The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-10-13

Ii'o Sicdt SAlIcl!St, anu us we nave al
ready seen, had been at much trouble in
getting it put together; but their trouble
was only just begun-they had made no
provision to supply the scgeechng and
painting monster with water, and had to
serve it with this indispensable fluid much
after the manner of watering a horse from
the farmers springs and wells along the
road. 1t was several days making the first
trip. We, in these days of rapid transit,
may smile at this, the first effort to intro
ducc steam power upon railroads, but we
must not forget that the pioneers in this
work were energetic and sensible men, and
that it required much nerve to enable them
to engage i'll this enterprise. This was the
first passen ger railroad in the United States
probably the first in the world upon which
locomotive steam engines were used, and
we....ow much to these men whose public
spirit and enterprise led them to take the
iDitiatory steps in this matter.
Some of the locomotives afterwards used
on this road were built in New Castle
These locomotives were doubtless very poor
specimens and would be considered of but
little use ut the present time; but poor as
they were, they were an Improvement upon
horse power. There were no heavy grades
on the road, and they made the trip from
river to river in about an hour; and we
have been told by those employed on the
road that they could have made it much
quicker, but were limited to that time for
fear of accidents if they went faster The
cars first used on this road were quite as
different from those in use at present as
the locomotives then used were from those
of more modern times. The doors were at
the sides of the cars, and each Car had sew
eral of them. They would hold ten or
twelve persons, and We're not in the early
days of the road accompanied by conduc-
tor, the captains and clerks of the steam
boats at either end taking the tickets and
attending to this part of the business of
the road
The business of the road began to de-
cline rapidly after the construction of the
p, w. B. Railroad, and the two COM
panies, by mutual consent, were united
into one. the business on both lines being
transacted under the name of the P, w.
& B. Railroad Company. This company
continued line of steamboats, from Balti-
more to Frenchtown, and also ran the cars
from the latter place to New Castle as late
as the year Of 1853.
The railroad from Wilmington to New
Castle was completed in 1854, and during
that season the company continued to oper-
ate the old road and carried passengers to
Wilmington. But only few passengers
going to Cape May patronized the road,
and the company discontinued its use after
that time.
Much of the bed of this old road is now
under cultivation. When the company
discontinued its use and took up the rails,
the farmers resumed the use of their land
and grass and the waving grain took the
place of the iron track of the iron horse,
aud the quiet of agricultural pursuits and
occupations succeeded the noisy activity
and hustle incident to the operation of this
great national thoroughfare. Strange and
crude as this first attemptat locomotion by
the use of steam power was, as compared
with the roads and locomotives now in use,
the efforts of this company to transmit in
telligencc by means of signals along the
line of the road were stranger still.
The first rude attempts at telegraphing
were by means of black and white flags,
which the operators raised upon poles
twenty five or thirty feet high. There were
six of these poles or stations along the
road, and when the train started from
either end of it, the operator or tlagman at
the station next to and in sight of the NOV
ing train, hoisted white flag, and so did
all the others along the road. The white
flags indicated that the train had started
and might be expected to arrive in due
time. If the locomotive failed to move
which it sometimes did, the operator hosted
black flag. Other positions and combina-
lions of the flags indicated other things
and as it was only the work of moment
to raise these flags, Intelligence could be
transmitted from one end of the road to
the other in the space of two minutes.
IpS of t1.,nS frap
the size of peach baskets, covered with
white and black muslin, which were hoisted
on the Court House steeplo at New Castle.
These could be seen for several miles. 1t
was the duty of the Geographic operators
to pass along the track after each train,
and fasten down the tire that was used on
the top of the wooden sills that were at
first used i'll the construction of the road.
The spikes nearest the ends of these bars
would get loose sometimes, and the iron
bars had an ugly fashion of elevating them
selves and causing trouble to the train.
These erections of the ends of the bars
were called snakes heads, which at a dis
lance they very strongly resembled.
The company i'll its palmy and prosper
GUS days ran two trains each way daily.
They used pine wood exclusively on the
steamboats, and locomotives. This wood
was obtained from the lower counties of
the Eastern Shore, and many small vessels
were employed in transporting it to French
town. AS many as twenty five or thirty of
these vessels were often at Frenchtown at
the same time; this. with the arrival and
departure of two steamboats, daily, made
the town a place of business and import
ance. The steamboats, George Washington
and Charles Carroll, which ran between
Frenchtown and Baltimore, were large and
substantial boats, and probably would COM
pare favorably with boats of modern con-
QUILP.