The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-05-09
Ihs True Inventor of the locomotive.


On Redclay Creek-a tributary to the
Christine. lunnmg into it parallel with the
Brandvwine, near the city Of Wilmington
-anunlber of mills have seated themselves,
attracted by its swift torrent, amid scenery
of sleeps and rapids comparable to that on
the Lehigh about Mauch Chunk. OF these
the most interesting traditions attach to
the Falkland Mills. Their name may re-
mind the reader of the first novel of the
late Lord Lytton-Fdutktaad, written III
1S2S-but it was given to the spot long be-
fore in designation of primitive settle
ment. Faulk's Land. The association with
+his sipbt is that of Oliver Evans, the true
inventor of the locomotive, who here
worked and dreamed in a mill enriched
with his contrivances.
Evans. like Fitch, is one of the world S.
lost renowns Had the legislators of his
time possessed sagacity enough to endow
his inventions, the advantages OF steam
TRANSPORT would have been anticipated by
several wears, and the g loTy would have ra-
dated from the Delaware River instead of
from the Hudson. His design for a loco
motive was sent to England III 1857, dis
putting priority with the ''steam wagons"
of las. Watt. He built steam boats at
Philadelphia in 1902 and 1903, and ran
them successfully, antedating by five years
the Clermont of Robert FulJon-Fulton,
MIR. Stone. author of the recent HtSt0ry Of
Neao York, as the man who has received
the greatest quantity of undeserved praise
of all who ever lived. Oliver Evans, born
in 1865. of a respectable family, was mil
Ier at Falkland, where his smaller inven-
tions were first put in use. The plank
Just under the apex of the roof, which he
used to retire to as his private study, was
shown until 1868, when the old mill was
i aS no
lay on the board-tO which as Beecher eX-
presses it, he brought the softness' s''-the
children of his genius were conceived and
delivered. The mill was full of his labor
saving machines, which clattered to the
babbino Redclay One of his notions was
the mill elevator (an improvement of
something he had seen in MarshalIs S mill
at Stanton by which grain was raised to
the top of the building i'll buckets set along
a revolving belt which passed from the roof
to the bottom, distributing the wheat with
spouts to the bolt This was set up, by
contributions among the millers, at Ship
ley's great mill in Wilmington, and also
introduced into his own, where his other
inventions of the ''cOnveyer' and chopper
boy attracted the staTeS of the rival mill
wrights. Poor Oliver was known to the
fat millers of this neighbOrhood as the in
convenient person who was always want
ing the loan of thousand dollars TO carry
out new invention. The thinking men''
among them SagelyargueG hat his improve
mentS would benefit the consumer, by in
cre;tsing the supply Of flour and making it
cheap-a clear detriment to the interests
Of capital Then Oliver plunged dcsper-
ately into his idea of steam motion, losing
the faint vestiges OF his repute for wit, and
died poor and heartbrokcn in 1918, the he
ro of an unwritten tragedy. The happy
hours Of his life were the hours on the dusty
plank in the mill-gable at Faulkland.-
From Wilmington and its Industries, in
the April number of LippiHcott's Ihogazlne.