its quicker, better, and cheaper form of transportation put out of
existence the freighting and coaching business of the turnpikes, in
fact of all wagon roads. Roads which had had a thriving trade found
their toll boxes scarcely held enough to maintain the gate keeper. As
there was no adequate system of maintenance, although many of them
had been macadamized, they gradually fell into a state of disrepair.
Freighters and coachers gravitated westward or took shorter runs as
feeders to the railroads. Turnpikes, built as private or semi-private
enterprises, were gradually being taken over by the public and
maintained by local road overseers. The old practice of calling on
the freeholders to work out their road tax annually was in vogue and
is still in use in places. By it no road was ever kept at a high state
of efficiency. Even the National highway, the Cumberland Road, which
had been constructed to Vandalia, Illinois, and surfaced with stone to
Columbus, Ohio, at an expense to the nation of nearly seven millions of
dollars, had lost its ardent supporters. Jackson’s theory that national
money should only be spent for roads in territories, and the states’
right idea that each state should be the unit of government and look
after all its own internal affairs, seemed to prevail. As a result
wagon road building further than to make a mere way for crop marketing
at odd seasons of the year stood still until bicycle enthusiasts began
an agitation for better roads about 1890. However, a real awakening
to the advantages of good roads came only after the advent of the
automobile about 1900.
=National Participation.=--The Revolutionary War had shown the need
of roadways for quick intercourse between the seaboard and the
trans-Alleghany regions. The efforts of the different states, still
retaining their colonial jealousies, to secure the control of the trade
of these regions emphasized the need of a unifying influence which
would bring harmony. The debate proceeded in a desultory fashion for a
number of years. Strict constitutionalists did not believe the national
government has the authority to construct roads at all. States’ rights
men argued that road construction is the province of the states and
the National Government has jurisdiction only in the territories. On
March 29, 1806, President Thomas Jefferson approved a bill to survey
and construct a road from a point on the Potomac near Cumberland to
the Ohio River near Steubenville popularly known as the Cumberland
or National road, and appropriated therefor $30,000. This was in the
minds of friends of government control to be the beginning; there was
increasing need of travel and traffic facilities from the Hudson to
the Great Lakes, from the Delaware to the Ohio; from Virginia and the
Carolinas to Kentucky and Tennessee, to say nothing of north and south
routes, which unfortunately did not mature in time to prevent the great
Civil War a half-century later.
Alfred Gallatin and Henry Clay sponsored the Cumberland Road. The
former in compliance with the wish of Congress (1808) drew up a scheme
for a national system of internal improvements by roads and canals at
an annual expense of $2,000,000 for ten years. But its opponents were
able to stay it off and the war of 1812 coming on caused financial
troubles and the entire scheme was indefinitely postponed.
The first appropriation for the Cumberland Road had been made, not
from the general funds of the government, but from the proceeds of the
sales of land, a fiction, of course, for the benefit of the strict
constitutionalists. Gradually, however, Congress came to accept the
doctrine of “implied powers.” Madison in his last message invited the
attention of Congress “to the expediency of exercising their existing
powers and, where necessary, of resorting to the prescribed mode of
enlarging them, in order to effectuate a comprehensive system of roads
and canals, such as will have the effect of drawing more closely
together every part of the country, by promoting intercourse and
improvements and by increasing the share of every part of the common
stock of national prosperity.”[40]
Up to this time there had been completed only 23 miles of the road.
In 1816, $300,000 was appropriated for its completion; two years
later $260,000 was voted; but a proposal to appropriate $600,000 for
internal improvements failed in 1817, as did also a bill providing for
the extension of the Cumberland Road. But as a result of the labor of
Henry Clay, Albert Gallatin, Thomas Jefferson, President James Madison,
and other friends of cheap and rapid transit, by 1820 the total of
Congressional appropriations for the Cumberland Road amounted to more
than $1,500,000; in 1844 the thirty-fourth appropriation made a total
of nearly $7,000,000.[41] The growth of the road was slow: the first
contract was let in 1811 for 10 miles; contracts for short sections
were let from year to year and the road by 1817 had crawled, following
approximately the Nemacolin Path, with the Potomac through the
Cumberland gateway over the Alleghany range by way of Negro Mountain at
an elevation of 2325 feet, down to the Youghiogheny, past the scene of
Braddock’s defeat and the cairn which marks his resting place, through
the Laurel Hill Range over to Brownsville within reach of Pittsburgh,
thence westward slightly north through Washington (Pennsylvania), to
Wheeling (West Virginia) on the Ohio River.
Thus had the old Indian trail developed into a route for Washington
and his band to Fort Necessity; into Braddock’s road to Great Meadows;
into a pack train trail trampled by thousands of caravan hoofs; and,
finally, into a finished paved highway cleared to 66 feet in width,
having no grade above 5 per cent which Washington and Jefferson and
Madison had visions would be the means of binding together with the
strong bands of commerce the cis- and trans-Alleghanian countries.
=Extension of the Cumberland Highway.=--The road immediately proved
its worth. The mail coaches were placed upon it; great freight lines
were established having their own stage houses and depots in towns
along its way; inns and hotels thrived; apparently the “pulse of the
nation beat to the steady throb of trade along its highway.”[42] Like
the Appian Way it became noted the world over. The _National_, _Good
Intent_, _June Bug_, and _Pioneer_ stage coach lines were common names
as are the _Pennsylvania_, _New York Central_, _Burlington_, and _Union
Pacific_ railroad lines of to-day. The coming to town of these coaches,
which had developed from the plain square box, through the oval type
to the finished Concord painted in brilliant colors, perhaps bearing
the name of some prominent personage, drawn by four and six horses,
with the proud and arrogant driver often better known than the eminent
patrons whose names now grace the pages of history, was an important
event in the work of the day. Hardly had the stage stopped before the
hostlers were busy changing the horses, taking the tired animals to
rub-down, rest, and feed, bringing on fresh high-stepping spirited
ones, champing their bits, apparently very anxious for a galloping
start toward the next post; the passengers were alighting to stretch
their legs, rest and refresh themselves at nearby food “emporiums”
or select an inn from among the claims of numerous barkers; agents
were transferring and recording baggage, mail, and express; and the
curiosity loungers constituted most of the remaining populace. The
stage driver, Westover, made a record of forty-five minutes for the 20
miles between Uniontown and Brownsville, while “Red” Bunting’s drive of
131 miles, with the declaration of war against Mexico, in twelve hours
remains, like Paul Revere’s ride, a part of the nation’s history.
The amount of traffic over the National road was tremendous. The
annual traffic was probably not less than 3000 wagons.[43] One firm in
Wheeling is said to have, during the first five years of its existence,
done a business of over 5000 wagons carrying 2 tons each.[44] A view
of the road must have been interesting, for the Conestoga wagons with
their sway-backed canvas covers were said to have been “visible all
day long,[45] at every point, making the highway look more like a
leading avenue of a great city than a road through rural districts....
I have staid over night with William Cheets on Nigger (Negro) Mountain
when there were about thirty six-horse teams in a wagon yard, a
hundred Kentucky mules in an adjoining lot, a thousand hogs in their
enclosures, and as many fat cattle in adjoining fields. The music made
by this large number of hogs eating corn on a frosty night I shall
never forget. After supper and attention to the teams, the waggoners
would gather in the bar-room and listen to the music on the violin
furnished by one of their fellows, have a Virginia hoe-down, sing
songs, tell anecdotes, and hear the experience of drivers and drovers
from all points of the road, and, when it was over, unroll their beds,
lay them down on the floor before the bar room fire side by side, and
sleep with their feet near the blaze as soundly as under a parental
roof.”
Ah! where is the poet whose facile pen will engrave upon the tablets
of literature the tales of these men as has Longfellow the “Tales of a
Wayside Inn” in Sudbury Town so alike, where:
... from the parlor of the inn
A pleasant murmur smote the ear,
Like water rushing through a weir;
Oft interrupted by the din
Of laughter and of loud applause;
And, in each intervening pause,
The music of a violin.
The success of the Cumberland Road to the Ohio created demands for its
extension. In conformity to this demand $10,000 was appropriated in
1820 to lay out a road from Wheeling to the Mississippi River near St.
Louis. This continuation was for a road 80 feet wide and in spite of
much congressional objection and occasional presidential vetoes, the
road was pushed on; the last appropriation being made for a portion
west of the Ohio, May 25, 1838. The exact total of all appropriations
amounted to $6,824,919.33. The road proper reached southern Illinois.
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of Prof. P. K. Slaymaker_
WAY BILL USED ON SLAYMAKER STAGE LINE FROM LANCASTER TO PHILADELPHIA,
1815]
States wanted appropriations for other roads, but these were pretty
generally vetoed. One important case was the veto, 1830, by Jackson
of the bill authorizing a subscription by the United States for stock
in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Road Company.
The company was incorporated in Kentucky to build a road from the
Cumberland Road at Tanesville, Ohio, to Florence, Alabama, on the
Tennessee River, which had been surveyed by U. S. engineers in 1827.
Maysville, through which the road was to pass, was on the south side of
the Ohio River, and did considerable trade in Kentucky and Tennessee. A
census was taken of the existing road, admitted to be in bad condition,
showing an average daily traffic of 351 persons, 33 carriages and 51
wagons. The $150,000 to be subscribed by the government was not to be
paid until an equal amount had been subscribed in equal parts by the
State of Kentucky and private individuals. Other bills of a similar
character were before Congress, one for a road from Buffalo to New
Orleans having been laid on the table, and opponents of the bill
insisted any road anywhere could be as well regarded to be a national
road as could be the Maysville road. The Washington Turnpike Company
bill of a similar tenor was vetoed.[46] Jackson evidently doubted the
constitutional right of the government to enter into internal projects
of this character. In his message to Congress he had conceded that
“every member of the Union, in peace and in war, will be benefited by
the improvement of inland navigation and the construction of highways
in the several states,” he noted the opposition to methods heretofore
adopted as unconstitutional and inexpedient. He therefore proposed
an amendment to the constitution, to be submitted if it could not
otherwise be done, whereby the surplus revenue might be appropriated to
the several states in proportion to their representation in Congress
for the purpose of internal improvements. State sovereignty was always
to be maintained.
In 1838 when the road had reached Southern Illinois a new element
entered the industrial world. The railroads were proving their ability
to compete most successfully with other forms of transportation. The
building of national highways ceased; canal and river transportation
were practically put out of business with the entrance of this new
leviathan.
SELECTED REFERENCES
ADAMS, HENRY, “Life of Albert Gallatin,” Edited by Henry Adams,
Vol. I, pp. 78, 79, 305, 309, 370, 395. J. B. Lippincott & Co.,
Philadelphia.
BOONE, DANIEL, “Autobiography,” dictated to John Filson, 1784, is
given also as an appendix to Hartley’s “Life of Daniel Boone.”
CALK, WILLIAM, “Diary of” in Filson Club publications.
DODDRIDGE, JOSEPH, “Notes on the Settlement of Indian Wars.” Chaps.
I, XIII, XVIII, XXIV; First publication, 1824, Third--Rittenour &
Linsey, Pittsburgh, 1912.
DUNBAR, SEYMOUR, “A History of Travel in America,” 4 volumes, 1915,
Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis.
EARLY, ALICE MORSE, “Stage Coach and Tavern Days.”
CHANNING, EDWARD, “The Jefferson System,” Vol. XII, The American
Nation Series, Harper & Brothers, New York.
FARRAND, L., “Bases of American History,” Vol. II of the American
Nation Series, Harper & Brothers, New York.
HARTLEY, CECIL B., “Life of Daniel Boone,” 1865, Porter & Coates,
Philadelphia.
HOWARD, GEORGE E., “Preliminaries of the Revolution,” Vol. VIII of
the American Nation Series, Harper & Brothers, New York.
HOWE, HENRY, “History of the West.”
HURLBERT, A. B., “Historic Highways of America,” 16 volumes, 1902-05,
A. H. Clark Company, Cleveland, O.
HURLBERT, A. B., “The Paths of Inland Commerce,” Chronicles of
America Series, Vol. 21, New Haven, 1920.
IRVING, WASHINGTON, “Astoria,” Irving’s Works, Vol. I, G. P. Putnam’s
Sons, New York.
LONGFELLOW, HENRY W., “Poetical Works,” Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
MCMASTER, JOHN BACH, “History of the United States,” Vol. V, Chap.
XLIV, D. Appleton & Company, New York.
MONETTE, JOHN W., “History of the Valley of the Mississippi,” Vol.
II, Chap. II, pp. 52-58, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1846.
“Register of Debates in Congress,” Vol. VI, pp. 433-435, 806, and
820. Published by order of Congress, 13 Vol. Washington, 1825-37.
RICHARDSON, JAMES D., “Messages and Papers of the Presidents.” 8
volumes, Government Print, Washington.
ROOSEVELT, THEODORE, “Winning of the West,” Vols. I, II and IV. G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1889.
SPEED, THOMAS, “The Wilderness Road,” No. 2 of the Filson Club
publications, Louisville, 1886.
TURNER, FREDERICK J., “Rise of the New West,” Vol. XIV of the
American Nation Series, Harper & Brothers, New York.
TYLER, L. G., “England in America,” Vol. IV of the American Nation
Series, Harper & Brothers, New York.
U. S. Census review of “Agencies of Transportation,” 1880.
WATKINS, ALBERT, “The Oregon Trail,” Nebraska State Historical
Society Collections, Vol. XVI, p. 26 et seq.
