Washington Township (part 1 of 12)

Ohgan Of The Eailway Companies

OVER SEVENTY MAPS delineating the most important Railways througliout tho United States and the Canadas ; together with stations, distances, &e.

THROUGH ROUTE MAPS, representing the principal through routes to and from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wheeling, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Albany, &c., &c, ".. ' .

For Sale by all the principal Periodical and News Agents, and at all the Bookstores, and by all tho boys who sell papers, &c., upon the cars throughout the United States and Canadas.

Contents

In consequence of the unexpected demand for the " Railway Celebrations of 1857" exhausting the large edition now published, a second and still larger edition will be issued immediately.

The Author requests his friends and others who may read the first edition, to advise him at once of any errors in names that may be found in the volume, that they may be corrected in the next edition.

Historical and Statistical Data. IV. - H16TORY OF TUB Northwestern Virginia Road. V. - History of the Marietta and Cincinnati Road. VI. - History of the Ohio and Mississippi Road.

I. - Grand Railroad Excursion of the St. Louis, Cincinnati and Chillicothb Acthoeities, and others, to Baltimore, Washington and Norfolk, July, 1857.

U. Miami Raiload Bridge General Preface

The author of this record of the Great Railroad Celebrations of 1857, formed one of the army of participants in the celebration of the opening of " The American Central Railroad Line," from Baltimore, Maryland, continnoiisly to St. Louis, Missouri, in June, 1857, and through his official connection with one of the Railroad Companies, was cognizant of the interesting proceedings attending the return visit of the Western guests from St. Louis, Cinciiuiati, Chillicothe, and other cities, to Baltimore and its vicinity in the following month of July, 1857, by the "Great National Route." Looking upon these events - which marked the completion of the shortest and most direct line of communication between the Atlantic seaboard and the great centres of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys - as of transcending importance, whilst the interchange of social courtesies between the people of a widely extended section of country was of a marked and impressive character, he proposes to put upon record a detailed account of these celebrations, and a brief general history of the several enterprises which together constitute tlie line in question. lu fulfilling this agreeable task it has been his constant effort to make the book an agreeable as well as a useful addition to the Railroad literature of the day - to present to those who took part La these celebrative ceremonies an interesting daguerreotype, recalling to their memories scenes in which all participated with so miich pleasure, and at the same time to preserve in appropriate connection therewith the important facts belonging to the inception, progress, completion and operation of the links of the great chain of railroads which, running nearly on one parallel of latitude, reach from the 76th to the 90th degree of longitude, - constituting the back bone of our railroad system, and vertebrated with an infinity of connections which penetrate and unite to it, and with one another, the congeries of States lying West of the Atlantic and East of the Rocky Mountains.

The immediate occasion of the June celebration was the completion of tho Oliio and Mississippi Railroad, direct from Cincinnati, on the Ohio, to St. Louis, on " the Father of Waters," - beyond all question one of the most im- portant lines of comnranication in the country. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company embraced the same opportunity to signalize the completion of the North-Westem Virginia (branch) road from Grafton to Parkersbnrg on the Ohio. The Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad Company, whose valuable work forms the centre link in this chain of roads, also joined in the festival, and celebrated the opening of their line throughout its entire length. The coincidence of completing these three important roads at the same time, and thus furnishing the shortest route to the heart of our Republic which can ever be devised, was a happy one. It was eminently appropriate that the occasion on which they joined their hands, and when their Briarean arms first encircled and bound together, with fraternal embrace, the broad belt of country Ijnng between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, should be marked by a joint celebration, a social reunion of those who had labored long and faithfully to secure this great end. These peculiar circumstances, and the magnitude of the interests involved, attracted an unusual degree of attention to the contemplated celebration, which was a particular object of public interest for weeks before its consummation.

The return celebration, attending the visit of the Western guests to the East, was a sequence of the fonner. It was scarcely less marked in its significance, and only exceeded in the impressiveness of the attendant circumstances and the warmth of civic and social courtesies to which it gave birth, by the previous demonstration, which must always retain the pre-eminent descriptive title of '' The Great Railroad Celebration."

The author makes no pretension to literary merit in the preparation of this book. Its object is obviously practical and useful, and in the preservation of these characteristics he has sought only to make it full, complete, correct, and impartial. In preparing it he has availed himself of the kind aid of several friends in different portions of the country, who were participants in one or the other of the Celebrations, or are well informed in relation to the history of the railroad enterprises connected therewith. Among these it is proper that public acknowledgment should be made to the following gentlemen : J. W. Simonton, of New York ; S. W. Ely, of Chillicothe; Victor Smith and M. Halstead, of Cincinnati ; Wm. Dennison, Jr., of Columbus, Ohio ; Charles Gould, of New York, and Edington Fulton and Thos. D. Sultzer, of Baltimore. To the proprietors of that admirable serial. Harper's Weekly, he is also indebted for several of the most effective cuts which illustrate this book.

Those Lines

THE CELEBRATIONS OF THE OPENING OF THE OHIO & MISSISSIPPI AND THE MARIETTA & CINCIM^ATI RAILROADS, AND THE NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA ARM OF THE BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD, WITH HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNTS OF THOSE LINES.

Railway Celebrations Of 1857 Chapter

The student of nature, seeking a true history of the world's material progress, reads in the hills, mountains, valleys, and rivers, boundless pages of surpassing interest, "written with unerring accuracy, by a mightier hand than man's, found in no other book than nature's, nor recorded in the most ancient traditions. "What more curious or fascinating than the study of our own continent, and careful reflection upon the history of its remarkable transformations and mutations from the days of creation to the present hour ? And how instructive the lesson thus suggested of His power and wisdom, at whose bidding the great void assumed form, becoming a world of life, animation, and beauty, - a fit home for its monarch, man, made in the image of his Creator.

lie pronounced the work good when it first came from His hand. Nevertheless, complete as was the divine creation then, perhaps its greatest wonder was that principle of eternal progression - planted alike in humanity and the earth - which, from the first hour to this, lias continually developed both in glorious harmony, so that just as the advancing capacity of man required new and increased fruits of nature's labor, his needs liave all been met and profusedly supplied.

Nor have these supplies been derived alone through man's successive discoveries of originally existing treasures hidden in the bosura of nature from the beginning. Mother Earth herself, ever busy in nature's laboratory, is continually increasing her stores, or modifying and adapting them to new wants of her children. There can be no doubt that, at some time in the far-distant past, portions of our mountain ranges formed the sides of grand basins holding up great inland seas. As the world advanced, and animated creation was like to need more land, these lakes - having accomplished the end for which they were so long imprisoned among the hills - cleft the rocks wliich bound them, and their waters rushed joyously down to the sea, leaving behind great valleys, covered with alluvial, inviting the husbandman to unlock and draw from their bosom richest treasures of luxuriant vegetation.

Populations follow a similar law. They grow and increase, whereever located to advantage, until sutliciently developed to fulfil their destiny, and then overflow the bounds Avhieh circumscribed them, pouring the tide of emigration into whatever convenient field bountiful nature has provided for its. reception. Mountains and oceans constitute the chief barriers dividing nations from each other, and confining them to particular districts, thus provoking the concentration of effort and active exercise of reasoning and inventive faculties, necessary to advancement, and indispensable to a people's preparation for its new duties, when it shall take possession of another and larger sphere of action.

Pi'ecisely this office was fulfilled for the people of the United States by the Alleghanies, which for a long time interposed a seemingly impassable barrier between the Atlantic and the great valley of the Mississippi. Our fathers settled upon the seaboard. Bringing with them the intelligence and civilization of the Old "World, they speedily established commercial relations with the nations across the seas. We became, first, a Commercial People. Having thus secured this riglit arm of national prosperity by our residence upon the seaboard. Agriculture and Manufactures naturally found birth, and enjoyed rapid, liealthy progress. Looking for lands to till, and delving in the bowels of the earth for elements of manufacturing wealth, we gradually pressed inland, until the Alleghanies interposed and checked our patii for a while. A few years more and we became so strong that the waves of population would not be restrained. These rose higher and higher, until a little stream of emigration began to flow down into the beautiful valleys beyond; and then, - how wonderful the change!

General Introduction

In a few brief years, - a space of time almost increilible when we look at the results, - the great West teemed with towns, cities, factories, steamboats, and industrious, busy men, where but now the solitude was scarce!}' broken save by the tempest blast.

The Ohio, jNIississippi, and their tributaries, coursing through thousands of miles of self-ploughed channels, furnished the settlers, for a while, with satisfactory facilities of communicating with the outer world, exporting their surplus produce, and obtaining needed supfjlies. But in his rapid race for fortune, man alread}^ esteems the pulsations of these arteries of commerce too slow. The Alleghanies themselves have been at last thrown down, and the valleys on either side filled up, so that the locomotive may dash over its iron course, establishing communication between the East and "West, rapid almost as the flash of the magnetic current which speeds its way over the "single track" hung by its side. Marvellous indeed have been the changes thus so briefly sketched, and grandly curious the operations of the law of progress followed by nature and man, as illustrated in these reflections.

