The New York herald., 1851-10-14


manehtly, in preference TO hotels on the banks Of
the river. Their daily expenses in the boat are as
follows
Separate bedroom. ........................2
Breakfast, dinner and supper o
Total daily expense for board, lodging attendance
andtraveling l5o miles, at 20 miles hour..lo 10
Such accommodation is, on the whole, more eco-
nomical than q hotel. The bedroom is Is luxu-
riously furnished as the hand ,omest chamber in q
hotel or private house, and ts much more spacious
than the room similarly designated in the largest
packet ships. (Railvay h .onomy, p. S77.)
The other class Of steamers used for towing the
commerce Of the river, corresponds to the goods
trains on railways. No spectacle can be more re-
markable than this class of locomotive machines,
dragging their enormous load up the Hudson. They
may be seen in the midst of this vast stream sur
rounded by Q cluster Of 20 or 80 loaded craft Of
various magnitudes Three or four tiers are lashed
to them at each side, and as many mere az their
bow and at their stern The steamer is almost lost
to the eye in the midst Of this crowd Of vessels
which cling arouni it, and the moving mass Z ssen
toproceed up the river, no apparent agent Of pro
pusson being visible, for the steamer and its pro-
pellers are literally buried in the midst of the
cluster which clings to it End fosts round and
near it.
AS this water goods train for so II m ny be called
ascends the river, it drops off its load, vessel by
sci, ct the towns which it passes One or two are
left at Newburg, another az Poughkeepsie, two or
three more at Hudson, one or two at Fshkll, aud,
Dozen vessels at Albany.
The steam navigation of the Mississippi aud the
other Western rivers is conducted in manner
entirely different from that of the Hudson. Every
one must be familiar with the lanentsble acc-
dents which happen from time to time, and the
loss of life from explosion which continually takes
of diminishing with the improve ment Of art, seem
rather TO have increased. Engineers have done
literally othing to check the evil.
IN Mississippi steam boat the cabins and saloons
are erected On flooring six eight feet above the
deck, upon whi,h, and under them, the engines
are placed, which are OF the coarsest and mos.
inartifcial structure. They are invariably worked
with high pressure steam, and, in order 20 obtain
that effect which in the Hudson steamers is due to
a vacuum, the steam is worked at an extraordinary
pressure. We have ourselves actually witnessed
boilers Of this kind, the Western rivers, working
under full pressure Of l20lbs. per square inch
above the atmosphere, and we have been assured
that this pressure has been recently considerably
increased, so that it is not unfrequcnt now TO find
them working with bursting pressure Of 2OOlbs
per square inch.
AS might naturally be expected the chief theatre
of railway enterprise in America is the Atlantic
states. The Mississippi and its tributaries have
served the purposes Of commerce and inerco nmu-
nication to the comparatively thinly scattered po-
pulation Of the Western States SO efficiently that
many years will probably elapse, twhstanding
the extraordinary enterprise Of the people, before
any considerable extent Of railway Communication
will be established in this part Of the States
the traveller in these distant regions
encounters occasionally detached examples Of rail-
wsys, even in the valley of the Mississippi In the
state Of Mississippi; there are five short lines; ten
or twelve in Louisiana, and a limited number scat
tered over Florida, Alabama, Illinois, Michigan,
Indiana, and Ohio. These, however, are generally
detached and single lines unconnected with the vast
traveller in these wild regions the aspect of such
tfcial agents Of transport n the midst of country,
great triton Of which is still in the state Of
tive forest, is most remarkable, and strongly cha
cteristic OF the irrepressble spirit Of enterprise OF
its people. Travelling in the back woods Of Mis-
sssippi, through native forests, where till within
few years human foot never trod, through soltudes
the silence Of which was never broken, even by the
red man, We have been sometimes filed With Won
der TO find ourselves transported by engine con-
structed at Ne.castle-on Tyne, and driven by an
artisan from Liverpool, at the rate OF twenty miles
an hour. II is not easy to describe the impression
produced By the axta position af these refoemsnt
cf art and science with the wildness of the country
where one sees the frightened deer start from it
lair at the snorting OF the ponderous machine, and
the appearance OF the snakel.ke train which fol-
lows it,
The first American railway was opened for pas
sebgers the last day of 1879. According TO the
reports cole ected and given in detail in the york
already quoted, it appears that, in 1919, after an
interval OF just twenty years, there were in act AL
operation {, ,565 miles OF railway in the States Tue
cost of construction and plant Of this system Of rail-
ways appear by the same authority TO have been
G53 5s6 sse5, being at the average rate Of cs,l29
per mile.
The reports collected in DR. Lardner's work come
up to the middle Of lSig. We have, however, be-
fore US, documents which supply data TO a more re-
cent period. and have computed from them the fol-
loving table, exhibiting the number OF miles Of
railway in actual operation in the United STATES,
the capital exp< nded in their construction and plant
ard the length Of the lines which are are in process
Of construction, but not yet completei:-
RIiirrys
Railrays Co,i ef prsi,cisd Cost
an COnsrucf'a dad an per
oJsraiioa aud plant progress Eaii.
Eastern States including Miles. 4 Mks
Main II.t