GEOGRAPHY AND THE RAILROADS. 



233 



vidual character to the conditions of the place, the movable properties 

 are more serviceable in proportion as they are constructed so as to be 

 susceptible of a more general adaptation." The former elements are 

 wholly subject to the influence of geographical conditions, and are 

 conformed to the diversities of provincial and even of local circum- 

 stances and requirements ; the latter set particular geographical con- 

 ditions at defiance, and only do homage to them at the line which sep- 

 arates districts between which no direct intercourse by railway exists. 

 On the East Prussian bogs sleepers will be required of a different 

 character from those which may be used on the sands of the marches ; 

 French locomotives are different in structure and performance from 

 those used in Germany. But the freight-wagons are the same over 

 the whole Continent ; and it is only after crossing the ocean that the 

 question of adapting the rolling stock to different conditions becomes 

 a living one. 



The following out of these principles in their particular applica- 

 tions would carry us too deeply into details. A single example of the 

 manner in which local conditions may rule can be drawn from the his- 

 tory of early railway-building in the United States. Here " were made 

 in incredible haste those lines that stretch toward the West, over ex- 

 tensive tracts of wild land, plains, river-bottoms, and prairies, push- 

 ing through the forest which afforded the principal part of the mate- 

 rial for their construction. Thus arose, as the direct result of local 

 conditions, that method of construction the rapidity and temporary 

 character of which received the specific name of 'American.' The 

 substructure was hastily thrown up, a rude mass of loose earth and 

 rarely well ballasted, while the superstructure was built with long 

 stringers of wood which in the scarcity of iron could be armored 

 with only a thin, flat strap-rail. With a superabundance of wood, 

 extensive depressions of the ground were crossed with trestle-work 

 instead of embankments ; the excellent quality of the wood permitted 

 the rapid erection of high, broad-spanned wooden bridges ; and the 

 forest also furnished the material for the construction of wooden sta- 

 tion-houses, water-stations, turn-tables, and everything else that could 

 be made of that material." Now, with the growing scarcity of wood, 

 and abundance of iron and steel, and the greater facility of transporta- 

 tion afforded by the railroads themselves — heavy steel rails, firm em- 

 bankments, iron and stone bridges, and more substantial buildings, are 

 taking the place of the former flimsy structures, and the " American " 

 type of railway-structure as above described has nearly become a thing 

 of the past. 



Still, having the earlier American railroads in view, Herr von 

 Weber shows that the solid wagons of European construction could 

 not be trusted to the insecure foundations of these imperfectly finished 

 tracks. The stiff carriages must be made more flexible, and thus origi- 

 nated the adjustable trucks of the American cars and locomotive. The 