But it is not our purpose to write a treatise on philosophy or morals. We have only paid tribute, in passing, to the wonderful economy of nature and her laws. The subject to Avhich our efforts are addressed is an eminently practical one. We begin it just where our philosophizing ended - in Eailroads. K"or is it our design to expand upon the value of these grand highways of commerce and travel. That would be a work of supererogation. Every man, woman, and child, lias hourly experience of it, far more convincing than volumes of written logic. As well labor to prove the importance of breathing, or the value of food in replenishing and invigorating the sources of life. We have all witnessed the prairie Avaste spring into civilization, its bosom gemming with cottages, and brightening with cultivation as soon as the railroad traversed it with life-giving arteries. We have seen the valley blossom like the rose, under the influence of railroads, and a thousand barren hills speedily covered with a wealth of verdure, furnishing homes for innumerable happy, prosperous families, where, before, the wild beast found his lair. Time and space are annihilated through their agency ; and friends long separated by distance are neighbors once more ; while all the avenues of intelligence, and tlieir recreative powers, are multiplied a tliousand-fold by steam. The man would betray the weakness of an egotist, who, in this day, should presume to enlighten his fellows upon the advantages of railroads.

Perhaps the most general demonstration yet made in the United States, in regard to the rapid development, no less than the general advantage of the Great Railroad System, was that attendant upon the completion and opening of the several lines imiting the Baltimore and Ohio Road - the first begun in America - with the city of St. Louis. The simultaneous completion of the Ohio and Mississippi, the Marietta and Cincinnati, and the Northwestern Vii'ginia Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads, forming a grand continuous trunk line of nearly six hundred and fifty miles in length, was a fact well worthy of the very enthusiastic celebrations to which it gave rise, and of which we purpose to mai^e an ample record in these pages.

Ere we proceed to a description of the ceremonies and other events of that occasion, it is proper to give a history of each of the corporations under whose auspices they transpired. Notwithstanding the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, in relation to the excursion itself, is first in order, as the Baltimore and Ohio Company inaugurated the first great railroad enterprise in the United States, we begin with its history. In view of tlie fact that this Company was the pioneer in the system of railroad improvements on our continent, it is fit, also, that we should give considerable space to the history of its origin, its early struggles, and its final success.

Chapter Ii

Is looking for the origin of this Company and its enterprise, we are carried back as far as the year 1826. At about that period, attention Avas aroused in Baltimore to the fact, that the public works of Pennsylvania, and the Erie Canal, of New York, had diverted from Baltimore a large portion of the trade she had built up with the West. It is a well-known fact, that long before the steamboat ploughed its wake across Lake Erie, or even a stage route existed between Buffalo and the Ohio or Mississippi valleys, emigration and trafSc had marked a path across the mountains, from Philadelphia and Baltimore to Cincinnati and beyond. To Baltimore, especially, this trade became an important element of prosperity and wealth ; but when the Alleghanies were turned by the long circuit of the Lake Shore, she lost the greater portion of that commerce, which Philadelphia and New York found and appropriated. In 1826, Philip E. Tliomas, an intelligent Quaker merchant ])liilanthropist. President of tlie Mechanics Bank of Baltimore, and George Brown - son of the distinguished merchant Alexander Brown - a Director in the same institution, took up the subject for careful consideration. The result of their conferences and deliberations was the conviction, that unless early and adequate means could bo devised to recover this trade, it would be ultimately lost to their city for ever.

The proposed Chesapeake and Ohio Canal had been generally looked to by the citizens of Baltimore as the readiest avenue to the recovery of tlieir receding vantage ground ; but that hope failed them in July, 1820, upon the publication of the estimate of its probable cost, made by General Barnard, the French engineer, and his representab GREAT OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD OPENING.

tions of the formidable difficulties -which lay in its way, by reason of the scarcity of water, and the high elevations over which it ninst necessarily be carried. The citizens generally became satisfied that it could not become of any practicable advantage to Baltimore for the transportation of passengers or merchandise to and from the West, especially with its eastern termination on the banks of the Potomac. Philip E. Thomas, eai'nestly leading in the expression of this sentiment, at once resigned the position he then held as a commissioner on the part of Maryland in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and from that time, in connection with George Brown, devoted his entire energies to the formation of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.

The bold creative enterprise of these gentlemen will be the more appreciated when it is remembered that, previous to this time, no railroad had been constructed either in Europe or America for the conveyance of passengers, produce, or merchandise between distant points. A few railroads had been constructed in England for local purposes, such as the transportation of coal, iron, and other heavy articles from the mines or places of production to navigable waters; but for general purposes of travel and trade they were still an untried experiment, and so crude was public information on the subject, that the question Lad not been settled whether stationary steam engines or horses would be preferable as the motive power.

Messrs. Thomas and Brown having collected and carefully studied over valuable information in regard to railroad enterprises in England, obtained through friends then resident abroad, became fully convinced that the future commercial prosperity of Baltimore depended on the early completion of a railroad, which they foresaw could be constructed to connect that city with the western waters. They accordingly invited about twenty-five of the most influential merchants of Baltimore, with some other citizens, to meet them at the residence of Mr. Brown, on tlie 12th day of February, 1S27, "to take into consideration the best means of restoring to the city of Baltimore that portion of tlie "Westerji Trade which has lately been diverted from it by the introduction of steam navigation and by other causes."

The meeting assembled, and was well attended by influential capitalists. Wm. Patterson, Esq., presided, and David Winchester oificiated as Secretary. Messrs. Thomas and Brown laid before the gentlemen present, intelligent statements of their researches on the subject of railroads, with facts and figures to establish their superiority over any other mode of conveyance. The following named gentlemen were appointed a committee to examine these statements, together with such other facts and experimental data as they miglit be ahle to collect, with instructions to report their opinion thereon, and recommend such course as they raiglit deem proper to he pursued : viz., Philip E. Thomas, Benjamin C. Howard, George Brown, Talbot Jones, Joseph W. Patterson, Evan Thomas, John V. L. McMahou.

The meeting adjourned to meet again on the succeeding Monday, the 19th of February, when a Eeport, comprising thirty-four closely printed pages, was presented by Mr. Thomas, the Chairman of the Committee. It was an able document, which to-day, in view of the wonderful fulfilment of its confident anticipations, may be looked upon almost in the light of prophecy. In honor of the far-reaching sagacity and practical wisdom of its author, and his co-founder of the great work it initiated, we give an extract or two. After presenting and enforcing the duty of Baltimore with regard to the completion of the Tide Water Canal and to securing the ascending and descending trade of the Susquehanna and its tributaries, the report proceeds : -

" But important as this trade is to Baltimore, it is certainly of minor consideration, when compared to the immense commerce which lies within our grasp to the West, provided we have the enterprise to profit by the advantages which om' local situation gives ns in reference to that trade. Baltimore lies 200 miles nearer to the navigable waters of the West than New York, and about 100 miles nearer to them than Philadelphia, to which may be added the important fact, that the easiest, and by far the most practicable route through the ridges of mountains which divide the Atlantic from the Western waters, is along the depression formed by the Potomac in its passage tlu-ough them. Taking then into the estimate, the advantages which these important circumstances afford to Baltimore, in regard to this immense trade, we again repeat that nothing is wanted to secui-e a great portion of it to our city, but a faithful application of the means within our own power.

" The only point from which we have any thing to apprehend, is New Orleans ; with that city, it is admitted we must be content to share this trade, because she will always enjoy a certain j'ortion of it in defiance of our efforts ; but from a covmtrv of such vast extent, and whose productions are so various and of such incalculable amount, there will be a suificient trade to sustain both New Orleans and Baltimore ; and we niay feel fully contented if we can succeed in securing to ourselves that portion of it which will prefer to seek a market east of the mountains.

'- Of the several artiScial means which human ingenuity and industry have devised to open easy and economical communications between distant points, tm-npike-roads, canals, and railroads, have unquestionably the advantage over all others. When turnpike-roads were first attempted in England, they were almost \mivcrsally opposed by the great body of the people ; a few entei'prising citizens, however, succeeded, after a sevei-e struggle, in constructing them. The amount of travelling was then so limited, that this means of transportation was found abundantly suHicient for all the exigencies of the then trade of that country ; iu a little time, however, so great was the increase of commerce there,

(and increase in a great measure resulted from the advantages these roads afforded,) that even the turnpikes in a short time were found insufficient to accommodate the growing trade of the country, and the substitution of canals in the place of roads was the consequence, in every situation where the construction of them was practicable.

" It was soon ascertained, that in proportion to the increased facilities afforded to trade by the canals in England, was the increase of trade itself, until even this means of communication was actually, in many of the more commercial parts of the country, found insufficient for the transportation required.

