the Susquehanna, opposite Havre de Grace. The 

 river was frozen, and had to be crossed on the ice. 176 

 There were sleds to be pushed by men, or drawn by 

 a single horse to a sled; these were to take over the 

 mail, passengers, and baggage of the six coaches that 

 had left Philadelphia in the morning. Of these, the 

 Reeside coach was the only one that had arrived. 



Some of the sled men refused to venture in the 

 storm; all considered it dangerous. The road tracks 

 were covered by the falling snow; gaping airholes 

 were on every side; the night very dark, the driving 

 snow blinding, and the only guide the sound of a 

 constantly-tolling bell on the Havre de Grace side. 

 Mr. Reeside encouraged us to venture, and advised 

 walking behind the sleds instead of riding on them. 

 He had confidence in the men taking us safely over 

 in this way. All but two passengers, who refused to 

 go before daylight, started. 



When about midway of the river, the bell either 

 stopped tolling, or its sound was carried by on the 

 wind that had increased to almost a gale. Soon the 

 sled pushers, that had kept well together, became 

 confused and called a halt; then, by the dim light of 

 poorly-constructed candle lanterns, they groped about, 

 feeling with their hands in a vain hope of finding old 

 tracks in the ice. They were evidently off of the road. 

 Mr. Reeside urged them to push on, offering to take 

 the lead with only the direction of the fiercely-blowing 

 northeast wind for his guide. No one of the party- 

 had a compass. The men, knowing the danger of 

 the airholes, held back. 



"Then," said Reeside, "stamp about and keep 

 your blood circulating, or you will all freeze." He 

 then sat down on a sled, pulled off one of his heavy 

 boots, thrust into it some crumpled newspaper and 

 sheltering a lantern from the wind under his cloak, 

 set fire to the paper. As it blazed he shook it about 

 in the boot, which, when well heated, he pulled on to 

 his foot; then went through the same operation for 

 the other foot. Several of the party followed his ex- 

 ample. It was a lesson that I have profited by several 

 times since. His next move was to demolish a sled 



178 The river was bridged at Havre de Grace in 1867. Se 

 Scientific American (June 1, 1867), vol. 16, pp. 348-350. 



to make a fire, but before it was kindled the wind 

 lulled, and we again heard the tolling of the bell. It 

 was then evident that the pushers had got consider- 

 ably off the track. By slow and cautious work they 

 landed us safely. There was not a temperance mem- 

 ber of that party who refused a hot whiskey punch of 

 Reeside's brewing, to brace and warm up while a hot 

 supper was preparing. We afterwards learned that 

 the rest of the stages had been stopped by the storm, 

 and laid over for the night at Elkton. 



From Havre de Grace to Baltimore in regular stage 

 coach, arriving there after daylight, and Washington 

 by noon — over thirty hours of hardship in accomplish- 

 ing what is now done within five hours on the rail- 

 road, regardless of the seasons, with ease and comfort 

 to the traveler. This is what the country owes to the 

 labor and skill of its civil and mechanical engineers, 

 backed by the capital of far-seeing men, who were to 

 reap the profits from its accomplishment. 



At the time I am writing of, Pittsburgh and Wheel- 

 ing were great distributing centers for what was then 

 considered a vast emigration to the Western Terri- 

 tories and new States. They were fast settling in and 

 filling the valleys of the great rivers, the natural 

 roadways. On reaching these places on the river 

 their hardest labor was over. The keel boat, the 

 flat, and the few steamboats then running were for 

 those who had the means to use them, and those who 

 had not, built for themselves small family boats, 

 often not over 4 or 5 feet by 10 or 12 feet, protected 

 by bent poles and wagon covers from the weather. 

 In this way thousands moved to their destined new 

 homes. I have seen more than a score of these 

 floating tents gliding down the stream, or tied up to 

 the shore, by camp fires to cook their family meals, 

 within a single reach of the crooked Ohio. The bulk 

 of these emigrants had come from across the ocean. 

 The most thrifty moved with wagons and teams, but 

 a large portion, with a single horse attached to a 

 crazy cart or wagon, and not infrequently a favorite 

 cow, brought from the old country, in the shafts, did 

 the duty of a horse in hauling the household goods, 

 and occasionally a helping lift to the mother and her 

 infant, all the rest of the family tramping on 

 foot .... [55] 



Editor's Note: In addition to the published works cited in chapters 20-24, a large and important body of manuscript material 

 on the Pennsylvania works is in the Pennsylvania State Archives. See Hubertis M. Cummings, Pennsylvania Board of Canal 

 Commissioners' Records . . . Descriptive Index (Harrisburg, Pa.: State of Pennsylvania, Department of Internal Affairs, 1959), 

 2 35 PP- 



146 



