, and extended to 
 Harlem Bridge. On this occasion the streets along the 
 route were crowded with spectators. Two cars were 
 ready for the occasion, Lank and his grays taking 
 the lead with the beautiful pioneer, John Mason, and 
 occupied by the mayor and members of the City Coun- 
 cil; while the second car, driven by a hackman (his 
 name not now remembered), and filled with some of 
 the city officials and invited guests, brought up the rear. 
 
 Great apprehensions were expressed by some of the 
 passengers and many of the spectators that the trouble 
 would be in bringing these cars to a stand-still at any 
 desired point to avoid any accident that might occur in 
 the crowded thoroughfares of the city. 
 
 An old citizen, who witnessed this first experiment 
 trip, related an incident that occurred on the occasion, 
 which, though it resulted in nothing serious or fatal in 
 its consequences, must have been ludicrous in the ex- 
 treme. The vice-president of the road, Mr. John Lo- 
 zier, being very desirous of removing all apprehensions 
 from the minds of the doubtful, and anxious to exhibit 
 the great facility with which the cars could be brought 
 to a dead halt in an instant when running at fall speed, 
 and all danger of collision with vehicles in the street 
 rendered impossible, determined on an experiment. 
 
STREET-CAR WORKS. 239 
 
 He posted O'Dell and the hack-driver of the second 
 car to watch him, and look out for the signal, and, in- 
 viting a number of the spectators to witness the ex- 
 
 periment, he placed himself somewhere about the cor- 
 ner of the Bowery and Bond Street. As the first car 
 approached, he raised his arm and gave the signal to 
 
240 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 stop. O'Dell, who, with his grays, had some previous 
 practice, while hauling materials in the construction of 
 the road, performed to the admiration of the specta- 
 tors, and had just come to a halt, when the second car 
 approached rapidly. The vice-president gave the sig- 
 nal to stop ; but the hackman, unpractised in the duty, 
 forgot the lever, but drew hard his lines, and shouted 
 " Whoa ! " but too late — the tongue of his car went crash- 
 ing through the rear of the John Mason, and the mayor 
 and City Council beat a retreat in double-quick time 
 and in disorder from the dilapidated car, amid the 
 
 laughter of the surrounding spectators. The danger 
 over, and nobody hurt, the excursionists resumed their 
 seats and the cavalcade proceeded on the way toward 
 Harlem Bridge, where it arrived without any other 
 accident, in an incredibly short time. 
 
 This is the first street-car collision on record, and 
 was the subject of amusement to the citizens for several 
 weeks, and a source of great annoyance to the vice- 
 president, especially when some wag among his ac- 
 quaintance, on seeing him afterward approaching in 
 
STREET- CAR WORKS. 241 
 
 the street, would assume his position, and personate 
 his action by giving the signal for him to stop. 
 
 No just appreciation can be formed of the extent of 
 these car-works without a personal visit through every 
 department. The author called at the establishment a 
 few days ago, and his attention was arrested immedi- 
 ately on entering the great gate- way, by seeing a huge 
 packing-box being elevated upon a strong truck drawn 
 by a powerful team of horses and ready for its transit to 
 some one of the shipping-points of the river. On look- 
 ing at the address, the author was surprised to find its 
 destination Montevideo, South America. On alluding- 
 to the subject, to one of the clerks of the establishment, 
 the author was shown the order-book, and there saw or- 
 ders for street-cars of all imaginable patterns destined 
 for Buenos Ayres, Kio de Janeiro, Valparaiso, Santiago, 
 Pisco, Maranham, Para, Porto Alegre, Montevideo, Con- 
 cordia, Kosario, Guayaquil, London, Liverpool, Birken- 
 head, Leeds, Glasgow, Lisbon, Brussels, Copenhagen, 
 Vienna, Java, and the last order and work in hand on 
 our visit destined for Bombay; and all this accom- 
 plished so quietly, and with such systematic regularity 
 in every department, that no one could believe that over 
 three hundred mechanics were daily employed in the 
 works. 
 
 We give our readers a sketch of one of the numer- 
 ous car-patterns for the South American market. 
 