" Railroads had, upon a limited scale, been used in several places in England and ^\'ales for a number of years, and had, in every instance, been found fully to answer the pui-poses required, as far as the experiment had been made. The idea of applying them upou a more extended scale, appears, however, only recently to have been suggested in that country ; but notwithstanding so little time has elapsed since the attempt was first made, yet we fiud that so decided have been their advantages over turnpike-roads, and even over canals, that already 2,000 miles of them are actually completed or in a train of rapid progress, in Great Britain, and that the experiment of their construction has not in one case failed, nor has there been one instance in which they have not fully answered the most sangiune exjjectations of their projectors. Indeed, so completely has tills improvement succeeded in England, that it is the opinion of many judicious and practical men there, that these roads will, for heavy transportation, supersede canals as eiFectually as canals have superseded turnpike-roads."

The report proceeded to show the advantage that canals have in England over a similar system of transportation in tliis country, on account of the milder climate, and the absence of danger from stagnation of water in the canals, existing in this country during the sumtner mouths ; and also from the fact that that country having been so long and densely settled, there is a superior knowledge of the quantity of water they can depend upon from their streams, to supply their canals at all seasons of the year ; whilst it was even then an admitted fact, that many of our mountain streams were every year diminishing in volume, so that no one could tell to what point of declension they might reach thirty or forty years hence. Although the facts with regard to the railroad system, in the possession of the committee, were not as extensive as tliey desired, they declared that they had " gleaned from the documents they examined on the subject, enough to leave no doubt upon their minds that these roads were far better adapted to our situation and circumstances, than a canal across the mountains would be. They therefore recommended that measures bo taken to construct " a double railroad " between the city of Baltimore and some suitable point upon the Ohio River, by tlie n.c«t eligible and direct route, and that a charter to incorporate a company to execute this work be obtained as early as practicable.

Report Upon The Practicability Of Railways

" The district of country which would mainly depend upon this route for tlie conveyance of its surphis produce, it will he recollected, already contains nearly two millions of inhabitants, that is to say, about one-fifth of the whole population of the United States, whilst the population depending upon the New York Canal is not estimated to be more tlian about one million ; and the receipts from the latter are stated to be as follows :

" There are a great variety of articles, the product of the country west of the Alleghany Mountains, which are now of little value in those countries, on account of the heavy expenses imavoidably incurred in the transportation of them to a port whence they could he shipped to a foreign market. With the facilities afforded by this road many of these articles could not only bear a transportation to Baltimore, but while they would furnish a constant and an increasing supply of freight upon the proposed road, tbe\' would become a source of great wealth to the people of the \\'est.

" To illustrate the tnith of this assertion, it will only be necessary to refer to the single article of breadstuffs. A barrel of flour, for instance, which would now command five dollars in Baltimore, would not, as an article of export to ihtit market, be worth at AVheeling, on the Ohio River, more than one dollar ; the cost of its transportation from that place by the present means of conveyance being four dollars. Whereas upon the proposed railroad, the whole expense of transportation from the Ohio River to Baltimore, being estimated to be oidy at the rate of ten dollars per ton, the cost of carriage upon a barrel of flour would then be only one dollar; thus at once would its value, as au article of export, be enhanced in Ohio from one dollar to four dollars per barrel.

" The expense of conveying cotton upon the proposed railroad from the Ohio River to Baltimore, including all charges, may be estimated at onequarter of a cent per pound, certainly not more than half a cent per pound ; and coal from the Alleghany Mountains near to Cumberland, including its cost at the pits, could be delivered at Baltimore at from 11 to 12 cents per bushel. Let us then apply this calculation to the other numerous productions of the Western States, and we shall at once be convinced, that there is no scale by which we could venture to calculate the ultimate extent of the trade which would flow into the State of Maryland, upon the proposed railroad, should its results approach any thing near to our present expectations.

" No part of the country, included in these estimates, lies nearer, by water, to New Orleans, than ],26o or perhaps 1,500 miles, (and that, it should be recollected, is the only market that could compete with us for this trade,) whilst a large portion of those districts lie 2,000 miles distant from that city. By the estimates here fimiished, it is manifestly clear, that the produce from a large portion of tho.^ countiies can lie delivered at Baltimore, at a less expense of transportation than they possibly can be carried to New Orleans.

" Admitting the cities of New Orleans and Baltimore to stand in the same relative condition, as regards their claims to this trade, Baltimore, to say the least, might be expected to hold its share ; but we should not lose sight of the important foct, that the productions of these extensive regions, excepting onlycotton and tobacco, beuig principally breadstnffs, provisions, and other perishable articles, cannot be exposed to the deleterious effects of the climate of New Orleans, without the hazard of great iiijury ; hence we find that considerable portions of the flour and provisions which go by the way of the Mississippi, are often so much damaged, as to be rendei-ed unfit for exportation to a foreign market. Many valuable lives are also annually sacrificed to the climate, in the prosecution of the trade upon the Mississippi. What then has Baltimore to fear from New Orleans, in a conflict on equal terms for their trade ?

" To convince any one that there is no probability that the trade here estimated will be likely hereafter to decline, it will only be necessary to observe, that the population upon which the calculations are founded, is rapidly increasing every year, and that it must, for several succeeding generations, still continue to increase. The country around the Chesapeake Bay was first settled by Europeans about the year 1632, and in the j-ear 1800 the white population had barely reached as far west as the Ohio River ; that is to say, in 160 years it had advanced westward about 400 miles, or at the rate of two and a half miles per year. There is now a dense population extending as far west as the junction of the Osage River with the Missom-i : which is about 5)00 miles west of the Ohio River at Wheeling ; of course the white population has, within the last thirty years, travelled that distance, or more than thirty miles each year, and is at this time advancing with as great, if not greater impetus, than at any former period ; and according to all probability, if not checked by some unforeseen circumstances, it will, within the next thirty years, reach the Rocky Mountains, or even to the Pacific Ocean. We have, therefore, no reason to look for any falling off in this trade, but on the contrary, for an increase of it to an extent of which no estimate could now be formed."

Tlie report was unanimously adopted, and a large edition of it, in pamphlet form, ordered to be published for distribution. On mature consideration, the following resolutions were also adopted by the meeting :

" Resolced, That immediate application be made to the Legislature of Maryland, for an act incorporating a joint stock company, to be styled ' The Baltimore and Ohio Railway Company,' and clothing such company with all the powei-s necessary to the construction of a railroad, with two or more sets of rails, from the city of Baltimore to the Ohio River.

" jRrsolrcd, That the capital stock of said company shall be five millions of doUars, but that the company be incorporated, and provision shall be made by the said act for its organization, upon the subscription of one million of dollars to said stock, and that the said company shall have power to increase the capital stock thereof, so far as may be necessary to effect said objects.

" Rexoleed, That it is expedient and proper in said act, to permit subscriptions of stock to the same, to be made by the United States, by States, corporations, or individuals; and to proviile tliat as soon as the said act shall have been passed by the Legislature of Maryland, subscription books shall be opened, subscriptions received, the company organized, and the said road constructed, so far as it may lie within the limits of the State of Maryland ; and that the assent of the Legislatures of Tenusylvaaia and Virginia to the said act shall be obtained as speedily as possible,' but shall be made necessary only .=o far as in constructing tiie said road it shall be found necessary to pass through their respective States."

Tlio following gcntleinen were appointed a committee to prefer an ai)plication to tlio Legislature of Maryland for an act of incorporation : -

The project was received with general favor throughout the city and Srate, and an application to the Legislature of Maryland for a charter was drawn up by J. V. L. McMahon, Esq., and through his indefatigable exertions it was properly obtained. The proposed amount of stock having been speedily taken, the company was duly organized on the 24th day of April, 1827, when the following gentlemen were elected as the first Board of Directors, by whom Philip E. Thomas was chosen President, and George Brown, Treasurer : -

A tribute certainly due to that distinguished Marylander and eminent lawyer, John V. L. McMahon, may be fitly recorded here. As a delegate from the city of Baltimore in the State Legislature, lie drew up the original charter of the road, as already stated, and procured its passage. It was the first railroad charter obtained in the United States, and is a rare document, indicating its author's remarkable perception and appreciation, at that <«arly period, of the powers that would be required by such a corporation. An anecdote is current, which indicates hr ,v startlingly comprehensive and original it was esteemed by liis contemporaries. After Mr. McMahon had. prepared the document in the text, it was read by him to the compiittee for their adoption. During the reading, as provision after provision was gone over, and the varied and comprehensive powers Avhicli the distinguislied autlior had embraced in it, were one by one unfolded, - tlie venerable Kobert Oliver arose, and in his peculiarly blunt and off-hand manner exclaimed, " Stop man : yoiCre ashing for more titan the Lord's Prayer.'''' Mr. McMahon smilingly replied, " that it was all necessary, and the more that they asked for, the more they would get." Mr. Oliver then rejoined, "^?V7i« mav., go on^ The result vindicated his judgment, and the charter of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is the model of most of the railroad charters subsequently obtained from the Legislatures of the various States, that were started soon as the practicability of tlie railroad system was fully demonstrated by that pioneer company.

Soon after the charter Avas obtained, Mr. McMahon, as chairman of the Committee on Internal Improvements, submitted to the Legislature an able and convincing report in belialf of the road, as the means of securing to Baltimore the trade of the West, accompanied by a bill which, mainly through his efforts, was passed at the session of 1828, authorizing the State of Maryland to subscribe $500,000 to the stock of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, - the first legislative aid ever afforded to a railroad corporation in the United States.

