804 



RAILWAYS. 



its tt-rntiiti. It con-i*t> of six curves and six 

 straight lines. The curves vary in length from 

 feet to 8296 feet. The radii of the three 

 smallest curves is 10,560 feet ; the radius of the 

 largest curve is 20,000 feet. The graduation of 

 the road varies from a perfect level to ascents and 

 descents of ten feet six inches to sixteen feet four 

 niches, to the mile ; nt one place, for about 4000 

 feet, the slope is at the rate of twenty-nine feet to 

 the mile. The whole amount of excavation is 

 about 500.000 cubic yards of earth, exclusive of 

 th'- side drains. The amount of embankment is 

 alxuit 420,000 cubic yards. The total cost of the 

 railroad, including the land for its location, wharves, 

 and depots at both ends, locomotives, &c., was esti- 

 mated at 400,000 dollars. 



The Baltimore and Susgttehanna railroad was 

 commenced in 1830. It extends from Baltimore 

 to ^ 01 k. A distance which in consequence of the 

 uneven surface of the country, will not be less than 

 seventy-six miles. 



The Baltimore and Ohio railroad is intended to 

 unite the city of Baltimore, a central point on the 

 Atlantic coast, with the Ohio river the great navi- 

 gable highway of the Western States. The cere- 

 mony of laying the first stone was performed on the 

 4th of July, 1828 ; but it was not until the autumn 

 of that year that active operations towards the con- 

 struction of the work were begun. It commences 

 nt the head of the basin in Baltimore. The railroad 

 in the city is a single track, the rails of which are 

 placed at equal distances between the curb stones 

 of the side walks, and consists of blocks of stone, 

 sunk as low as the level of the street, with grooves 

 in them for the flanges of the wheels, to run with 

 an iron bar for the track, secured in the mode 

 adopted on other parts of the road. The whole 

 street is paved, and is slightly convex. On this 

 part of the road, horse power alone is to be used. 

 From the basin the railroad passes to the depot in 

 Pratt street. The line between Pratt street and the 

 Potomac is sixty-seven and five eighths miles in 

 length. The Carrollton viaduct over Gwyn's falls 

 is constructed of granite. The whole exterior is 

 hewn. It consists of two arches, and is 312 feet in 

 length. Its height, from the foundation to the top 

 of the parapet, sixty-three feet nine inches ; from 

 the surface of the water to the top of the parapet, 

 fifty-one feet and nine inches. The width of the 

 railway travelling path is twenty-six feet six inches ; 

 the chord of the arch, springing from the abutments, 

 eighty feet three inches. It is a structure of great 

 solidity and beauty. The bridge across the Patap- 

 co is also of stone, and consists of two arches, of 

 fifty-five feet span each and two of twenty feet span 

 each. It is 375 feet in length. There are also sev- 

 eral extensive embankments and deep cuts. The 

 ridges, culverts, &c., contain, altogether, 47,300 

 perches of masonry. The cost for graduation and 

 masonry was 605,912 dollars. At the Forks 

 of the Patapsco, the road reaches an elevation 

 of nearly 300 feet above tide. The lateral road to 

 Frederick commences near the western end of the 

 bridge over the Monocacy, and, pursuing the west- 

 ern margin of the river upward for about one mile, 

 diverges from it to the north-west, and, after cross-1 

 ing the land between that river and Caroll's creek, 

 i>-rminatesat the depot at Frederick. The length 

 of this branch is three miles 130 poles. The esti- 

 mated cost of graduating the entire line of the main 

 road between Baltimore and the Point of Rocks, 

 including the lateral road to Frederick, and of lay- 

 ing a double set of tracks upou the main stem, and 

 a single set on the lateral road, is 1,906,853 dollars, 

 or 27,128 dollars per mile. From Jan. 1, to Sep. 



30, 1831, the number of passengers on that portion 

 of the road between Baltimore and Eliicott's mills 

 was 81,905; and within the same period, 5U31 

 tons have been transported upon it, yielding an 

 income of 31,405 dollars and involving an expen- 

 diture of 10,994 dollars. Transportation is effected 

 by horses and by steam locomotives. 



The Baltimore and Washington railroad is a 

 branch of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and its 

 execution was undertaken by the Baltimore and 

 Ohio railroad company. The length from the point 

 of its intersection with the main stem, near Elk- 

 ridge landing, to Washington, will be about thirty- 

 three miles. 



The Manchester railroad is in Chesterfield coun- 

 ty, Virginia. It extends from Manchester to the 

 coal mines. It consists of a single track, and is 

 thirteen miles in length. 



The Petersburg and Roanoke railroad was under- 

 taken to counteract the injurious effectwhich the Dis- 

 mal Swamp canal has upon the trade of Petersburg. 



The Charleston and Hamburg railroad extends 

 from Charleston to Hamburg, on the Savannah 

 river, opposite Augusta. It consists of two divi- 

 sions: the eastern division, from Charleston to Edis- 

 to river, is sixty-two and a half miles in length ; 

 the western division, from Edisto to Hamburg, is 

 seventy miles in length. The road is constructed 

 of wood, with tracks of iron, and is designed for 

 steam locomotives. This enterprise was undertaken 

 by the South Carolina canal and railroad company, 

 which has, however, received pecuniary assistance 

 from the state of South Carolina. A second rail- 

 road, of about the same length, is also embraced 

 within the objects of the company. It is to extend 

 from Charleston to Columbia. 



The Lexington and Ohio railroad was commenced 

 in 1831. It is to extend from Lexington to Frank- 

 fort, and thence to the Ohio river just below the 

 falls, near Shippingport, which is distant two miles 

 from Louisville. It will be about eighty miles in 

 length. The Louisville canal, round the falls of 

 the Ohio, terminates also at Shippingport. The 

 Lexington and Ohio railroad company, by which 

 this enterprise is undertaken, was incorporated by 

 the legislature of Kentucky, in 1830, with a capital 

 stock of 1,000,000 dollars. 



The Tuscumbia railroad was constructed in order 

 to avoid the Muscle shoals, and extends from Tus- 

 cumbia to Decatur. It was commenced in 1831. 

 It consists of a single track of rails, and cost about 

 3500 dollars per mile. It is also proposed to ex- 

 tend the Lynchburg and New river railroad to 

 Knoxville. Railroads have also been projected 

 from Nashville to Franklin, and from Columbia to 

 the Tennessee. 



The lake Pontchartrain railroad is about four 

 miles and a half in length, and extends from lake 

 Pontchartrain to New Orleans. It consists of a 

 single track. It is perfectly straight, and nearly 

 level, the ascent and descent being only sixteen 

 inches. The cost was 15,000 dollars per mile. The 

 company, by which it was constructed, was incor- 

 porated,!^ January, 1830, with exclusive privileges, 

 for twenty-five years. The road was finished ana 

 opened on April 16, 1831. The company have 

 constructed an artificial harbour and breakwater in 

 the lake, at the termination of the railroad* This 

 port is called Port Pontchartrain. 



RAIN. This meteorological phenomenon de- 

 pends upon the formation and dissolution of clouds. 

 The humidity suspended in the atmosphere is derived 

 from the evaporation of water, partly from land, 

 but chiefly from the vast expanse of the ocean. A 

 surface of lake, of pasture, cornfield or forest sup- 