 The latest improvement, and one which is rapidly 
 coming into use, is the one-horse street-car manufac- 
 tured by this company. The great economy in this car 
 has become so apparent that since its introduction, only 
 a dozen years since, over three hundred and fifty rail- 
 roads have had them built and forwarded by this com- 
 pany. We give below a cut of one of these useful 
 
242 
 
 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 vehicles, which will strike the eye at once by its utility 
 and fitness for a particular service, where the large two- 
 horse car would be burdensome and expensive. 
 
 The manufacture of the omnibus is another branch 
 of this extensive establishment. The greatest variety 
 and the most beautiful specimens of that useful vehicle 
 the " omnibus " are daily turned out from their prem- 
 ises. Orders for every variety of street-cars are con- 
 tinually coming in, and it is wonderful with what facil- 
 ity and promptness they are executed and forwarded 
 to every quarter of the globe. We sincerely regret 
 that our limits here will not permit us to extend our de- 
 scription further in speaking of all we saw and learned 
 
 on our visits to the establishment. The courteous and 
 gentlemanly deportment exhibited toward visitors ren- 
 ders the occasion both pleasant and instructive. 
 
GRAND CENTRAL DEPOT. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 GRAND CENTRAL DEPOT, NEW YORK. 
 
 Within the last quarter of a century, while im- 
 provements have been marching on with giant strides 
 in every department of the railroad and its concomi- 
 tants, by biinging nearer and nearer to perfection that 
 powerful and indispensable auxiliary the locomotive 
 and its train of cars, there has been a march of ad- 
 vancement onward in the costly and splendid depots to 
 be seen in every section of our wide-extended domain, 
 vying with each other in all the conveniences and 
 facilities which contribute so much to the comfort of 
 the vast crowds assembled by day and night awaiting 
 the hours of arrival and departure of the numerous 
 trains. Prominent among these magnificent edifices 
 stands the Grand Central Depot, in the city of New 
 York. To Commodore Yanderbilt, its founder and 
 builder, we are indebted for the accompanying engrav- 
 ing representing that noble structure, and to the New- 
 York Herald for the following full description of all 
 its various departments and their uses. In describing 
 this beautiful and massive specimen of architecture, the 
 Herald justly says : 
 
 " The Grand Central Depot of New York eclipses 
 any thing of the kind that the world has ever seen. 
 
 "The Grand Central Depot is located fronting on 
 East Forty-second Street. It is designed for the perma- 
 nent use of the Harlem, New York & New Haven and 
 the New York Central & Hudson River Railroads. 
 
 "This vast edifice covers nearly five acres within its 
 
244 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 walls. The size of tlie roof, the intricate gorgeousness 
 of the richly-worked trusswork, the brilliant effect of 
 the two acres of glass set in the iron sashes of the roof, 
 and the thousand other details combined, put the struct- 
 ure on a level, for vastness and grandeur, with any 
 Old- World cathedral. In this depot, which is five feet 
 longer and many feet wider than the Great Midland 
 Depot in London, the most perfect system yet seen in 
 America will be perfected under the care of depot- 
 masters, who will have charge of all the details of 
 passenger transportation and all terminus-work. Every 
 improvement that the human mind could suggest, and 
 that could be procured by the lavish outlay of money, 
 has been made available in the new Union Depot. 
 
 "The building covers the area from Forty-second 
 Street to Forty-fifth Street, and from Fourth Avenue to 
 a new street intervening between the depot and Madi- 
 son Avenue. 
 
 " In it there are about one hundred rooms for differ- 
 ent purposes, all of which are handsomely fitted up 
 and heated by steam, with gas and water. Each of 
 the rooms contains from 35 to 112 feet of vertical 
 tube-heating radiators. The offices are fitted up with 
 black- walnut, oak, and ash wood- work, and upholstered 
 furniture. The depot contains ladies' and gentlemen's 
 restaurants and dining-rooms, in which food of the best 
 quality is served in a style as good as at Delmoni- 
 co's. The floors below the sidewalk have a number of 
 stores, which are rented out, with first-class barber- 
 shops and hair-dressing saloons, bath-rooms, bar and 
 lunch rooms, restaurants for ladies, toilets for ladies 
 and gentlemen, and every accommodation for the thou- 
 sands of people who get off trains while waiting for 
 transmission to other roads, .or while waiting to leave 
 the city by any of the three roads above named. 
 