During tlie entire legislative career of Mr. McMahon, he stood by the company, its firm and fast friend, introducing many of the subsequent^acts passed amendatory of tlie charter, and increasing its power ; and he now looks upon the completion of the great enterprise with tlie abundant pride and gratification felt by all who aided the company in its early trials and struggles.

Immediately after the organization of the company, two eminent engineers. Col. Stephen II. Long and Jonatlian Knight, were selected by the Board to make the necessary surveys of the country through which the road proposed to pass. The Government of the LTnited States, justly appreciating tlie importance of the enterprise, also extended to it a most liberal patronage. Several able and efficient members of the topographical corps Avere detailed to the service of the company, among Avhom Avere Captain William Gibbs !N[cNeill, Lieutenants Joshua Barney, Isaac Trimble, Richard E. Hazzard, William Cook, Walter Gwynn, and John L. Dillahunty, of the United States Artillerj', and William Harrison, Jr., Assistant Engineer, who proceeded to examine the various routes from the city of Baltimore to the valley of the Potomac, and along that ravine as for as Cumberland ; and from thence made a general reconnoissance of the country between tlie Potomac and tlie Ohio River. Messrs. Long and Knight finally, on the 5th of April, 1828, made a detailed report to Philip E. Thomas, (ex-ofBcio President of the Board of Engineers,) accompanied by the statements and narratives of the topographical officers detailed by government, recommending what they deemed to be the most practicable route.

These reports having been duly examined by the Board of Directors, on the 1st of October, 1828, President Thomas reported to the stockholders, tliat the preliminary examinations had resulted in a conviction of the entire practicability of a railroad from Baltimore to the Ohio River, and that the Board were convinced that of the various routes which had been suggested, the one along the valley of the Patapsco, and thence in the direction of Bennett's Bush, or Linganore Creek, to the " Point of Rocks," was so decidedly preferable as to preclude any he.-^itation in awarding it the preference. The road was accordingly promptly located along this line, and the necessary titles were acquired to the land upon almost the Avhole of that section bordering on the Potomac River. The Board had scarcely effected this object, however, when a conflict arose with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, upon the subject of an alleged pre-emption right, on the part of the latter, to certain portions of the land occupied in the location of the railroad. This controversy, although su[)posed at the time to be likely to cause no delay in the construction of the work, proved by subsequent experience to be a barrier as difficult to overcome as the ridges of the Alleghanies.

The construction of the road was commenced on the 4th of July, 1828, accompanied by one of the most magnificent processions of military and civic associations, trades, and professions, ever witnessed in the United States. The "first stone" was laid by the venerable Charles Carroll, of CarroUton, then over ninety years of age, on the Bouth-western line of the city. After he had performed this service, addressing himself to one of his friends, he said, " I consider this among the most important acts of ray life, second only to my signing the Declaration of Independence, if even it be second to that." To the end of his life he continued a firm unwavering friend of the work, ready at all times, upon every emergency, to sustain it.

On the 7t.h day of July, three days after laying the "first stone," the definitive location of the road was commenced by Lieutenants Cook, llazzard, and Dillahunty, under the immediate direction of Captain McNeill, to whom the performance of this duty had been intrusted, and on the llth day of July notice was i)ublicly given that from tlie 1st to the 11th day of August, proposals would he received for the grading aud masonry on a distance not exceeding twelve miles. The location having heen effected, and unanimously approved by the Board of Engineers, contracts Avere, as early as possible, entered into for grading and masonry on the twenty-six sections, into which the Superintendent had subdivided a distance of eleven and three-fourth miles, embracing that part of the road between the " first stone," and Ellicott's Mills on the Patapsco. These contracts, although thought to be very low at the time, proved highly profitable to the contractors, who introduced temporary railways for the removal of earth, thus causing a great reduction in tlie anticipated cost.

On the 1st of October, 1828, twenty montlis after the first public movement was made in Baltimore for the formation of a company, President Thomas reported to the stockholders that the contractors had all commenced their labors.

In locating the road a most favorable disposition towards the company was early manifested by tlie proprietors of land to cede the ground necessary for the tracks, without charge, and the right of quarrying was also unhesitatingly granted. The proprietors of Ellicott's IMills also made a gratuitous donation of a valuable tract of land, advantageously situated, for the purposes of a depot.

During the year 1828, the State had made its first subscription to the stock of the road, to the amount of $500,000, and there was a further augmentation of the stock of the Company, by individual subscriptions, to the amount of $1,500,000, so that the entire capital now reached ^4,000,000. An application was also made to Congress for an appropriation to aid the work. "William Patterson, George Brown, and Ross Winans, (who had exhibited to the Board of Directors an important invention contrived for reducing the friction upon railroad cars,) were deputed to present to Congress a memorial on the subject, dated the 28tli January, 1828, and signed by Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Philip E. Thomas, aud other prominent and wellknown citizens.

The Committee of the Senate to whom tlie memorial was referred, reported a bill, authorizing a subscription of one milMon of dollars. The Connnittoe of the House of Representatives made a higlily flattering report, but declined reporting a bill or submitting any proposition on the subject, because of the late ])enod of the session at which it was brouglit before them. The apjjUcation was renewed to the next Congress, which met in December, 1829, and the Committees of both Houses respectively, recommended subscriptions to the stock of tlie company, for the purpose of assisting in the construction of the road as far as tlie Point of Rocks, tlie place of junction with the Canal Company, under the beUef that when the two works were completed thus far, an opportunity would be atforded to ascertain which was best adapted to the purpose of effecting a communication wdth the West. The bill failed to receive the sanction of .Congress, principally through the opposition of Gen. C. F. Mercer, President of the Canal Company, who at that time was Chairman of the Committee of Pioads and Canals of the House of Representatives.

The Board of Directors of the Railroad Company soon discovered that if they proceeded with the work it must be upon their own resources, witliout any governmental assistance. Having full confidence in the practicability of the undertaking, they determined to go on with renewed energy. This determination was clearly evinced by the President and several of the Directors, who advanced $200,000, to meet an extraordinary expense, beyond the estimates of the Engineer, (required for tlie great cut of seventy-eight feet deptli, extending one thonsand three hundred yards, encountered a few miles from the city,) which at first threatened a suspension of the progress of the work. The construction of a railroad being an untried experiment, they of course had many difficulties to encounter; but the energy of President Tliomas and his Board of Directors inspired all with confidence, and the enterprise continued to meet Avith general favor from all classes of their fellow-citizens. A perusal of the early reports of President Thomas will cause the reader to wonder that the formidable obstacles almost daily encountered did not crush the energies of the company, and induce them to abandon the work as hopeless and futile.

The third annual report of the President, dated October 12, 1829, details the rapid progress in grading and preparing the road for the rails to the banks of the Potomac, and the extent to which the operations of the Company beyond that point were retarded by the perverse course of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. That company first obtained an injunction from the County Court of Washington, restraining the further proceedings of the Board in obtaining titles of land over which the railroad had been already located. This was followed by an injunction obtained by the Railroad Company from the High Court of Chancery, restraining the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company from taking any steps in the construction or locating of the canal, which might render unavailing a decision in favor of the road on the first injunction. As the owner in fee of the l)ass of the Potomac River through the Catoctin ^lountain at " the

Point of Rocks," the Board of Directors of tlie Railroad still continued to prosecute their -work at that place ; and in pursuance of the system adopted by them, had advertised for contracts and commenced the work there, when a second injunction was obtained, restraining the Directors from constructing the road at all, within the limits of Frederick County, although the greater part of the road through that county could never, in any manner, come in collision with tlie canal. This last injunction, however, so tar as it related to land eastward of " the Point of Rocks," was subsequently withdrawn by the Canal Company, but all attempts to settle the ditSculty continued to prove unsuccessful.

During the fall of the year 1829, the laying of the rails was commenced upon the division of the road within the city of Baltimore. Tlie first rails were laid upon wooden sleepers at the eastern end of the Mount Clare premises, near the intersection with Poppleton street, which was not then laid out. Lieut. Whistler, as already stated, was the Superintending Engineer for establishing the lines and grades of the road, and John Ready was the Superintendent of its construction. Under their direction the first rails Avere laid by Thomas Mc^fachen, foreman, and the folloAving cariienters : Alfred Ray, Nicholas Ridgley, Silas Picket, and Wendel BoUman. Mr. Bollman, Avho was then a mere boy, has ever since that day been engaged in the employ of the company, and is now its "Master of Road," (his duties embracing charge of the bed, track, station buildings, bridges, tunnels, &c., &c.,) in which position he is enabled, from his long and thorough practical experience, to render valuable service.

In order to obtain the benefits of whatever knowledge and experience works of a similar character in progress in England might atford, the Board had previously sent to Liverpool, Jonatlian Knight, Civil Engineer, and Captain William Gibbs McNeill, of the United States Tojiographical Engineers, with LieuteHant George W. Whistler, of the United States Army, who minutely examined every railroad of consequence in the United Kingdom. The information they derived Avas actively and usefully emjjloyed in aid of the work, especially in preparing the track, which progressed rapidly and satisfactorily.

