Evening star., 1927-02-27

it was Vox Populi-was all
upset; irked, Disguised.
Here the country was with
fine canals in operation; more
in prospect; Offering the last word III
TRANSFORMATION efficiency and comfort,
and what was happening?
Frl,atir individuals were going
through the land Dragging about how
much better railways would be, and'
a step further, actually were threaten
ing TO build them. Sad to say, these
people were getting some support; not
much. il Is true, but enough TO De
disduieting. 1t was a situation that
demanded prompt and stringent meas.
ureS; the people must be warned, ana
there was only one way to DO IT.
Consequently a sharp letter was
prepared. pointing out the utter fool
ishness Of this railway idea. Why
should any one give heed to such
weird scheme the writer asked.
Everybody knew what canals would
Go; none knew the practicablllty 0!
running a rail route over any great
distance If proof were needed, just
take a look at England. There some
thing had been tried out on small
scale to facilitate the movement OF
coal and Parliament had pronounced
it a fiop--or at least the parliamentary
equivalent Of what constitutes a fiop.
It seemed that this stupid notion
which was finding some takers around
this section really was enlanating
from New York, and it was the
writer's suggestion, after due deliber-
etion, that New York should be al
lowed to have the honor of being sole
experimenter. Then. if it actually de-
veloped in the course OF a century
that there really was something to the
idea, 1t would be time enough Ior the
rest of the country to fall in line.
This indictment in due course round
its way into the columns of the Ma
tional Intelligencer, the famous old
newspaper that marked the advent of
daily Journalism in Washington. There
it had a sympathetic welcome. The
paper wasn't at all sold on proposal
that at that time was being brulted
about to build a railroad from Baltl-
more to the Ohio River, project that
entailed crossing the Alleghenies, ana
which really had drawn the fire OF the
letter writer. In an article appearing
concurrently with the letter, the In
telligencer proceeded to throw its
need of cold water on the proposition,
expressing doubt that such road
could compete with canal, and con-
Guiding pointedly:
I'VE should almost as soon think
of bridging the Atlantic"
X y X
TN view of all of which, it must
have been a shock to the stand
patters, about a year later. when
little group Of farsighted individuals,
with the courage Of their conviction,
applied to the Maryland Legislature
for a charter to operate railroad
from Baltimore to the Ohio River,
II,
ago tororrow-received the grant
that launched the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad Co., empowered to carry on
general freight and passenger bust
ness
Thus was born the first railroad
in the accepted sense of the word
that the Nation knew; the forerunner
of a mighty industry that produced
such giants as Jim" Hill, the little
one-eyed coal and wood dealer OF st.
Paul, who once furnished wild amuse-
ment to the wiseacres as he dreamed
aloud of opening q vast empire In
the Northwest to the symphony OF
snorting locomotives Cornelius Van
derbilt, the illiterate boatnan. who
visioned, as he toiled on his Hudson
ferry, g. new civilization that would
spring up where singing rails blazed
the trail; E. Fl. Hartman. Coils p.
hunLlnBCOn Jay 1ouiu anu oIicA
kings of transportation whose fame
lives after them.
Strangely enough, 1t was the "canal
menace" that really gave birth to the
railroad industry. Following the ex-
ample of England. to which the
writer quoted by the Intelligencer
slightly referred. some short lines OF
the tram variety had sprung up in
this country, but 1t was not until
do
dangered by waterways, in which she
did not share, that the group Of men
there, headed by Philip E. Thomas
and George Brown, and including
such celebrities as Samuel F., Il.
Morse and Peter Cooper, took active
steps to save her commerce by going
into railroading. as 1t is understood
now, on an extensive scale.
While. as at first conceived. the
road was only to go westward. the
advisability at once became apparent
OF extending the eastern end OF the
line into Washington. and year
after the road was chartered Congress
enacted a law giving assent to the
entrance into the District. and thus
was the Capital, hitherto served only
by stagecoach, placed on the railroad
map, although It took seven years
before service into this city was
realized .
With initial funds in hand and all
preliminaries made. the officials OF the
baltimore g. Ohio. headed by Thomas,
as first president. sent the lusty IN
fant off to an auspicious start on July
4, 1928. by laying the first stone" on
the western outskirts OF Baltimore.
Assisting at the ceremony were
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, last sIr-
yiving signer of the Declaration of
Independence, then in his ninety-sec-
ond year, and the Masonic Grand
Lodge of Maryland.
X X 4 X
TT was decided that the first section
should be laid to Ellicott City
then known as Ellicott's Mills--a dis
tance of 13 miles, and some crude
econtraptions that gave point to the
N0es Of the canal proponents were
mt in operation after the line was
ouened for traffic in May, 1880. The
first passenger car was a wooden
shack fashioned somewhat after the
pattern of early-vintage street cars;
the first freight car was little more
than glorihed pushcart mounted on
high wheels, and as locomotives had
vet to make their appearance, the
furnished alter