A.ND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 239 



principal object of those who built the road. The 

 holders of the vast tract of cedar, pine, and scrub- 

 oak, through which the road was to run, combined 

 in aid of the enterprise. Half the railroads in our 

 country, all of those which traverse wood and 

 prairie throughout the &quot;West, owe their origin to 

 like combinations of great land-owners to open 

 up an inaccessible region to settlement and im 

 provement. Such objects may be denounced as 

 speculative ; but their accomplishment has con 

 ferred blessings on the Union which cannot be 

 estimated. It has provided new and better homes 

 for millions, built up entire States whose prosperity 

 is an amazement to the world, and done more to 

 secure the perpetuity of the Union than any other 

 movement witnessed among us. 



As it has uniformly been in the West on the 

 opening of a new railroad, so it was in New Jersey 

 on the opening of that from Camden to Atlantic 

 City. Enterprising men were drawn to the region 

 thus inviting speculation, investment and improve 

 ment. They brought capital, skill and energy, and 

 quickly made an impression. Among the earliest 

 and most thorough-going of these was Mr. Charles 

 K. Landis, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This gen 

 tleman was impressed with the great value and 

 availability of organized colonization. He secured 

 5,000 acres on the railroad at Hainmonton, and in 

 1858 his colony was fairly under way. His ideas 

 with respect to colonization appear to have outstrip 

 ped all others for comprehensiveness, while his plans 

 were definite, practical, and liberal. He sold to 