The first divison of the road was opened for tlie trans])ortation of passengers on the 22d j)f Maj', 1830, being but a little more than eighteen months from the commencement of the work upon it; but the preparation of the necessary cars Avas not effected until the early part of June following, from wjiicli time the travelling on this division, extending toEllicott's Mill^;, continued constant and iuiintci-i'ui>ted, horse and innlo power being used for drawing the cars. Locomotives at this period were in their infiincy, and until the opening of tlie Liverpool and Manchester Eaih-oad during tliis same j'ear, tlie utmost speed in travel obtained by locomotives did not exceed six miles an liour ; the question, indeed, had not then been decided as to what kind of motive l)0wer would prove most advantageous for general use.

During the first few months after the road was opened, the people of Baltimore continued to throng to the depot, to try this novel mode of travel ; and Ellicott's Mills became as familiar to them as if within the corporate limits of the city. The number of cars was, however, very limited, and but one track was completed, notwithstanding which, the receipts up to the first of October, four months from the time of putting the cars on, amounted to $20,012 36. The merchandise and produce offered was ten times more than could be conveyed with all the means of transportation' in possession of the company.

There being no settled mode of propulsion fixed upon for travel on railroads, during the first year of the opening of the road, Evan Thomas, Esq., had constructed, as an experiment, a car with sails, which he called " the ^'Eolus," which attracted much attention.

The Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, being the first road in operation in the country, and almost in the world, for the transportation of passengers and merchandise, of course attracted visitors from almost everj' section of the United States, as well as from some parts of Europe. Among these, as detailed in a letter from Evan Thomas to George Brown, was Baron Krudener, Envoy from the Emperor of Russia, who made an excursion in the sailing car, managing the sail himself. On his return from the excursion he declared that he had never before travelled so agreeably, and remarked that he '' Avould send his suite from "Washington to enjoy sailing on the railroad." Tlie President of the Company, to whom he had been introduced, caused a model sailing car to be constructed, fitted with Winans' friction Avheels, which he presented to him, with the reports that had been published by the company, to be forwarded to the Emperor. Upon the reception of them, the following acknowledgment was made :

" Sir : - I shall have great pleasure in siibmitting to his imperial majesty, the model of a railroad car, and the documents wliicli accompanied the letter you did me the honor of addressing me, on the 20th Febraary last.

"The natnrc and importance of the great undertaking to wliicli you have devoted your time and exertions, cannot fail of giving a high degree of interest to the different documents relating to its origin and progress, and I do not doubt but tbat his majesty will find them, as well as the ingeniously improved principle on which the railroad car is constructed, deserving of attention.

"In terminating this letter, I avail myself with pleasure, of the opportunity thus afforded me, to tender you my sincere thanks for the polite attentions of which I have individually been the object on your part, as that of the other gentlemen connected with the direction of the Company over which you preside, and I request you to accept in their name and your o-ftTi, the assurances of my high consideration.

A few days after this, a letter Avas received from the Minister, introducing a deputation of scientific men who had been appointed to visit this country, and who proceeded to a minute examination of tli© raih-oad and the machinery used upon it, viz. :

" Dear Sir : - Permit me to introduce to you Mr. Avinott, Captain of the Russian Navy, who will in a few days visit your city, and has expressed to me a strong wish of being enabled to view the part now completed of the railroad near Baltimore. The recollection of the pleasure I enjoyed in a similar circumstance, through yoiir kindness, makes me desirous of procuring the same satisfaction to my countryman, who will certainly participate in the high interest which I felt. Captain Avinott is attended by another officer of our Navy, the Lieutenant Amerott, whom I take also the liberty of introducing to you.

Upon their return to Russia, the information they communicated relative to the machinery of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, led to the appointment of a delegation to make furtlier examinations, and was followed hy an invitation to Ross Winans to superintend the cpnstruction of machinery for the extensive railroads contemplated by the Emperor. There is no doubt that the early introduction of railroads into Russia, originated in the disclosures made to his Court by the Baron de Krudener. In a conversation between the Baron dc Krudener and the President of the railroad, relative to the eftects the system would produce, Mr. Thomas is said to have remai-ked that, " should our present anticipations of the efficiency of railroads be realized, a total change would be produced in commercial and social intercourse in every country where these roads might be inti'oduced - that tlie experiment already made, demonstrated them to be capable of affording to an extensive continent, the facilities of intercommunication now incident to a small island, and that the discovery promised greater advantages to Russia and the United States of America, than to any other countries." He then further observed that, " shouU tlie Emperor introduce railroads into Russia, it would not be many years before a railroad would be constructed between the Baltic and the Black Sea, along the Rivers Dwina and Dnieper, and that such a road would enable Russia to encircle in her arms, not only the entire Northern, but also the Eastern frontier of Earope, and thus greatly extend her power and influence." To this the minister naively replied, " My dear Sir, you cannot s^i2'>j)0se that Russia has any ambition, that she desires either to increase her power or influence ! On these points, she will remain content with her present p)Osition ! " The extended forethought of Mr. Thomas was here again conspicuously shown, for the year 1853 witnessed the completion of a large portion of the great railroads that are rapidly stretching over the Russian continent, as well as the final opening of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad itself.

During the year 1831, under aathority given by the City Council of Baltimore, the track was laid down Pratt Street from Mount Clare to the Basin, and from thence to the City Block, running parallel with the water front of the city. -

On the 1st of December, 1831, the opening of the branch road to Frederick was celebrated, and on the 1st of April, 1832, the whole line was opened to the Point of Rocks, making 70 miles of the road then finished and in operation. Stone was at this time considered superior to wood for supporting the rails, and wherever suitable stone could be obtained it was used in preference ; but from near the head of the Patapsco to the Point of Rocks, Avood of the best quality had been used on account of the absence of stone of the description required. Subsequent experience, however, showed that this preference for stone was not well founded, and in a few years it was entirely abandoned.

Railway Celebrations Of 1857 Chapter Iii

TiiE injunction against the road obtained by the Cliesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, now brouglit the progress of tlie work to a complete stand. Early in 1831, arrangements were made and a charter obtained for the construction of a branch railroad to tlie City of Washington. Jonathan Knight, the Chief Engineer of the road, on the 6th of Jnly, 1831, appointed Benjamin H. Latrobe, and Henry J. Kanney, as his principal assistants, to conduct the necessary preparatory measures, surveys, levellings, drawings, and calculations incident to tlie location of the route of the contemplated branch railroad. Mr, Knight had previously, with the assistance of Mr. Latrobe, made a rough survey of one route, and the latter gentleman was especially instrncted to take charge of the new surveys ordered on that line, whilst Mr. Kanney was instructed to survey another route that it was thought might prove more available for the purposes required.

From the report of the Superintendent of Transportation, "W. "Woodville, Esq., dated October 1, 1831, it appears tliat the aggregate revenue of the preceding five months amounted to $31,405 24, and that the whole working expenses were but $10,994 87.

On the 4th of January, 1831, the company issued an advertisement to the inventive genius and mechanical skill of the country, offering most liberal inducements for the production of locomotive steam engines. This being the first proposal ever issued in the United States, for locomotives, deserves a place here. It was as follows :

"TheT>intimore niid Ohio IJnilroad Company being desirous of obtaining a supply of L(X'omotivo Engines of A merican manufacture, adapted to their road, the Tresideut and Directors hereby give public notice that they will pay the sum of Four Thousand Dollars for the most approved ensine which shall be delivered for trial upon the road on or before the 1st of June, 1831 - and that they will also pay Three Thousand Five Hundred Dollars for the engine which shall be adjudged the next best and be delivered as aforesaid, subject to the followmg conditions, to wit : - s " 1. The engine must Inirn coke or coal, and must consimie its own smoke.

" 2. The engine, when in operation, must not exceed three and one-half tons weight, and must, on a level road, be capable of drawing day by day, fifteen tons, inclusive of the weight oi" the wagons, fifteen miles per hour. The company to furnish wagons of \\'iuaus' construction, the friction of which will not exceed five pounds to the ton.

" 3. 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.

" 4-. 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 exceed three feet ; but if the connection be such as to work with the adhesion of two Avhcels 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 ^\'inaus' friction wheels, which last will be furnished upon application to the company. The flanges to be four feet seven and a half inches apai-t from outside to outside. The wheels to be coupled four feet from centre to centre in order to suit curves of short radius.

" 5. The pressure of the 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 pi-essure. The company will be at Uberty to put the boiler, fire tube, cylinder, &c., to the test of a ^iressure 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 consequence of such test.

" 6. There must be two safety valves, one of which must be completely out of the reach or control of the engine man, and neither of which must be fastened down while the engine is working.

"7. The engine and boiler must bo 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.

" 8. 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 hundi-ed and twenty pounds.

" 1). 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.

"X. B. - The Railroad Company will provide and will furnish a tender and sujtjjly of water and fuel for trial. Persons desirous of examining the road or of obtaining more miimte information, are invited to address themselves to the President of the company. The least radius of curvature of the road is 400 feet. Competitors who arrive with their engines before the first of Jmie, will be allowed to make experiments on the road previous to that day.