GRAND CENTRAL DEPOT. 245 
 
 "There are also large waiting and drawing rooms 
 fitted up in the best fashion. The New York & New 
 Haven Railroad Company have their offices on the 
 Forty-second Street or south front of the building. 
 The New York & Harlem Railroad Company have 
 their offices on the west side of the building fronting 
 on the new street, which is 60 feet in width. 
 
 " These last offices, which extend 200 feet north from 
 Forty-second Street, and 495 feet of the north end of 
 the building, are devoted to the offices of the New 
 York Central Railroad and the Hudson River division 
 of the Central road. Part of this end is used as a 
 baggage department for the Central Railroad. 
 
 " The car-house proper, into which all the trains run 
 and from which they all depart, 102 trains a day in 
 number, is 650 feet long by 200 feet wide. It is brill- 
 iantly lighted by twenty-four immense sunlights hang- 
 ing from the ceiling, all of which are lighted by elec- 
 tricity. The roof of the structure is supported by 
 sixty-two heavy wrought-iron trusses, that add not only 
 to the solidity, but also to the beauty of the interior 
 of the depot. No mortar is used in the building, 
 which is entirely fire-proof, constructed of iron, glass, 
 granite, and brick ; cement and concrete are used in- 
 stead of mortar. There are two acres of glass in the 
 roof alone. The building is three stories high above 
 the ground, making four stories with the basement, and 
 cost about three million dollars. The exterior view is 
 one of great beauty, the material being red brick with 
 iron trimmings, painted white to give them the appear- 
 ance of marble. The structure is topped off by four 
 small towers, and one larger tower on the Forty-second 
 Street front that can be seen down Fourth Avenue as 
 far as Union Square, rising up gradually above the pile 
 
246 HISTORY OF THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVES IN AMERICA. 
 
 of iron, granite, and brick, that supports it. All the 
 employes of the four roads are uniformed, and every 
 thing done that would perfect the system as far as 
 
 "At this magnificent depot, unlike almost every 
 stopping-place or public landing, passengers are not 
 annoyed by the impetuous importunities of porters, 
 cab, hack, or omnibus drivers. The most perfect sys- 
 tem in this department is observed. A strong body 
 of police, detailed expressly for this depot, are always 
 at their post day and night. No Jehu is permitted to 
 quit his seat, but, as soon as the passenger, escorted by 
 the police, selects the coach, the driver is compelled to 
 hand his card, with the number. This card the pas- 
 senger will hand to the porter of the company, who 
 transports the luggage from the baggage-room free of 
 charge. The most perfect system is to be seen in every 
 department. This edifice is a monument of Commo- 
 dore Vanderbilt's wealth, and a building in which all 
 New-Yorkers take pride." 
 
A New High-ciass Magazine for Students and Cultivated 
 Readers. 
 
 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 
 
 CONDUCTED BY 
 
 Professor E. L. YOUMANS. 
 
 The growing importance of scientific knowledge to all classes of the com- 
 munity calls for more efficient means of diffusing it. The Popular Science 
 Monthly has been started to promote this object, and supplies a want met 
 by no other periodical in the United States. 
 
 It contains instructive and attractive articles, and abstracts of articles, ori- 
 ginal, selected, and illustrated, from the leading scientific men of different 
 countries, giving the latest interpretations of natural phenomena, explaining 
 the applications of science to the practical arts, and to the operations of do- 
 mestic life. 
 
 It will have contributions from Herbert Spencer, Professor Huxley, 
 Professor Tyndall, Mr. Darwin, and other writers identified with specula- 
 tive thought and scientific investigation. 
 
 OPINIONS OF 1TME PRESS. 
 
 "Just the publication needed at the present day." — Montreal Gazette. 
 
 " It is, beyond comparison, the best attempt at journalism of the kind ever made in this country."— 
 Home Journal. 
 
 " The initial number is admirably constituted." — Evening Mail. 
 
