The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-09-30
AMERICAS FIRST LOCOMOTIVE
Monument to be Raised In Memory of the
onebridge Lion


From the New York Evening Sun.
The disuse OF the Delaware and Hudson
canal brings into prominence a noteworthy
historical fact that the artificial water
ways of the United States antedate the
can locomotive is to be credited to the
very canal this season doomed to disuse.
The Delaware and Hudson, as its name
implies, was chartered as a freight route
for coal and other merchandise from the
anthracite fields of northwestern Pennsyl-
vanha with its eastern terminus at Rond-
out on the Hudson and it's western at
Honesdale on the LackawaXen. a large
tributary off the Delaware. The mines
however were sixteen miles west from the
end of the canal with the Moosic range
spur of the leghanies-intervening
The transportation over the mountain with
its summit over 1000 above the sea Level
was necessarily made by rail, and a series
of inclined planes were constructed all
operated by water power. From Waymart
to HoneSdale, distance of ten miles, the
grade was such that no planes were needed
for eastbound trains, but power was re-
quired to return the empty cars carried
besides its cargo of coal a sufficient num-
Der off horses-one horse to -four cars-to
haul Che .'empties'' back to Waymart. Al
ter short trial of THIS plan 1t was decided
TO be too cumbersome and expensive ana
the utility of locomotives, with which eX-
periments were being made in England
having been considered Horatio Allen an
engineer of high standing, was sent to that
country to study the new machine lie su-
perntended the building of three locomo-
tives on modified designs furnished by
himself, and in the fall of 1928 brought them
to this country. The next season one OF
Them named the Stonebridge Lion, in hon
OF of the city in which it was built, was
sent up the canal in one of the company's
boats to TIonesdale where ON August 8,
1929, Vt made its trial trip with Mr.. Allen
himself as engineer and a number of eitl-
zens "a passengers.
That was the first time that a locomo-
tive ever turned wheel upon a rail on
the western hemisphere. As will be noted,
this important event occurred almost to
day seventy years ago, yet there are now
living in lHonesdale two of the participants
in that famous ride. They are DR.. Otis
Avery, who has just completed his 9lst
year. and Charles Tompkins, an octogena-
rian. DR.. Avery has served in the state
legislature and as county judge, and was
among the pioneer seweing machine In
ventors of the country, getting the first
premium on his pa tent at the Worlds fair
Of 1858, and selling his rights to Louis Ma
al 10
also introduced the machine into England.
Tompkins' ride on the Lion was limited to
being kicked off the locomotive by En-
gneer Allen as the wheels began to move.
Both these men are still engaged in active
business. What is left of the pioneer iron
horse is now on exhibit in the Smithsonian
Institution a Washington.
1t was not long before the Stonebridge
Lion and the railway system which it in
augurated began to crowd out the canals.
The Delaware and Hudson canal has been
among the last to succumb, and where
three-quarters of century ago all was
hustle and life in Honesdale in the digging
of 1.-The ditch and the construction of
dumping grounds and loading docks, today
men are busily engaged in demolishing the
The facts narrated have for years given
Honesdale a certain distinction, which of
late has been greatly increased by the
successful efforts of its philosophical wo-
men to make 1t the model town of the coun-
try in beauty and healthfuness Many Of
the leading pubcat lions of the cities have
contained fiattering descriptive articles of
the place, some of them profusely Illus
trated. The improvement society has con-
cluded that some lasting memorial of their
towns unique association with early rail-
reading should attract the future writer
and artist. and has determined upon the
erection of a handsome monument suitably
inscribed on the exact spot where the
Stonebridge Lion stood when its wheels
began to revolve. Considerable means will
be required to carry out the project, but
every railway on the continent will be
asked for contributions to the fund.