DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN KAIL AND TRACK, 



665 



A thick rectangular rail laid on the Baltimore and Port Deposit Rail- 

 road in 1838 is illustrated in Fig 1 . 38, from a drawing in the collection. 



tVWVVO Wooden Stringer. «•. 6- l '- vv " a 



Fig. 38. 



Thick Rectangular Rail, laid on the Baltimohe and Port Deposit Railroad, 1S38. 



(From drawing in tin* II. S. National Museum. 



Roads, such as the Camden and Am boy in New Jersey, Boston and 

 Providence, Philadelphia and Germantown, and the Pennsylvania (then 

 under State control), which did not adopt this construction, were com- 

 pelled to obtain their edge rails and rail fastenings from England. 



The following memorial presented to the Twentieth Congress (H. R. 

 Doc. No. 200) b} r the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, and re- 

 ferred to the Committee on Roads and Canals March 17, 1828, is of the 

 greatest interest in this connection. 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled: 



The memorial of the president and directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 

 Company respectfully she weth: That your memorialists have it in contemplation, 

 and are at this time taking measures, to construct a railroad, with at least two sets 

 of tracks, from the city of Baltimore to the Ohio River, which will, it is estimated, 

 unavoidably require not less than fifteen thousand tons of malleable iron. 



Your memorialists, taking into consideration the actual quantity of this indispen- 

 sable article now annually manufactured in our own country, and further consider- 

 ing Hie numerous lines of railroads already projected in different parts of the United 

 Slates, arc continued in the opinion that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to pro- 

 cure amongst ourselves a sufficient quantity for these numerous undertakings, and. 

 consequently, that an enormous enhancement of the present price must be the inev- 

 itable consequence unless supplies to a considerable extent be drawn from abroad ; 

 which enhancement of an article so necessary both in the manufacturing and agri- 

 cultural operations of the country would manifestly be injurious to both these im- 

 portant, interests. 



Your memorialists are persuaded that so enlightened a body as the Representa- 

 tives of the people of the United States are fully aware of the vast importance of the 

 undertaking in which this company have embarked. It is indeed an enterprise in 



