Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1920-06-24

on board the car was showed of, an6
maintained a speed Of fiftten miles an
hour until suddenly the mast and
rigging collapsed and fell overheard
together with several Of the crew
After this unfortunate mishap was
passed, the car was soon under way
again and Charleston Courier" as
sures US that the experiment afford
ed high sport"
In letter written two years after
the completion. of the railroad a
prominent Charleston lady describes
her first ride to Augusta:
1--WE rose at drum-heat to depart
on the railroad car for Augusta
Those who travel with the desire OF
seeing social life, will Of course be
disappointed here. Our plantation
residences are rarely stationed on
the public road, but If time could be
spared to cross that field and pene'
trate beyond those woods, many a
chaste building, blushing garden and
family, would be no longer like a
stranger. But the car darts on like
a rocket, and we leave Woodstock
We hurry our breakfast; and we
have just time to gather a pretty
snowdrop from the garden wall, and
away. We pass a few cotton fields
and rice plantations. Aiken, at the
inclined plane, is a romantic spot.
Several Charleston children In the
car were quite wild at the prospect
of a real hill. We not only had no
accident but no tendency to one, In
our 1876 mile flight between sunrise
and sunset; and 1t was like magic
to be seated with a dear circle Of
friends at Augusta, slipping quiet
cup of tea at twilight. There was
but one thing to make us sad on the
way, and that was the numerous
temptation to intamperance, the sick
ening display of gin and brandy de-
canters in the heart of wilderness.
Must 1t be so?"
The earliest roads Of rails are
tracked back to the latter part of the
eighteenth century, when they were
use to hauling coal In the mining
districts Of England. The first In
America appears to have been con-
.structed in the Lehigh coal districts
Of Pennsylvania not later than 1925.
or course horsepower was used to
draw the cars.
In 1926 another horse-cart railroad
WAS opened at Quincy Mass; and
hauled granite from the qusrries to
the seashore. This road was prob
ably used to carry the granite for the
.eonst strilctio .Ra iglp Aaia, 1ssss. 5sS
unent. In 1929 an English locomo-
tive was run over the Carbondale
and Honesdale route in Pennsylvania.
by Mr.. Horatio Allen.
When the Baltimore and Ohio rail.
road began construction on the 4th
of July 1928, stone cross-ties were
employed, and wooden rails topped
with heavy straps of iron. Thirteen
miles was opened for traffic in 1880
and 1876 miles in 1885. The Balti-
more and Ohio railroad continued to
be worked by horsepower until 1882,
although experimental trips had pre-.
Viously been made with locomotives
on that road.
The advance Of mechanical science
have been constructed In the Lehigh
coal districts of Pennsylvania not la
ter than 1926. OF course horse DOW
er may be likened to magic. Today
the United States is embraced by a
network of shining steel; and hugh
locomotives rush across the conti-
nent at a speed of sixty miles an
hour. The value Of American rail-
road properties may be reckoned In
billions, Touched by the wind of
modern progress, towns, cities, and
industries have sprung up wherever
the railroads have pushed the way.
The Rocket" and BEST Friend"
have been replaced by the Twentieth
Century Limited, but let us not for
get that debt Of gratitude we owe to
those far-seeing men of the thirties,
pioneers in the march Of civilization
by whose fait and perseverance
trains were first placed upon the
rails.
In spite of that opposition with
which society always meets a new
idea, those men toiled on; and with
their fortune, brain, and labor laid
the foundation for a hope fulfilled
and vision realized.