Trautwine enthusiastically reported the adoption of the grade- 

 climbing locomotive. 



Boyers Tavern 

 Unexplored Regions 

 Wed. Nov. 9, 1853 

 Dear Sellers, 



I avail myself of a shockingly rainy day, to drop you a line. I am 

 busy with a corps of assistants, exploring a new line for our Road, through 

 the mountains of our Coal region. The Little Schuylkill Co. propose to 

 make a road to meet us, in case the new route is adopted. In order to 

 finish my first explorations before the heavy snows begin, we breakfast 

 and set off before sunrise, and don't knock off until sunset. In some 2 

 or 3 weeks, I hope to see enough to enable me to form a tolerable ap- 

 proximate estimate of the costs of the 2 routes. This will be much 

 longer than the other; and the heaviest grade will be at one end, about 

 120 feet to a mile ascending landing; the next will descend towards 

 Market. So in either event your engines will come into play; indeed I 

 told the Directors that I should advise their use, if we had ascending 

 grades of over 30 feet per mile. I think it probable that much of the 

 winter will be lost in pow-wow-ing between the two Companies, and 

 that they will not get to work in good earnest before spring. They are 

 all in favor of the center rail. I have been applied to by several Engineers 

 for copies of your book, and have of course distributed willingly. One 

 of the copies has gone out to the Rocky Mtns. to the U S Engineers in 

 charge of one of the Pacific RR Routes; and the matter is daily at- 

 tracting more & more attention. In order to stir our people up, I 

 have told them that you would require about a years notice for getting 

 up the first pair of Engines. They have just issued a Call for the first 

 instalment of stock, and I hope will m^ove soon in earnest. They are 

 determined to press forward as soon as they can decide upon the new 

 route. The old route would have been let out, and work commenced 

 already, had not the Little Schuylkill Co. suggested making a road in 

 connection with the route I am now at. So that although we seem to 

 be standing still just now, such is not the fact. 



Give my best respects to your family, and to Mr. Whetstone and 

 believe me. 



Truly yours, 

 John C. Trautwine 



In the first annual report of the Coal Run Improvement Railroad, 

 Trautwine stated in his comments as chief engineer that he was 



85 