" The editors of the National Gazette, Pliiladelphia ; Commercial Advertiser, New York ; and Pittsburg Statesman, will copy the above once a week for four weeks, and forward their bills to tlie B. & O. R. R. Co."

During the summer of 1831, in response to this call upon American genius, three locomotive steam engines were produced upon the railroad, only one of which, however, was made to answer any good purpose. This engine, called "The York," was built at York, Pa., by Phineas Davis, (or rather "Davis and Gartner,") and after undergoing certain modifications, Avas found, capable of conveying fifteen tons at fifteen miles per hour, on a level portion of the road. It was emploj^ed on that part of the road between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, and generally performed the trip to the mills in one hour, with four cars, the gross weight of which was about fourteen tons. This engine was mounted on wheels like those of the common cars, of thirty inches diameter, and the motion was obtained by means of gearing with a spurwheel 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 strdght parts of the road having been at the rate of thirty miles per hour, whilst it frequently attained that of twenty miles, and often travelled in curvatures of 400 feet radius, at the rate of fifteen miles per hour. The fuel used in it was anthracite coal, which answered the pui'pose well, but the engine weighing but three and a-half tons was found too light for advantageous use on ascending grades.

The performance of this engine fully confirmed the Board and its engineer corps, that locomotive engines might be successfully used on a railway having curves of 400 feet radius, and from that time for- Avard, every encouragement was given by the Company to the inventive genitis of the country, to impi-ove on the i:)artially successful experimental engine that had been produced by Mr. Davis. In the Fourth Annual Report of the President and Directors to the Stockholders, (in 1831,) it is remarked that, " by the many improvements made in the application of moving power, an immense reduction in the cost of transportation, and velocity have been eflected," Amongst the most valuable of these, the Report states that " the combined cylindrical and conical cai'-icJieels, invented by the chief engineer of the company, (Mr. Knight.) have been found of the utmost importance by the facilities they afford in turning curves." It is stated, that, " by the aid of this highly valuable improvement, every doubt is removed of our being able to employ locomotive engines upon the Baltimore and Ohio Eoad." ..." This discovery is the more important to us," the Report continues, " inasmuch as from the surface of the country over which our route must be conducted, numerous curves in the tracks will be unavoidable; and the great advantage of this form of wheels consists in their so readily accommodating themselves to the degrees of curvature upon the road, that there scarcely appears to be an}' perceptible obstacle to the passage of the cars over them, greater than on a straight line." Until this discovery it was regarded as a settled princii)le that no railway car would travel safely on a curve of much less radius than one thousand feet, Avhile with these wheels, they traversed curves of four hundred feet radius at a high speed. It was afterwards found that this wheel wore the inner edges of the rails very rapidly, and it has since been modified to prevent that result.

On the 1st of April, 1832, the first train of cars, bearing produce,] which had descended the Potomac to the Point of Eocks, arrived in Baltimore. The trade with that point continued to increase rapidly, and warehouses, dwelling and public liouses, were erected there, so that quite a town soon formed. The travel and trade to Frederick, and the increasing business of that portion of the main stem between tiie Monocacy and the Point of Rocks, were soon found to constitute no unimportant item in the general receipts of the company.

In the construction of the road from Baltimore to the Point of Rocks, every mode suggested up to that time by science or experience had been tested, and thus the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad must be regarded as entitled to the merit of solving most of the problems wliicli presented themselves first in connection with that great system of travel and inland transjjortation. Ross Winans, John Elgar, (inventor of switches, turntables, chill bearings, plate-wheels, &c..) Phineas Davis, and Evan Thomas, were among the most conspicuous of the ingenious men who wrought tliese results. It was well said of the Company by the American Railroad Journal, of 1835, that '' tlieir reports liave gone forth as a text-book, and their road and worksliops have been a lecture-room to thousands Avho are now practising and improving upon their experience. This country owes to the enterprise, public spirit, and perseverance of the citizens of Baltimore, a debt of gratitude of no ordinary magnitude, as will be seen from the President's report in relation to their improvements upon and performances with their locomotive engines, when compared with the performances of the most powerful engines in Europe, or rather in imagination, in 1820, only six years ago." The granite and 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 the year 1832, formed different portions of the work. It was at this period of the history of the Company that President Thomas exclaimed in his annual report :

" Speculation is no longer necessary. Facto now stand in the place of opinions - results in the place of calculations - and upon a full and careful exaininatiou, tlie Board feel no hesitation in assuring the Stockholders that the completion of the work to its termination on the Ohio, upon the plan first contemplated, with a double track of rails, is perfectly practicable within the original estimate of twenty thousand dollars per mile, inchiding, in the average, the greater outlay upon the first division of the road, and this, too, without the sacrifice to economy of any one requisite of durability and excellence."

The adaptation of the railroad system to general traffic - the point so long disputed - was thus fully and for ever set at rest by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, which, although surrounded by numerous and complicated difDculties, presented one of the very few undertakings of public works by private means at that period, in which no reasonable hope had been disappointed, and every expectation realized. All species of agricultural productions, lime, timber, lumber, fire- wood, and even paving stones, which were before valueless to their owners, were daily brought to Baltimore, with profit to those using the road as a means of transportation for articles so bulky and so cheap; and in return, at an enlianced toll, but with equally profitable results, plaister of Paris, coal, boards, bricks, and scrap iron were sent into the interior.

In January, 1832, the Court of Appeals decided the cases of injunctions obtained by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company against the Railroad Company, to prevent the latter from appropriating or using land for the road until the Canal Company should have located its work between the Point of Rocks and Harper's Ferry. The Canal Company asserted a " prior and paramount " right of way through that region, and to that effect the Court of Appeals decided in favor of the Canal Company. The progress of the railroad was thus arrested, and it was understood that the available space in the district to be pre-occupied by the Canal Company was either too narrow to admit the parallel passage of the canal and railroad, or would, at least, be used by the Canal Company for its canal at its usual ex- treine breadth, and thus Avould unavoidably exclude the railroad. A. long and disagreeable controversy and litigation ensued. The subject was finally carried into the Legislature, where, during the session of 1832-3, the Hon. Charles F. Mayer, in the Senate, from Baltimore, proposed a committee of the two Houses for harmonizing, if possible, tlie adverse views of the companies, without, by threats of the iState's severity, enforcing concessions from the Canal Company. The proposition was adopted, and the committee was filled by the appointment on the part of the Senate, of Messrs. Mayer, Figman, and Emory - and on the part of the House of Delegates, of Messrs. Pratt, Dudley, Harding, Duvall, (of A. A.,) Miller, Nicols, and Harris. The two committees united as a joint body, and Mr. Mayer was the Ciiairman. Their investigations and deliberations Avere extensive, and assiduously pursued ; but, from first to last, Avere conducted in a most pacific and lil)eral spirit by all, either in the committee or before it. Genl. Mercer was present on the part of the Canal as the President of the Company, and po>sessed of ail its views, and John H. B. Latrobe, of Baltimore, zealously and ably represented before the committee the interests of tlie Railroad Company.

Tiie result was a convincing and very able report prepared by Mr. ^Nfayer, as the Chairman of the joint committee of the two Houses, recommending an adjustment, of the terms of which the following summary was submitted, viz. :

" 1. The Canal Company assents to the joint construction with the canal, of the railroad through the passes of the Point of Rocks to Harper's Ferry.

" 2. When the railroad shall be completed to that point, the .State shall subscribe for twenty-five hundred shares of the stock of the Canal Company.

" 3. The Canal Company is to be allowed to sell the water powers of the canal under the conditions of the grant made by Virginia of the like privilege, and with the farther condition that the mill-seats that may be disposed of, shall not he u.-^ed for grist mills.

" 4. The Railroad Company is to be allowed to begin the construction of the road at tlie Point of Rocks at any time after the tenth day of May. 1 The Canal Company binds itself to graduate the railroad through the passes of the Point of Rocks for one Imndred thousand dollars ; and will bear the expense of any additional cost of graduation. The width of the canal is to be maintained at fifty feet; but if the road be impracticable at any points in the passes with that width, the width may be contracted to forty feet, if the commissioners, hereafter to be mentioned, shall deem that necessary. Thj Canal Company, b.owever, within a limited tinie itself miy "graduate the railroad, preserving a greater width for the canal than forty feet, if it shall differ in opinion witli the commissioners.

" r>. The railroad is to have a breadth of not less than twenty feet through the passes of the Point of Rocks, and a curvature of not less than four hundred feet radius : and, where it deviates from a horizontal line, an elevation not exceeding thirty feet to a mile.

" G. To determine questions as to construction of the road between the companies, a Board of Commissioners is to he created, formed of tliree engineers, one chosen by the Canal Company, one by the Raih-oad Company, and another by the President of the United States. These commissioners, too, are to determine the amomit of damage payable by the Railroad Company to the Canal Company for any interruption during the construction and in consequence of it, of the use of any part of the canal. Under the direction of tlie Commissioners, a fence is to be erected between the two works, sufficient to secure the horses used on the canal from accidents from the passage of the locomotive engines."

