Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1868-12-02
The Work of One Mechanic.

mechanic, has seldom received more r rel
bic demonstration than in book now before
the public in new edition. How thorough
y railways and locomotive engines have rev.
olutionized the land traffic, transportation
and travel of the whole civilized world with
in the last forty years need not be told, for
1t is within the knowledge OF every one
Still there are considerable numbers who have
no adequate idea of the tremendous magui
tude of that revolution. 1t is but thirty
eight years since the Liverpool and Manches-
ter railway was opened. by trial trip with
the first rude attempt at locomotive for pas
senger travel, and yet there are now not less
than a hundred thousand miles of railway
track in operation. Ofthis enormous length
ly larger proportion than any other country, as
great indeed as nearly all the others com
bined. But the stat istics of the English
roads furnish the readicst means for popular
Illustration Of the vast change and the in
crease iii transportation and travel within the
period named. In 1866 there were in Great
Britain between thirteen and fourteen thou
sand miles Of railway, requiring 8, l25 loco
motives, 10, 22S passenger car arrIages, and
242. 947 burden cars and trucks, for moving
goods and merchandise a nd all that we in
this country dsnominate as freight" In
that year the nun Der of passengers carried
over the Britain railways, amounted to the
enormous aggregate of three hundred and
thirteen millions six hundred and ninety nine
Thousand two hundred and sixty eight or a
number of passengers equal to one third of
the population of the globe. The aggre
gate distance run by the passenger and
| freight trains, was l42, ,S07, S53 miles. This
is probably not more than quarter of the
whole amount of railway done in the coun-
tries where they are in use.
Having made this very brief reference TO
the extent of the railway system, and the
revolution it has brought about, We may
trace back the brief but wonderfully rapid
course of its progress, until we find at the
other end of the line poor boy engaged in
the coarsest manuel labor, at the mouth of
coal mine, who in the year 1900, at the age
| of eighteen, did not know the letters of the
alphabet. This boy was Geo Stephenson,
the father of the present railway system
He was the son of a fireman, tending en-
CINE, near New Castle on the Tyne. He
had been successfully herd boy, coal picker,
| horse driver, assistant fireman, ''plugman,
and brakesman. before he had acquired the
| first rude clements of school education. II
was the ambition of his youthful lite to be
come an engine man, and to reach this, to
him, proud elevation, he devoted all the
patient industry, the persevering appica-
ton, and the intelligent inquiry that boy
so creumstanced could bring to the work.
! The steam engine he had to deal with was
a stationary engine, used to raise the coal
from the miue and rude contrivance com
pared with the grand stationary steam en-
| gines of the present day. But the uncul-
tured, untutored, but thoughtful and ainbi-
tious boy, made that rough machine the
study of his young lie. He closely watched
its every motion. trying to trace it back to
the moving cause, and try to understand
the use and necessity for every part. To ia
miliarize himself still further with its con-
struction, it was his custom once week
when all the other work kmen were enjoying
their holiday, to take it apart and clean and
was one of those early specimens, moved
partly by the force ofsteam and partly by
! the pressure of the atmosphere. In his con-
slant inquiries on the subject he had heard
of the new and superior engines of Roulton
and Watt, and these stimulated his eager
desire to know all about steam machines
But none of the Watt engines were within
| hi reach, and he found the only way to get
a further knowledge of them was by means
of books. This was great shock to him,
| for he could not read To master this diff
Guilty was his first great task. Attending
his engine the whole of the dag, he began to
take lessons at poor village school at the
rate of three pence a week. Studying his
lessons at night and looking at them as OPP
portunity offered during the day, it took
him two or three years to acquire an ordi-
nary knowledge of reading. writing and
arithmetic. Meanwhile he was constantly
gaining ground as steady, intelligent, in
dustrious and temperate workman. Before
he was of age he occupied q higher rank
than his poor father. Not satisfied with
his meagre wages he made at his regular
employment at the mine. he made him
self handy at other kinds of work, and In
the intervals of his mining duty he men
ded the shoes of his comrades and their fam
lilies. He then got to making shoes, and soon
learned to make them well. His own clock
having been damaged BY accident, he took
it to pieces and repaired it, and then added
clock and watch cleaning and repairing to
his other resources. He even cut out the
clothes of his fellow workmen, and when
all other means of doing extra work failed,
he put in his spare moments by unloading
ballast from vessels that had come for coal
This gave him money for school, for books
and for tools and while he was carrying on
his studies of the steam engine, modelling
machines and contrivances of his own, and
advancing in grade as workman. A pun
ping engine In the neighborhood having