The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-08-13

Just one word, please How the
typos came last week to make me
say that year ago | was the guest
of Congressman Bartholdt of Missouri
in Philadelphia, | cannot guess; for
wasn't, and didn't even see him; |
then simply read his apparently de-
lighted deliverance regarding Ger
many's plunge into war. If | had
been his guest | would not have talked
about him.
| have been turning over some old
family papers, which have brought
freshly to my mind some facts which
may interest my readers. My grand
fathers home was about 10 miles from
Boston, his father and father-in-law
had been in the Revolutionary Army,
and an older cousin; one evening the
latter was visiting my grandfather,
telling of a journey he had recently
made to the battlefield of Saratoga
and Saltwater, where he had bourne
part in the fray, and afterwards
points where he had served in the
army, and had seen the new railroad
which the Hudson and Delaware Can
al Company had just built to facilitate
transportation of coal; my mother sat
by listening and when "Uncle Jonath-
an, as he was called, told of a rail-
road, her imagination called up rails
of the farm fences, and she supposed
the road was built on the tops of
such rails stuck in the ground! AS
an Englishman would say: Fancy it,!
Then the talk ran on about the news
of steam power propelling carriages
on such roads in England at an in
credible speed of thirty miles an
hour! The record says that Grand
father Caleb" said to Uncle
Jonathan" Il hope its coming;
would like to once ride as fast as
could Think But" said Uncle
Jonathan, what would you do to
breathe?" Grandfather replied, 81
wouldn't have to but once"
Just then the great manufacturing
city of Lowell had been begun and
Locks and Canals" made around
Pawtucket falls in the Merrimac river.
Kirk Boot had come from England
and started cotton manufacture; and
the English manufacturers had follow
ed him with hatred and even sent muir
derous contrivanccS to destroy him as
is done by the bombs of our day. He
and the entcrprising merchants OF
Boston saw the possibilities of such
ventures; but they soon saw a great
drawback in the lack of transporta-
ton A while ago some of the orig
inal records of those days was in my
hands, and are interesting reading
one Of them tells of the number OF
"six-horse stage coaches" which daily
passed between Boston and Lowell
some days more than that, and the
vast amount of freight; then a canal
was dug connecting the two cities and
passed directly through my grand
fathers farm. This he thought great
advance; but business Al Lowell grew
fast, and although the canal gave re,
lief there were several months wher
ice stopped the boats, and the wagon:
and roads through mud and ice be
came a worse factor.
A copy of one of the old record.
lies before me. 1t seems that or
January p, 1880, Patrick T. Jackson
one of the great business men of Bos
ton ninety years ago, sent letter Il
Kirk Boot asking him to call a meet
ing of the stockholders of the Lock-
and Canal company, who were ais
the principal investors in the manu-
featuring at Lowell, and saying t.
them that at that meeting he SHOULD
propose the building of railroad be
tween the two places.
In the preceding two years so mucl
had been told in this country abou
George Stephenson's attempts witt
steam engines on rails that the Mas
sachusetts legislature had voted t,
send an engineer to England to inves
tigate, and at the opening of the ses
sion of lS2o-30 Governor Levi Lin
coin sent in that report. This stirre
all that part of New England. an
plans were at once made TO build rail
roads in three different direction
from Boston: to Providence. R. l.: t
Worcester and to Lowell; at first tn
Canal company had opposed this. a
they saw ii destruction of the cans
values, which soon happened; but tn
greater need overbalanced in thei