The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-14

real sockdolas ger that made my very liver
and lites turn to jelly.
But he found me a real scrouger. I
brake three Of his ribs. and he knocked
out i've Of my teeth and one eye. lie
was the severest colt that | ever tried
to break. | finally got "a bite hold that
he could not shake on. We were now
parted b. some boatmcn. and we were
so exhorsted that IL was moro than a
month before either could have a night.
II seemed To me like a little eternity.
This stirring narration concludcs
with the sage observation: And al
though | didn't come out second best.
| took care not to wake up a ring
tailed roarer with an oar again"
Although the work on the old Ma
tional Road was begun in the East,
the inspiration for its building was
of Western origin. Its slow progress
was due to two causes. the difficulties
of construction in the mountainous
reg.on east of the Ohio. and the po-
litical struggle over the constitution
ality of such Congressional enterprise.
Work was begun In Maryland in 1S0s.
tho great highway. the Cumberland
Road. as 1t Is often called, reached
the Ohio boundary in 1917. Tho first
act of Congress concerning tho prof.
ect was passed in 1902. and the Fed
eral decision to execute It was reached
in 1906. The survey through Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois was not begun
until 1890. and not until 1925. after
IL had been the issue of an election
campaign. was adequate appropriation
made FOR the prosecution of the work.
As originally planned the section from
Cumberland to Wheeling. 100 miles,
was to cost 1850. 900. When finally
completed, with the extension to CO.
lumbus. Ohio. reached in 1888. and to
Nandalia, ILL.,. 1852. nearly seven mill
ions had been spent IN II. At the
start the highway was made eighty
feet wide. with a central strip thirty
feet wide covered a foot deep with
broken stone and topped with a sur
face layer of gravel. Before the road
was anywhere near finished II became
evident hat canals and railroads were
going TO supersede the earlier means
OF travel, so the turnpike lapsed into
"a dirt road across the prairies OF ILL
nois and finally came to an end at
Nandalia. whence another similar
route led onward to st. Louis" Here.
as elsewhere. Mr.. Dunbar expands far
beyond the limits suggested by his
title. going extensively into the DO
litiCal history of the project, and in a
following chapter into the life and
scenes on the National Road" II IL
this readiness for an excursus that
makes OF his hook a history. not of
travel merely. nor vet OF political in
stttut.ons and events, but Of American
life, manners. customs and character.
Only the first half of this admirable
work has been considered in the fore
going. In the remaining volumes the
story OF railroad transportation is
told. While the early development OF
street car traffic in the cities IL re-
corded, and pictures Of the crazy arks
hat carried intraurban passengers
are shown in liberal quantity, there
Is not included n record of the inven-
tion and increasing use of overhead
trolley and slot cable cars. culminat-
ing with the recent. long deferred
achievement OF the storage battery
electric stree, car. The history OF the
elevated railroad also is dropped
where the strictly antiquarian inter-
est ends. and the subway. so far as
MI. DNliudT IL tbUSeTlltu, mas no eN-
~is,ence a, all. OF the aeroplane he
is only romantically prophetic.
The railroad chapters TEEN with live
anecdotes. The descriptions of early
exp rimcnts. Ike the sailing car"
tried on the Charleston and Hamburg
road. ls29-30. a fiat truck on high
wheels. running on rails and fitted
with a square sail, said to have
made" twelve miles an hour before
q l-!sk breeze when carrying fifteen
Observation-Disclosures descriptions are
comprehensive. accurate and pictur-
esqle. The Charleston and Hamburg
50 ms To- nave been a favorite out
let for eccentric inventive genius.
Another Of It's cars. called The Fly
ing Dutchman,' had for motive power
a horse running on a treadmill. Mr..
Dunbar notes:
Many Of the rrs, actual American rsil-
road makers were in error with regard TO
the economic character OF the device
after Il was completed and ready ,or
business. In considering the rallied high.
NSy as a means OF travel and transporta-
'!on they adopted a mistaken idea origi-
mating in England. and IN part estah.
lished the American system on an crro-
neous economic basis.
England at the ou;se, considered that
a railway was analogous 20 tho Kings
highway: that a line Of rail suitable
for the easy movement: 81 vehicles was
a publ" road which any man might use
al vii, provided no butt hts wagon or
ar ror that purpose.
Before the Introduction o, railroads
there had never appeared 20 'he knoNl-
edge % men any method OF general land
transportation wherein the ownership and
operation 81 tho vehicles employed were
vested In IN. SAM authority witch owned
ana controlled the track on which thoS.
vehicles moved. So. since there was no
prct"dcu' for tho Joint operation ~ both
N" road ana III" wagons e was taken
for granted In England. an TO- a few
Scnr- in America, that tho racks Of a
railway ana tho wheeled cars moving
ovct It had no very Intimate relation With
Zach other
In the appendices TO this monument
tai work viii be found a very con-
siderable amount OF information sup
Elementary TO tho text and a hIbl!og-
raphy hat should constitute a library
Of supreme interest and usefulness.
Mr., Dunbar has not merely written
a book; he has built and stocked a
museum of Americana.
spain In south America.
The history Of South America under
Spanish suzerainty wide into three