 " In our opinion, the right idea has been happily hit in the plan of this new monthly."— Buffalo 
 Courier. 
 
 " A journal which promises to be of eminent value to the cause of popular education in this country." 
 — N. V. Tribtine. 
 
 " This new magazine, in our estimation, has more merit than the whole brood which have preceded 
 it" — Oswego Press. 
 
 " Not the less entertaining because it is instructive. "—Philadelphia Age. 
 
 " The Monthly has more than fulfilled all the promises which the publishers made in the prospectus 
 of publication." — Niagara Falls Gazette. 
 
 "It places before American readers what the ablest men of science throughout the world write about 
 their meditations, speculations, and discoveries.'*— Providence Journal. 
 
 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY is published in a large oc- 
 tavo, handsomely printed on clear type. Terms : Five Dollars per annum, or 
 Fifty Cents per copy. 
 
 Any person remitting Twenty Dollars for four yearly subscriptions will re- 
 ceive an extra copy gratis, or five yearly subscriptions for $20.00. 
 
 The Popular Science Monthly and Appletons' Journal (weekly), 
 per annum, $8.00. 
 
 Remittances should be made by postal money-order or check to the 
 Publishers, 
 
 D. APPLETON & CO., 
 
 549 & 551 Broadway, N. Y. 
 
I*. G-. TIUiOTSOlir & CO,, 
 
 MANUFACTURERS, IMPORTERS, AND DEALERS IN 
 
 Railway SiiDBlies & Teleeranh Material 
 
 Of Every Description, 
 
 No. 8 DEY STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
 We beg to call particular attention to our Plush Department, which embraces a 
 full line of Plain and Figured Goods, varying in price from $50 to $200 per piece. 
 Our Plushes have been selected with special care, for the requirements of Railroads 
 and Car Manufacturers. 
 
 CAR-HEAD LININGS. 
 
 Having recently made large additions to our Works, and employing only first- 
 class Artists, we are, now prepared to meet the increased demand made upon us for 
 this article. 
 
 GAR TRIMMINGS. 
 
 We manufacture and sell all of the most desirable styles and patterns of goods 
 in this line, embracing Real Bronze, Silver and Nickel Plated and Brass, Car Locks, 
 Buntin's Celebrated Car Seats, Seat Mouldings, Locks, Seat Irons, Arm Caps and 
 Joint Bolts, Silver and Brass Capped Screws, Iron and Brass Capped Screws. 
 
 SPRINGS. 
 
 Sole Agents for the Patent Combination Elliptic Passenger and Freight Car Springs. 
 " " " Celebrated Hamilton Rubber Springs. 
 
 " " " Mercer Rubber Hose, Packing and Belting. 
 
 " " " Mansfield Patent Frogs. 
 
 " " " Buffalo Steam Gauges and Head Lights. 
 
 " " " Silver Lake Manufacturing Co. 
 
 " " " Westlake Patent Adjustable Globe Lanterns and Car Lamps, 
 
 Centre and Alcove Lamps, to burn Candles, Kerosene, Mineral, 
 
 and Sperm Oil. 
 
 VOLUTE SPRINGS. 
 
 We keep constantly on hand a large stock of these Springs, of all the leading 
 sizes, and can fill large orders promptly, at prices which cannot fail to secure orders. 
 
 HEBBARD SPRINGS. 
 
 We are prepared to supply these Springs at greatly reduced prices. The above- 
 mentioned Springs may be numbered among our specialties. 
 
 COTTON WASTE. 
 
 Prepared expressly for Railroad and Steamboat purposes. Having an entire 
 store contiguous to our Warerooms, expressly for this article, we propose to keep 
 on hand such a stock of the various brands as will accommodate the wants of all 
 our customers. 
 
 In addition to the articles enumerated, we keep in stock every article used in all 
 departments of Railways, including Track and Contractors' Material ; Iron and Wood 
 Working Machinery in all varieties; Telegraph Wire, Insulators, and Battery 
 Materials. 
 
 FOG SIGNALS. 
 
 We claim superiority in this article over any yet offered, and we invite our 
 friends to give them a trial, for which purpose we shall be happy to supply samples, 
 upon application. 
 
