Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-12-10
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.

from Washington to Baltimore in 1874,
and 1901 after extended to New York,
and very rapidly throughout the country
and the world, till at length the earth
is girdled, and time and space are lite
rally annihilated. The author of this
wonderful discovery still lives, in the
enjoyment Of green old age, rich in
honors and the substantial rewards of
his genius.
Twenty-Five years ago ocean steam
navigation was a new thing, and its
practicability had just been demonstrate
ed. True, years before, a little steamer
known as the Savannah, had crossed
the Atlantic, but her daring feat had
long been forgotten, new perhaps, to
be recalled, had not the Western World
been walked up one morning by the as
tonishing news that the Sirius, a small
English built steamer, had arrived from
London. The Sirius was followed by
the Great Western-and thcnceforth
ocean steam navigation became a fixed
fact. Before, there had been no steam
ships, only steambouts-useful craft on
lakes and rivers, and other inland
waters-but the idea that steam could
be made available. for navigating the
ocean had long been secuted in high
places. Twenty-Five years ago, there
were no steamships of war, but ocean
steam navigation having been demon
strated as practicable, the nations
ceased to buildtsailing vessels for war
purposes,a and rapidly substituted steam
| ers.
twenty-five years ago most Of the in
ventions of agricultural machinery,
which now so tighten the labors of the
farmer, while they increase his gains,
were unknown. Who ever heard of the
reaping machine till it made a sensation
at the London Exposition in 1882 1t
must have had a brief existence before
that, for it was sent, q perfected engine,
from Chicago to London; but how few
| had ever heard Of it, and now, who
would think Of working even a twenty
acre farm without its aid?
Twenty-Five years ago there were rail-
roads with locomotive engines, but they
date only o few years anterior. The
writer of this well remembers reading
the account of Mr.. Stephenson's first
success in England, and he has not for
gotten when the first line vast put in
operation in this country. Twenty
years g railroad connection between
the Hudson river and Lake Erie was
scarcely completed, the Erie and the
Hudson river lines were hardly thought
of, and in the great West, where the
railroad may be said to have achieved
its greatest triumphs, it had no exist
ence at all. If the last twenty-five
wears did not witness the origin Of the
railroad, it has seen its wonderful ex-
p%ansion, until this country and Western
Europe have been converted into gigan-
tic gridirons by the crossing and inter-
lacing of iron bands, and oil other
modes of land travel have become near
ly obsolete, and a five-milc journey in
an old-fashioned stage coach is more to
be dreaded than q hundred miles in a
rail car.
Twenty-Five years ago California was
unexplored and uninhabited, ave by
Indians and a few Mexican Adventures
and outlaws, and its wealth of precious
ores was a well kept secret; and the
other gold-producing States and Terri
tories-Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Mon
tana and Idaho-now so familiar to
every ear, had no existence, save rs
they formed parts of the great unex-
plored fax West Of the Rocky Mountain
r. - -
Twenty-Five years ago a hundred
thousand dollars was regarded as a
magnificent fortune, to which, though
many aspired, few attained; and the
number in the metropolis of the Western
World whose estates reached this figure
could be counted on ones fingers.
There are more men in New York to-day
whose annual incomes reach one hun
dred thousand dollars, than there were
twenty-five years ago of those whose
entire possession amounted to as much.
Twenty-Five years ago there were, posi-
bly,, half O dozen m%illionaires in the
whole country. To-day they may be
counted by hundred.
Twenty-Five years ago the population
of the Empire State was less than two
and q half millions. To-day it cannot
be less than FIVE millions.
Twenty-Five years ago the population
of the entire country was only seventeen
millions. To-day it is nearly forty mil
lions.
Twenty-Five years ago there were
twenty-eight States in the Union. To-
day there are thirty-six, with half n
dozen more to be added within a few
years.
The world moves; but such wonder
full strides as it has made within the
last twenty-five years former generations
never saw. Every department of life
has felt and seeu its accelerated motion;
and it is almost enoug to make one feel
giddy to look back over the last quarter
of a century and witness the rapid sue
cession Of discoveries in art and science,
and the wonderful increase in wealth
and population.-Antiqudry in Scientific
american.