The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-15
RAILROAD news.
What Last Half Century Shows
In Railroad Building.
Practically Entire System of
Roads Built in That Time.
VAST STEEL NETWORK
Line Mileage Alone Amounts to
Nearly 100000.
Additional Tracks and Sidings
Make Total of $4,000.

The vest railway system of the Uni
ted States-now.s represented by over
1871 900 miles of lines and some SO, 900
miles of additional tracks and sidings-
has been practically the work of the
last SO years, says the Railway Age.
Previous TO 1850 there had been a little
over 1900 miles of track laid down on
numerous short roads. chiefly in the
eastern states. with a few hundred
miles on the South Atlantic coast and a
still smaller mileage in what is now the
middle west. In the preceding 20 years,
commencing with the opening of a
short section of the Baltimore & Ohio
in $780, the new construction had aver
aged only about 365 miles a year-a mile
of track a day throughout the entire
continent. Compared with the modern
railway the 1000 miles with which the
last half century opened are hardly to
be counted with their strap or light iron
rails, single tracks and new sidingS,
pigmy engines, short, 4-wheeled cars,
wooden bridges and fiimsy station
buildings; while such adjuncts as the
telegraph, mechanical signals, air
brakes, automatic couplers, sleeping
cars, gas and electric light, steam heat,
dining cars and other necessities Of
modern railroading were undreamed of.
A few important lines had COM
menced operations previous to 1850,such
as the Camden & Amboy, between Phil
adelphia and New York harbor, in
1887; Boston & Albany in 1912; New
York Central, between Albany and Buff
falo, in 1912; New York e New Haven.
connecting New York with Boston, in
1S48, and Baltimore & Ohio, then we'll
on its way toward the Ohio river. But
it was not until 1851 that the Erie rail
road was opened from the Hudson river
to Lake Erie, dating the real COM
mencement of long distance transporta-
~
ing been built and previously operated
as a mere ADJUNCT to the Erie Canal. In
the first half of the century the hopes
of the country were directed to the de-
velopment of waterways and wagon
roads The last so years have been pre-
eminently the railway era.
In 1851 the Hudson River road was
opened from New York to Albany, in
1882 the Michigan Central reached Chi
cago from Lake Erie, followed in 1858
by the Lake Shore railroad; in 1854 the
Pennsylvania Central was opened to
Pittsburg and the Chicago & Rock Is
land reached the Mississippi; in 1876
the Chicago & Alton was opened; in
1856 the Illinois Central had been
pushed down to Cairo, the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy had touched the
Mississippi, the first transcOnunentaI
railway was under construction and a
railway building boom was on through
out the entire country. Between the
commencement OF 1850 and the end of
road were built, an average of about q
100 miles a. year, against 365 miles an
nually in the 20 preceding years. But
this was slow work compared with the
rush of construction after good times
again returned. In the last 40 years
more than 1872 900 miles have been built;
in the decade 1SS0-1S90 nearly rs 900
miles were added, and in two years
1882 and 1SS7-nearly $4,000 miles of
track were laid down.
Had construction during the last de-
cade continued at the rate shown by
the first five years, the total mileage
of the country on January l. 1900. would
be very near 100000 miles. But the four
95-1S9S-shOwed the surprising
~ low average of ,S4S miles, and upset
all calculations. The rapid recovery to
$500 miles-the construction record OF
1S99-indicates that a new era of rail-
way building has already commenced.
The next so years are not likely to equal
the half century just closing in the
construction of steam railways. but
there are vast possibilities for the ex-