Nebraska advertiser., 1860-05-31

HCFNH
history Of Anglo-American C~ivilizaaon
for every step is in The path of empire,
and no de6le Of the Ridge and the Alle-I
ghany pursued by the theodolite is with
out some stirring memory of the past.
la this new land of ours, II would be
difficult TO find a section so clustering
with the legends and recollections of
another day, as the devious passage from
the Chesapeake to the Ohio. Here we
follow in the track Of the youthful Wash
ington and the obstinate Braddock, we pass
over spots endeared TO the man who com
manded in later days under the Pater
Patria, and we at last reach the hunting
grounds of Logan, the red man eloquent.
But, if turning from the poetic and his
torical suggestions of the Road, the writer
should essay to speak worthily of the vast
skill and enterprise Represented by il, of
the difficulties that had to be surmOunted
in its construction, of the gigantic forces
it now employs, aud the immense capital
it calls into requisition, he would find
himself overwhelmed by a mass of facts
and statistics, the proper arrangement of
which would require a work Of 40 small
dimensions. A most valuable and N
tertaining volume has, indeed, been print
ed for private circulation, containing a
full account of the origin, progress and
completion of the ROAD volume which
does not yield in interest to the history OF
a new Commonwealth.
If I were asked what made the great
est impression on my own mind in con-
nection with the Baltimore and Ohio
Railway. / should hesitate whether 10 say
the singular triumph it displays Of human
skill over material obstacles, or the amaz-
ing order and regularity which pervade
and direct all its complex operations. For
the first W hundred miles Of its course
the Road seems to be a scientific chase
after the head waters of the Potomac
River. Pursuing for some distance the
brawling Patapsco, it strikes the bolder
stream only to run it fairly down through
the magnificent pass of HarPer's Ferry,
where leaving II for a time, the pursuer
makes across the country infull career 70
intercept it again a it rolls through the
beautiful meadows neal the ruins OF Fort
Frederick and stretches further back to-
wards its source, a flashing thread of
silver, among the hills towards Cumber-
land. There are points. when looking
out of the window of the car, the visitor
fancies he must soon reach the head
spring, and see the small fountain whence
/ comes the river which is to sweep in
maiesty by the hallowed tomb of Mount
Vernon, but the %interposing mountain is
turned by a graceful curve, the gorge re-
cedes as we advance, and the bright Po-
tomac still appears in the distant prospect,
leaping and laughing as before. The
river seems running sup stream with
astonishing CELEBRITY, and, to quote the
familiar lines with more than ordinary
appositeness, becomes
'Fino by degrees and beautifully less"
This engineering chase grows most excit-
ing in the narrow and tortuous ravine
where the Potomac has dwindled into the
Savage River, and where the road is
carried for more than fourteen miles up
a grade of lie feet to the
mile. The lonely grandeur of the scene
at this point is Undesirable. The dark
masses of forest on the mountain side (:
the lofty frs and chestnuts in the deep
valley seeking yainly to lift their topmost
branches to the level of the road the
intense blue of the sky as contrasted with
the sombre tints Of surrounding objects /;
the rivulet far below, seen only in fearful
glimpses now and then through the dense
foliage,-all these make up a picture of
d~esolate magniicence which only the
hi"hest art could transfer to canvas. And
still the awe of the place but raises our
admiration of the genius and energy
which constructed at an elevation so dizzy
and through a region apparently SO i'm
practicable an iron way along which the
most ponderous trains move in safety al
most with the speed of a bird. Here
was a solid road, far grander than those
of old Rome, by means of which the tall
Alleghanies were more effectually re-
moved than were the Pyrenees in the con-
temptation of the French monarch; in
deed, the mountain range which once
raised such a barrier before the emigrant
on his westward march, has for all pur-
poses Of travel, melted into the plain,
and where in former times the toiling
coach labored heavily to climb the summit,
from sunrise to sunrise, the locomotive
now glides rapidly up the heights
zone thrilling hour and then away"
The sense of perfect security which
is felt by the traveller even in the giddy
ascent Of the Allegheny along Savage
River, was heightened in our case by a
furious storm, which burst upon us about
two-thirds of the way up from Piedmont
TO Altamont. We were seated on the
fender or rcow-catcher," watching the
majestic marshallIng of the thunder clouds
over the mountain tops, and enjoying to
the full the excitement of the moment,
when suddenly the wind blew a terrific
gust, filling the air with dust and dry
leaves, and threatening to. carry us indi-
vidually over the precipice. The train
was stopped, and we sought shelter in
the comfortable car, which then moved on
through the driving foods that continued
to descend for half an hour, forming
catarac:s on every side of US. But the
water ran off harmlessly from the solid
track, and our engine bid defiance to the
tempest, which hurled huge branches of