A bill substantially in accordance with the terras of the report became a law on the 22d March, 1833. Thus ended the contlict between the two companies ; and each has, under this prompt and happy adjustment, adequately and peacefully constructed its work, the Kailroad Company paying the Canal Company $260,000 for all claims under the compromise act. The progress of the road was delayed some two years, however, by these unnatural impediments.

On the 9th of May, 1838, the Canal Company commenced the joint construction of the railroad and canal, above the Point of Rocks, and on the 1st of December, 1834, the road was open to Harper's Ferry.

The corj^s of engineers under the direction of Benjamin II. Latrobe, consisting of Henry H. Ivrebs, Oliver C. Morris, John W. Smith, George F. Dunbar, "William K. Coulter, John Suiall, and Ileury E. Ilazelliurst, in the mean time, during the canal litigation, were rapidly bringing their surveys for the Washington branch to a close.

During the year ending October 1st, 1832, the receipts of the road amounted to $130,937 70, and the working expenses amounted to $69,534 47.

In September, 1832, steel springs were first placed upon the locomotive " York " and tender, as an experiment, and demonstrated their utility in regulating the motion, and greatly diminisliing the jar and consequent injury to the mad. This also suggested the propriety of making a further experiment; by placing a few of the burden cars on steel springs, by wliich it was found that they admitted one-third more loading without any increase of damage to the road or car, and tliat it could be propelled by the same motive power that tlie present fixture of the cars and their weight or load required.

Mr. Gillingliam, the superintendent of machinerj^, under whose directions the experiments had been made, reported tliat the average expense per day of locomotive power, was found to be $16, whilst the same Avork done by horse power averaged $33 per day, sliowing a clear gain by locomotive power of $17 per day, or over $500 per month.

On tlie 9tli of March, 1833, -was passed the final act of Assembly iiiicler which the raih-oad to Washington was constructed. The privilege and facilities to make this road were obtained with much difficulty, and a very arduous struggle, at no less than three sessions of the Maryland legislature. The enterprise was regarded as rich in prospects of profit; and an interest for the State was thouglit desiraUe, provided, tlie experiment was made in the first instance by otiiers than the State, and she were allowed, ^qfO?l the result proving profitable^ to assume a share (which was fixed at five-eighths) of tlie stock. The first act, of 22d February, 1831, was framed upon that policy, and at the same time allowed preferences in the stock subscription to the Washington and Baltimore Turripike Company, which company had interposed, complaining of the proposed railroad as thwarting theirs, and interfering with their franchise! This act, thus embarrassed with reservations, was unavailing; and, in consequence, on the 14th March, 1832, the second act was passed, which still secured to the State her ultimate five-eighths of the stock, and modified the narrowness of the first act, by allowing the Baltimore and Oliio Railroad to subscribe for stock not taken, after a limited period, by individuals ; and, to pay for it, allowed the company to borrow money on pledge of tlie company's property. But there was a clause which allowed subscribers the enjoyment for only eight years of the dividends of the separate road to Washington, obliging them after that period to be numbered with the stockholders at large of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, and to have their Washington Railroad stock treated as general Ohio Railroad stock. This second act, with such stinted and encumbered privileges, remained a dead letter: and thus was produced the application for the final act just adverted to. Tiiis act autliorizes a subscription not deferred (and awaiting ascertained p^rofitahleness)^ but absolute on the part of the State to extent of §500,000 on $1,000,000 being subscribed by others, coupled however with an exaction (yet in force) of one-fifth to he paid to the State of the gross passage money of travellers, and providing that that tribute to the State shall not in the instance of any passenger be less than twenty-five cents. No better terms could be obtained from the legislature; although the taxation of one-fifth to the passage money was combated by members of the legislature very earnestly, and treated as an ignoble requisition. Even this last act, with all the reservation in favor of the State, did not pass the Senate without strong opposition to the fifth section, which allows the Balti' more and Ohio Railroad to subscribe the stock for the road that might be needed beyond the State's share ; and to pledge the company's es- tate for money to pay the subscription. This was a vital clause of tlie bill and without it the act would probably have been inoperative, Mr. Mayer (representing Baltimore), in the Senate, took his stand in favor of the Ohio Eailroad Company's privileges under that section, and was alone intrusted by the friends of the bill in the Senate, with the defence of the company's rights in that critical issue.

To the sagacious foresight of Piiii.ip E. Thomas, are the people of Baltimore and Washington indebted for the origin and completion of this valuable road ; for, after planning it, he secured the means for it by the most vigorous measures.

The great bridge over the Patapsco at Washington junction, was immediately put under contract, and the grading of tlie line of the road progressed with great activity. The proprietors of the land over which the road was to pass, generally ceded tlie right of way gratuitouslv, and the Avork progressed without any delays or litigations.

During the summer of 1833, the company having, by a series of experiments, and gradual improvements in the various machinery and motive power, arrived at a state of information sufficient to become the manufacturers of their own engines, and the Board having hitherto been unable to enter into satisfactory contracts for them, they determined to erect upon their own grounds suitable buildings, and provide the requisite means to construct all that they might require, as well as to keep them in a state of repair. It was thus that the extensive temples of industry at the Mount Clare Station in Baltimore had their origin, before which, the repairs were done by contract.

Whikt the construction of the Branch Road to Washington City was progressing, an application was made to Congress for aid to make the road within the District, with the intention of terminating it at or near the General Post Office, and a bill granting .$3.j0,000 for the construction of the road and the erection of depots, buildings, &c., was passed by the Senate, but failed in the House of Representatives, mainly through the unrelenting opposition of tlie canal interest there.

The magnificent granite viaduct above alluded to, consisting of eight elliptical arches of 58 feet span each, with the roadway OG feet from the surface of the water, was designed by Benjamin II. Latrobe, Esq., and was at the time tlie largest structure of the kind in the United States. In his estimate of the cost of this great work, Mr. Latrobe came within the actual expense of its construction. This was also tlie case witii his estimates of the cost of the Washington Branch, the actual expense falling short of the original estimate.

the " Atlantic," " York,'' and " Franklin," - when fonr more, called the "Arabian," the " Mercury," the " Antelope," and the "American," (the last two built by Charles lleeder, of Baltimore,) were introduced, the Board having persisted in refusing to adopt the English locomotive, under the belief that it Avould not answer on the heavy curvatures of their road, and because it was unable to burn anthracite coal for fuel, to the use of which the Board attached much importance. There were also eight more locomotives ordered and under contract in the fall of 1884.

Up to this period, the cars in use upon railroads were all of a small size, with four wheels, and but little larger than the heavy stage coach. Mr. George Brown, the Treasurer of the company, who Avas ever alive to its interests, liad long entertained, with many others, the idea of a car of much greater capacity. By the ingenuity of Mr. Ross Winans, the large eight-wheel cars were devised and constructed, and put upon the road for the transportation of passengers, the Avheels being arranged somewhat as they are now in use on all railroads. Perhaps in no other improvement in the operation of railroads, was the Baltimore and Ohio Company more conspicuous, even at this early day, than in the entire origination and perfection of the eight-wheeled car.

The further prosecution of the road beyond Harper's Ferry, was suspended in 1882, by a clause in the compromise relative to the " Point of Rocks " Avith the Canal Com[)any, which bound the Railroad Company not to attempt to ascend the banks of the Potomac beyond Harper's Ferry until the canal should be finished to Cumberland, provided tliis were done within the time allowed by the existing charter of the Canal Companj'. The road from AVinchester to Harper's Ferry was then in course of construction; and in 1834, in view of its probable early connection there with the road leading to Baltimore, thoughts were entertained of effecting a connection Avith the Ohio by means of a lateral road from Winchester to Staunton, and from Staunton flirough Jenning's Gap. In anticipating the adoption of this, however, as a i)racticable mode of establishing the desired connection with the Avestern waters, the Board never lost sight of the original route by the Potomac, and in their eighth annual report, dated October 6, 1834, they declare that, " tliey firmly believe tJiut it will, one day, and thai not a very remote one, l)e fully accomplished.''''

The receipts of the company during the year 1832, Avere $205,430 58, and tiie Avorking expenses $132,802 41, being an increase over the receipts of tlie preceding year of $9,750, and a diminution in the expenses of $5,021.

On the 20th of July, 1835, the "Wasliington Branch road was opened with suitable ceremonies, from Baltimore to Bladensburg, and one month after, on the 25t.h of August, the whole road to Washington City was completed and thrown open to trade and travel. During the first four months of the opening of the Branch road, the travel on it averaged 200 persons per day, far exceeding the most sanguine expectations of the Board,

The original ten acres occupied by Mount Clare Station at Baltimore, was presented to the company by the late James Carroll, but having been found insufficient, as early as 1835, eleven adjoining acres were purchased.

A new and valuable break, invented by Evan Thomas, Esq., for passenger cars, was introduced on the road in the year 1835, and proved most eflicient and durable. The brakes in use previous to this invention, were not only inefficient, but they were complicated, and frequently required repairs. Tliey were not of sufficient power to control a loaded eight-wheel car upon the ascents and descents of the road, and it is believed that loith them, those cars could not have been safely used. In view of this circumstance, the value and importance of this timely invention of the President's brother can hardly be overestimated.