NATIONAL WIRE AND LANTERN WORKS, 
 
 Warehouse, 45 Fulton Street, New York. 
 
 HOWARD & MOUSE, 
 
 MANTTFACTUEEKS OF 
 
 BRASS, COPPER, AND IRON WIRE CLOTH, 
 
 EIDDLES, SIEVES, COAL AND SAND SOEEENS, 
 IRON and STEEL Locomotive 
 
 SPARK WIRE CLOTH, 
 Plain and Ornamental Wire Work, 
 
 WIRE FENCE & RAILING, ll! 
 
 limp? 
 
 DOOR AND WINDOW 
 
 GUAR 
 
 Wire Cloth, partly unrolled.. 
 
 h=>J3 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 Ship and Railroad 
 Adjustable Globe 
 
 LANTERNS. 
 
 Star Lantern. 
 
 Wo. 3, Mesh, No. 10V 2 Wire. 
 
 Bank and Counter Hailing:, No. 12. 
 
JAMES H. LYLES. WALTER H. GILSON. 
 
 LYLES L GILSON, 
 
 12 Piatt Street, NEW YOMK, 
 
 DEALERS IN AND IMPORTERS OF 
 
 RAILROAD 
 
 AND 
 
 TELEGRAPH SUPPLIES, 
 
 IRON RAIL, 
 
 Etc., Etc. 
 
 OLD IRON BOUGHT, 
 
 ^T 
 
 MOST LIBERAL TERRAS. 
 
W. BAILEY, LANG & CO., 
 
 54 CLIFF STREET, MEW YORK, 
 102 NORTH STREET, BOSTON. 
 
 SI • ■ ESS E3B3 BSS!h BS £3 
 
 db a a I ^ Y1 n T^a^ IE? ?l 1 I Q 
 
 LOW MOOR 
 
 IRON AND PLATES, 
 
 CAMMELL'S CRUCIBLE. 
 
 STEEL TYRES, 
 
 Rolled from Imported Blooms, at Jersey City. 
 
VAN WART & icCOY, 
 
 43 Chambers Street 
 
 Neiv York City, 
 
 IMPORTERS AND DEALERS IN 
 
 SUPPLIES ANB MATERIALS 
 
 RAILROADS, iVlAGH&raBSTS, Etc. 
 
 Cast-Steel Elliptic Railway Springs made to Special Order or 
 Pattern. 
 
 Railroad Torpedoes, 
 
 Salter's Spring- Balances, 
 
 Gilford Injectors, 
 
 Hydraulic and Screw Lifting -Jacks, Traversing 
 Jacks, I* undies, Shears, etc, 
 
 THE "DUPLEX" LEVER PUNCH. 
 
 WROUGHT IRON TACKLE BLOCKS, SOLID CAST-STEEL 
 HAMMERS. 
 
 WESTON'S DIFFERENTIAL PULLEY-BLOCK, 
 
 Made to lift from a quarter ton to ten tons, and the weight will 
 remain suspended at any point. 
 
 WESTON'S RATCHET D8ILLS, 
 
 Improved, simple in manufacture, strong, and durable. 
 
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 SOLE MANUFACTURERS 
 
 OP 
 
 NATHAN <£ DREYFUS' 
 
 PATENT SELF-ACTING- 
 
 Lubricators & Cups 
 
 .- 
 
 Locomotive Steam Chests, 
 
 J CONNECTING RODS, GUIDES, ECCENTRICS, I 
 
 I 
 
 AND 
 
 SMALL CONNECTIONS, 
 
 
 No. 108 LIBERTY STREET, 
 
 NEW FOMM* A- 
 
 'HAL 
 
WAWWmT- 
 
 kCJl 
 
 IDIR.ECTIOKT 
 
 Screw the Cup on the top of the Steam Chest or on the Steam Pipe 
 
 Fill it with Oil or melted Tallow up to the side hole of the inside tube, then open the v 
 
 ready for use. 
 
 While the engine is in motion, 
 to the upper part of the Cup whei 
 produced, being heavier than the c i 
 an equal amount of the lubricant t 
 through the side hole near the top 
 the lubrication is required. 
 
