MEMOIK OF DANIEL TREADWELL. .'illij 



the adoption of thnt particular improvement, or in the construction of the Mast hi Us 

 railways, generally, I beg permission to Bay thai he was one of the firsi i«> perceive, not merely 

 the economical advantages, which were sufficiently obvious, but the pracft bilitjr, sufficiency, 

 and safety of the railway constructed with a single set of traeks, and that he ai once u -1 his 

 influence in its favor, which tended greatly to procure its adoption upon the Worcester and 



other early railways. 



As a majority of the active men of the present day can have no | rsonal knowledge of 



the exertions of Mr. Hale, twenty-live years ago, to impn -i upon the public the advai s to 

 be derived from constructing railways in this country, I mav be pardoned for asking a moment's 

 attention to them. 



Those who were readers of the Daily Advertiser at that period will i member his 

 numerous and elaborate articles, furnishing all the information thai could be collected, from 

 foreign publications and letters, of the program of railways in England, with estimates of their 



probable cost, their performance, and what might reasonably be expected from their construc- 

 tion here, in promoting the intercourse, and with it advancing the productive industry, the 



wealth and the power of the country. Of all the men who. bj the labor of thou lit. writing, 



or speech, have contributed to the establishment of the railways of New Kn gland, Mr. Bale was. 

 unquestionably, the earliest, the most constant, judieiou-. and efficient : and it must be pleasant 



to those who remember his old railway papers and reports to see, by his 1 te articles upon the 



Hoo 



I trust that the public will not condemn me, as vain or presumptuous, for thus obtruding 



espec 



opinion, but as my testimony to that which lias fallen under my observation; or as a relation 



of facts to which any man, however humble, if of fair charact e r, may claim to be a competent 

 witness. 



Daniel Tbeadwell. 



Cambridge, June 6 7 1851. 



In proof of the practicability of this improvement, it may be stated that in 

 Massachusetts, in 1880, there were 1,893 miles of railroads, of which but 454 miles, 

 less than one quarter, had double tracks. The Union Pacific Railway, 1,800 miles 

 in length, extending from Council Bluffs to Cheyenne, had, in 1882, but 300 miles 

 in sidings and double tracks, with gross earnings amounting to $24,000,000. 



As to the safety of the two methods of conducting railway transportation, we 

 have but few reliable statistics ; one salient fact, however, appears with regard to 

 collisions, — the accident that would be thought most likely to happen, — that out 

 of 755 English accidents no less than 406, or 54 per cent, came under the head of 

 collisions. In America, on the other hand, of the 3.763 accidents recorded, 1,324, 

 or but 35 per cent, were due to collisions. With the telegraphic appliances intro- 

 duced since Mr. Tread well's time, the system of operating single track roads is 

 nearly perfect, and the danger reduced to a minimum.* 



* Notes on Railroad Accidents, by Charles Francis Adams, Jr., p. 266. 



