22 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



designed to be a lasting benefit to the Republic, into one 

 of the greatest dangers which now threaten its existence. 



We propose to trace in these pages the growth of the 

 railway system of the country, and to present to the 

 reader a statement of its present condition, in order 

 that he may the better appreciate the grave danger 

 with which this immense system threatens the land. 



It was not until 1826 that capitalists became satis- 

 fied of the value of the railway as a means of communi- 

 cation between distant points. The first road of this 

 kind in America was a mere tramway for the transpor- 

 tation of granite from the quarries at Quincy to the 

 Neponsett River, in Massachusetts. The total length 

 of this road was about three miles. It terminated at 

 the quarries in a self-acting inclined plane. It was 

 built upon granite sleepers, seven and a half feet long, 

 laid eight feet apart. The rails were laid five feet 

 apart, were of pine, a foot deep, and covered with an 

 oak plate, and this with flat bars of iron. The cars 

 were drawn by horses. 



In January, 1827, a second road was begun, and 

 completed in May of that year, from the coal mines, at 

 Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, to the Lehigh River, a 

 distance- of nine miles. " From the summit within 

 half a mile of the mines the descent to the river was 

 982 feet, of which 225 feet were included in a self-act- 

 ing plane at the river, and twenty-five feet more in a 

 shute by which the coal was discharged into the boats. 

 The remainder was in a continual descending grade, 

 down which the loaded wagons ran by gravity, one of 

 them being appropriated to the mules by which the 

 empty wagons were drawn back. The rails were of tim- 

 ber, laid on wooden sleepers and strapped with flat iron." 



