The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-05-02

ton, but without any thing more important being
effected than TO induce the inhabitants of the Sc
questered counties to demand that it should not be
overlooked among other propositions for internal
improvements When the first laws for the con-
struction of the Erie canal were under discussion,
the cooperation Of the southern tier of counties
was necessary 10 their success, and satisfactory
assurance was expressed, and afterwards renewed
from time to time, BY the Executive and the Legis-
lature that on the completion of the canal, a
thoroughfare, the most advantageous that the to-
biography of the country would permit, should be
opened through those counties, from the Hudson
river to Lake Erie.
Pursuant to this understanding, De Witt Clinton,
on his election Governor in 1924 in his message
TO the Legislature recommended State road
through the counties referred to; and the Legisla-
ture at the session of s2J-the same year that the
Erie canal was compile ted-directed a survey of II
State road be constructed at the public expense,
on the route in question The survey was executed
from the lake in Chautauque county, to the Hudson
in Rockland county, also to Catskll Athens, in
Greene county, thus providing for two examinations
on the Hudson. Conflicting and opposing interests
defeated the project in the Legislature by very
votes, Gin the Assembly it Twas indefinitely post
poned 30 10 49, and although renewed at the sub
sequent session, and urged by conventions of the
people interested in the year lo2b, the scheme of
maeadamzed State road was finally abandoned.
The subject Of great avenue, or thoroughfare,
however, continued to occupy the minds of various
public spirited and interested individuals, until the
subject Of railways burst upon the public attention
The first locomotive was constructed in England in
ls4 and travelled at the rate of six miles per hour
In lS29. the improvements had been such that the
locomotive, ca He'd the Rocket attained a speed of
fifteen miles per hour. The first English railway
constructed, on which steam power was used, was
the Stockton and Darlington, which was opened
December Il, ls25. The Liverpool and Manchester
was commenced in October, 1926, and opened Sept.
- 1880. The first railway in the United States
the Quincy in Mass lchusetts-a short road, for
conveying granite by horse power opened in 1927.
Peter Cooper, Esq, manufactured the first locomo-
tive made in the United States, and it was started
on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
About eight months before the opening Of the
Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, viz: early in
1880, William C. Redfeld of New York, issued a
pamphlet, entitled "Sketch Of the Geographical
Route Of Great Railway, by which it is proposed
to connect the canals and navigabe waters Of
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Hi
states and territories opening thereby free
communication, at all seasons of the year, between
the Atlantic states and the great valley of the Mis-
sissippi-second edition, with additions" This was
written Of course, before any locomotive engine
had been introduced into the United States; and the
few performances Of engines in England, and the
use Of railways by horse power, in the United
States, are mentioned in the pamphlet. Besides he
Quincy Railway Ohree miles, the Lackawaxen
Railroad (sixteen miles, and Mauch Chunk Rail-
road (nine miles), in Pennsylvania, and few miles
on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, had then been
constructed and put in operation. The route Of the
great railway suggested by Mr.. Rsdfeld, which he
calls the atlantic and Mississippi Railway" from
the Hudson river at Tappan CHOW Piermont0 to
the Mississippi river a short distance above St
Louis. he estimates at $40 miles in length 1t is
remarkable that, included in this route, he not only
suggests the present termination Of the Erie Rail-
road at Permont, on the Hudson river, but marks
out nearly the route on which this work has been
constructed, as far as the Allegheny river. Having
in view the continuation Of his route to the Missis
spIi, stated he says: sour route enters the val
ley Of the Allegheny, and proceeds along that river,
which affords anayigable communication with Pitts
burgh. sc. From the Allegheny, the route inter-
sects the outlet Of the Chautauque lake. by which
a communication may b. established with Lake
Erie. and proceeds to the head waters of the French
creek. in Pennsylvania, from whence il again COM
municates with the Allegheny and the Pennsyl-
yania canals, on the one hand, and may be connect
ed with the harbor Of Erie or the other lie then
points out the route further west, follows
"From the western branch ofthe Alleg hany, pro-
ceed in direction nearly parallel to the shore Of
Lake Erie. and er tering tho northern counties of
Ohio, intersect the great canal Of that State the
Portage summit. \ free and rapid communication
is thus established both with the lakes and the
Ohio river" The route through the northwest
part IL Ohio, also through Indiana and Illinois, to
the Mississippi, Is then suggested.
II win thus be perceived that Mr.. RedGeld in
ls;0, or perhaps in ls29, proposes railway over
the route marked out, az early 1890, for state
road turnpike, and in ISIS for State macadainzed
road; except that he fixes the terminus at Tappan,
now Piormont, on the Hudson whereas, the plan
Of ZOO proposes Athens, opposite Hudson city, as
the terminus, and that Of ls25-6 was 70 have two
to.BiiHi, viz. at Catskill, Greene county, and ~
Nyack tnear Piermont, in Rockland county. Mr..
Bedfed claims to have been the fret to propose
the plan Of the Erie Railroad; but when the utility
Of railways had been proved in England, the idea
Of railroad over the route must nat urally have
suggested itself to the minds 81 others who had
previously taken interest in promoting the pro-
jeet Of a state road through the southern tier of
counties. We believe. however, that Mr.. Redfeld
i entitled to the credit Il having been the first 70
place his plan before the public in print, well a. 70
that e having been tie FIRST 70 propc continuous
chain * railways 70 the Mississippi, and that "a
route remarkably near 70 the since adopted for
The railroads constructed 81 in progress
~ ISL, The ncpent .teps were taken, by cores
pondence and otherwise. to obtain from the Lcgs-
laturc a charter for a railroad from the Hudson
river - Lake Erie, through the southern tier Of
counties. But very few individuals in the city OF
New ork were Ok that time engaged il the enter
prise. The most prominent we're Elea1ar Lord,
Henry J.. Piers1n and William g.. Reddod II
may BE- here mentioned that William Paulding,