FOOTNOTES
[16] “A History of Travel,” by Seymour Dunbar.
[17] “The American Nation,” “England in America,” by L. G. Tyler.
Vol. IV, p. 322.
[18] “American Nation,” Vol. VIII, p. 15.
[19] Cf. “Historic Highways of America,” by A. B. Hurlbert, and
“Basis of American History” (Vol. II of “The American Nation”), by L.
Farrand.
[20] Ramsey’s “Annals of Tennessee.”
[21] “Historic Highways of America,” by A. B. Hurlbert, 16 volumes,
1902-05, A. H. Clark Company, Cleveland. A series of annotated
reprints of some of the best contemporary volumes of travel in
America, compiled by Reuben Gold Thwaites, 1904-07, 32 volumes, A. H.
Clark Co., Cleveland.
“A History of Travel in America,” by Seymour Dunbar, 4 volumes, 1915,
Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Ind.
“Basis of American History,” Chapter II, “Routes of Travel,” Vol. II
of the American Nation Series, by Livingston Farrand, 1907, Harper &
Brothers, New York. There is good bibliography in this volume.
[22] Cecil B. Hartley in his “Life of Daniel Boone,” gives the name
of the head of this company as Colonel Richard Henderson.
[23] “The Winning of the West,” Vol. II, by Theodore Roosevelt.
[24] Dunbar’s “History of Travel,” Vol. I. Roosevelt’s “Winning of
the West,” Vol. II.
[25] “The Wilderness Road.”
[26] “A History of Travel in America.”
[27] “Winning of the West.”
[28] Henry Howe.
[29] A pirogue proper is a canoe dug out of a single log. These may
have been and probably were keel boats built of timber and the name
pirogue extended to them colloquially.
[30] “The Winning of the West,” Vol. VI, by Theodore Roosevelt.
[31] Cf. “Winning of the West,” Vol. VI, p. 259; and “The American
Nation,” Vol. XII, p. 94.
[32]
------------+-------+----------+----------
| |Admitted a|Admitted a
State |Settled|Territory | State
------------+-------+----------+----------
Missouri | 1755 | 1812 | 1821
Arkansas | 1685 | 1819 | 1836
Kansas | 1854 | 1854 | 1861
Nebraska | 1847 | 1854 | 1867
North Dakota| 1812 | 1861 | 1889
South Dakota| 1859 | 1861 | 1889
Wyoming | 1834 | 1868 | 1890
Colorado | 1859 | 1861 | 1876
Idaho | 1852 | 1863 | 1890
Montana | 1861 | 1864 | 1889
Iowa | 1833 | 1838 | 1846
Minnesota | 1846 | 1849 | 1858
------------+-------+----------+----------
[33] Reports for 1920 show that New York has exceeded St. Louis in
manufactured furs but St. Louis seems still to be the largest market
for raw furs.
[34] Albert Watkins in “Collections of the Nebraska State Historical
Society.” Vol. XVI, p. 22.
[35] Washington Irving’s “Astoria.”
[36] Cf. p. 230, Ibid.
[37] Dunbar’s “History of Travel.”
[38] Doddridge’s “Notes on the Settlement of Indian Wars.” Monette’s
“History of the Valley of the Mississippi.”
[39] Cf. Gallatin’s report for a scheme of national roads and
pavements (Adams’ Gallatin, p. 350 et seq.).
[40] Richardson, “Messages and Papers.”
[41] Hurlbert, “Cumberland Road.”
[42] Hulbert, “The Paths of Inland Commerce.”
[43] “American Nation,” Vol. XIV, p. 100.
[44] Hurlbert, “The Paths of Inland Commerce,” p. 121.
[45] Searight, quoted by Hurlbert.
[46] Debates of Congress VI, 433-435, 806, 820.
CHAPTER III
WATER WAYS AND CANALS
From the earliest exploration and settlement periods rivers and coast
inlets have been used for transportation. As has been pointed out, the
Indian, before the coming of the white man, made good use of his canoe.
Boats and barges propelled by oars, poles, or snubbed along by ropes
attached to trees on the banks were in early use. Along the coast and
the larger rivers sails were made use of. Upon the ocean there was
a large development in wooden sailing vessels. The great number of
American ships and the inroads made by American merchants upon English
trade had much to do with bringing on the war of 1812.
=Canals.=--Canals had shown their usefulness in England and other
European countries, for transporting the internal commerce cheaply
and efficiently; it was but natural, therefore, that they should be
considered in the United States. The first canal was in Orange County,
New York, and was used for transporting stone as early as 1750.
Numerous short canals were constructed in Pennsylvania, New York, and
Massachusetts prior to 1810, but the peak of canal building came after
this date. The first lock used in the United States was part of a canal
extending from the Schuylkill River to the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania.
New York, seeing the trade of the Northwest Territory going to
Philadelphia on account of the turnpikes which had crossed the
Alleghanies through state and private means, was anxious to do
something to get control. An agitation for a canal joining the Hudson
River with Lake Erie or Lake Ontario consummated in a commission,
1810, headed by Gouverneur Morris, to investigate the question of
building one or both of the canals which seemed feasible, namely (1)
from Albany up the Mohawk and westward to Lake Erie near Buffalo; (2)
from Albany to Lake Champlain, thence an opening to the St. Lawrence,
which had already been surveyed. In 1812 a second commission was formed
which included with Morris, such men as De Witt Clinton, Robert Fulton,
and Robert R. Livingston. An endeavor was made to secure Congressional
aid. The war coming on no action was taken, but the demands for
the canal continued. To the energy and political ability of DeWitt
Clinton is attributed the final success of the enterprise. When he
was elected governor in 1816 he made this the paramount effort of his
administration. He stirred public interest by addresses and presented
a convincing memorial to the legislature. He argued that “As a bond
of union between the Atlantic and western states it may prevent the
dismemberment of the American empire. As an organ of communication
between the Hudson, the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the Great
Lakes of the north and west, and their tributary rivers, it will
create the greatest inland trade ever witnessed. The most fertile and
extensive regions of America will avail themselves of its facilities
for a market. All their surplus productions,” he prophesied, “whether
of the soil, the forest, the mines, or the water, their fabrics of
art and their supplies of foreign commodities, will concentrate in
the city of New York, for transportation abroad or consumption at
home. Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, trade, navigation and the
arts,” he continued, “will receive a corresponding encouragement. That
city will in the course of time become the granary of the world, the
emporium of commerce, the seat of manufactures, the focus of great
moneyed operations, and the concentrating point of vast, disposable
and accumulating capitals, which will stimulate, enliven, extend,
and reward the exertions of human labor and ingenuity, in all their
processes and exhibitions. And before the revolution of a century, the
whole island of Manhattan, covered with habitations and replenished
with a dense population will constitute one vast city.”[47]
As bombastic as this may seem his predictions have been more than
realized and the realization began with the completion of the canal
to Buffalo in 1825. There grew up along its way the great cities of
Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, and scores of smaller ones. The products
of the entire west did seem to flow through it, for the tolls are said
to have been a half million dollars per year immediately upon its
completion and over a million by 1830.[48]
This the largest canal project in the United States is still in use. As
first constructed, it was 40 feet wide at the top, 4 feet deep, and was
navigable for 76-ton boats. It was later enlarged to a general width of
70 feet and depth of 7 feet, navigable for boats of 240 tons burden.
Some of the locks had been replaced by power lifts; the transfers are
more quickly made.
The increase of New York’s prestige of course diminished that of
Philadelphia. Pittsburgh was, too, growing up at the head of Ohio River
navigation and in the coal and iron regions of Pennsylvania.
While numerous canals had been constructed by private enterprises
an extensive system of canals was begun under an act of 1825, to
connect Philadelphia with Pittsburgh as well as other objective
points. Jealousies sprang up over the state, as usually do with any
improvement. Always one part thinks the other is getting more than its
just share. But notwithstanding, nearly a thousand miles of canals have
been constructed in Pennsylvania, some of which washed out and were
never replaced, some were abandoned and some are still in operation.
In Ohio two canals were built by the state from Lake Erie to the
Ohio River, over 400 miles in all. One of these extended from Toledo
through Defiance, St. Mary’s, and Dayton to Cincinnati; the other from
Cleveland through Akron, New Philadelphia, Coshocton, Newark, Columbus,
Chillicothe, to Portsmouth. Branch lines were run down the Muskingum
to Marietta, down the Hocking to Athens, and from Junction westward to
Antwerp to connect with the Indiana canal system. Making a total for
Ohio about 1000[49] miles. In Indiana the Wabash & Erie Canal, begun
about 1834, was constructed through Fort Wayne, LaFayette, Terre Haute
to Evansville, in 1853, on its way to the Ohio River. By this time
the railroads had paralleled its course and its trade had practically
ceased.
One of the earliest projects, said to have had the backing of
President Washington, culminated, eventually, in the Chesapeake &
Ohio canal extending from Georgetown, the upper limit of tidewater
on the Potomac, to Cumberland. After numerous efforts and years of
talking, representatives of Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia,
and Pennsylvania met in a convention in the city of Washington and
passed resolutions stating that “Whereas the connection of Atlantic and
Western waters by a canal leading from the city of National Government
to the River Ohio ... is one of the highest importance to the states
... Resolved that it is expedient to substitute for the present
defective navigation of the Potomac River, above tidewater, a navigable
canal from Cumberland to the eastern base of the Alleghany and to
extend such canal as soon thereafter as practicable to the highest
constant steamboat navigation of the Monongahela or Ohio River.”
Jealousies between the states delayed matters somewhat, but in 1825 the
proponents obtained governmental participation. Delays occurred for
various causes, but in 1828 Congress authorized the U. S. treasurer
to subscribe for $1,300,000 worth of stock and went further and
guaranteed subscriptions made by the towns of Washington, Georgetown,
and Alexandria to the amount of $1,500,000. The United States had then
once more endorsed the policy of spending national money for internal
improvements, and had become a partner in a canal proposition. Building
proceeded slowly. Many difficulties were encountered. Opponents fought
it in the legislatures of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, as
well as in Congress. In two years the money was gone and the canal not
completed. Maryland extended further aid, and then still more aid by
the help of which the canal was completed to Cumberland in 1850. In
1870 efforts were made to have the Government carry the canal on to the
Ohio River, but the plan was never consummated. This canal is still in
use, the bulk of its traffic being coal brought down to Washington.
Canals were constructed in many other states, but they need not here
be followed in detail. Illinois was connecting Chicago with the
Mississippi River; Massachusetts built artificial ways about falls and
rapids; New Jersey connected the Hudson with the Delaware; and numerous
other schemes were carried out.
=Canal Prosperity and Desuetude.=--Until the greater advantages of
railway travel and traffic lessened the usefulness of the canals,
they did a thriving business. As has already been noted with regard
to the Erie canal so was it with the others.[50] In the whole United
States there was a “grand total of 4,468 miles[51] of canals, costing
approximately $214,141,802.” Not all these were remunerative. To the
end of 1872 the New York Canals had only averaged a profit of 3.2 per
cent, while the Erie Canal proper paid but 4 per cent on its cost.[52]
The speed at which the barges traveled was about 2 miles per hour; this
was reduced on account of time lost by regular stops, passing through
locks, and accidents, to 1.7 miles per hour on the average. Rates for
freight were about 0.3 cent per ton per mile. The railroads later
hauled through freight at 0.7 cent per ton per mile. Both these rates
were, no doubt too small, for proper maintenance and remuneration.
Passenger traffic, notwithstanding the slow speed, amounted to a
considerable volume. Packets were in use, that for workmanship, finish
and convenience vied with the Pullman cars which later supplanted them.
They were decorated in bright colors--green, yellow, brown, red, white,
blue--with windows and panels done in contrasting and harmonizing
shades and tints. On the interior in addition to compartments for the
crew which were separated from those for the passengers, were usually
a large general assembly room ordinarily occupied by the men for
lounging, writing letters, playing games, and protection from stormy
weather. There was a special cabin for the women, also lavatories
and conveniences for men and women. In addition there were kitchen,
lockers, and cupboards. Three times daily the assembly saloon was
transformed into a dining room by re-arranging and setting the tables
which constituted a regular part of the room’s furniture with others
of a temporary nature, carried stored away on the boat, into one long
table lengthwise of the room. The captain and his two assistants--the
mule driver and steersman not on duty at the time--performed this
service and waited upon tables. At night both the saloon and ladies’
cabin were converted into dormitories by attaching shelves about 6 feet
long and 3¹⁄₂ feet wide to hooks in the wall, the outer edges being
held up by wooden supports extending from the floor. In each berth
was placed a “mattress,” that is a tick having some straw in it and a
pillow of similar make.
The passenger usually furnished his own sheets if they were wanted,
although some of the later boats were supplied with sheets and
coverlets. The berths were three high along the wall and had curtains
suspended in front of them. The passengers selected their berths in
the order in which they had secured passage, late comers being obliged
to sleep on the tables or on the floor. Sometimes the whole floor was
thus covered. Travelers complained bitterly of the mosquitoes. Crude
as this may seem at the present time, these packets were no doubt
the forerunners of the present Pullman palace car. The outside decks
and the roof of the car were utilized for promenading, lounging and
sight-seeing. They were often enlivened by music and dancing.
