The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-04-05
A HISTORIC RAILWAY


| from fifteen to eighteen miles south of the
Pennsylvania line This embankment.
sometimes almost level with the cultivated
| fields, sometimes filing an untitled ravine,
/ is all that remains OF what was probably
| the earliest railroad in the United States.
the old New Castle & Frenchtown road.
| connecting the heads OF Delaware and
| Chesapeake bays. Long before there was
| any such thing as a railroad in the world.
| Augustine Herman. the peninsula hero who
| once had a home. a garden and an orchard
near the corner Of Pearl and Pine streets
| in this city, projected a canal 20 connect
| the head waters OF the two bays. This was
soon after the middle Of the seventeenth
century. when Herman had just been in
vested with the lordship Of Bohemia Manor,
| a noble estate on the eastern shore OF Mary
land
| Herman did not carry out his scheme for
| canal. but he lived 10 see a wagon road
| built from New Castle, on the Delaware TO
| the shores OF the Chesapeake, not far from
| his own manor house. Al earlier method OF
| getting commerce across the peninsula had
| been sail down the Delaware river and
| up APPOINTMENTS creek, crooked tide
| water stream extending inland toward the
| Maryland line, and from the head or navi-
| cation on the Appoquinimink 10 tranship
4 SOOdS upon carts WHICH CdIIlcQ lneul 10 the
| head OF navigation on Bohemia river. After
Herman's wagon road had been worn into
| ruts by a century of traffic, business be-
tween the bays had so far developed that
regular packets were run TO New Castle on
the Chesapeake side. to connect at either
shore with a turnpike and stage line over
land. This in time became the highway
from New York, Philadelphia and New
England to the newly founded capital Of the
Nation. All the early great men Of the
region above Mason and Dixon's line trav-
versed that route dozens. scores, perhaps
hundreds Of times. Many political bargain
OF those days was broached in the course
OF that jolting journey and the old tayerns
long the route are even yet redolent OF
stage coach days. while very old fellows
still tell stories of Daniel Webster and
Henry Clay. AS traffic grew and invention
fourished, steamboats, were substituted for
sailing packets the two bays. and the
time OF the journey was reduced The cap
tain of the earliest steam packet on the
Chesapeake side is said to have been great.
that ne could make his craft move back
ward by reversing the engine.
LAUNDERING CHARTER
The Delaware Legislature granted the char
ter for so much OF the turnpike ran
through Delaware, and blundered amazingly
IN TIE pfOCcSS. Tic DluuucfS WCIc CollcCktls
however, and the only striking peculiarly OF
the old charter is the specia, provision IL
makes for a rebate on tolls to wagons having
very broad tires The broader the tire the
lower the TOLL and provision is made for
tires exceeding twelve inches in width. There
was also a special provision for wagons so
arranged that the fore and hind wheels
shold not run in the same ruts. These provi-
sions seem to have been made with view to
saving wear and tear to the road, and like
concessions to the broad tire seems 10 have
been known in other parts Of the country.
But better days were coming for the
to and from Washington. Late in the
twenties there began to be talk or a rail-
road; not, indeed, to be run by steam. but
the Frenchtown & New Castle railroad.
running seventeen miles from bay TO bay.
was finished and ready for business. The
should maintain turnpike parallel 10 its
line. Only sanguine persons believed that
by that new-fangied contrivance, the steam
locomotive engine.
me 3d i line was n,,,ir cruqe ana nc e0r1oes
Of the embankment would prove that IL was
! single track. The wooden rails. six inches
laid at about the present standard gauge.
They rested upon wooden plugs inserted In
and were affixed to the stones by means OK
L-shaped irons. Upon these rails ran some
thing that may have looked like a cross be-
tween the old-time stage coach and the
modern street car Two or four horses
furnished the motive power. and the jour
Two years after the road was finished pro-
vision was made for using the LOCOMOTIVES
engine 1t was not thought necessary to
take up the wooden rails In preparation for
merely shod with fat bars OF iron. spiked
down as well as they might be in the pre-
xro t1Ir.rr Il
When it %as found Of THAI ts rails senGed to
spread beneath the weight of engines and
train trail iron ties were added The first locomo,
set to work putting it together. He got on
cred With 1 suspicion that he WAS making
models OF the various parts as he went along.
Perhaps there was no other available ma
perhaps there was further delay In getting
another. At any rate. the Delaware was
at Length put together. and ready to make
THE FIRST TRIP.
There was a lamentable Ignorance OF rail-
reading In those days. and especially OF the
locomotive The trial trip occupied several
days. There was neither wood nor water
station on the way, and the engine ran out
OF fuel and water several times during her
journey. The engineer had to contrive as
best he could to supply her needs. The loco
iAoS'e on tlis IOdu came IN time TO make
the journey OF seventeen miles IN a little
more than one hour. They could have done
better had the road been deemed safe for
1ast travel but the fiat rails had an ugly
way OF rising up at the ends and threaten
,ns 10 pierce the cars. so that the engineer
h haa 20 keep keen lookout for these snake
heads, as they were called. The sarae dan
t sea was common to several. perhaps all, OF
the early american railroads.
Even AT mat time crude block signal sys-
TEN TEN Was devised. When the train started
from New Castle, a muslin-covered frame,
ABOUT a,as the size OF Delaware peach basket.
was noisted to the top of the courthouse
Supola, as signal that the journey was
pegun; RMS signal was visible for con-
s,,uerdpie distance out on the line and when
me uss,, IRAN ar passed the next signal station a
wnite nag was hoisted to the top Of the fall
poie beyond. Il there was deiay. the sig
ma nan ran up a black flag. 1t was part OF
the slgnalman's duty to follow the train and
sisas Gown any-snake-heads that might have
risen as the engine came along
Inc earliest locomotive drew but one car
= small anair modelled upon the lines OF
sne stage coach The passengers sat in a
f fea. mat ran around the car in elptcal
.o .,i On the old Columbia road in Penn
syiVania- not far from the Frenchfown &