176 Tbansactions of the American Institute. 



sea — and facing each other in the great Salt Lake Yallej, and 

 and before the year closes they will pass over 3,000 miles of continu- 

 ous railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. What changes 

 have this 07ie engine of the profession brought about in the condition 

 of society in this country ? From the days of Noah until those of the 

 locomotive, civilized population all over the globe was confined to the 

 rivers, lakes, and borders of the oceans, or a day or two's ride into the 

 interior. The mariner's compass carried this population across the 

 Atlantic, where, following the same law, our settlements were confined 

 to the vicinity of these water-courses. As soon as the locomotive was 

 inaugurated, our railways were pushed forward into the interior of 

 those immense fertile districts of the west, and they were populated 

 with unexampled rapidity, and then began that era of prosperity 

 which has raised our country to its eminence among the nations. This 

 era has been unlike any which has preceded it in the world's history. 

 An avalanche of people upon a wilderness almost in a day. Not like 

 those northern hordes upon the civilized plains of Europe and Asia to 

 lay waste and destroy, but a migration of the highest degree of civili- 

 zation upon barbarism, to build up and create. Without the locomo- 

 tive these fertile lands, their wealth of minerals and forests, their 

 great cities, their industrious, wealth-producing population — yea, more 

 than one-half of the population and sources of our prosperity would 

 have remained undeveloped for ages, perhaps forever. But there are 

 too many of these engines of the profession to allow me to dwell long 

 upon any one of them. The second one to which I will refer is the 

 application of steam to tlie propulsion of vessels. This has covered 

 every ocean, lake, and navigable river with fast moving, deeply laden 

 vessels, conveying the people and products of difterent climes and 

 nations to others, and enhancing the comfort, convenience, and profit 

 of all. You will remember that all this has been accomplished during 

 the 19th century, and that the chief development has been made in 

 but little more than thirty years. Twenty years ago a voyage of 

 twenty days across the Atlantic was called a quick passage ; now it 

 is made in eight, and will soon be made in six days. Indeed, the 

 question of speed on either land or water may now be determined by 

 the public. Almost whatever speed it is willing to pay for, the engi- 

 neer is' ready to furnish. Tlie construction of railways and steam 

 vessels has called into requisition the highest engineering skill that 

 the world has ever known. Bridges of extraordinary span and 

 strength, vessels of immense burden, machinery of great power, mas- 



