AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 617 



THE FIRST RAILROAD. 



[London Artizan, of April, 1857.] 



In 1S18, Mr. Pease proposed the formation of the Darlington 

 railroad, from the river Tees to the Collieries west of it; for 

 which, after a hard struggle, an act of Parliament was obtained 

 in 1821. One of the difficulties was to procure sufficient sub- 

 scription. It was $50,000 short, which Mr. Pease took upon 

 himself. The act required half a million dollars on a road 

 thirty-two miles long. This road has since been extended to 

 130 miles, and cost about twelve millions of dollars. The road 

 was not open for use before September 27, 1825. 



H. Meigs— In 1818, in the Assembly of the State of New- York, 

 at Albany, in February, I proposed a railroad instead of the Erie 

 canal, because it would be useful all the year, while the canal would 

 be useless for months in winter. Because the speed on the road, 

 all curves allowed, would readily be on an average of fifteen 

 miles an hour, while the canal boat would have but three; and 

 because railroads can be made where there is no water. 



For these notions I was amply punished. 



May 22, 1857. 



I asserted that in some years the railroad would destroy the 

 chief value of the canal then decided to be made. 



The Albany Argus^ of May 22, 1857, has the following in 

 verification thereof, viz : " Within a few years the competition 

 of railroads has so far impaired the revenues as to alarm the 

 creditors of the State as to the security for their claims. The 

 receipts of the canal which ran up steadily for a few years, have 

 been fiilling as steadily since. The canal has been compelled 

 latterly to reduce its charges of toll in order to sustain this 

 competition. But even these reductions have been in vain. It 

 is impossible for horse power, upon a canal, open only seven 

 months in the j'ear, to compete with the power of steam on the 

 unfailing iron road." 



In 1816, I published in the little JYational Advocate, edited by 

 the late M. M. Noah, all these opinions under the signature "M." 

 I was ridiculed for recommending people &c., to be rode on rails. 