Greeley[53] speaks of the “‘cent and a half a mile, mile and a half
an hour,’ line boats.” The expression he puts in quotations as though
it were common or a slogan. Charges on the Wabash and Erie Canal in
Indiana were for the 221 miles from Cincinnati to Fort Wayne, $6.75;
138 miles from LaFayette to Fort Wayne, $3.75; 104 miles from Fort
Wayne to Toledo, $3.25.[54] An average of about three cents per mile.
The canals were unable to compete with the railroads when time became
an element. Passengers would not be content to travel 36 miles per
day along a tortuous canal when they could travel a much more direct
route at nearly 36 miles per hour. The swifter speed of freight traffic
accelerated business; the merchant’s capital could be turned over more
frequently; his net profits were consequently greater. Is there any
wonder, therefore, that the business of the canal continually decreased
while that of the railroad as continually increased. Many canals were
actually abandoned, others allowed to depreciate from want of proper
maintenance, and now only occasional barges are run to transport heavy
non-perishable freight such as grain, iron-ore, and coal. And of
these commodities, because of better terminal facilities and the time
element, the railroads soon were carrying much more than the canals.
[Illustration:
© _Underwood and Underwood_
THE SAULT ST. MARIE CANAL]
=Ship Canals.=--Reports show the tonnage of the Erie Canal to have
continually decreased from 2,031,735 tons in 1911 to 667,374 tons
in 1918. The total tonnage of all the New York state canals shows a
like decrease from 3,097,068 tons in 1911 to 1,159,270 tons in 1918.
Notwithstanding such records there are those who firmly believe canal
transportation will again take an upward trend with better terminal
facilities and possibly electric propulsion. There is one class of
canals that seems to have held its own, that is ship canals. The great
canal and locks at Sault Ste. Marie transfer a vast lake traffic
annually from one level to another between Lakes Superior and Huron.
Vast quantities of iron-ore are brought in mammoth vessels by this
route from docks near the Mesaba mines for the great iron mills at
Gary, at Cleveland, at Pittsburgh, and other points. Similar vessels
loaded with wheat, oats, and flax from the Northwest grain fields are
unloaded at Buffalo for transportation to the seaboard. Agitation
has been going on for some time to enlarge the Welland Canal and its
locks between Lakes Erie and Ontario, thus giving seagoing vessels
the opportunity of coming up by way of the St. Lawrence River and
traversing the entire Great Lake system. The ambition of cities is here
again manifest; Chicago would like such transportation, but it would
not be beneficial to New York.
A ship canal across Cape Cod saves 70 miles and considerable time
and makes the trip much less dangerous from New York to Boston. Ship
canals within the islands along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts have been
proposed to make safe coast commerce. There is also talk of a ship
canal from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Illinois and
Mississippi Rivers; and still another from Lake Erie to Pittsburgh.
=The Panama Canal.=--All present-day readers are familiar with the
greatest of all ship canals, the Panama Canal, constructed by the
Government at a cost of approximately $400,000,000, and open to the
ships of the world. It will be remembered that a canal across the
isthmus had been dreamed of practically ever since Balboa passed over
and for the first time a white man saw the Pacific from the west
coast of America. With the opening of the Oregon territory there was
increased interest in such a canal. With the discovery of gold in
California much traffic went by way of Panama being freighted across
and transshipped on the other side. Soon a railroad was established for
that purpose. Other crossings, too, were much in mind. In 1846 a treaty
of amity and commerce was entered into with New Granada, afterwards the
United States of Colombia, which gave the United States a right of way
across the Isthmus by any available method. In return the United States
agreed to guarantee the neutrality of the Isthmus. Great Britain had
likewise long been interested in a canal scheme and courted Nicaragua.
Also because of English settlements at Belize or British Honduras they
claimed rights which had been confirmed by the treaty of Versailles
in 1773. Another route, across the isthmus of Tehauntepec, had also
assumed importance. In 1848 a company of American citizens was formed
for and began at once to construct a railway across the isthmus of
Panama. Another contracted with the Nicaraguan government for a canal
there. A treaty was made with Nicaragua whereby a concession was
granted the company for the waterway, the United States guaranteeing
the neutrality of the way as had been done with New Grenada. But the
British government claimed control of the eastern terminus, therefore
a treaty had to be negotiated with her. As a result the Clayton-Bulwer
Treaty was signed and ratified in 1850, whereby the United States and
Great Britain agreed to join in promoting a canal by the Nicaraguan
route promising that neither “would obtain or maintain for itself any
exclusive control over the ship-canal,” nor, and here was the joker,
“assume or exercise any dominion ... over any part of Central America.”
Neither was to acquire nor have any rights the other did not have and
they both guarantee the neutrality of the canal. This, apparently,
was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine in so far as it did allow a
European nation a foothold upon this continent, and it was contrary to
the Washingtonian policy of avoiding “entangling alliances.” However,
it was considered at the time to be a victory for American diplomacy.
But Great Britain retained her hold on Belize and some islands along
the coast, and finally it was made known that before the signing of
the treaty Sir Henry Bulwer had left with Clayton a memorandum to the
effect that British renunciation in Central America should not apply
to “Belize” or any of its “dependencies.” Greytown, a British trading
post, had been established as a “free” city at the eastern terminus of
the Nicaraguan route through British influence and support.
In 1851 Greytown levied tribute upon the steamers of the transit
company. One of these refused to pay and was fired upon by a British
man-of-war, the fiction of Greytown being a “free city” apparently
went glimmering. The situation was critical and for some time looked
as though a war might result. Meanwhile the Accessory Transit Company
continued in a state of trouble with the Greytown government. So
bad was it that the United States vessel _Cyane_ was called upon to
protect the buildings of the Canal Company from destruction. Conditions
remained strained, feelings ran high, until in 1854 one of the officers
of a company steamer killed an individual and in a riot which followed
the mob attacked the United States consul. Lieutenant Hollins,
commanding officer of the Cyane, demanded reparation, and as this was
not forthcoming he bombarded and destroyed the town. This accentuated
the trouble between the United States and Great Britain but did not
particularly enhance the building of the Nicaraguan canal.
About this time Great Britain became involved in the Crimean War
while in the United States the slavery question divided the country.
Some hot-headed southerners wished forcibly to annex Nicaragua and
filibusters actually joined in some of the “revolutions” which are
almost always in progress in Central American States with the idea of
extending slave territory.[55] Through one of these a man by the name
of Walker had made himself head of Nicaragua and for two years remained
a dictator. His rule was marked by severity and a series of acts that
won him the enmity of the Central American States and also that of the
Accessory Transit Company, whose charter and steamers he confiscated.
He had secured the presidency and opened the state to slavery; he had
also been able to get recognition at Washington. But another revolution
broke out and he was driven out in 1857.
The action of Walker had destroyed American influence in Central
America. In the United States opinion was divided. Slavery enthusiasts
openly advocated control of any transit route across the isthmus and
that “no power on earth should be suffered to impede.”[56] This and
numerous other troubles which followed, off and on intermittently,
delayed and prevented canal construction.
=French Participation.=--After the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869
by the French an organization of French scientists made a careful
study of the various routes across the Isthmus and decided the one
at Panama to be the most feasible. As a result, in 1875, De Lesseps,
the engineer of the Suez Canal, began a careful survey of that route
and in 1878, Lucien Bonaparte Wyse, of the French Navy, secured from
the United States of Colombia (which had succeeded New Granada) a
concession giving a company to be organized by him exclusive right to
construct a canal and railroad across the Isthmus of Panama. Neutrality
was to be maintained and troops transported only by permission of
Colombia. In return for this privilege and certain grants of land
Colombia was to receive 5 per cent of the gross tolls collected. The
concession was for ninety-nine years and the canal was to be opened
within eighteen years. While it was claimed this concession did not
conflict with the treaty of 1846 between New Granada and the United
States, nevertheless it provided that the latter might share in its
advantages. The concession was transferred to De Lesseps, who arranged
for an International Congress of Geographical Sciences, which assembled
in Paris, May 15, 1879. The United States was one of the twenty-five
nations there represented. Fourteen projects involving seven different
routes were discussed and included all that were considered feasible.
Without going into detailed description some of these routes may be
mentioned. The Tehauntepec route was 148 miles long and required 120
locks, would take about twelve days to pass a vessel through, and was
in the region of earthquakes. The Nicaraguan Route was favored by
many--it was 180 miles long, needed 17 locks, but it required an actual
construction of only 60 miles as existing rivers and lakes could be
utilized. A route from the Chiriqui Gulf to the Gulf Dulce, another
from the Gulf of Darien by way of the Atrato and Napipi Rivers, and
another into the San Miguel Bay, were discarded for various reasons.
The choice centered upon the route from Colon to Panama by way of the
Culebra pass and the Chagres River. This route, the shortest of all,
was only 45 miles in length, but there were several disadvantages. The
Chagres River must be diverted by a large dam or carried for miles in
an aqueduct.
A company (Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique) was organized
and popular subscriptions invited. It was claimed that further than
granting the charter the French Government had nothing to do with the
canal. Stock could be owned by people of all nations, but the United
States did not take kindly to the measure, although no formal action
to prevent the construction of the canal was taken. Several promotion
schemes were advanced by private individuals to head off the French
and Congress was petitioned for aid. Captain Eads, who by jetties
had deepened the mouth of the Mississippi River, and an engineer of
note, suggested a ship railway across the isthmus of Tehauntepec. A
“Marine Canal Company of Nicaragua” wanted Congress to guarantee its
capital stock; another Nicaraguan company had Ex-President Grant as a
sponsor.[57] The surveys made by the United States of the Panama and of
the Atrato-Napipi routes in 1875, were printed by order of Congress. In
1880 the House asked the president for the report of surveys made in
1872 and submitted in 1875 which had not yet become public; this report
recommended the Nicaraguan route.
From time to time indignation was manifested in the United States
against allowing a foreign country to gain a foothold even though by
a neutral company on the American continent. The Monroe Doctrine was
brought out; the Clayton-Bulwer treaty was presented; the reports of
Congressional Commissions were referred to as arguments against the
De Lesseps Canal. Various other complications entered, one of which
was a possible conflict of authority if in case of a revolution on
the Isthmus it were necessary to send troops by the United States
to maintain the neutrality of the railroad and by France troops to
maintain the neutrality of the canal.
Sweeping aside these questions De Lesseps made preparation to construct
the canal, and landed a force of seventy engineers, superintendents
and workmen on the Isthmus of Panama in 1881. De Lesseps planned
a tide-water canal which would require a cut of 285 feet in the
Culebra pass. Difficulties encountered from slides in this cut and
other reasons made it advisable afterwards to change the plans. De
Lesseps purchased much machinery in Europe and America at large
expense; bought the Panama railroad for $17,000,000, because the
line of the Canal crossed it frequently and it could be utilized for
transporting materials, and began the operation of opening up the cut
at various points along its course. The engineers estimated the cost at
843,000,000 francs; this, De Lesseps cut to 600,000,000 francs, and
set the opening ceremonies for 1888.
During the Garfield administration Secretary of State Blaine held out
for a strong American policy and informed Colombia, which was charged
with making arrangements whereby certain European powers might assume
joint guarantee over the canal, that “any movement in the sense of
supplementing the guarantee contained (in the treaty of 1846) would
necessarily be regarded by this government as an uncalled for intrusion
into a field where the local and general interest of the United States
of America should be considered before those of any other power save
those of Colombia alone.”[58] England claimed to be a new world power
equally interested with the United States in maintaining the neutrality
of the canal. Blaine proposed amending the Clayton-Bulwer treaty so
that the United States could fortify the canal, also to annul that
part extending it to any other practical routes so that the United
States might be free to build a canal at Panama or elsewhere as it
chose. Garfield’s death and Blaine’s retirement from the cabinet ended
for the time being policies regarding South and Central Americas that
would either have brought the United States in trouble with England
or secured to her complete control of the canal and also, perhaps,
much of South American trade. A treaty with Nicaragua allowing the
construction of a canal wholly under American control, the United
States guaranteeing the integrity of the territory of Nicaragua, which
was undoubtedly a violation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, and prepared
by Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State under Arthur, for the purpose
of testing that treaty, was withdrawn by President Cleveland who was
inaugurated before its confirmation.
There was a growing feeling that the De Lesseps company would never
finish the canal. The company had spent $10,000,000 more than the
estimate of 600,000,000 francs ($120,000,000), and had not paid the
$17,000,000 promised for the Panama railway. In fact it was bankrupt.
While a large amount of excavation had been done, it was small compared
with what was necessary. A magnificent plant with much costly machinery
was going to decay.
The Spanish-American war brought forcibly to the attention of the
public the need of an interoceanic canal.
