143 TRANSACTONS OF THE [fEB. 1, 



obtained for short lines of railways, the first idea being to work 

 them by horse power. Canals had been jirojected, and some con- 

 structed, but they were limited to favorable localities, and could 

 only be operated about seven months in the year. American 

 engineers were in England, studying the railways, Pennsylvania 

 had many short coal roads. The Mohawk and Hudson railroad 

 was chartered in 18:20, the Baltimore and Ohio in 1827. This 

 road was constructed to Ellicott's Mills, and the cars were drawn 

 by horses. The subject of locomotives was being agitated, but it 

 Avas supposed to be impossible for them to pass around the curves 

 of this road, and the directors were discouraged, and 'Hliought 

 their line was ruined." There were no locomotives in this coun- 

 try to test the question, so Peter Cooper rose to the occasion, and 

 in"l8'29, with gun barrels for boiler flues, made the first Ameri- 

 can locomotive, and demonstrated to tlie directors and non-be- 

 lievers tlie important fact tliat curves were not impassable obsta- 

 cles. The pictures extant show it to be a mere toy, comparatively 

 speaking. It burned anthracite coal, the fire being maintained 

 by a fan driven by a belt from the axle. 



There was but one cylinder, 3^x1-4-^ inches, which connected by 

 gearing with the driving-wheel axle. 



A picture represents the great race on August 28, 1830. be- 

 tween Peter Cooper's ''Tom Thumb," and the "gray horse" of 

 Stockton and Stokes' stage cars. The horse is sliown in the rear, 

 which was the fact for some distance, though they started neck 

 and neck. The locomotive had passed the horse, and the driver 

 was about giving up the race, when the belt slipped from the 

 fan, the steam ran down, and befo)-e it could be replaced the 

 horse passed, and was not overtaken. But the great fact was 

 demonstrated tliat a locomotive could pass the curves; and the 

 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, in 1830, offered a pre- 

 mium of S500 for the best locomotive which should be able to 

 draw fifteen tons, fifteen miles per hour. The successful one, 

 called the Grassliopper, was built by Phineas Davis, who was 

 killed in the trial trip. Locomotives like this were built for three 

 or four years — some being still in use for switching in yards. 

 They will pass as short a curve as a street car. Then followed 

 the tyi)es known as tlie "Crab," the "Mud-digger," and the 

 " Camel backs." 



In 1827 the Delaware cS: Hudson Canal Co. commenced a rail- 

 road from their mines to the end of their canal at Honesdale, 

 Penn., and finished it in 1828. Alive to the importance of 

 steam locomotion, they sent their Assistant Civil Engineer, Mr. 

 Horatio Allen, a graduate of Columbia College, to study the 

 subject in England, and he ordered from there the locomotive 

 called the " Stourbridge Lion," which arrived at Honesdale 



