The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-10-21
PIONEERS of THE THROTTLE.
R~ecollections of the Early Days of Rail-
rOading.
Port Jervis Letter in New York Sun.

E -> l
Recollection of the Early Days of Rail-
reading.
Port Jervis Letter in New York Sun.
.sThe death of old Cad Lyman, an &C
count OF which | read i'll the Sun some days
ago" said a veteran Erie Railway engineer,
leaves, ] believe, only one OF the pioneer
engineers Of that road alive and still in &C
| tive service. This is John Martin, who must
be now over 20. Lyman and Martin were
| rivals when they ran on the Eric, and it
was Martin who ran the first train into
| Dunkirk on the Erie, in May. 1851. There
| is a nice story connected with that, and III
| tell it,"
eat the time the Erie road was laid
| through to Dunkirk locomotive building
has in it's infancy i'll this country. Patter-
, son was just beginning to attract attention
| by the superior machines that were turned
hut OF her two locomotive shops, one of
which is now known as the Rogers Works,
| and the other was until recently under the
| control of the late Commissioner Swim
burne.
s.Rogers and Swinburne ere then both
| struggling mechanics, and both had built
| engines for the Erie road. In 1S49 the rail
| road had been completed as lar as Blng-
! hampton, a few days before the time at
| which all the c~ompany's property and fran
| chise would have been forfeited to the State
| of New York. Josh Martin ran as engineer
| between Delaware station, now Port Jervls.
aud Susvuehanna. Cad Lyman had charge
uf trains between Piermont and Delaware
station.
LYMAN was a great friend Of LocomO-
| tive-builder Rodgers, and Martin pinned his
| faith to Swiuburne. On the opinion OF the
| two engineers as to the merits OF the en-
! gines the two builders largely depended Tor
favors with the company, aud a subsequent
advancement of their respective interests.
The first locomotive that Martin was
| nut in charge Of was the Rodgers make. 1t
| was called the Qneida, a name which the
| engineer burlesqued into 'One-ldea,' be-
| cause as he said, the engine seemed to ave
but one idea. and that was that IL couio
| not do the work that he wanted 1T to do.
In 1850 the railroad company contracted
with S%Niuburne for Il new locomotive. Eli
| pineer Martin persistently besought the
| Superintendent OF the road to give him the
charge OF the engine when 1T was competed
| He wanted to give the best possible show
| for himself, as it WAS in one sense
u test OF the merit OF Swinburne's me-
| chauical skill, and he feared that
| # might be given into hands where it
| would not be treated fairly. TIL engine
! came from the shop, and was called
| the No. II. To Martins great dlsappolnt-
ment and chagrin Cad Lyman was assigned
| to run the new machine. Lyman soon re-
ported that he could not make his time
| with it, and it was condemned and placed
! on the gravel train working between Pier
| mont and Suffern. Piermont. on the Hud-
son river, was the eastern terminus OF the
| road then, the Bergen tunnel not having
| been made until ten years later. The re-
ported failure Of No. II almost broke Josh
Martins heart, and was d serious set BACK
to S~wineburne. Martin could not be made
to believe that the engine was a failure.
| He had \ atched her during construction.
and had himself suggested appliances ana
arrangements that he felt sure must result
| in a superior machine. Believing that the
! engine was all that he hoped for, he begged
| the master-mechanic. d choleric gentleman
named Brandt, to be allowed to give 1T a
trial. After months Of persistent sollclta-
| ton on behalf of the disgraced locomotive,
brandt one day told him to take her ana
90 to the devil with her, ii he chose to-.
Martin told Swineburnet to take her back
! to the shop and overhaul her. Neither the
| builder nor Martin could discover any
serious defects in her mechanism, and she
was turned over to the engineer without
having IL tool put upon her, Martin ran her
! on his division two weeks without losing Il
second OF his time, aud made trips over the
division with greater ease than he had ever
beer able to do so before. At the end OF
two weeks he had an opportunity 70 sho"
what stuff there was in her, and in showing
it ne made the fame and fortune OF the loco
motive builder.
.'Gad Lyman, after discarding Swine
burne's locomotive, took No. 100, Il ma
chine OF the Rogers make. He had no
trouble in making time with her. la MAY,
1851, he was notified that he was to run
one of the excursion trains that were to
carry guests of the road to Dunkirk to par
ticiDate in the opening OF the road from
| the Hudson to Lake Erie. The train was
to start from Piernont. 1t was composed
of nine cars. The whole train cost less than
an ordinary Pullman car OF to-day, but IL
had a cargo OF human freight such as no
other train since then ever carried on this
continent. President Fillmore, Danlel
Webster, his Secretary Of State; John }.
Crittenden, his Attorney-G General; n. n.
Hall, his Postmaster-General, and W. Z.
Graham and his Secretary OF the Navy
were on board. w. H.. Seward, Hamilton
Fish and Stephen A.. Douglas, United States
Senators, we're of the party. Ex-Governor
Marcy and Daniel S. Dickinson were also
numbered anon the e~Acursionlsts. The
the trip. The train was draped in the
national colors and flags tiuttered from
every spot where one could be fastened on
the train. 1t was not only to be the long
est railroad ride on one continuous line OF
railroad, under one management, thas had
ever been taken in America, but it was to
be historical, because it was to be the IN
auguration OF railroad communication be-
tween the seaboard and the great lakes.
Engineer Lyman coupled NO. 100 to the
precious train and started with it for Pier
mont. Before he got to Suffern he found
that his engine was not able to pull the I'M
| usual load and make any kind OF time. He
reached Suifern several minutes late, and
there another locomotive was put on to
help him out. When they reached Middle
town the train was three-Quarters OF an
hour behind the time that had been sched-
uled for it to run by,
Then Charles Minot, who was the super
! intendent OF the road, and one OF the pas
! senuers on the excursion train, telegraphed
to the agent at Port Jeryis to order Josh
| Martin and No. II to be ready on the ar
! rival of the train there to take it on west
| ward. Josh WAS on hand with his pet en-
| cine when the excursion train arrived.
| S%ninburne, the locomotive builder, was one
! Of the excursionists. He had not known
! until the train reached Port Jervis that his
! locomotive, which had once been condemn
| ed by the company, had been ordered to go
! on with the train. The Rev. Henry Dutch
err, now one OF the oldest residents OF Port
/ .JtfNI Is, WIZ Il Vi ""Ao
| then. He said that Swinburnc climbed up
on the locomotive by Josh Martins side,
looking very pale and trembling violently.
| He knew that with snch a trial as was
| about to be put upon his handiwork after
| the failure OF his rivals work, his entire
| future rested. Ii the trial WAS successful,
! he felt that he. was a made man. Ii 1T was
a failure he knew that he had many years
| OF hard struggle before him.
"'Josh,' he said, what do o think?
Can we do it?'
Martin stood on the footboard as cool
as ii he had nothing more serious to perform
| than the switching of a freight car. lie
! srasped the throttle, and, turning to Swim
| burne,. SAID:
"%'Swinburne, if / don't make you this
trip, I'll ditch old II and go to the devil
with her.
"A minute later they pulled out, and No.
II was whirling the train along the precl-
pieces of the Delaware division. There has
been some fast running over the Delaware
| division Of the Erie since that day, but no
train ever made the run between Port Jer-
| vic aud N~.rrowShurp a distance OF thirty