In 1900 a treaty negotiated by John Hay and Sir Julian Pauncefote
embodying some modifications of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty had been so
amended in the Senate that Great Britain would not accept it. A new
treaty made in view of the Senate amendments and the British objections
was submitted a few months after Roosevelt became President. It
abrogated parts of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and gave to the United
States full ownership and control of the proposed canal. Colonel
Roosevelt had strongly advocated this while governor of New York before
his accession to the presidency.[59]
Two commissions in the past had reported favorably on the Nicaraguan
route. A third commission with Admiral John G. Walker as chairman
was appointed and authorized in 1899 to expend a million dollars, if
necessary, to make a thorough investigation of the several routes. In
1901 the committee reported that the “Commission is of the opinion
that the most practicable and feasible route for an Isthmian Canal, to
be under the control, management, and ownership of the United States
is that known as the Nicaraguan route.”[60] The Commission placed the
estimated cost of the Nicaraguan Canal at $189,864,062; of completing
the Panama Canal at $144,233,358; and that to this latter sum should
be added the cost of acquiring the rights of the French company. The
company asked $109,141,500, but the Commission estimated its worth at
$40,000,000. The company considered this unfair but finally offered
to negotiate with the United States and sell on the best terms
possible. The Commission made a supplementary report recommending the
Panama route and purchase of the French company’s work and rights
at $40,000,000. An act was signed by the president, June 28, 1902,
which had passed Congress, not without opposition, authorizing the
president to acquire control of the rights and property of the Panama
Canal Company, to acquire perpetual control of a strip of land not
less than 6 miles in width, across the Isthmus, to proceed as soon as
these rights were acquired to construct a canal through “The Isthmian
Canal Commission” created by the act; but should he be unable to get
satisfactory title to the property of the French company and the
control of territory from Colombia, then the president was authorized
to negotiate with Nicaragua and build a canal along the Nicaraguan
route.
Attorney General Knox reported that the French company could give
a clear title; a convention was entered into by which the United
States upon the payment of $10,000,000 in cash and an annual rental
of $250,000 per year was to receive the necessary control and strip
of land. The Senate ratified this March 17, 1903. When it went to
the Colombian congress, however, it was rejected by unanimous vote.
President Roosevelt declared Colombia wanted to wait until they could
forfeit the title of the French company then sell to the United States
for $40,000,000.[61] This view may and possibly was erroneous. There
was again a demand that the Nicaraguan route be chosen. But on November
3, 1903, the Panamanians, instigated by the French company, whose
entire concession and undertaking would revert to Colombia in less than
a year,[62] seeing their interests being sacrificed by the cupidity of
Colombia, consummated a revolution. Many were of the opinion that the
president of the United States was _particeps criminis_. In a letter
to a friend[63] dated October 10, 1903, he says, “I cast aside the
proposition at this time to foment the secession of Panama. Whatever
other governments can do, the United States can not go into the
securing, by such underhand means, the cession. Privately, I freely say
to you that I should be delighted if Panama were an independent state,
or if it made itself so at this moment; but for me to say so publicly
would amount to an instigation of a revolt, and therefore I cannot say
it.”
Many years later when chaffingly accused of being a wicked conspirator,
Mr. Roosevelt is quoted as having said: “What was the use? The other
fellows in Paris and New York had taken all the risk and were doing all
the work. Instead of trying to run a parallel conspiracy, I had only to
sit still and profit by their plot--if it succeeded.”[64]
The revolution was bloodless except for the accidental killing of a
Chinaman and a dog. Colombia, however, as soon as possible sent troops
to Colon. The following day the U. S. Ship _Nashville_ landed fifty
marines. The next day the Colombian troops left, said by some to have
been bribed. A Panamanian government was formed; on November 6th, the
American consul was ordered from Washington to recognize it; a week
later their minister was formally received by President Roosevelt. On
January 4, 1904, the president presented for ratification a treaty. The
Senate ratified it February 23, 1904. Thus rapidly did things move. By
this agreement the United States secured from the Republic of Panama
a zone of land 10 miles wide for the canal with full power over it.
In return the United States guaranteed the independence of the Panama
republic, and agreed to pay $10,000,000 upon exchange of ratifications
and the sum, beginning nine years thereafter, of $250,000 per annum.
The Colombians protested and sent their former president General Reyes
to Washington to persuade the Government to abrogate its compact with
Panama. The counsel for Colombia is quoted as saying that “Reyes was
authorized to accept $8,000,000 for all the desired concessions and
he would have taken $5,000,000, but Hay and Roosevelt were so foolish
they wouldn’t accept.”[65] Be that as it may, the effort was several
times made to get for Colombia a gratuity much greater than Reyes would
have accepted, and in 1921 Congress appropriated for that purpose
$25,000,000, thus, in a way, acknowledging that Colombia was wronged
and that the United States had been profited thereby.
A commission was formed to undertake the construction of the canal.
This was changed two or three times during the construction. The
immensity of the work necessary to make a tidewater canal, and the fact
that its completion would be materially delayed, caused the abandonment
of that plan. Three sets of locks were provided--at Gatun, Pedro
Miguel, and Miraflores. A great dam was built across the lower end of
the Chagres, entirely blocking the flow of that river and creating a
large artificial lake 165 square miles in area whose maximum height is
85 feet above sea water. This lake serves for storage water necessary
to manipulate the canal and locks; any surplus flows through a spillway
into the Pacific Ocean. Great breakwaters were constructed to make
smooth harbors at Colon and Panama and prevent silting. The canal is at
sea level to Gatun, 8 miles, then three steps lead it to Gatun Lake;
it continues on that level for 32 miles; then down one step at Pedro
Miguel to Miraflores Lake, 55 feet above sea level; thence through
the Miraflores locks to sea level again and then out to deep water in
the Pacific, 11 miles. The locks are 1000 feet long and large enough
in every way to accommodate the largest ships afloat. These great
locks with their mammoth gates, tunnels for filling, and mechanical
means of operation are one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
The cost was about $400,000,000 to date of opening. Since that time
considerable sums have been spent in fortifications, improvements,
and maintenance--several large slides having occurred in the Culebra
Cut. The “total amount expended or advanced to disbursing officers
for purchase, construction, fortification, etc., to June 30, 1919,
$452,075,376.”[66] The tolls amount to about $7,000,000 annually.
The principal arguments in favor of the United States building the
inter-oceanic canal were its utility as a measure of preparedness for
and strategy in case of war. By furnishing quick passage between the
east and west coasts the navy necessary for the protection of these
coasts could be reduced one half. With the canal entirely in the
control of the Government no foreign nation could take advantage of
it to our detriment. Notwithstanding the need of the canal for war
purposes, the benefits to be derived by the commerce of peace will
doubtless be manifold more valuable. It furnishes cheap transportation
between the west and east coasts, and shortens materially the distance
from the Atlantic seaboard to western South America as well as to
the islands of the Pacific Ocean. During the year 1920, “2814 ships
representing 11,236,119 tons of cargo, passed through the waterway”
being a considerable increase over any preceding year.[67] Of these
45.5 per cent were registered United States vessels, more than any
other one nation. Fuel-oil, nitrates, steel and iron hold leading
places in the line of commodities carried.
=River Transportation.=--As has already been stated streams and rivers
were early adopted as a means for transportation. Birch-bark and
dug-out canoes, flat-boats and keel-boats, with and without sails, and
rafts were extensively used. For small boats paddles and oars furnished
the means of navigation, while several pairs of oars were utilized on
the larger boats. In shallow water poling was much in vogue. Two men by
pushing poles against the bottom of the stream from opposite sides of
a small boat could easily propel it. On still larger boats and rafts
the men as they pushed walked toward the stern as far as possible while
the craft moved through the water under them. A third man held it with
his pole until the first two regained a position near the front for
another push. By this arduous and crude means boats were propelled
up shallow but often swift currents. On the larger rivers sails were
employed. Going downstream offered little difficulty except to keep
clear of sand bars and snags. Sails, oars, and poles were sometimes
relied upon to assist the current in making speed. Large rafts of
logs and lumber made by tying timbers together with wooden pins were
floated down the rivers and broken up and sold when they reached their
destination. Furs, hides, bacon, cured hams, or jerked-meat might form
a cargo, stored during transit, in a small cabin erected at the center
of the raft, which might occupy from 400 to 600 square feet.
The construction of a practicable steamboat in 1807 by Robert
Fulton[68] and another by John Stevens, the same year, revolutionized
both river and sea navigation. While many attempts had been made
to utilize the steam engine for propelling boats, and some of them
mechanically successful, Fulton’s was the first boat built and
adapted for the conveyance of freight and passengers on a scale
commercially successful. Fulton had had the confidence and backing of
R. R. Livingston and the firm of Fulton & Livingston was formed. This
firm secured a monopoly for operating steam vessels in the waters of
the state of New York. The first boat, the _Clermont_, named after
Livingston’s estate on the Hudson River, was 130 feet long, 18 feet
beam, and 7 feet deep, with a burden of 160 tons. The Boulton & Watt
engine had been brought from England the year previous by Fulton and
the boat built for it. The vessel made a successful trial trip to
Albany, August 7 to 9, and returned the following two days; her running
speed had only averaged about 5 miles an hour, but she had demonstrated
the practicability of steam navigation on inland waters. Following
close after this event, Stevens, who had been experimenting for years
and, it is claimed, had launched a screw propeller vessel driven by
steam as early as 1804, perfected his vessel, but because of Fulton &
Livingston’s monopoly took it to the Delaware River at Philadelphia.
The trip around by sea demonstrated the feasibility of steam navigation
on the ocean. Very shortly thereafter Fulton & Livingston had placed
a fleet of their vessels on the Hudson River and Long Island Sound,
and had begun to build them at Pittsburgh while John Stevens & Sons
had their vessels on the Delaware and Connecticut Rivers. Soon all
navigable waters were covered with steam propelled vessels.
Prior to the introduction of the steamboat Mississippi River traffic
had been, as has been stated, carried on by flat boats, rafts, and
perhaps some twenty barges[69] of a better quality. These latter had
been making one round trip a year requiring sixty days down and ninety
days back from Louisville to New Orleans. This time, by 1822, had
been reduced to seven days down and sixteen days up. By 1830 all the
navigable tributaries of the Mississippi were traversed by steamboats
and the produce of a western empire teeming through the portals was
rapidly making New Orleans a great city. The value of these commodities
were given as approximating $26,000,000 annually.[70] In 1860 a writer
said: “upward of two hundred millions of dollars worth of merchandise
are annually brought to this market.”[71] New Orleans was an extremely
busy place with all the picturesqueness of pioneer cities generally.
Ranking twelfth of the cities of the United States in 1790, it had
steadily climbed up to third place in 1840,[72] when the northern
cities through the influence of the railroads and the decline of river
traffic began to outstrip it. The levee, an embankment along the river,
several feet higher than the city, was bordered by a long line of
warehouses on the land side and by quays extending into the river on
the other side. Miles of ships, boats, and barges were anchored along
the levee as automobiles are now parked along a street, heads in. A
contemporaneous writer describes it thus:
The New Orleans levee is one continuous landing-place, or quay, 4
miles in extent, and of an average width of 100 feet. It is 15 feet
above low water mark, and 6 feet above the level of the city, to
which it is graduated by an easy descent. During the business season,
from November to July, the river front of the levee is crowded with
vessels, of all sizes and from all quarters of the world, with
hundreds of large and splendid steamboats, barges, flat-boats,
etc. The levee presents a most busy and animated prospect. Here
are seen piles of cotton bales, vast numbers of barrels of pork,
flour and liquors of various kinds, bales of foreign and domestic
manufactures, hogsheads of sugar, crates of ware, etc., draymen
with their carts, buyers, sellers, laborers, etc. Valuable products
from the head waters of the Missouri, 3000 miles distant, center
here. The Illinois, the Ohio, the Arkansas and Red Rivers, with the
Mississippi, are all tributaries to this commercial depot.
Under the influence of the river traffic many other cities were
springing into importance. Many of these later became centers of
railroad activity and thus retained or even bettered their rank. Others
gradually wasted away until they are mere hamlets to-day.
The times seem to have been ripe when Fulton’s _Clermont_ appeared, for
almost immediately the steamboat industry thrived. During the first ten
years 131 steam vessels had been built and by 1832, 474;[73] in 1836
and 1837, 145 and 158 respectively were launched. Building was for a
few years checked by business depression but soon revived and in 1846
there were constructed 225 steam vessels. The Civil War reduced the
number; immediately following business sprang up again and taking into
account coasts, rivers, and lakes has continued brisk ever since.
With the growth in the number of vessels, up until railroads began
to monopolize travel and freight, the accommodations and speed were
continually improved until river and sound boats were frequently
spoken of as “floating palaces.” Packets were built to accommodate
several hundred passengers, with staterooms, saloons, dining rooms,
bathrooms, barber shops, and other features. The river steamboat may
be said to be a development of the pole-boat or flat-boat. On account
of the shoals they must be broad and shallow. The paddle wheels on the
sides are operated independently in order to facilitate quick turning.
The weight of engines, boilers, fuel bunkers, freight and passenger
burden, are distributed fairly well over the entire surface. Some of
the best lower Mississippi boats had a length of hull of 300 feet, a
width of 50 feet and depth of hold of 9 feet. The boat fully loaded
drew about 10 feet of water, when light, 4 feet. “Mark twain,” 6 feet,
represented the shallowest water the vessels piloted by Samuel L.
Clemens could navigate; after quitting steam-boating he adopted that
term for a _nom-de-plume_, under which his inimitable writings were
published.[74] The main deck overhangs the hull and is about 90 feet
wide. A complete system of ties and braces above the hull gives it
strength and stiffness. Modern boats are electric lighted and have
swinging gangplanks, capstans, and all the recent power improvements
for the rapid handling of freight and passengers. The staterooms are
erected on the saloon deck with doors opening into the saloon and on
a narrow passageway along the outside. The saloon generally extends
the full length of the house, giving a large well-lighted room, used
as a lounging and dining room. Above this is another deck on which are
officers’ quarters and above all fully glassed in is the pilot house.
