The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1880-12-30
RAILROADS I'm TEEE UNITED
STATES EEFIY YEARS
AGO.

persons travelling on business.
Many steamboat and almost innum=
cradle stage routes are given, but
there is mention of only three rail- |
roads, and we suppose these to be all
that were in existence ut the time.
The Quincy Railway, which was
opened for use September 16, 1926,
and the first work Of the kind in the
United States, extended from the
Quincy granite quarries to navigable
waters, a distance of three miles, for
the transportation of stone to Bos-
ton. The book describes the manner
of construction of the road, which is
too long to copy here, though it
would be interesting, and especially
so TO railroad men.
The Mauch Chunk road led from
near the coal mines to the Lehigh
River, along the side of the noun
tain, q distance of nine miles. The
rails on this road were of wood, four
by six inches, covered by an iron
plate three-eighths Of an inch thick.
Strangers were carried up in pleasure
wagons, like Dearborns, the average
rise of the way being Is inches in
100 feet. Quoting from the book:
sin coming down, however, by their
own gravity, the carriages would, if
permitted, move with immense rap
idity. In 1927 they we're restricted
to a rate not exceeding eight miles
IN hour. It is said they had previ-
ously gone fifteen and twenty" At
ter describing the construction of
the cars, the author says: "The cars
may be stopped Immediately by a
long lever which brings strong bear
ers against two of the wheels and
causes great friction. The guide to
every brigade of eleven cars holds q
rope attached to all the levers. A
curious machine called a brake is
also used" The "6rake" was prob
ably as much or more of a curiosity
at that day as is the Westinghouse
OF the Longhbridge of the present.
Each loaded car was connected with
an empty one by a rope passing
around a drum so as to draw it up.
Neither Of these roads had been
constructed for the transportation
of passengers beyond q mere curios-
ity ride. The Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad was then in course of con-
%struction for passenger as well as
freight transportation. Again we
quote: "One of the principal objects
that will attract the attention of the
traveller who spends a little time in
Baltimore, is the great railroad, com
menced under such f~attering pros
poets, to connect the city with the
Ohio River, cars with sails some
times go at the rate of twenty-five
miles an hour, and can move within
four points of the wind. About
twelve miles of it were completed in
1929, and various cars in operation
upon it, moved by steam, and wind.
The route from Baltimore to the Po-
tomac, sixty miles, will have but a
single summit, requiring stationary
power; and over the route up the
Potomac valley, to the coal mines in
Allegheny county, without another
in all, a distance of $50 miles-a
thing unprecedented in Europe. The
work will be executed to EIIicott's
Mills in 1880. The stranger will
find a passage of a few miles very
novel and interesting"
The work from which we have
quoted says that some of the cars
were moved by wind and some by
steam. In point of fact the road was
originally planned for horse cars on
ly, but the success of steam Iocomo-
tives in England prompted the effort
to use steam here, and in 1880 q
locomotive was built by Mr.. Peter
Cooper, in Baltimore, and put upon
the road, and aided the horses in
moving the trains between Baltimore
and Ellicott's Mills. 1t is probable
that wind was not in general use
as a motor for railroad trains any
more then than now, and yet it must
be confessed that wind is expended
even at this day in securing bust
ness for the roads.
Such was the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, the only one transporting
passengers in this country fifty years
ago. We refer to its present .coldi
ton in comparison with what it was
then, to show the material advance
and progress of the country. That
road, though not the greatest in the
country, either in volume of bust
ness or miles operated by it, now
controls and operates 1,455 miles,
and instead Of a single locomotive to
move its trains it numbers them by
hundreds. Its income for 1879 was
nearly sixty per cent. of the entire
receipts Of the U. S. Government for
1880, being for the road $l4, 193, $50,
and for the o. S. Government in
1880, $24,844,116 from all sources,
customs, sales Of public lands, sales
and dividends of bank stock, dc.
While making this comparison it
may be proper to mention that the
income Of the New York Central
Railroad for 1879 was $2S, 1876. 583
or about twelve per cent. more than
the income Of the Government dur
ing any one of the several years near
fifty years ago; and that of the Penn
sylyania road for 1879 was $34, 620,-
277, Or mole than forty per cent.
greater than the Government income
at the time indicated. The thirteen
miles of passenger railroads between
Baltimore and EIIicott's Mills, che
wonder and admiration of the tray
eler Of fifty years ago, have grown
to 84,233 miles, and the 1906 pas-
sengers that passed over that line
from January L, to September /,