26 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



to believe that they could use it with equal success in 

 their own undertaking, and rewards were offered for 

 the construction of the best locomotive suited to the 

 needs of the road. A small locomotive, built in Balti- 

 more by Mr. Peter Cooper, was placed on the line in 

 1830, and gave considerable satisfaction, but it did not 

 fully meet the requirements of the company. 



"Agreeably to the invitation of the President and 

 Directors, three locomotive engines were introduced 

 upon the road, in the summer of 1831, of which only 

 one proved to be successful, according to the stipula- 

 tions of the company. This was the York, having 

 been erected in the town of that name, in Pennsylvania, 

 situated fifty-seven miles north of Baltimore. This en- 

 gine was erected by Phineas Davis (a very ingenious 

 and worthy man, who subsequently met with an acci- 

 dent which proved fatal, while experimenting with his 

 machinery), of the firm of Davis & Gardiner, and, after 

 undergoing some slight modifications, w r as found capable 

 of conveying fifteen tons, at the rate of fifteen miles per 

 hour, on a level portion of the road. It was employed 

 for a considerable time between Baltimore and Ellicott's 

 Mills, and generally performed the trip in one hour, 

 with four cars, being a gross weight of fourteen tons. 

 The engine, it will be observed, was mounted on four 

 wheels, of thirty inches diameter, like those of common 

 cars ; and the velocity was obtained by means of gear- 

 ing with a spur wheel and pinion, on one of the axles 

 of the road wheels. The entire weight was but three 

 and a half tons, and it not unfrequently attained a 

 speed ranging from twenty to thirty miles per hour. 

 It passed over curves with much facility, overcoming 

 those of four hundred feet radius, the shortest on the 