The freight capacity of these boats is given as 1500 tons, and there
are 70 staterooms to accommodate 140 passengers. Deck passage could be
provided for a number more. The cost of a “floating palace” was in the
’eighties from $100,000 to $120,000.
Extremely handsome, well equipped, and finely decorated boats ply
regularly on the Hudson River and on Long Island Sound. Some of the
vessels of one line are over 400 feet long and 50 feet wide. The decks
are about 90 feet wide and they have over 350 state rooms; many of them
are magnificently equipped.
O’Hanlon’s “Irish Emigrants’ Guide to the United States,” published
in 1851, would indicate that all traveling in that day was not as
comfortable as might be inferred from the preceding. With regard to
steamboats it says:
These have been termed “flying palaces,” and many of them are fitted
up in style of great magnificence. But the comfort of traveling by
them is confined to cabin passengers, state rooms, accommodating two
persons each, in separate berths, are appropriated for retirement by
day and for rest at night; ladies and gentlemen have separate cabins,
but dine at the same table, which is set out in the “social hall,”
and stocked with a variety of luxuries.... The deck passengers are
immediately under the cabin, and in the hinder part of the boat.
A few berths are fitted up for their reception without bedding.
Provisions must be provided at their own expense, and also a mode
of preparing them. Sometimes numbers are huddled together on board
without having room to move, or stretch themselves out for rest; the
inconvenience of this mode of traveling can hardly be appreciated
without being experienced.
It is also stated that steamboat traveling was dangerous because of
the explosions. It is true there were a number of boiler explosions.
Mark Twain mentions one of the very worst,[75] the explosion of the
_Pennsylvania_. He also discusses the subject of racing, which after
the Government rules regarding steam pressure went into effect, he
claims not to have been dangerous. One of the later races, that between
the _Robert E. Lee_ and the _Natchez_ in 1870 was an event of national
interest. The time of the _Robert E. Lee_ from New Orleans to St. Louis
was 3 days 18 hours and 14 minutes from dock to dock. Mark Twain claims
the fastest long-distance running was made by the _Eclipse_ in 1855
when she made the trip from New Orleans to Cairo at an average speed
“a shade under fourteen and three-eighths miles per hour.” An idea
of the rates charged for passenger fare and for freight traffic on
steam-boats may be obtained from the following.
In 1816 from New York to Albany the fare was $7, about 4 cents per
mile. For way stations between about 5 cents per mile, but no charge
less than $1.[76]
STEAMBOAT FARES
----+----------------------+--------+------------------------
| | | FARE
| | +-----+------------------
Date| Between |Distance|Total| Per Mile Cents
----+----------------------+--------+-----+------------------
1816|New York and Albany | 145 |$7.00| 4
1817|New York to Providence| 200 |10.00| 5
1825|Boston to Portland | 160 | 5.00| 3
1825|Boston to Bath | | 6.00| }
1825|Boston to Augusta | | 7.00| } With meals
1825|Boston to East Port | 275 |11.00| 4 }
1848|New York to Albany | 145 | .50| .3}
1848|New York to Erie | 600 | 7.50| 1.3}
1848|New York to Detroit | 825 | 8.50| 1 }
1848|New York to Chicago | 1520 |12.50| .7}[77]
1848|Baltimore to Richmond | 378 |10.00| }
1848|Tuscaloosa to Mobile | 675 |12.00| }
1848|Boston and New York |Sailing}| | }
| to New Orleans |Packet }|40-50| }
----+----------------------+--------+-----+------------------
In 1817 from Rhode Island to New York, $10, approximately 5 cents per
mile.
=The Government’s Attitude Toward River Improvement.=--The individual
states had been encouraging turnpikes, canals, and other interior
improvements by subscribing and underwriting stock in private companies
authorized to build and operate the improvements. Frequently monopolies
were granted to operating companies.[78] States were jealous of each
other and hesitated to appropriate money for improvements which would
inure to the benefit of another state, and frequently an improvement
in one state was worthless unless joining improvements could be made
in neighboring states. Many men, believing in a large and unified
nation rather than a confederation of several small nations advocated
governmental action. Strict constitutionalists and states’ rights men
objected. President Madison had vetoed Calhoun’s Bonus Bill for roads
and canals upon the ground that the constitution did not vest Congress
with power to undertake such improvements.[79] Calhoun had used all the
power of his great eloquence based upon the “common defense and general
welfare” clause of the constitution in favor of such improvements.
He considered it the duty of Congress to “bind the republic together
with a perfect system of roads and canals.” He exclaimed that the
very extent of the country “exposes us to the greatest of all
calamities,--next to the loss of liberty,--and even to that in its
consequences--disunion. We are great, and rapidly--I was about to say
fearfully growing. This is our pride and our danger; our weakness and
our strength. We are under the most imperious obligation to counteract
every tendency to disunion.... Whatever impedes the intercourse of the
extremes with this, the center of the Republic, weakens the Union.”[80]
Monroe’s first message indicated that he followed Madison in the belief
that Congress was not empowered by the constitution to establish
internal improvements; and later he vetoed a measure to authorize the
president to erect toll houses along the Cumberland Road, appoint
toll gatherers and otherwise regulate its use, on the ground that it
exceeded the power of congress. He favored internal improvements but
thought a constitutional amendment necessary.[81]
The next year, however, some bills for internal improvements got
through among them the first act for the improvement of harbors. In
1802, under the influence of Gallatin, Randolph and Jefferson, 5 per
cent of the Ohio lands sold were appropriated for the building of
roads.[82] In 1809 was passed the first act for river improvement.[83]
These were the beginnings of National aid for internal improvements in
the United States. The “implied powers” adherents seem to have been in
the ascendency for a report of the treasurer shows that up to 1830 the
United States had appropriated for internal improvements--Cumberland
Road, $2,443,420.20; subscriptions to canal stock and improvements
of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, $1,263,315.65; for other items
such as building of piers, preservation of ports and piers, making
roads and removing river obstructions, $1,603,694.31. It was pointed
out that only $234,955.92[84] had been expended in the territories
where the question of constitutionality did not arise. Presidents
had nearly always declared in favor of internal improvements but
desired that constitutional provision be made for the same. Jackson,
a strong state sovereignty man, suggested that the surplus funds of
the Government be distributed among the several states in proportion
to their representation in Congress; and in 1830 vetoed a bill for
subscription to the stock of one canal and pocketed others, and closed
his administration by pocketing a bill for the improvement of the
Wabash River. While Jackson’s attitude checked federal appropriations,
especially for roads and canals, those for rivers and harbors became
almost a national scandal, and were with other public appropriation
bills frequently referred to as “pork bills.” A congressional
appropriation, whether for rivers and harbors, a federal building,
or an irrigation project, brought considerable money into a state;
it was considered a feather in the cap of a congressman and enhanced
his chances for reelection. Consequently nearly every congressman
introduced such an act for his district and “log-rolling” schemes
were entered into by many to procure their passage. River and harbor
appropriations continued to increase until 1882, when they amounted
to the vast sum of $18,743,875 to be applied to some 500 different
localities. President Arthur[85] vetoed the bill, but Congress passed
it over the veto and the “barrel of pork” was divided up as usual. The
publicity given the matter checked appropriations for a while but they
soon climbed higher than ever. The appropriation for the fiscal year of
1920 was $33,378,364.[86]
SELECTED REFERENCES
ARTHUR, PRESIDENT CHESTER A., Veto of river and harbor bill,
Richardson’s “Messages and Papers,” VIII, pp. 120-122.
BARNARD, CHARLES, “Inland Navigation of the United States,” _The
Century Magazine_, Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 353-372.
CALHOUN, JOHN C., “Works of.” Edited by Richard K. Cralle, 6 volumes,
1853-1855. Vol. II, p. 190. D. Appleton & Company, New York.
Canals.--“Report of the Committee on Roads and Canals (of the House
of Representatives) in reply to memorials of Chesapeake & Ohio Canal,
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and inhabitants of Virginia, Maryland,
and Pennsylvania, asking additional subscriptions by the United
States to the capital stock of the Canal.” Report No. 414, H. of R.
23d Cong. 1st Sess., pp. 378 et seq.
DUNBAR, SEYMOUR, “History of Travel in America,” 4 volumes,
Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis.
GREELEY, HORACE, “Recollections of a Busy Life.” J. B. Ford & Co.,
New York, 1869.
HAZARD, GEORGE S., “The Erie Canal. Its National Character.”
Published by order of Board of Trade, Buffalo, N. Y., 1873.
HOWE, HENRY, “Historical Sketch of the West.”
“Isthmian Canal Commission Report,” Sen. Doc., 57th Congress, 1st
session, No. 54.
Johnson’s Cyclopaedia. Article on Canals.
MACDONALD, WILLIAM, “Jacksonian Democracy,” Vol. XV of the American
Nation Series, Chapter VIII, “Internal Improvements.” Harper &
Brothers, New York.
MCMASTER, JOHN BACH, “History of the United States,” Vol. V, Chap.
XLIV. D. Appleton & Company, New York, 1911.
O’HANLON, REV. J., “Irish Emigrant’s Guide of the United States,”
Boston, 1851.
Panama Canal.--Financial Statement to June 30, 1919, The American
Year Book for the year 1919, p. 364, D. Appleton & Co., New York.
RICHARDSON, JAMES D., “Messages and Papers,” Vol. I, 584, President
Madison’s Veto of Calhoun’s Bonus Bill. Published by order of
Congress, 8 Vols., Washington, 1896-1899.
ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT THEODORE, “Messages to Congress,” January 4,
1904, Sen. Doc. 58th Sess., No. 53, pp. 5-26.
SMITH, THEODORE C., “Parties and Slavery,” Vol. XVIII, of the
American Nation Series, Harper & Brothers, New York.
SPARKS, EDWIN E., “National Development,” Vol. XXIII of the American
Nation Series, Chapters IV and XIII, Harper & Brothers, New York.
THAYER, WM. R., “Theodore Roosevelt,” p. 178 et seq. Grosset &
Dunlap, New York.
THAYER, WM. R., “John Hay,” Vol. II, pp. 339-41. Houghton Mifflin
Company, Boston, 1915.
TURNER, FREDERICK J., “Rise of the New West,” Vol. XIV of the
American Nation Series, Chapter VIII, “Western Trade and Ideals,”
Harper & Brothers, New York.
TWAIN, MARK (Clemens, S. L.), “Life on the Mississippi,” Harper &
Brothers, New York.
U. S. Census review of “Agencies of Transportation,” 1880.
WARNER, I. W., “Immigrant’s Guide and Citizen’s Manual.” New York,
1848.
FOOTNOTES
[47] “American Nation,” Vol. XIV, p. 32.
[48] McMaster, “United States,” Vol. V.
[49]
Length of Miami and Erie Canal 301.49 miles
„ „ Ohio Canal 512.26
„ „ Penn. and Ohio Canal 76
„ „ Sandy and Beaver Canal 79
„ „ Whitewater Canal 32
-------
Total 1000.75 miles
--Dunbar’s “History of Travel in America”.
[50]
Total mileage of boats clearing from
Fort Wayne in 1849 209,982
LaFayette 162,297
Total mileage by passengers from and to
Fort Wayne in 1849 519,336
LaFayette 505,397
“Annual Report of the Trustees of the Wabash and Erie Canal,” 1849.
[51] U. S. Census review of “Agencies of Transportation,” 1880.
[52] Johnson’s Cyclopaedia.
[53] “Recollections of a Busy Life,” by Horace Greeley.
[54] “A History of Travel in America,” Dunbar.
[55] Smith: “Parties and Slavery,” (“American Nation,” Vol. XVIII).
[56] Democratic Platform, 1856.
[57] _North American Review_, Vol. CXXXII, p. 107.
[58] “American Nation,” Vol. XXIII.
[59] “Theodore Roosevelt,” by W. R. Thayer, 180. “John Hay,” by W. R.
Thayer, II, 339-41.
[60] Isthmian Canal Commission Report, Sen. Doc. 57th Congress., 1st
session, No. 54.
[61] Message of January 4, 1904, Sen. Doc., 58th Cong. 2nd Sess. No.
53, pp. 5-26.
[62] “Theodore Roosevelt,” by William Roscoe Thayer, p. 184 et seq.
[63] Letter to Albert Shaw by President Theodore Roosevelt. _Literary
Digest_, October 29, 1904.
[64] “Theodore Roosevelt,” by W. R. Thayer, p. 190.
[65] “Theodore Roosevelt,” by W. R. Thayer, p. 186.
[66] “The American Year Book,” 1919. Appleton, N. Y.
[67] _Panama Canal Record._
[68] For a long list of steamboats built in America, and operated
under their own power prior to Fulton’s _Clermont_, see “A History of
Travel in America,” by Seymour Dunbar.
[69] “American Nation,” Vol. XIV.
[70] “American Nation,” Vol. XIV, p. 105.
[71] Henry Howe, “Historical Sketch of the West.”
[72] Statistical Atlas 1900. 12th Census of the U. S.
[73] Charles Barnard in _The Century Magazine_, Vol. XXXVIII,
from which also is derived information relative to dimensions and
decorations of steam vessels, pp. 353-372.
[74] See “Life on the Mississippi,” by Mark Twain, p. 117.
[75] “Life on the Mississippi,” by Mark Twain, Chapter XX.
[76] Dunbar, “A History of Travel in America.”
