Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1871-03-04

| "tUoA HAAoNA, ~ S~Ae oNoOuAo VI VAAa
first trip Of locomotive on this con
tinent, says: As I placed my hand 0,
the throttle, ! was undecided whether
would move slowly or with a fair de-
gree Of speed; but, believed that th<
road would prove safe, and preferring
if we did go down, to go down hand
somely and without any evidence o
timidity, I started with considerable
velocity, passed the curve over the
creek safely, and was soon out of hear.
ing of the vast assemblage. At the
end of two or three miles, / reversed
the valve and returned without acct.
dent, having thus made the first rail
road trip by locomotive ever made on
the western hemisphere"
RA1LEoADs.-The Baltimore and
Ohio railroad, with its branches, furn.
ishes the only railway facilities enjoy.
ed by West Virginia, with one small
exception. 1t is to the enterprise and
invincible determination of this COM
pany, and not to aid from the State Of
Virginia, that the partial development
of the resources Of the northern coun-
ties of the new State is due.
The construction Of this road was
commenced on the fourth of July,
1928; it was opened to Ellicott's Mills,
twelve miles from Baltimore, May %,
1880; its opening to Washington was
celebrated in August, 1884. West
ward its construction was pushed for
many weary years, through and over
mountains, across yawning abysses and
over wide rivers, moving now with
celebrity on the surface of level grades,
and then with progress labored and
slow, boring through the solid rock,
until at last the waters of the Ohio
and Of the Chesapeake were united,
;:Ae Alleghanies were surmounted, and
Shrill paans to the triumph of steam in
ntercontinental transportation were
screamed by thousand Threats from
the seaboard to the mountain SUBMITS,
and from the vine-clad banks of the
Ohio to the cane fields on the alluvia!
plains Of Louisiana.
1t was one of the first railroad en-
tcrprises undertaken in the United
States, as it is one of the most extern
sive. The length of the main stem,
from Baltimore to Wheeling, is $40
miles; that of the Washington branch
81 miles Other branches increase its
total length to 500 miles. Of sidings
and second main track there are built
nearly 800 miles more. The original
cost Of the work is thirty-one millions
of dollars.
Its heaviest permanent grade on the
eastern declivity Of the Alleghanies is
ll6 feet permile for II miles; its great
est altitude, 1920 feet. 1t has II re-
pair stations, 80 repair shops, SO water
stations, 80 telegraph stations and 2
lines of wires, IA tunnels, 1854 feet
of tunnelling, 1876 bridges on the main
stem, l5,OSS feet Of bridging, about
1000 officers and employees, Its an
nual income, in good times, has been
five millions of dollars.
The road-bed is probably superior to
any line Of considerable length in
America. It is rock ballasted, and
laid with heavy rail STRONGLY secured.
The first rail used weighed fifty five
pounds per lineal yard, for which rail
of seventy five and eighty five pounds
was substituted, and recently it has
been increased to one hundred pounds,
The scenery of West Virginia along
the line of this road has been the as
constituent and admiration of travel
lers from all quarters of the globe.
From Harper's Ferry. where the
road has broken a rough passage
through the frowning mountains Of the
Blue Ridge, to the crossing of the Po-
tomac again before Cumberland, a dis
lance Of ninety-eight miles, the road
passes through the eastern section Of
western Virginia, mingled scene Of
rough ravines, river rapids, widening
plains, and mountain barriers, which
push forth encroachingly upon the
river, compelling a detour not made
by the stream without a noisy yet I'M
awaiting murmur,
After run through Maryland Of
little more than twenty miles, a corner
of Hampshire county, in West Vir.
ginia, is struck at New Creek and Pied
mont, the terminus of the first division
of the road and site of extensive ma.
chine shops. From this point rise o.
about nineteen hundred feet is accom-
plished in seventeen miles, the steepest
railroad grade in the country. Passing
the glade lands of the summit, which
are in Maryland, the traveller is agar
introduced into West Virginia just al
he commences the western descent o
the Alleganies, and views a beautiful
panorama of mountain peaks pilet
upon receding mountains. Some thu
most sublime Of railroad scenery is il
I view; the passage of the Cheat river
the winding along the almost perpen
dicular sides of the mountain, wit
the chocolate. ,olored stream far dow
at is base, and a similar range on tn
opposite bank, presenting to distan
observer a scene aptly represented b
walk furrowed around the spire of
towering steeple. Cheat river is cross
ed by viaduct based upon abutment
and pier of solid freestone. A mil
further westward, Kyer's run, 76fee
. deep, is crossed by an embankmcnt {