The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-03-29
The Railways of the United
States.

railways, spreading in an immense netWork
of steel over every state and territory, WIN
its thousands of wheeled palaces, magnln-
cent stations and Office buildings, ana army
of employees, had its inception less IMAM
seventy years ago in the little four inile
tramway constructed in the town OF gun
cy, Mass, to carry the granite from the
quarrieS to the NepOnSet river to be USED In
the construction of that historic smart,
Bunker Hill Monument This little road,
built in 1926. WAS operated by horses. Inc
first road in the United Statee to use a
steam locomotive was the Carhondae d
Honesdale road. built by the Delaware and
Hudson Canal Company, to connect ltS coal
mines with it's canal. The first really i'm
portant railway built was the baltimore q
Ohio, IL miles of which were opened In
1880. In the same year the South Carolina
Railway was begun. In 1888 the latter
road was completed, 1876 miles in length,
and was then the longest railway In the
world. 1t was the first road to use an
American built locomotive, and was also
the first railway to carry United States
mails. During the years 1881 to 1883, in
elusive, various small links of The large
systems that now grid the states OF New
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, were
built. In 1884 the opening of the Phlladel-
phia and Columbia and Portage railroads,
as part Of the State of Pennsylvania
system of internal Improvements, gave that
State a continuous line of railways and
canals from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.
In 1885 the Washington Branch of the Bal
timore & Ohio Railroad was opened. TIE
total railway mileage at this date had reach
ed one thousand miles. During the period
1886 to 1910, inclusive, the Richmond, Fred
ericksburg & Potomac, the Richmond q
Petersburg, the Philadelphia, Wilmington
& Baltimore, and the Wilmington and Well
don railroads were opened swelling the
mileage to two thousand, eight hundred
miles Upt0 this time the construction of
railways had been carried on without any
particular system, and they were purely
local in their character. The situation then
gave little indication of the grand structure
of which it was the foundation. The com
pIetion of the Boston d Albany railroad
In 1841 and the connecting links composing |
the line from A lbany to Buffalo in 1872 |
marked the opening of the first great rail-
way line in this country, During the same
year the Philadelphia q Reading Railroad
kill coal fields. The completion of the
Petersburg & Roanoke Railroad in 1843
gave continuous line of always from
Washington, d. c., to Wilmington, n. G.
The total mileage constructed in the fifteen
years up to 1916 was 1858 miles,
In 1848 railway construction received new
impetus from the discovery of gold on the
Pacific coast, aid in 1850, with the compile
ton of line from Cincinnati to Lake Erie,
and the extension of the other lines already
mentioned. the total mileage exceeded
5000 miles. In 1851 the Erie road was
opened from the Hudson river through to
Lake Erie. Although twenty years had
now elapsed since the opening of the first
railway line there seems to have been lit
tie conception of the immense influence the
railways were to WELD in the deveOpe-
ment of this great country. History tells
us that no one at that time conceived that
the railways could become real competitors
with the canals. The total tonnage Of the
New York Central and of the Erie roads
eastbOund from Buffalo in 1852 was only
46, Gil tons, and the westbOund tonnage Of
the same roads to Buffalo was only 3l,503
tons. What little indication this of
the immense arteries of commerce and
trade these roads were to become During
1852 the Michigan Central and the Lake
Shore & Michigan Southern roads were
completed through to Chicago, and the
Baltimore Il Ohio Railroad to Wheeling,
Railroad was completed to the Mississippi
river, opening up a new market for the
products of either bank of this great water
way, which heretofore could only ma an
outlet by way of the river to New Or
leans. In the same year the Pennsylvania
Railroad was opened from Philadelphia
through to PittSburg. In 1856 the Chicago
d Galena and the Chicago q Alton roads
were completed from Chicago to the Miss
issippi river followed in 1856 by the Chca-
go, Burlington d Quincy Railroad. In this
year also the Illinois Central was cOmpIet-
ed from Chicago to Cairo, Illinois, and the
OHIO & Mississippi from Cincinnati to st.
Louis about the same time. The Plttsburg,
Fort Wayne 81 Chicago Railroad was COM I
pleted from Pittsburgh to Chicago in 1858,
and in 1859 the Hannibal & saint Joseph /
Railroad reached the Missouri river. In
1860 The total mileage had reached 3O,626
miles, 1882 of which had been built since
1856. During the war of the Rebellion
hnr nxIoG lnlI in, iIxrax ,afi 1,
md from 1860 to 1866 only 4,459 miles were
quilt.
In July 1862 an Act was passed by Con-
yress incorporating the Union Pacific Rail-
way, and its con tructiOn was begun in
1858 and on May IL, 1869, the last spike was ,
lriven, completing the first connection by
all from the Atlantic to the Pacific. From
he railway system has progressed on a =
Gale of magnitude that precludes reference .
0 specific enterprises. Suffice it to say q
hat there are now five transcOntinental :
Dads in the United States. The total :
Mileage has reached the enormous figure of 4
5000 miles, nearly one-half the railway i
Mileage of the world. The total mileage of y
ii the tracks reaches 235, 900 miles, lengthJ !,
f track sufficient to girdle the earth more !,
IAN nine times, or to grdirOn the continent q
rom New York to San Francisco with =
twenty-five parallel tracks; representing Il
capital of nearly eleven thousand millions "
dollars, an amount equal to one sixth of y
ne entire wealth of the country, and five :.
mes greater than the entire circulating
nrrency of the United States; with an an
ual earning capacity of twelve hundred
lillions of dollars. an amount more than
lree times the entire annual revenues Of
ne Government; with an equipment of N
yer 5000 locomotives and 100000 cars
,hich if marshalled in trains would make U
xo solid trains reaching from New York
, San Francisco, and a third train extend
lg from New York to st. Paul, Minnesota; f,
18th an annual traffic of over six hundred
lilliOns of passengers and seven hundred
nd fOrty-five millions of tons of freight, al
for the transaction of this enor-
Ious business-the magnitude of which the n
lind can hardly conceive-an army of en-
loyees numbering eight hundred and sew
1ty~five thousand persons, a number near o.
equal to the standing army of Russia,
ne aud One-half times the number OF the in
rmy of either France or Germany,
ore than double the number of the 4,
rmy of Austria, and more than three ~
mes that of Italy. The political signifi-
ance of this class of men is shown by the N
let that one voter in every fourteen is a W
abroad employee. II Government re-
of railways should ever obtain,
hat vast political machine would be =,