Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-03-25
The rrue Inventor of the Locomotive

On RedclAy Creek-a tributary to the Chris
tine, running into it parallel with the Brandy
wine, near the city Of Wilmington-a number of
mills have seated themselves, attracted by it's
swift current, amid scenery Of sleeps and rapids
comparable to that on the Lehigh, about Mauch
Chunk or these the most interesting tradi-
tons attach to the Falkland Mills. Their
name may remind the reader of the first novel
OF the late Lord Lytton-FdItldnd, written in
1s25-but it was given to the spot long before
in designation OF primitive settlement, Faulk's
Land. The association with this site is that Of
Oliver Evans, the true inventor ofthe locomo-
tive, who here worked and dreamed in mill en-
riched with his contriyances.
Evans, like Fitch, is one OF the worlds lost
renowns. Had the Legislators OF his time pos
sessed sagacity enough to endow his inventions
the advantages Of steam-transport would have
been anticipated by several years, and the glory
would have radiated from the Delaware River
instead Of from the Hudson. His design for a
locomotive was sent to England in 1887, dispu-
ting priority with the " "steam-wagops" OF James
Watt. He built steamboats, at Philadelphia in
1902 and 1908. and ran them successfully, ante
dating by five years the Clermont Of Robert Full
tou-Fulton, whom people are beginning to re-
gard, with Mr.. Stone, author Of the recent His
tory Of Net1 York, as the man who has received
the greatest quantity Of undeseryed praise of
all who ever lived, Oliver Evans, born in 175E
Of respectable family, was a miller at FAulk.
land, where his smaller inventions were first put
in use. The plank Just under the apex of thu
roof, which he used to retire 10 as his private
study was shown until 1867, when the old mil
was burned. Up among the swallows, as he la,
on the board-to which, as Beecher expresses it
he brought the softnees"-the children of hi
genius were conceived and delivered The mil
was full of his labor-saving machines, which
clattered to the babbling Redclay. One of hi
notions was the mill elevator" Gan improve
ment of something he had seen in MARSHALL
mill at Stanton), by which grain was raised l.
the top Of the building in buckets set along
revolving belt which passed from the roof to tn
bottom, distributing the wheat with spouts Il
the bolt. This was set up, by contribution
among the millers, at Shipley's great mill il
Wilmington, and also introduced into his own
where his other inventions of the " conveyer
and the hopper-boy attracted the stares o
the rival millwrights. Poor Oliver was known t
the fat millers of this neighborhood as to tn
inoonvenient person who was always wanting til
loan Of q thousand dollars to carry out new in
Vention. The thinking men among ther
sagely argued thathis improvement would benz
fit the consumer, by increasing the supply {
-four and making it cheap-a clear detriment
tho interests OF capital. Then Oliver plunge
desperately into his idea of steam motion losin
the faint vestiges of his repute for wit and die
poor and heart keRrtbroken in 1919, the hero q
an unwritten tragedy. The happy hours of hi
life were the hours on the dusty plank in til
mill-gable at Faulkland-From WILMINGTON AN
ITS INDusTRIEs, in 1le april number of Lippir
COTS Magazine