The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-24
TODAY IN HISTORY
Our Oldest Railroad.
SUNDAY, JULY "a, 1910.

The oldest railroad In the United States
IS inc Baltimore & Ohio. having been
year IT received its charter, The first
rail- OF this road was laid on July "a. 1928.
by Charles Carroll. the last surviving
sisner OF the Declaration Of Indepcn-
dencc-
Several short railroads were in exist
ence previous to this time but they We're
small private enterprises. What may be
considered the first railway built In the
United states was from the granite quar-
ries OF Quincy. Mass. TO tidewater,
length OF five miles. which was COM
the granite for the Bunker Hill monu-
ment and was made OF wooden rails laid
on granite stills. with strap rail OF rolled
iron.
The second railroad was begun in jan
uary. 1927. and completed In May OF the
same year. and extended from the coal
mines TO the Lehigh river at Mauch
Chunk, Pa, distance OF nine miles. The
loaded cars passed down the incline by
gravity. and the empty cars were drawn
up by mules. The rails were OF timber
covered with strap Of Iron.
In 1923 the Delaware &. Hudson Canal
company constructed q railway sixteen
miles long from its coal mines at Homes
dale, Pa, the termination OF the canal
water.
These private roads were followed
rapidly by the Baltimore & Ohio. the
lima. the Camden Sc Amboy, the Ithaca
& Oswego. and the Lexington & Ohio
which, at the close OF the year 1890. had
ninety-two miles built. and i63 miles
projected or under construction. All Of
these roads were built for and operated
by horsepower,
Ten years after this. in 1910, there were
2Sl6 miles of railroads In the United
States, since which time railroad build
Ing advanced rapidly, and in 1909 there
wa WAS ar in operation In the United States
23o,OSi miles OF railroad. with second
tracks and sidlngs amounting TO 103691
miles additional.
The original, design OF the Baltimore
water to the Ohio river, The road
originally consisted OF iron-plated wooden
rails. and speed of nine miles an hour
was considered very wonderful In those
days. Today the ninety miles between
New. York and Philadelphia Is covered
in ninety minutes. The journey TO Chi
cago from New York 911 miles, takes
less than twenty four hours; from Chi
cago to San Francisco eighty-nine hours.
and to cross the entire continent from
New York. four days and eight hours,
The speed Of the American expresses
was, fifteen years ago. from thirty to
forty miles All hour. 1t has now been
raised TO considerably over forty Less
Than forty years ago Jules Verne wrote
World In Eighty Days" He was
| thought TO have exceeded all bounds
OF possibility: at that time the circum-
navigation Of the globe never had been
accomplished in less than 121 days. In
1873 1t was done in l0s days Eventual
ly, an American performed the feat in
ninety days. and In 1891 "A Miss Bisland
| Nelly Bly, lowered the time to seventy
two days. Since then the record has
stood at siXty-nine days. the main OBJ
stacle being TO travel speedily the mighty
tract OF Asia.
The first locomotives used were brought
from England and the first locomotive
built in the United States was made by
the West Point foundry for the South
Carolina Railroad company. after plans
by the chief engineer Horation Allen
and was first put upon the road OH No
| vember ., 1880. Thus was begun an in
| dustry that has grown to be one of the
most Important in the United States,