Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1885-01-15
THE IRON WAY.

Origin of the Railroad Believed to Date
Back to 1910 mt Newcastle-on-Tyne.
The origin of the railroad is by some
writer's believed to be unknown. There,
is in the British Museum an Egyptian
hieroglyphic which represents slaves
drowning stones over road like nprini-
tive tramway. One writer would have
US believe that similar device was
known in China many years ago.
While it is admitted that printing, gum
powder, and many other things were
familiar to the Chinese before they
were known to Western civilization, vet
it is highly improbable that anything
approaching tramway nearer than q
palanquin was known to them. The
earliest authentic mention of a railway
occurs in the life of Lord Keeper.
Roger Forth, early in the seventeenth
century. About 1870 a double parallel
line of wooden beams was laid at New
castle-on-Tyne, and a large cart, with
four rollers, drawn by horses, was used
to transport coal from the mine to the
river. A flange placed at the side of the
beam kept the carts from rolling off the
rail. So successful was theexperiment
that other coal districts in England
Vas gpeSt YaBorH saSihg pe sc6emep For
horse thatcould with difficulty draw only
LOO without the aid of this smooth road
could now with ease draw 4, 200 weight.
This WIS the earliest tramway, the pre-
cursor of the steam railway. The first
Improvement made on this tramway
was the laying of iron plates on the
wooden beams; this continuance re-
duced the friction and made less wear
and tear. In 1853 rails made wholly of
iron were used, and in 1889 when Will
liam Ycssop built the first public rail-
way in England, at Loughborough, he
introduced the edge rail of cast iron
and changed the flange from the rail to
the wheel. Finally, in 1908, the rails
were made of malleable iron.
Up to 1908 the tramway had used,
horses for motors, and in some in
stances stationary engines; but mems
minds had been constantly exercised to
invent some method of drawing cars by
means of other than cable or animal
power. Watt seems to have been the
first to conceive the idea of propelling
wheeled carriages by steam, but he was
so engaged in perfecting the stationary
engine that he did not attempt to carry
out his idea. William Murdoch, in,
1882, first constructed model locomo-
tive. Though little more than a toy it
worked successfully, and travelled so
fast that on one occasion its inventor i'm
vain tried to keep pace with it. In
1902 Richard Trevethick and Andrew
Vivian, two Cornwall engineers, took
put the first patent ever issued for a To-
connective. All the steam carriages and
appliances, however, amounted to al
most nothing so far as the public was
and it was not until 1904
hat any really practical locomotive
vas used. Trevethick in this yearbuilt
! second locomotive in south Wales.
which drew load of ten tons of iron
)re five miles an hour. From this date,
1904 to 1911, very little, if anything,
was done to advance railroads. Time
Ind ingenuity were employed to invent
some means to keep cars from slipping
when going up an inclined plane. The
irst really successful engine was in
rented by George Stephens, in 1914. It
an six miles an hour, drawing thirty
ons. Until 1929 there was little prog
'ess made. Then Robert Stephenson
'uilt the Rocket, which attained max
mum speed of twenty and one-half
niles, with an average of fifteen.--
Brooklyn Eagle.