[77] Warner’s “Immigrant’s Guide and Citizen’s Manual.”
[78] March 18, 1786, John Fitch was granted by New Jersey “the sole
and exclusive right of constructing making using and employing or
navigating, all and every species or kind of boats, impelled by the
force of fire or steam” within the limits of that state. Delaware
gave him similar rights in 1787 and New York, likewise, the same
year. In 1798 Fitch’s grant in New York, which was to have run
fourteen years, was canceled and Livingston given a monopoly for
twenty years providing within a year he run a steamboat at four miles
an hour. This he failed to do, but got his grant renewed in 1803, and
again extended until the successful operation of the _Clermont_ in
1807.
[79] “Messages and Papers,” Richardson, I, 584.
[80] Calhoun: “Works II,” 190. “American Nation” XIII, 253.
[81] “American Nation,” XIV, 231.
[82] “Laws of the United States,” VI., 120.
[83] MacDonald, “American Nation” Vol. XV, 134.
[84] “American Nation,” Vol. XV, pp. 136-137.
[85] Richardson, “Messages and Papers,” VIII, 120-122.
[86] “The American Year Book,” 208.
CHAPTER IV
RAILROADS
During the period of the development of the canals there was growing
up along side of them an agency for transportation that was destined
practically to put them out of business. Engineers in both Europe and
America were straining every energy to apply the steam engine to the
propulsion of wagons along a highway. No one at first looked upon the
railroad as a separate and distinct industry. For years upon roads over
which there was much hauling of heavy loads planks had been placed
in the tracks to prevent rutting. These planks had developed into
rigidly set timbers or rails either attached to cross timbers or to
stones set in the roadway. A little later iron straps were fastened
to the tops of the rails to lessen wear and friction. It was found
that a horse could haul on these tramways several times as much as
he could on the dirt roadway. The steam engine had revolutionized
industry and was turning all sorts of machinery with an efficiency
unknown before, why then could it not be applied to propel vehicles?
In England George Stephenson and associates were proving that it
could. But prior to their time many thinkers of America believed in
it. John Fitch, the half crazy inventor of an early steamboat, had
built a model locomotive. Oliver Evans, who had placed wheels under
a steamboat of his invention (1804) and run it over the streets of
Philadelphia, predicted “The time will come when people will travel
in stages moved by steam engines, from one city to another, almost as
fast as birds fly, fifteen to twenty miles an hour.” His vision went
still further; he saw what most people think to be absolutely modern
innovations: “A carriage will set out from Washington in the morning,
the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine at Philadelphia, and
sup at New York, the same day ... and travel by night as well as by
day; and the passengers will sleep in these stages as comfortably as
they do now in steamboats.”[87] Evans antedated Stephenson’s thought
that speed with a locomotive could only be made on nearly level
rails. John Stevens, who is often spoken of as the father of American
railroads, of course, had similar beliefs, and wrote a pamphlet to
impress his ideas of the importance of railways upon Congress. He
said: “I am anxious and ambitious that my native country should have
the honor of being the first to introduce an improvement of such
immense importance to society at large, and should feel the utmost
reluctance at being compelled to resort to foreigners in the first
instance.”[88] Had Congress not turned a deaf ear to him it is quite
possible that he might have been before Stephenson in demonstrating the
practicability of the locomotive.[89] Stevens built a small locomotive
and demonstrated it on a piece of track on his grounds with himself as
passenger in 1820. Several tramways or railroads operated by horse were
established in different parts of the country. One of them--sponsored
by the people of Baltimore, anxious to retain their trade--was the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which had secured from Maryland, Virginia,
and Pennsylvania charters for its construction in 1827 and 1828. It
was being built with many curves, as it, too, was expected to have
horse propulsion. Many persons thought it should be made straighter in
order to take advantage of the steam locomotive when the inventors had
perfected it sufficiently to be usable. It was not considered feasible
to operate locomotives on crooked roads. Peter Cooper, justly praised
for many benefits to his country, decided to build a locomotive to
prove it could run on a crooked track. In his own words: “Under these
discouraging circumstances many of the principal stockholders were
about to abandon the work, and were only prevented from forfeiting
their stock by my persuading them that a locomotive could be so made
as to pass successfully around the short curves then found in the
road.”[90]
Accordingly in 1829 Cooper fitted up a small engine and boiler on a
flat car and with that crude locomotive, the _Tom Thumb_, was able to
demonstrate that curves could be “navigated.” Having made some changes
in the _Tom Thumb_, Cooper, the next year, ran it over the 13 miles
from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills in an hour and a quarter, an average
of 6 miles per hour, returning in sixty-one minutes, including a stop
of four minutes. The engine pushed ahead of it a flat car carrying
twenty-four passengers. The wheels of the engine had been constructed
on the “cone principle” which allowed it to round the curves of 400
feet radius without trouble.[91] This was the first time a car filled
with passengers had been hauled over a railroad in the United States by
means of steam power.
In England steam engines had been tried out but not until 1820 was the
first commercial road, the Stockton & Darlington Railroad, 37 miles in
length, completed. Prior to this time the tram roads had been erected
for specialized private transportation (from colliery to canal, for
instance) or as improvements to the public highways. The Stockton &
Darlington was intended to be operated with horses. And even as late
as 1828 the Liverpool & Manchester Railroad, intended primarily to
haul freight and relieve the congested condition of the canals, was
chartered with a provision that the owners could exact toll of all
who might put vehicles on the road for the transport of goods. The
engineer, George Stephenson, however, was a strong advocate of steam
power and the success of the _Rocket_, built by his son Robert, in
1829, as this road was nearing completion, definitely determined the
power to be used. Roads in America followed the same idea that they
were public highways. In Pennsylvania the state built a railroad from
Philadelphia to Columbia and licensed over twenty different companies
to run their horse-drawn cars over it.[92] In other states the same
idea prevailed and the right to charge tolls “upon all passengers and
property” transported upon the road was legalized by the charter.
The utility and economy of the railways were so manifest that
organizations were formed rapidly over the whole well settled portions
of the country. Several locomotives were imported from England. One
of these, the _John Bull_ (locomotives were for a number of years all
named like sleeping cars are now), brought over by Stevens & Son, is
said to have given Baldwin information which enabled him to build
_Old Ironsides_, the first locomotive to run on Pennsylvania tracks,
and establish a business which afterwards became one of the largest
locomotive works in the world. _Old Ironsides_ was built by Matthias
Baldwin and his brother-in-law Rufus Tyler for the Philadelphia,
Germantown & Norristown Road. Tyler seems to have made the drawings.
Baldwin was by trade a jeweler but his mechanical ingenuity had carried
him further. He had added to his business that of constructing tools
and calico printing apparatus and machinery. He had built a steam
engine for his own shop. A museum operator in Philadelphia desiring
to add to the attractions of his place of amusement wished to put in
a miniature locomotive and railway. He applied to Baldwin, who built
the road with its small locomotive and cars. On April 25, 1831, its
installation was completed and it hauled two four-seated passenger cars
about a circular track, to the great delight of the patrons, who were
anxious for the experience of riding on the railroad.
[Illustration: THE EVOLUTION OF THE RAILWAY TRAIN
1. The First Railway Coach--1825.
2. Horse Power Locomotive--1829-30.
3. Stourbridge Lion--1829.
4. Stevenson’s Rocket Locomotive--1829.
5. The DeWitt Clinton Locomotive--1831.
(From Brown’s “First Locomotive”--Courtesy of D. Appleton & Company.)]
One of the roads that seems to have been prolific in “first things”
was between Charleston and Hamburg, South Carolina. Chartered in 1827,
again in 1828. In 1829-30 it experimented with sailing cars, as did
also the Baltimore & Ohio and with treadmill horse powers. But the
company fortunately employed Horatio Allen, who had studied the English
roads and was strongly inclined to steam power. He so convincingly
presented his ideas that it was decided to strengthen construction
and use such locomotives. This then, very likely, was the first
railroad in the world to adopt formally the steam locomotive as its
means of propulsion (January 14, 1830). The company accordingly built
its lines substantially and placed upon them the “first locomotive
made in America for regular and practical use on a railway.”[93]
This locomotive known as the _Best Friend of Charleston_ was built
in New York and shipped to Charleston by sea. After some adjustments
it satisfied the demands of the contract, but distinguished itself
by being the first locomotive to explode. It is said a negro fireman
sat upon or held down the safety valve to prevent escaping steam
from annoying him. The _Charleston Courier’s_ account closes with
the gratifying information that “none of the persons are dangerously
injured except the negro, who had his thigh broken.” A new locomotive,
the _West Point_, was secured, upon which several improvements
suggested by experience had been made; among them the safety valve was
placed out of reach of the fireman, making it fool-proof.
The beginning of the New York Central may be traced to a charter
granted in 1826 to the Mohawk & Hudson Company, which with five or six
other small lines was joined together into that company. Its first
locomotive, the _De Witt Clinton_, had a rather interesting initiation.
The engine was constructed by the West Point foundry, the same concern
that had built the _Best Friend_ and the _West Point_. A demonstration
was announced for August 9, 1831, the road having 17 miles of rails at
that time. The locomotive, a small affair compared with the modern
engines, is still in existence and with its train of that day was
exhibited at the Pageant of Progress, Chicago, July 30, 1921, as the
“pioneer American steam passenger train.” The whole engine was only
about 12 feet long with large wheels, tall smoke stack and a central
steam dome. Back of it were the tender and wood for fuel and two
barrels of water, two passenger coaches modeled after stage coaches,
and following these several small flat cars to which had been attached
temporary benches for seats. The locomotive and cars were joined
together with short sections of strong chain. When the engine started
these jerked so badly the passengers could not retain their seats;
stopping had a similar effect. On the trip it is said the passengers
appropriated rails from a near fence and made braces to keep the cars
the full length of the chains apart. The wood fuel produced many sparks
which flying backward set fire to and ruined much of the passengers’
clothing. But according to a newspaper report[94] the train “passed
over the road from plane to plane, to the delight of a large crowd
assembled to witness the performance. The engine performed the entire
route in less than one hour, including stoppages, and on a part of the
road its speed was at the rate of 30 miles an hour.”
On May 10, 1893, Engine No. 999, of the New York Central Railroad,
made, traveling alone, a record of 112.5 miles an hour.
The Camden & Amboy road was chartered in 1830 and was somewhat unique
in that New Jersey in return for $200,000 worth of stock had granted
a monopoly of the right of way between Philadelphia and Newark. Poore
says:[95] “The state became a willing party to the scheme, under the
idea that it could thereby draw the means for supporting its government
from citizens of other States, thus relieving its own from the burdens
of taxation.” He says, “the state now (1860) derives a revenue of
over $200,000 annually from transit duties and dividends on the stock
presented to it.”
NewEngland started three railway projects about the same time: Boston
& Lowell, chartered in 1830 first used in 1834, 26.7 miles long;
Boston & Providence, chartered in 1831, first used in 1834, 43.5
miles long; and the Boston & Worcester, chartered in 1831, first used
in 1834, 44.6 miles long.[96] These roads were chartered with the
idea of using horse-drawn vehicles, except the Boston & Worcester,
where steam locomotives were authorized, but it was not until about
1834 that they were used. Some of these roads, as did most of those
built farther west, followed the English practice of laying track.
One of them, at least, laid its track upon wooden cross-ties, thus
securing the necessary resiliency for service. It was not many years,
however, before several other roads were established with regular
trips of locomotive drawn cars arranged both for passenger and freight
traffic. The time of passenger service from Boston to New York had
been materially shortened by connecting the schedules of stage coaches
to Providence with those of steamboats down the Sound. When the steam
railway came into existence the time of the trip was again shortened,
and still again when an all rail route was opened in 1848, as shown by
the following table:
1775 General Washington was 12 days en route.
Early coaches required a week.
1800 Stage coaches required 4 days.
1832 Stage coaches required 41 hours.
1822 Coach to Providence, steamboat to New York, 28 hours.
1835 Coach to Providence, steamboat to New York, 16 hours.
1835 Railway to Providence, steamboat to New York, 15 hours.
1848 All railway, 10 hours.
1922 All railway, 5 hours, 10 minutes.
1922 Air plane, 3 hours.
While the railroads of the East were gradually working west, the
trans-Alleghany states were themselves looking toward railroad
transportation. The first railway in Ohio was begun in 1835 and had
completed 30 miles by 1840. It extended from Sandusky to Springfield.
When it was chartered, 1832, under the name of the Mad River & Lake
Erie Railway, the intention was to connect Lake Erie with the Ohio
River. A locomotive was purchased and shipped to Sandusky by canal
and lake. It arrived before any track was laid hence the gauge of the
track was made to fit the locomotive, 4 feet 10 inches. Other roads in
Ohio were laid at that gauge and in time the state adopted that as a
standard.
Michigan in 1832, then a territory, incorporated the Detroit & St.
Joseph Railroad Company. After several years without doing anything the
road was completed to Ann Arbor in 1840. Later its western terminal
became New Buffalo, from which point there was steamboat communication
with Chicago. This was the germ which has grown into the Michigan
Central.
A railroad was begun from Frankfort, Kentucky, to Lexington, a few
miles from the pioneer settlement at Boonesborough. By 1840 this
road had extended to the Ohio River near Louisville and was 92 miles
in length. Indiana chartered not less than a half-dozen railways in
1832 and continued with a score or more in the next few years. The
Lawrenceburg & Indianapolis line, chartered 1832, was opened with a
Fourth of July celebration, 1834, and had laid less than 2 miles of
track by 1836.[97] The Madison & Indianapolis road was opened in 1838.