At the close of the year 1885, the number of locomotives in nse on the road was seven, passenger cars forty-four, and burthen cars one thousand and seventy-eight.

Benj. H. Latrobe had, previous to this time, been detailed to reconnoitre a route from Chambersburg to connect with the Baltimore and Ohio Road near Harper's Ferry, which duty he performed to the entire satisfaction of the parties concerned.

During the summer of 1835, Mr. Knight, the chief engineer, Avas directed, at the instance of the people of Wheeling, to make a reconnoissance between Cumberland and the Oliio, and inasmuch as the charter of the company from Pennsylvania required that the road, if it entered that State, should be constructed to Pittsburg, the reconnoissance was extended to tlie two cities. His report proved the allimportant fact, that the mountains between Cumberland and the Western waters could be passed without the use of stationary engines, with locomotives and their trains. The Board, on receiving his report, urged the importance of carrying the road to both of these cities simultaneously. President Tliomas, in his ninth annual report, says :

"Admirably situated as Baltimore is, at the liead of the Chesapeake, and in closer proximity to the valley of the Mississippi than any other of the Atlaii- tic cities, all that is uccessarj"^ to secure her rapid growth in wealth, power, and importance, is uuited effort among her people, aided by the State of wliicli she is the commercial capital. The Susquehanna Road from the North, the AVasliington Branch from the South, the Port Depositc Railroad from the East, and the main stem of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from the West, may be considered as so many gi-eat arteries, whose prolonged extension and spreading ramifications tend to increase and secure the healthy and vigorous growth of the city, which may be termed the heart of the system."

Mr. Knight, in the fall of 1835, announcing that B. IT. Latrobe, one of his able assistants, liaving been appointed Cliief Engineer of the Baltimore and Port Deposit Eaih-oad, was tlien ont of the service of the company, gave liim great credit for liis ability, referring to the fact tliat lie had previously designed the plan of the extensive viaduct and bridge over the canal and Potomac River at Harper's Ferry.

On the 30th of June, 183G, after having been President of the company for ten successive years, Mr. Thomas retired from the post he had filled with so much honor to himself and advantage to the company. His close and unceasing application to the arduous duties of his position, had been at the sacrifice of health and private business, which he had uniformly regarded as of secondary importance to the prosecution of the great enterprise of which he - in conjunction with Mr. Brown - was the originator^ founder, and first promoter. Having induced his fellow-citizens to embark their means in the construction of the road, and procured large appropriations from the city and State, to aid in its prosecution, it may naturally be supposed he felt a great personal anxiety with I'egard to it, an anxiety that made the many disappointments, vexatious interruptions, and dark forebodings of its opponents weigh heavily on his mind. He never, however, fiiltered in the confident belief of its ultimate success, and of the final approval of his fellow-citizens; and to him the completion of the road to the Western waters must have been a glorious comsummation, - " long looked for and anxiously hoped." Mr. Thomas (as well as his worthy compeer, Mr. Brown) is happily still living, and, at the ripe old age of eightytwo, is fully enabled to realize in his own useful lifetime, the wonderful results which his good genius had so largely planned. Mr. Thomas has occupied much of his time in later years, as a general agent for the Seneca Indians, for whom he has performed much good service, rendered gratuitously, as a return for which, they have adopted him into their tribe, and made him their mini^tei" plenipotentiary in all their relations with the United States government.

" At a meeting this day, the following proceedings were had : Joseph W. Pattersou was appointed President pro tern, ^^'hen the committee appointed to confer with Philip E. Thomas, Esq., iu regard to his resignation of the Presidency of this Company, tendered by him to the Board on that date, reported verbally, that they had held seversd interviews with i\Ir. Thomas on the subject, and that it had coutinTied, against their remonstrances, to he his earnest wish to withdraw from his actual situation ; that the Board were aware that such had been his desire for a long time past, and that he had only been prevented from taking the step sooner in condescension to the wishes of the Board. The Committee relnctantly, and with regret, were obliged to add, that in consideration of the impaired condition of Mr. Thomas's health, they believe it indispensable to its restoration, and to his comfort, that he should be relieved from the confinement and labor incident to the discharge of the duties of the office which has been so ably filled by him.

" Jie^oh'ed, That this Board accept the resignation of P. E. Thomas, Esq., of the Presidency of this Company, with deep and profound regiTt.

Hfsohed, That the most unfeigned and cordial thanks of this Board are due to Mr. Thomas for the long, faithful, and valuable services rendered by him to this Company - services which none but those associated with him in the prosecution of this most arduous work are capable of appreciating, and rendered at an expense of private interest, which it is difficult to calculate, but which must be well understood by this community ; and of health which has been sacrificed by close and continuous application to the business of the Company. On the commencement of this work, of which he has been iu fact the father and projector, every thing connected with its construction was new, crude and doubtful, with little to g-viide the Avay, and that derived from distant and uncertain sources ; now such has been the increase of information and experience acquired under his auspices and direction, as to insure the completion and success of the undertaking, if prosecuted with the same zeal, assiduity and integrity which have ever marked its course.

" liesoh-ed further, That this Board, in taking leave of Mr. Thomas as their President, caimot omit the opportunity of tendering to him their respectful acknowledgments of the uniform, correct, urbane and friendly conduct, which has characterized his deportment during the time of their official intercourse, and of expressing to him their best wishes for the speedy restoration of his health, and for his future prd^perity.

Chapter Iv

The resignation of Pliilip E. Tlionia?:, as President of tlie Company, on the 30ch June, 1830, having been contemplated by him for more than a year, the Board liad looked long and anxionsly for a competent successor - one who could retain the contidetjce of the city and State, as well as the good feeling with which European capitalists already viewed this great enter[)rise. At -the time of the resignation of Mr. Thomas, the Board were in correspondence with the Hon. Louis McLane, to whom they had tendered the position, Avith every prospect of his ultimately accepting it. Joseph W. Patterson, Esq., (whose father had been one of the most efficient of the first Board of Directors,) was chosen President pro tem. until Mr. McLane entered on his administration.

Tlie viaduct across the Potomac at Harper's Ferry having hoen completed in the fall of 1830, and the connection thus made with the Winchester Railroad, it was, in elfect, a jirolongation of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad up the Valley of the Shenandoah, wiiich soon commenced to add to the trade of the city of Baltimore.

In the spring of 1836, the Board deeming that the time had arrived for the adoption of vigorous measures towards the prosecution of the road from Harper's Ferry westward, to the points of its original destination, an engineer force was organized for the purpose of making detailed, surveys and examinations between Harper's Ferry and the summit of the Alleghanies, with the view of continuing them afterwards to Pittsburg ami ^Y heeling. Benjamin H. Latrobe, Esq., was appointed to the post of engineer of location and construction on tlie 1st day of July, 1830, and took innnediafe charge of the surveys, and the direction of the several corps upon lield-duty. The rough and mountainous country over which the surveys had to be carried, and the importance of leav- 2* ing no practicable route, of the many that presented themselves, unexamined, rendered the labors of tlie engineers necessarily very tedious and prolonged.

At the December session of the Legislature of Maryland, 1835-6, the Board of Directors memorialized that body, praying for aid to complete the road to Wheeling and Pittsburg, and at the same time a similar application was made to the mayor and city council of Baltimore. The latter, at once, and Avith great liberality, respondmg to the universal sentiment pervading the community, resolved to subscribe three millions of dollars to the capital stock of the company, whenever the legal ditSculties which prevented at that time the construction of the road in an unbroken line west from Harper's Ferry, should be removed. The Legislature, iu tlie mouth of May following, also appropriated three millions to the road, and, as before stated, removed the restrictions on its westward progress, and the Canal Company having entered into an agreement for the joint construction of their works, all again moved on harmoniously. Six millions were thus added to the effective means of the company.

After the death of Phineas Davis, which occurred by accident on the 27th of September, 1835, Messrs. Gillingham and Eoss Wiiians took the company's shops at Mount Clare Depot, and continued the manufacture of locomotives and railroad machinery commenced by Mr. Davis. In this enterprise they were independent of the company, but were bound by contract to sujiply the road with locomotives and railroad machinery at a stipulated price, and at all times to give precedence to the company's demands for work. They had the use of the grouttd and buildings, with the fixed machinery left by Mr. Davis, witliout rent, obligating themselves to keep the same in repair, and return them as they received them. In consideration of tliis, they manufactured the company's engines so much below the mai-ket price for them elsewhere, that the interest on the cost of the buildings and fixed machinery was deemed to be fully paid.

The last two locomotives manufactured by Messrs. Gillingham & Winans, in the fall of 1836, showed a power of traction, when tlie Aveight of the engine was but eight tons, much exceeding the greatest power that had, up to that time, been obtained on the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad by a twelve ton engine. This, in view of the heavy mountain grades to be overcome, was deemed a matter of special gratulation by the Board of Directors.