The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-12-09
BALTIMORE AND OHIO R. R.
NEARING CENTURY MARK
On Christmas Eve, 1852, Line
Was Completed From Bait
mere to Wheeling, w. Va.

This will be the ninety-ninth Christ
mas of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
road, and on New Years Day the
company will be nearing the compile
ton of the first century of its exis-
tence since the charter granted by
the State of Maryland, Feb. %, 1927
Baltimore and Ohio history always
carries a sentimental as well as bust
ness interest, because it concerns the
first railroad built in the United
States. Charles Carroll, last surviv-
ing signer of the Declaration of indie
pendence, laid the first rail on this
road July 4, 1928. He declared it an
event second to that of signing the
Declaration of Independence, if even
second to that"
The B. & 0. began business in 1880.
using horsepower and even sails" at
the beginning. In 1881 steam power
was adopted, a locomotive imported
from England in 1929 having demon
strated its superiority to all other mo-
tive power then known. 1t was not
until 1910 that New York and Phila-
delphia were connected by rail, nor
until 1854 that the first railroad pen
etrated to the east bank Of the Missis-
sippi. That was the Chicago & Rock
Island road.
Hazardous At First.
Like all advances in methods of
sportation, the railroads were re-
garded by the public at first as highly
hazardous for passenger travel, and so
indeed they were for many years I'M
til construction was strengthened and
the management of trains systema-
tized. Terrible NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
collapse Of trestles, leaving the tracks
shocked the public.
By 1888 the Baltimore & Ohio had
pushed west from Baltimore to Fred
erick, Nd, about one-third the dis
lance to Cumberland, at the foot Of
the Allegany mountains. In the bog
raphy of Joshua R. Giddings, then a
distinguished Ohio congressman, his
journal is quoted by his biographer at
a point where he describes his first
railroad ride to Washington. With
him on that trip were the son Of Davy
Crockett, Senator Smith, Indiana, and
the famous Tom Corwin.
About II O'clock" wrote Mr.. Gid
dings, "about 120 passengers, seated
in three cars, carrying from 40 to 60
passengers each, started upon the
Baltimore G. Ohio railroad for Wash
ington. The cars were well carpeted
and the seats cushioned. We had also
q stove in each car, which rendered
them comfortably warm. Thus seated
some conversing in groups, others
reading newspapers, and some, from
loss of sleep in travelling, sleeping in
their seats-we were swept along at
the rate of Is miles an hour. At the
usual time our candles were lighted,
and we presented the appearance of
three drawing rooms filled with
guests travelling over land"
Finished en- Christmas Eve.
The object of the Baltimore and
Ohio's creation, as stipulated in the
charter, namely, ''to construct two or
more sets of rails from Baltimore to
the Ohio river" was realized on the
eve of Christmas, 1852 On that day
the golden spike completing the line
from Baltimore to Wheeling, a dis
lance of 379 miles, was driven at Ros-
by's Rock, W. Va, Is miles southeast
of Wheeling. Rosby's Rock was the
point at which the two construction
gangs met, one working east and the
other west. One week later, on New
Years Day, 1858, the first train from
the eastern terminal at Baltimore to
the Ohio River, arrived in Wheeling.
The event was made the occasion for
a great celebration in the West Vir-
ginia metropolis, the guests including
many public officials of the State and
nation.