Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-06-24
Railroad Progress OF Fifty iearS.

Railroad Progress OF Fit! io!fS.
Progress, so far AZ ,elst as it ai-
plies to this continent, seems to run
il cycles. Il was Of course 20 haze
been expected that during tie great
national convul5ion, Il few years
ago. the arts Of war should receive
an impetus to ;he lie ,lect OF al!
others. This result practically re-
duced all known appliances of des-
truction to q grade scarcely above
the rude implements Of warfare used
by ancient uatioLS. This was sue
ceeded by what appears 10 have been
an electrical era, when not only the
discovery of tie telephone and pho
nosraph filled with awe unspeakable
the most sausuine student OF phil
osophical research, but electric light
illumined the dim possibilities OF
the future and the duplex system of
telegraphy was perfected, whereby
the business of the rapidly extending
lines could, if necessary, be increased
four-fold.
Now railroad building and i'm
proved equipments seem to be the
leading idea underlying national
progress. Steel rails are coming into
almost universal use, and giant loco
motives which can measure off their
seventy miles per hour, are demon
strating their serviceability in in
creased speed and capacity far be-
yond what was deemed possible
limits year OF two ago. Electri-
city here, too, is now about to step
in and dispute the realm of steam
as motor, and any day we may re-
ceive such verifcation of its adapt
ability as will wholly relieve this
tried servant from the mighty labors
it now performs.
It is interesting, while tracing the
steady progress of this great power
of the age, to note the small begin
ming from which it sprung, only
about half a century ago. The first
railroad in the country was built in
1926. It connected the Quincy
(Mass.) granite quarries with tide
water. 1t was only an experimental
venture, designed solely for the
traffic of the stone company, but its
construction was hindered and de-
layed by the utterances of such con-
servatives as Chancellor Livingston,
who had been associated with his
brother-in-law, Robert Fulton, in
the application of steam to vessels,
and who fifteen years before, wrote as
follows regarding the feasibility OF
such projects:
ALBANY, March /, 1911.
DEAR SIR: did not till yesterday re.
ceive yours of the Goth of February
where it has loitered on the road, I am at
loss to say. had before read of youI
very ingenious proposition as to the rail
way communications. 1 fear, however
on mature reflection, that they will be Ii
able to serious objection, and ultimately
more expensive than a canal. They mus
be double, so as to prevent the danger o
two such heavy bodies meeting. Tht
walls on which they are placed must bt
at least four feet below the surface anC
three feet above, and must he clampe(
with iron, and even then would hardl,
sustain so heavy a weight as you propos,
moving at the rate of four miles an hou
OH wheels. As to wood, it would not las
a week. They must be covered with iron
and that, too, very thick and strong. TIL
mea,,s of stopping these heavy carris. &c
without a great shock, and of preventing
them from running on each other-fo
tAOIC "Oui0 oC iiaiiy AohhAhfS VII hhC Od
at once-would DO very difficult. L
cases of accidental stops. or necessar.
stops to take wood and water, etc, man
accidents would happen. The carriage c
condensing water would be very trouble
some. Upon the whole, fear the ea
pense would he much greater than that {
canals, without being so convenient.
r. Il. LIVINGSTON.
But thanks to the indomitable wi
of George Stephenson, on the 9th
er side of the Atlantic, the projec
was not destined much longer t.
slumber. Twelve miles an hour wa
the modest guaranty he made tn
committee of the English House 9
Commons, when the bill authorizin;
his railway was under consideration
"Never was any scheme assaile
with stronger invective and ridicule,
says the report of that memorial
contest. The staid Quarterly Rerie1
scornfully remal ked: eve woul
as soon expect people to suffer them
selves to be fred off upon one of tn
Congreve ricochet rockets, as to trus
themselves to the mercy of a machin
going at the rate of eighteen or TWEEN
ty miles an hour" A member o
Parliament declared his opinion tina
''a railway could not complete with
canal, for even with the best locomo
tive engine, the average rate woul'
be but three and half miles al
hour" Such was the opposition t.
the carefully matured plans of tn
father of the locomotive-Georg'
Stephenson-to make it an effect tive
mean of communication and trans
fer. But the necessity for enlarged
and improyed accommodations for