The report of the principal engineer, 1837, states that “the exclusive
use of steam as a motive power” had been adopted, thus saving “the cost
of a horse path” and avoiding “the delay and confusion arising from the
simultaneous use of both steam and horse power,” as well as elevating
the “character of the road by greater dispatch in the conveyance of
passengers.” He thinks “in the use of the railroads constructed by the
state it will probably be best for the state to furnish the motive
power, leaving the cars for the conveyance of freight and passengers
to be furnished by individuals or companies, from whom the state will
exact the proper toll for the use of the road, and for the motive
power.” The idea seems everywhere to have prevailed that a railway was
a public highway to be used by and for the benefit of the public. Only
for a very short time in the history of the country did the theory have
prominence that a railway is private property to the extent that its
owners could do as they pleased with it and the “public be damned.”
At various points in the South were railways projected and built.
Besides the Charleston & Hamburg, which has already been mentioned,
and which by 1850 had extended across the state to Hamburg directly
across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia, and northward to
Columbia with some branches, should be noted a few others. From
Richmond there was a line westward to the coal fields (1830-31) and
a line which by 1840 connected the Potomac with Fredericksburg, a
distance of 75 miles. It was constructed in the ordinary manner of
wooden rails with strap-iron plates. In Virginia there were the
Petersburg & Roanoke, about 60 miles long and other lines sufficient
to total in 1840 more than 300 miles. North Carolina also took up
the rail question rather early. The Wilmington & Raleigh, chartered
in 1833, had laid upwards of 160 miles in 1840. Georgia was building
lines in the ’thirties and ’forties from Augusta across the state to
link with lines in Tennessee. The lines of these several Southeastern
states were joined together later and became parts of large systems.
Of the several projects authorized amounting to more than 1000 miles
(1837) only one materialized, namely, the road from Springfield to
Meredosia, and 58 miles had been completed by 1842. A locomotive was
purchased and according to the Springfield _Journal_, March 18, “the
cars ran from Jacksonville, 33¹⁄₂ miles, in two hours and eight minutes
including stoppages.” On account of the unsettled condition of the
country and the accidents along the way,--no doubt the track was poorly
constructed,--it did not pay. The locomotive for a considerable time
lay out in the open where it had jumped the track. A man bought it,
equipped it with wide tired wheels and attempted to operate it on the
wagon roads. This proved unsuccessful and it was finally abandoned on
the prairie.[98] The road was sold in 1847. Several roads were reaching
out for the Mississippi River and the fertile prairies beyond. The
bustling young city of Chicago began its first railway toward the west
in 1848. The other extremity was set for Galena on the Mississippi
River. Not being financially able to buy T-rails they purchased
some second-hand strap-irons. Likewise a second-hand locomotive was
obtained, but when it arrived at the water front in Chicago the city
authorities having refused the privilege of laying tracks on the street
the company was at a loss to know how to get it to the end of their
rails. After much discussion permission to lay a temporary track was
given, and the _Pioneer_ finally reached her destination. The railway
proved successful from the first; later it became part of the Illinois
Central System. The locomotive _Pioneer_ is still retained in the Field
Museum of Chicago.
There is not space to trace the development of the railways in all
the individual states. In all natural growths, increases at first
are slow, then accelerated until a maximum is reached, followed by a
gradual retardation. So with the railway growth. The number of miles of
railroad constructed up to 1830 was 41; 1835, 918; to 1840, 2797; in
small widely scattered locations, but from that time on to the Civil
War the work went on rapidly. By 1860 about 31,000 miles had been
constructed and was going on at the rate of 5000 miles per year. Seven
trunk line roads had passed through the Appalachian Mountain system; at
eight places they and their connections touched the Ohio River, and the
Mississippi at ten.[99] By 1850 there was railway connection between
Boston and the east end of Lake Erie, and from the west end of Lake
Erie to Lake Michigan with steamboat connection across the two lakes;
before 1860 there was a network of rails between the Atlantic seaboard
and the Mississippi River. Construction lagged behind in the South. Up
to 1856 the building was approximately as follows:
Northeastern States 4000 miles
Northern Central States 7500 „
South Atlantic States 2750 „
Southern Interior 2150 „
And the very fact that few of these were north and south roads, that
travel and intercourse were east and west, that the people of the
North did not fraternize with the people of the South, that they grew
apart and worshiped at the shrine of different ideals, furnished at
least one cause for the cruel Civil War. There are still too few north
and south trunk lines of travel and commerce, too little trade and
friendly intercourse to heal the differences engendered by a century of
separation. There lies one of the hopes of the interchange of summer
and winter automobile visitors.
The building of railroads offered an opening for surplus capital; the
opportunity for fortune and fame was attractive; but above all the
people were crazed with the idea of improvement; every town wanted
to grow bigger and a railroad was an absolute necessity; scores of
companies were formed with the intention of beginning construction,
then deeding the improvement to some established line to operate. Many
communities subscribed stock, others voted bonds, others paid for right
of way by private subscription in order to secure a railroad. Mob
psychology had got in its work; the people were frenzied. The result
was often overbuilding, parallel lines, too many roads attempting to
occupy the same territory, with the result that branch lines often
never paid interest on the cost of construction. On the other hand the
gambling instinct was rampant, many roads were overcapitalized, stock
was voted influential persons without money consideration, and stock
sold to others for more than it was worth.
As there had been for turnpikes, as there had been for canals, once
again there came a popular call for governmental aid. Land was
then plenty and the general belief was that the prosperity of the
country demanded its settlement. If railways could be induced to go
out into the open prairies and by their selling agencies bring about
the occupation and tillage of these lands, other lands owned by the
Government would soon be in demand. There would be no particular
hardship on anyone, since Government land was sold to actual settlers
for such a small sum, the railroads would be unable to dispose of their
land at a much larger price. As a matter of fact the land was sold by
the railroads for whatever it would bring; the prices increased as
settlement became more dense. In Iowa railroad land sold from $5 to $50
per acre during the ’sixties and ’seventies. The remaining land held by
the government was ordinarily increased in price from $1.25 to $2.50
per acre.
Congress, evidently influenced by the demand for railroads, and falling
back upon the precedent of the National Highway, heretofore mentioned,
granted in 1850 to the State of Illinois a strip of land about 12
miles wide lengthwise through the state to be transferred by it to the
Illinois Central Railroad. The act gave six sections per mile on each
side of the track, amounting, as certified to later, 2,595,053 acres.
In consideration of this and in lieu of all other taxes, the company
agreed to pay the state an amount equal to 7 per cent of the gross
earnings from freight and passenger traffic. The company had received
from the sale (principal and advanced interest) of 2,250,633 acres, up
to January 1, 1873, $24,296,596;[100] an average of about $11 per acre.
Other companies were quick to take advantage of this precedent. Each
had its representative in Congress. For over twenty years there was
scarcely a Congress that did not make one or two such grants. More
than a hundred such grants[101] were made between 1850 and 1872,
aggregating 155,000,000 acres.[102] Several roads did not comply with
the conditions of the grants hence the donation lapsed. Up to June 30,
1880, grants amounted to 155,504,994.59 acres, according to Donaldson,
of which there had been patented to the same date, 35,214,978.25 acres.
=Pacific Roads.=--The most gigantic land grants made by the Government
were for the benefit of the trans-continental or Pacific roads. The
idea of a transcontinental railroad has been traced back practically
to the beginning of railroad building in the United States.[103]
During the ’fifties the debates in Congress waxed strong. Should the
states’ sovereignty idea prevail and federal aid be first granted to
the states and dealt out by them to the builders as had been done with
the Illinois Central and numerous other cases, or should the National
Government undertake the work itself or grant the aid to a company
for that purpose? Where would the road be built: in the North, which
would give an advantage to the abolitionists, or in the South, with
corresponding advantage to slavery partisans? The two classes were
absolutely antagonistic to each other’s desires. Then there was a
middle class, who desired to prevent separation and war who refused to
vote upon either side for fear it would create trouble with the other.
As a compromise a bill was passed in 1853 to have the country west of
the Mississippi River surveyed to determine the most feasible region
for building the transcontinental railroad. The report of the survey
is contained in eleven volumes, and was made by the War Department, of
which Jefferson Davis was the Secretary. This cabinet officer reported
in favor of “the route of the 32d parallel” as the “most practical and
economical from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.”[104]
A line this far south, of course, was not acceptable to the North.
The election and Civil War coming on changed the status of affairs
and on July 4, 1862, President Lincoln signed the bill by which the
first transcontinental road should be constructed by two companies:
the Central Pacific working from the west, and the Union Pacific
working from the Missouri River at Omaha westward. A grant of land of
approximately 35,000,000 acres was made, namely, the odd sections lying
contiguous to the line on either side. This was not quite a return to
the position of the Government when it built out of the funds from the
sale of public lands the National Road westward from Maryland, through
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, into Illinois. Then the construction
was done under the direction of the federal Government and the road
remained the property of the Government. Now federal aid was given to
private companies to be operated for their own benefit. What might have
been the result in this country had the Government taken a firm stand
for national ownership is problematical, but the fact that it has made
a success of the construction and operation of the Panama Canal leads
many to believe that the railroad question would have been handled
as easily if that system had grown up from the beginning. Opponents
of government ownership point to the roads of continental Europe as
being less efficient than those of England and the United States under
private ownership. And more recently the fiasco of Government operation
under war emergency is considered a strong argument against public
ownership.
In addition to the land granted to the Union Pacific for the “purpose
of aiding in the construction of said railroad and telegraph line, and
to secure the safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops,
munitions of war, and public stores thereon, every alternate section
of land, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of five alternate
sections per mile on each side of said road,”[105] the company
was given for “right of way” 200 feet each side of the track,[106]
“including all necessary grounds” for stations, side-tracks and various
other purposes enumerated, also to take from the public land “adjacent
to the line of said road” (afterwards limited to 10 miles on each
side) “earth, stone, timber, and other materials, for the construction
thereof.” Further help was also granted by the provisions of the act
(Section 5): “That ... the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon the
certificate in writing ... of the completion and equipment of forty
consecutive miles ... issue ... bonds of the United States of one
thousand dollars each, payable in thirty years after date, bearing six
per centum per annum interest ... to the amount of sixteen of said
bonds per mile.” The act provides that this loan shall constitute a
first mortgage lien on the property, but the act of 1864 allowed the
company to issue bonds to the same amount and subrogate the Government
bonds to those issued by the company making the Government claim a
second mortgage instead of a first. The Government gave similar grants
and privileges to the Central Pacific, although it was a purely state
corporation and, at first, was only to build to the east line of
California. Apparently the last vestige of the traditions of Madison
and Monroe, of Jackson and Buchanan had disappeared.
There was danger that other lines would be built. A line was preparing
to go west from Leavenworth, lines were converging on St. Joseph and
Sioux City, any of which might become rivals of the Union Pacific, so
the act provides that they shall unite with the Pacific not farther
west than the one hundredth meridian of longitude, and if they do so
grants of lands and subsidy bonds will be given to them.
However, the demand for transcontinental lines was so great that three
other lines were authorized. In 1864 the Northern Pacific Railroad
to connect Lake Superior with Puget Sound, with a land grant of
58,000,000 acres; in the Atlantic & Pacific to follow the old 32d
parallel route, now a part of the Southern Pacific, with a grant of
42,000,000 acres; and last, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé received
also a large grant. The total Congressional grants certified or
patented to railroads and military wagon roads from 1850 to 1880 were
as follows:
To States 35,214,978.25 acres
To Corporation and Pacific Roads 10,435,048.08
Military Wagon Roads 1,301,040.47
-------------
46,951,066.80
Deduct lands forfeited 607,741.76
-------------
Grand Total for Railroads and Military Wagon
Roads 46,343,325.04
Acres necessary to fill grants providing all
roads are constructed 155,504,994.59[107]
=Construction of Pacific Roads.=--It would be interesting to take up
in detail the work of constructing these roads, but space will not
permit. Nothing can be said of the intense interest throughout the
United States; of the romance and adventure of penetrating 1700 miles
of wilderness and desert with hostile Indians ready at any time to
attack; with worse than hostile Indians in the rough-necks, gamblers,
and prostitutes who followed the camps; of the magnitude of the work
employing 2000 graders to go first, 1500 wood choppers and tie-getters
spreading their labors over thousands of miles of Government forests;
of the engineers and their feats of searching out easiest passages;
of the track layers; of the boarding houses; of general camp life; of
the exciting race with the Central Pacific ending in the union of the
two lines and the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Point on
the north shore of Great Salt Lake, 1086 miles westward from Omaha and
689 miles eastward from Sacramento, on the 10th day of May, 1869; and
of the crowds in Omaha, Chicago, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Washington,
New York, San Francisco, and every other place of importance in the
whole nation, who patiently waited the sounds of the bells rung in
unison with the sounds of the strokes upon the spike, transmitted
instantaneously through the intervening space by the electric telegraph.
There is no doubt but that the benefits that have come from the
railways through the increased facilities for transportation and the
corresponding gain to civilization has amply repaid the Government for
all its bounties, notwithstanding some of them were unnecessary, in
fact, a willful waste and led to an orgy of financial and political
corruption a little later.
