64 BULLETIN 119, V. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



building of railways operated by steam locomotives rather than the 

 building of canals. In an endeavor to have a more convincing argu- 

 ment as to the feasibility of the steam locomotive, Stevens built a 

 locomotive in 1825 and operated it on a circular track in Hoboken. 



The whole country realized the necessity for means of transporta- 

 tion of commodities but the people were divided in their opinions 

 as to the form it should take — canals or railroads. Governor De Witt 

 Clinton, of New York, urged the building of canals, more particu- 

 larly the Erie Canal; John Stevens, Peter Cooper, and others ad- 

 vised the building of railways. In 1829 Peter Cooper constructed 

 a model locomotive and ran it over the completed portion of the Balti- 

 more & Ohio Railroad. The result was that the company offered a 

 premium of $4,000 for a locomotive, built in the United States, which 

 would draw 15 tons gross weight at 15 miles an hour. This offer 

 in time brought five locomotives to the company, all built at differ- 

 ent places, all different in design, and in no way resembling the 

 British models. The first was made by George W. Johnson, a 

 machinist of Baltimore, Maryland. The second was the " York." 

 designed by Phineas Davis and built by Davis and Gartner, of York, 

 Pennsylvania. It consisted of upright cylinders attached to the 

 vertical boiler and transmitted power to the four driving wheels 

 through connections with the side rods. The third was built in 

 Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, by a watchmaker named Stacey Costell. 

 Ezekial Childs, another watchmaker of Philadelphia, supplied the 

 fourth, and the fifth was built by William T. James, of New York. 



From 1820 on, sentiment in favor of railroad building developed 

 very rapidly and the men who took the lead in advocating railroads 

 were the most influential in the country and had clear conceptions 

 of what they wanted. The Camden & Amboy Railroad and Trans- 

 portation Co. was incorporated in February, 1830, and was author- 

 ized to construct a railroad from the Delaware River to Raritan Bay, 

 that is, across the State of New Jersey. Its first locomotive was the 

 " John Bull," purchased in England of Robert Stephenson & Com- 

 pany, and received in Philadelphia in 1831. The Mohawk & Hud- 

 son Railroad Co., chartered in 1826, began the construction of its 

 railroad between Albany, New York, and Schenectady, New York, 

 in 1830, which was completed and opened in August, 1831, the first 

 train being drawn by the locomotive "De Witt Clinton," designed 

 by John B. Jervis and built at the West Point Foundry, New York 

 City. 



Matthias W. Baldwin upon request built a model locomotive and 

 train for the Philadelphia Museum in 1831. Shortly after its com- 

 pletion Baldwin was engaged to build a locomotive for the newly 

 incorporated Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad Co. 

 He took as a working model the locomotive " John Bull," and from 



