94 BULLETIX 119, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



area and very densely settled, having a population of nearly 200 to 

 the square mile of territory, while the population of the whole 

 United States was less than 4 to the square mile. In the seven States^ 

 Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 

 Delaware, and Maryland, where most of the early railways were 

 projected, the average population was a little over 35 to the square 

 mile. 



THE FIRST RAIL ROLLED WITH A BASE. 



According to the minutes of the board of directors of the Camden, 

 and Amboy Railroad, September, 1830, Robert L. Stevens, president 

 and chief engineer of that company, who had been ordered to visit 

 England to inspect and report upon railroad matters there, was 

 directed to purchase " all-iron rail," which the management of that 

 company preferred to the wooden rail plated with strap iron. Mr. 

 Stevens sailed a few days later, and it was during this voyage that he 

 designed the first rail ever rolled with a base, whittling several model 

 sections out of wood Avhich he obtained from the ship's carpenter. 



He was familiar with the Birkenshaw rail, with which the best 

 English roads were then being laid, but he saw that, as it required 

 an expensive chair to hold it in place, it was not adapted to our 

 country, where metal workers were scarce and iron expensive. He 

 also designed the " hook-headed " spike, which is substantially the 

 railroad spike of to-day, and the " iron tongue," which has been 

 developed into the fish bar, and the rivets which have been replaced 

 b}^ the bolt and nut to complete the joint. 



The base of the rail which he first proposed was to be wider where 

 it was to be attached to supports than in the intervening spaces. 

 This was afterwards modified so that the base was made one width — 

 3 inches — throughout. Stevens received no favorable answers to 

 his proposals, but, being acquainted with Guest (afterwards Sir 

 John Guest), then a member of Parliament and proprietor of large 

 iron works in Dowlais, Wales, he prevailed upon him to have the 

 rails rolled at his works. Guest became interested in the scheme, 

 and accompanied Stevens to Wales, where the latter gave his per- 

 sonal supervision to the construction of the rolls. After the rolls 

 were completed Guest hesitated to have them used, through fear 

 of damage to the mill machinery, upon hearing which Stevens 

 deposited a sum of money guaranteeing the expense of repairing the 

 mill in case it was damaged. As a matter of fact, the rolling appa- 

 ratus did break down several times. "At first," as Stevens, in a 

 letter to his father, described it, " the rails came from rolls twisted 

 and as crooked as snakes," and he was greatly discouraged. At 

 last the mill men acquired the art of straightening the rail while 