=The Crédit Mobilier.=--Perhaps the most widely noticed scandal
connected with the railroads was the scheme known as the Crédit
Mobilier. This was made much of by the Grange and other anti-monopoly
movements which reached their height in the ’seventies. Charges having
been made that many congressmen had been bribed by an organization
known as the Crédit Mobilier, a Congressional investigation was
made,[108] Thomas Durant, vice president, and other leading
stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad, secured a controlling
interest in the stock of the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency in 1864 and
had its name changed to the Crédit Mobilier of America. One of the
ostensible functions of the company was to loan money for railroad
construction. The same men were instrumental in awarding the contract
for the building of the Union Pacific Railroad to one of their number,
Oakes Ames, a member of the United States House of Representatives,
for stipulated amounts per mile for the different sections ranging
from $42,000 to $96,000, amounting in the aggregate to $47,000,000.
The contract was right away transferred to seven trustees composed of
the same controlling stockholders, who were to execute it receiving
therefor $3000 per year each, and the profits were to be divided among
those stockholders of the Crédit Mobilier of America who would comply
with certain conditions. The Crédit Mobilier agreed to furnish the
necessary money at 7 per cent per annum and 2¹⁄₂ per cent commission,
not to exceed the amount provided in the contract to be paid by the
Union Pacific company. These same leading stockholders of the Union
Pacific being also controlling stockholders of the Crédit Mobilier were
thus, because the contract prices were said to be twice the actual
constructing prices, making a big profit, practically all of which was
coming from the United States treasury. Complaints were being made and
adverse legislation was feared. Stock in Crédit Mobilier was offered
to members of congress at a very low figure on which it is said they
made dividends of 340 per cent. It amounted to this: The men entrusted
with the management of the road let the contract for its construction
to themselves at a figure double its real cost, and pocketed the
profits, estimated at about $30,000,000. These same men started the
scheme, which afterward became common, of watering the stock, that is
increasing the outstanding stock, and distributing it as dividends,
upon the plea that the property had increased without any new outlay of
money. It also appears to be a method of earning dividends upon money
never invested.
=Railroad Consolidation.=--It has been shown that at the beginning
railroad building consisted of short stretches from town to town, or
from the end of one water communication to the beginning of another.
It was but reasonable that these would join for the purpose of through
traffic. The result was also better efficiency as the equipment could
be used to better advantage; the terminal costs were reduced as there
were not so many of them; and, what may have been a leading cause,
the control, and perhaps prevention, of competition. Unrestricted
competition caused rate wars; rates once down it was difficult to get
them back and frequently bankruptcy occurred. Government regulations
were made prohibiting rate agreements and pooling. Such apparently
hastened consolidation. One objection to consolidation was the
concentration of vast financial powers in the hands of a few, and since
money had much influence in Washington and in the state capitals,
political power as well. This and combinations of other industrial
concerns were causes which brought about the enactment of the Sherman
Anti-Trust law of July 2, 1890.[109] This law did not come in time to
stop consolidation and it may be doubtful if it would for the Supreme
Court has decided that combinations are not unlawful unless they
exercise an unreasonable restraint upon trade.[110]
The methods of consolidation are: _merger_ or outright purchase, in
which case the individual lines lose their separate identity; _stock
purchase_, wherein a controlling share of the stock of another road is
held by the purchasing line or by a holding company; _lease_ usually
for long periods, a rental being paid periodically for the use of
the line; and, _community of interest_, that is the establishment of
friendly relations. The consolidations are more often financial than
physical. When two roads physically combine under one management it is
customary to reorganize and assume the same name. In the consolidations
given in the table below many of the roads are operated separately and
almost independently but are dominated by common financial interests
with common policies or very friendly relations. Some of the principal
consolidations prior to 1912 are:[111]
_Vanderbilt Interests_
Mileage
Boston & Albany 392
New York Central 3,591
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 1,663
Michigan Central 1,805
New York, Chicago & St. L. 561
Lake Erie & Western 886
Big Four 1,979
Pittsburgh & Lake Erie 215
Chicago, Indiana & Southern 329
Other affiliated eastern lines 1,759
Western Maryland[112] 575
Chicago & North Western Systems 9,827
------
Total 23,582
_Morgan Interests_
Erie Railroad 2,565
Pere Marquette 2,334
Southern Railroad System 8,667
Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific 335
Mobile & Ohio 1,114
Atlantic Coast Line 6,818
Louisville & Nashville 4,590
Chicago & Great Western 1,495
------
Total 27,918
======
_Harriman Interests_
Oregon Short Line 1,646
Oregon Railway & Navigation Company 1,737
Union Pacific System (remainder) 3,791
Southern Pacific 10,257
Illinois Central System 6,340
Central of Georgia 1,915
Baltimore & Ohio 4,555
Delaware & Hudson 875
San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake 1,105
Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton 1,015
------
Total 33,236
======
_Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé_ 10,472
_Chicago, Milwaukee and
St. Paul System_ 9,657
_Seaboard Air Line_ 3,084
_Pennsylvania Railroad Interests_
Pennsylvania Lines 11,197
Norfolk & Western 1,990
------
Total 13,187
======
_Gould Interests_
Wabash System 2,663
Wheeling & Lake Erie 457
Missouri Pacific System[113] 3,920
St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern[113] 313
St. Louis, Southwestern[113] 1,675
Texas & Pacific[113] 1,991
International & Great Northern[113] 1,159
Denver & Rio Grande[114] 2,778
Western Pacific[113] 979
------
Total 15,935
_Moore Interests_
Rock Island System 8,144
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western[114] 1,052
Lehigh Valley[115] 1,431
------
Total 10,627
======
_Hill Interests_
Great Northern 7,397
Northern Pacific 6,281
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 10,443
Colorado & Southern 1,249
------
Total 25,370
======
_New Haven Interests_
New York, New Haven & Hartford 2,887
Boston & Maine 3,594
------
Total 6,481
_Hawley Interests_
Minneapolis & St. Louis 1,027
Iowa Central 559
Toledo, St. Louis & Western 451
’Frisco System 7,147
Chicago & Alton 1,025
Chesapeake & Ohio System 2,232
Missouri, Kansas & Texas 3,393
Hocking Valley 350
------
Total 16,508
======
_Philadelphia and Reading_ 2,137
Grand Total of above Groups and Systems 198,638
Total milage of railways in the United
States, Dec. 31, 1916 397,014
For a more extended discussion see “National Consolidation of
Railroads,” by George H. Lewis.
=Mechanical Development.=--There is not space to follow in detail
the mechanical development of railroads. The rail, for instance, was
at first a mere plank placed in the cart track to prevent rutting;
this evolved into a rail of timber about 4 x 6 inches held in proper
position by cross-ties not to be considered as sleepers or supports
especially. On top of the rail was later placed a strap iron. Since
this strap iron under the wheel loads curled up, thicker plates began
to be used. Then cast-iron rails some 4 or 5 feet long from tie to tie,
cast deeper at the middle for greater strength. Then the rolling mills
were becoming sufficiently improved to roll out wrought-iron rails, at
first rectangular plates, then T-rails held up by chairs and finally
through a dozen or more forms to Bessemer, then open-hearth steel rail
shapes as at present used. The fastenings and fish plates have gone
through a stage of evolution. The track soon assumed a standard form
and has retained it with little variation notwithstanding attempts to
use steel and concrete ties.
The freight cars, at first boxes with wheels on them, have gradually
developed into monsters of steel with draw bars, automatic brakes and
couplings. Passenger cars at first very variable were developed from
stage coaches and Conestoga wagons hitched together. In Europe they
remained short, like stage coaches with side doors. In the United
States they lengthened out with seats through the interior and doors
and platforms at the ends. Platforms were eventually housed in with
vestibules. Both types have their advantages and disadvantages.
Sleeping cars seem to be a development of the canal and steamboat
sleeping quarters. Here a single company early obtaining a working, if
not a legal, monopoly of the business of making and operating sleepers.
As a result no improvements of note have appeared in them for years.
For financial efficiency the monopoly seems to be a good thing; for
mechanical progress it is not.
Locomotives have shown a continual progress. One reason perhaps is
their short lives; new ones must always be coming along and there is
ample opportunity for experimentation. From the _Tom Thumb_ to the
powerful Mountain Type is a long climb, but as each step was taken the
individual changes were not very noticeable. Like the hour-hand of a
watch only by observing its position at times quite separated can it be
noticed to have traveled.
In fact the entire railway system with its millions of cars operating
on hundreds of roads has grown complex and yet standardized. To get a
common gauge that cars from one road might pass to another required an
act of Congress. At first companies adopted diverse gauges that their
cars could not go onto another road, but when transcontinental roads
were to be built and through lines of traffic established President
Lincoln was called upon to set a gauge. He “side-tracked” the matter
and threw it onto Congress, who established the distance 4 feet 8¹⁄₂
inches as the standard width between rails.
Without the telegraph the present amplification of railroad business
could not have taken place. The early trains traveled by time schedule.
No extra train could be added, although looking-posts were established
at the stations up which the train men could climb to watch for the
smoke of an approaching train. Now every division point must have its
coterie of dependable dispatchers. Each wire carries multiple messages.
Electric signals and other safety devices to lessen accidents are
universal, while the bewildering network of tracks in the ordinary city
yard are operated easily from distant towers by interlocking switches.
That railroads have brought about an industrial and social revolution,
that they have increased enormously the country’s transportation,
that they have thus been very instrumental in bringing the present
civilization to its high and uniform state of attainment, cannot be
denied.
[Illustration:
© _Underwood and Underwood_
MODERN LOCOMOTIVES
1. Showing the Growth in the Size of Locomotives During the Past Twenty
Years. The Smaller Locomotive is an _American_ Type Class Engine of
1900. The Larger is a _Mountain Type_ Engine. Both are Used on the C.
B. & Q. R. R. Photographed at Lincoln, Nebr., Sept., 1922. 2. One of
the New Gearless _Electric_ Locomotives Built by the General Electric
Company for the C. M. & St. Paul R. R.]
=The Evolution of the Sleeping Car.=--Mr. Husband has made a very
interesting book of the story of the Pullman car and its evolution[116]
in which he traces with much detail, step by step, the improvements
from 1836, when the first sleeping car was offered to the traveling
public, to the most modern parlor car now in use. The discomfort and
inconvenience of travelers by rail was so much greater than that by
canal that only the greater speed of the former caused it to forge
ahead of the latter. As the mileage of the roads increased so also did
the comforts of travel. It has already been noted that sparks set fire
to the clothing of passengers. Soon box-like cars replaced the open
carriages and bogie trucks replaced the rigid wheels, the former giving
much more protection and the latter comfort while rounding curves. But
yet passengers were herded like cattle on stiff-backed narrow benches
in cars with scant head clearance and width. Clean stone ballast for
the road bed had not yet been thought of and the dust blew in clouds
through the open windows in the summer time, and a stove vitiated the
air in the winter. There were no screens or vestibules. It is a far
cry from the dim flaring candle to the brilliant white incandescent
electric lights. Passenger cars were rapidly improved until by 1844
they had taken on something of the appearance of the present coach.
George M. Pullman, a Chicago contractor, having experienced the
inconveniences of railway travel and also being acquainted from close
association with the Erie Canal and the sleeping arrangements of
the canal boats, had visions of similar or better rail comforts. In
1858 he engaged Leonard Seibert, an employee of the Chicago & Alton
Railroad, to remodel two coaches into the first Pullman sleeping cars.
Mr. Pullman’s invention of upper berth construction whereby it could
be closed during the day and serve as a receptacle for bedding was
introduced into these cars, before which time sleeping car bunks had
been stationary and on one side only. The success of his venture was
such that he established a shop for the manufacture of the cars and
employed technical skill to plan and make them. He had such organizing
ability, however, that before his death he saw the Pullman Company
holding a practical monopoly of all the sleeping cars in the country,
with through cars scheduled so that change of Pullman was unnecessary
from coast to coast, or if a change had to be made it was merely a
transfer from one car to a connecting car on another route. A single
ticket will carry a passenger from Portland, Maine, to San Francisco,
by way of Washington, D.C., New Orleans and Los Angeles with only two
changes of cars, namely, at New York and Washington, a total distance
of 4,199 miles.
It may be interesting to note that some 26,000,000 persons are annually
accommodated by the 7500 cars operated by this company.
=Street Car Service.=--Now that more than one half the population
of the United States live in cities makes the matter of local
transportation of at least passing interest. Railroads were at first
tram cars and many of them were built through the city streets, it
was easy, therefore, to make of them street cars caring for such
local traffic as desired to take advantage of them. They became a
popular means of local transportation in the decade 1850-60. As the
demand became greater the one-horse car gave way to the two-horse
with its longer body and greater capacity. These not being sufficient
steam locomotives were used in some cities, in others the tracks were
elevated above the surface, the first in New York in 1876, or depressed
below with steam locomotives operating trains of cars rapidly loaded
and unloaded at stopping points about four blocks apart. In 1879
or 1880 in San Francisco where the hills were too steep for horses
the cable car was designed, whereby an endless cable operated from
a central station ran continuously in a trench or conduit under the
track. A grip attached to the car could be made to take hold of this
cable and the car was thus drawn along. Notwithstanding they were
expensive to install cable cars were rapidly replacing horse-drawn cars
when electric traction came in and displaced them.