THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



JULY, 1883. 



THE EAILEOAD PEOBLEM IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Br GEOEGE ILES. 



aEOBGE STEPHENSON, in October, 1829, made his memorable 

 journey in tbe Eocket over tbe Eainbill trial course ; tbe next 

 year tbe Liverpool and Manchester Bailway was opened, and soon 

 every civilized nation adopted tbe new metbod of locomotion. In tbe 

 United States a variety of circumstances have concurred to make tbe 

 railways the most extensive, the most economical in working, and the 

 most influential in the world. The immense area of the country, the 

 small value of most of the land required for the roads, the easy grades 

 marked out by tbe great water-courses of the continent, and the broad 

 prairie-sweeps, conjoined with the ease and cheapness of obtaining 

 charters, make American railroads but one third as costly in construc- 

 tion as those of Great Britain and the European Continent, and much 

 less expensive in operation. On this side of the Atlantic railways are 

 built with embankments, culverts, bridges, and tunnels, much less 

 elaborate and substantial than those of England and France. The re- 

 quirement here is not the best but usually the cheapest thing that will 

 serve. This is one of the reasons among others why American freight 

 charges are the lowest in tbe world. In 1881 the average cost of mov- 

 ing a ton of freight a mile was 1*66 cent in France, 1'5 cent in Bel- 

 gium, and but 0-9 cent in the United States. The railways of the 

 Union are now 114,000 miles in extent, and construction proceeds at 

 the rate of thirty miles a day. The aggregate capital of the lines is 

 86,500,000,000, one eighth the valuation of all kinds of property in the 

 country, according to the best estimates. 



Less than fifty years ago, within the clear recollection of men now 

 living who were then actively engaged in business, the great problem 

 was, bow soon the country could be provided with railroads. Far- 



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