THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 25 



signed by Mr. Horatio Allen in 1830 ; and with no es- 

 sential change his system of double truck running gear, 

 including the application of pedestals to the springs, has 

 ever since been adopted upon all the roads of the 

 country." 



In 1828, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first 

 of the great routes connecting the Eastern and Western 

 States, was begun, the first stone being laid with great 

 rejoicing in the city of Baltimore on the 4th of July of 

 that year. It was originally designed to use horse cars 

 only upon it, and in June, 1830, the road was finished 

 to Ellicott's Mills, a distance of fourteen miles from 

 Baltimore. The cars were drawn by horses. " For a 

 long time," says the historian of the road, "notwith- 

 standing the use of horse power, the railroad was re- 

 garded as a great novelty; and the people of Baltimore, 

 with their wives, sisters, or friends, patronized it very 

 extensively. A ride to Ellicott's Mills by railroad was 

 a daily or Aveekly amusement ; and that interesting vil- 

 lage became exceedingly popular with all classes of 

 people. The number of cars provided by the company 

 proved entirely inadequate to the trade, both for pas- 

 sengers and merchandise ; and although but one track 

 had been finished, the receipts for the first four months 

 showed an aggregate of over twenty thousand dollars." 

 It was at one time proposed to propel the cars on this 

 road by means of sails. 



By April, 1832, the road was opened to the Point of 

 Rocks, on the Potomac, a distance of seventy miles. 

 Long before this, it had become evident to the company 

 that horse power was utterly inadequate to the de- 

 mands upon the road. The successful introduction of 

 steam upon the English roads encouraged the directors 