 At the end of the day, or when 
 the cup, water, acids and other imj 
 drawn off by the waste cock, and t 
 cant. 
 
 By lowering or raising the tube, I 
 
 oil is increased or decreased, hence 
 
 d consequently more or less oil 
 
 way engineers are enabled to coutr 
 
 The feeding of the cup being cons 
 friction to a minimum, the effect of 
 of the engine, save about three-fouii 
 used, and a largo amount of Packin 
 
 An additional and important ad\ 
 of the cylinder from corrosion, as a< 
 allowed to pass into the cylinder. 
 
 Notice one thing: 
 
 There is no opening at the botto<i 
 which no closing or opening of til 
 been opened to admit the steam to 
 ing automatically accomplished 9 
 steam in the cup, while the engine 
 
 FOE L000( 
 
 The perfect lub: 
 gives to the Engin 
 control of the thrii 
 required, and w 
 easier pull. 
 
 In fact it has 
 that an engine fun 
 will pull 2 or 3 ca 
 than usual. The 
 produced reduces 
 working parts ver 
 
 RELIABILITY 
 UNEQW 
 
 :p;rice! 
 
 Size, In< 
 1 11 2 2i 
 
 Plain, - - $4 $6 |8 $10 
 
 With Yoke, 
 
Eire wiiiiAidii, 
 
 FOR USE. 
 
 about one quarter and it is 
 
 steam passes up the Tube 
 condenses, and the water so 
 nks to the bottom and lifts 
 5 top, causing it to overflow 
 he Tube to the parts where 
 
 >il or tallow is exhausted in 
 ies remain, which should be 
 tp be refilled with the lubri- 
 
 ondensing space above the 
 e or less water is produced, 
 sd to the cylinder. In this 
 e feeding of the cup. 
 
 and regular reduces internal 
 ch is to improve the power 
 if the oil or tallow generally 
 
 ge gained is the prevention 
 md other impurities are not 
 
 Patent, October 27th. 
 
 I ECONOMY 
 EDI 
 
 1ST. 
 
 3 ' 4 
 12 $16 
 
 20 $27 
 
 the cup, in consequence of 
 lve is required, after it has 
 up the tube, the feeding be- 
 i condensing action of the 
 motion. 
 
 TIVES. 
 
 ion obtained 
 n immediate 
 valve when 
 onimand an 
 
 ascertained 
 d with them 
 .-eight) more 
 
 action thus 
 wear of the 
 isiderable. 
 
 $45 $60 
 
Dreyfus' Patent Locomotive Cups. 
 
 LOCOMOTIVE CUPS. 
 
 Design Patented Maech 30, 1869. 
 Are shell-cased, made very ornamental, constantly exposing the oil to view, and 
 are generally considered the best ever used. 
 
 Capacity; 
 
 No. 
 
 ioz, 
 
 Diameter. 
 
 li in. 
 
 2 " 
 2 " 
 
 Height. 
 
 2* in. 
 
 4 " 
 
 Price 
 per DOZ. 
 
 $36 00 
 48 00 
 48 00 
 
 48 00 
 56 00 
 
 -Shell Case, for small connections, 
 " 36— " Eccentrics, . . .1 
 
 " 42 — " Connecting Eods, . \\ 
 
 " 42 — " Guides with Steel Spindle 
 
 and Spring, 1^ 
 
 No. 43— Shell Case, Regulators with Valve 
 
 and Set Screw, to feed as required, . 1£ 
 
 The rod Cups will run from fifteen to eighteen hundred miles with one filling, 
 and the Guide Cups seven hundred miles with one filling. 
 
 [For Locomotive Guides, without Eegulating Valve.] 
 
 Permit the spindle to extend helow the Guide far enough to allow the Cross- 
 Head to strike it, and round the end so that the Cross-Head will strike it in the 
 centre. 
 
 After properly adjusting the Guide Spindle (as above directed), have them 
 taken^out and hardened to a degree that will prevent them from wearing. 
 
 Munroe ft Metz, Pr's, 60 John St., N. Y. 
 
5n<^/ 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE 
 
 3 9031 01460864 
 
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