27. George Escol Sellers 



Takes Leave of His Friends 



Although this paper was only the i ith of the 40- 

 odd published papers of George Escol Sellers, it 

 makes an appropriate closing chapter because it 

 ranges widely in time and geographical location, 

 epitomizing the author's thorough, first-hand 

 knowledge of more than 60 years of engineering 

 in America. 



The sharply etched vignette of an evening in 

 the city cf Washington during the Civil War gives 



the reader a glimpse of as distinguished a group 

 of men as he is likely to encounter anywhere or at 

 any time — Joseph Henry, omnierudite first Secre- 

 tary of the Smithsonian Institution; Joseph 

 Saxton; Stephen H. Long, explorer and engineer; 

 Alexander Dallas Bache, guiding light of the 

 Coast Survey; and John A. B. Dahlgren, of naval 

 ordnance fame. 



At the same time that the Pennsylvania works 

 were progressing, Major Stephen H. Long, afterwards 

 Colonel in the U.S. Army, and who, in his old age, 

 succeeded Col. John J. Abert as head of the topo- 

 graphical department, was making the surveys and 

 location of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which 

 work he continued until some time in 1830; I believe 

 that during the last year Major George W. Whistler 

 w.as associated with him, and he continued the work 

 for a year or more after Col. Long left it. Col. Long 

 was a New Englander, born in Hopkinton, New 

 Hampshire, in 1 784. He lived to the age of 80, 

 dying in Alton, 111., in 1864. His whole life was one 

 of great usefulness. In the year 1829, while engaged 

 on the Baltimore & Ohio, he published his "Railroad 

 Manual" that became the text-book in the hands of 

 all young engineers, it being the first work of the kind 

 published in America. It was through him during 

 the last year of his work on the Baltimore & Ohio, 

 that I became acquainted with his assistant, Benjamin 

 H. Latrobe, which acquaintance ripened into a life 

 long friendship. 



My acquaintance with Colonel Long dates back to 

 the time he was a frequent visitor at my father's house 

 previous to his expedition to the Rocky Mountains. 249 



About the time of his leaving the Baltimore & 



Ohio Railroad he took great interest in the question 

 of locomotive power, and made a design and working 

 drawings for a locomotive. He induced William 

 Norris, then a merchant of Baltimore, to go into the 

 business of locomotive building, and what was so 

 long and favorably known as the Norris Locomotive 

 Works, of Philadelphia, was established in 1832, 250 

 and the first engine built was from Col. Long's 

 designs, and could not be called an entire success, 

 but the second or third engine was eminently so. 

 It was a six wheel engine, two drivers, and a four 

 wheel truck. The drivers were in front of the fire- 

 box and carried a large portion of the weight of the 

 engine. It climbed the incline plane at Peters Island, 

 on the old State road with a loaded tender and as 

 many people as could hang on to it. 



On one occasion, after Mr. Norris' return from 

 Vienna, 251 where he had been building locomotives 



249 The expedition during which Long's Peak was named, 

 occurred in 1819-1820. See Dictionary of American Biography. 



250 The firm was organized in 1832 as the American Steam 

 Carriage Company, with Long as president and Norris as 

 secretary. Norris bought out Long's interest in 1834 or 1835. 



2S ' William Norris returned from Vienna in 1848, went to 

 Panama to work on the eastern division of the Panama Railroad, 

 and returned again to the United States in 1855. 



190 



