The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1865-06-29
The First western Locomotive.
To the Editor of The .AHeghanian :

L " tAo CUttcI " Il nc %1tC6yhtu7ttUH
AS notice of the first locomotive built
west of the Alleghanies has been going
the newspaper rounds, permit me to tell you
something about it. The first engine
built was called the "Pittsburg," not the
"Mountaiueer ;" and 1 am surprised at
a Johnstown editor, who [ would most
cordially advise to submit his Uranium for
surgical examination in order to develop
It's bump OF comparativeuess, when he
says it was little larger than common
sized tea-kettle. Now. [ have never
seen common sized tea-kettle for family
use weigh over four tons, yet this first en-
gine weighed eight tons and seven hun
dred. When the machine had been con-
structed, it was shipped on board the u.
S. barque "JosephiRe," Capt. Henry No
BILE master-as noble a mariner and as
seaworthy man as ever braved the dan
gers of the "raging canal" only he did
not understand the use of mushrooms
In good time it arrived at the old Good
Intent packet slip, away down in Johns
town. That day, over thirty years ago,
there was no small excitement in Johns
town. People gathered in from town and
country, ana it was astonishing to see the
quantity Of gingerbread and tobacco then
and there demolished. A great many
conjectures were ahoat. Some knew moth
ing whatever as to the nature of the Gan
imal ;" others knew all about it. One
gentleman, from the interior, offered
description. F'rhese," he said, pointing
to the truck wheels, care just the same as
the wheels Of our country wagons, and
the driver steers them round the bends :;
and here (showing the polished cylinder
heads) are It's eyes; and here (opening
the furnace door, is its mouth, where they
feed it with fire and water" "Fire and
water y exclaimed an old gentleman from
the Fatherland; "by sure, dat's bad news
for me, for just sowed ten acres of oats,
and if many cattle like dis comes along, [
Dees a smashed man-dat's certain"
While these conjectures were going on,
a stout team of horses came and hauled
the "animal" to the weigh-scales, where
three men took charge of it. One OF
these gathered fuel and made fire IN it ;
another took an oil-can and CREASED it all
over; while the third went around feeling
its joints. heard them call the FIRST one
Joe Parks. who | am sorry to say lately
met with an untiniely death by the ex-
plosion of one of these machines near
Wilmore; another George Harris, not
| Bosted and the third Joseph Bridges
In short time, the animal began to
fz, SO the men slipped up en- the tender,
and slipped on an open car behind. At
| ter two or three puffs Of steam-in those
| days engines hadn't learned to whistle
| off we started. There were several off
GERS and big-bugs on board the car with
me, and | learned some of their names
Sylvester Welsh, head engineer, Viii
son Mott, supervisor, Sam Jones, paymas-
ter, Rathburne, clerk, Moylan Fox, Mil
nor Roberts, and Jimmy Clark, commits
| sioner.
1t was 10 time till We had dashed thro'
| Corktown to the foot of Plane No. l.
| Here the "animal' was tied to big rope
and hauled up the plane to hole in the
wall, called a tunnel, when several of the
passengers got off saying they would go
and take look at Mother Ream's chick
ems. They went, and came back smack
ing their lips, from which [ infer it was
something else besides chickens they were
after We got through the tunnel safely
Said the little man who felt the joints of
| the machine, "Shp is getting warm-we
must give her drink and cool her down"
Whereupon they put leather tube in her
| throat, and suffered her to drink most
| copiously. Some of the bystanders caught
the idea, and stepped over to a neighbor-
ing inn and did so likewise One man,
when he came back, went up to the engi-
neer and said, "Mister, please tell me,
how is it this darn critter knows the road
so well, and never was here before ?''-
"Oh, easy enough" replied the engineer;
''it always carries Travellers Guide about
itself" Off again, until we came to Mr.
Michael Bracken's. Here we halted to
view the big viaduct, as we'll to admire
the construction of Mr.. BIS b2r-room.-
Took look at Horse Shoe Bend and other
euriositiss, and again started, stopping
not till we got to the water station, Mr.
George Murray's Halfway House. Mr.
Murray, pleasant Scotchmau, was stan
ding at the door, and invited all hands in.
Bottles and decanters of all kinds were
there, and In a side room were. boiled
turkey, goose, chicken, and ham, Thro'
courtesy, | tasted the contents of one of
the bottles, just to see what the other fell
lows were drinking; and l also, without
the assistance of any one, procured unto
myself the possession of one of the drivers |
of noble goose, which I also tasted
After spending longer and pleasanter
time than would be allowed at the Logan |
House in Altoona, we started again. Said |
one of the fellows, said he-"When we
stop again, let's stop for the night