UISTOKY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 389 



year following Amos Lund and Tinicuni were iTicluded in a new 

 township, then first organized, named Ridley. The name was 

 sometimes applied to the creek before tlie township was or- 

 ganized. 



Calcon Hook is a corruption of the Dutch name Kalkoen ffoekj 

 that is, Turkeij Point, Kalkoen being the Dutch word for Tur- 

 key. It was probably applied to the place on account of the large 

 numbers of wild turkeys that freciuented it. The name Amers, 

 or Amos Land, is said to have originated from the circumstance, 

 that in very early times it was the residence of a celebrated 

 nurse — ainma being the Swedish for nurse. Amos Land ex- 

 tended about a mile north from Darby Creek, and westward 

 from the iMucanippitas nearly to Stone Creek. Calcon Hook 

 was east of the Mucanippitas, and extended nearly up to the 

 post road, but not to Darby Creek above its junction with Cobb's 

 Creek. 



The first railroad in the United States was built in Ridley 

 township in 1806, by the late Thomas Leiper, for the trans- 

 portation of stone from his quarries on Crum Creek to his land- 

 ing on Ridley Creek, a distance of about one mile. The ascents 

 were graded inclined planes, and the superstructure was made 

 of white oak with cross-ties and string pieces. The cars or trucks 

 were very similar to those now in use, the wheels being made of 

 cast iron with flanges. The line of the road can still be seen. 

 This railroad was superseded by the Leiper Canal, which passed 

 from the upper quarries down Crum Creek to the landing, and 

 was built by the Hon. George G. Leiper, the eldest son of 

 Thomas Leiper, in 1828, and continued to be used till 1852, 

 when it, in turn, was superseded by the present railroad.' 



The Darby Creek Ferry House, for many years a tavern, 

 bears the marks of antiquity. The figures 1698 are carved on 

 the inner side of the mantel-piece, of the northwest end of the 

 building, and no doubt indicate the date of its erection. It is 

 built of white cedar logs, flattened. Between this end and the 

 other wooden end, there is a space built up with stone. Through 

 this space, and between the two wooden ends of the present 

 building, the road formerly passed to the ferry. 



Leiperville is a small village on the post road, where it is 

 crossed by Crum Creek. 



1 Previous to engaging in the railroad enterprise, Mr. Thomas Leiper employed a 



millwright from Scotland, named Somcrville, to lay a track sixty yards in length at a 

 grailc of one inch and a-balf to the yard, he having seen a similar one in Scotland or 

 England. Thi.s experimental track wns constructed on a vacant lot in the Northern 

 Liherties of Philadelphia, and when tlie day of trial came, a large concourse of people 

 asseniMed to witness the experiment. After having loaded the car with all the 

 ■weights that could be procured from the neighboring hay-scales, wagers were offered 

 to any amount tliat no hor.^e chuUI move it to tlie summit; but when the word was 

 given, the horse moved off with ease amid the plaudits of the assembled multitude- 



