Roberts. ] 584 
the Hudson to Lake Erie. When it is considered that he was a citizen of 
Pennsylvania, and only thirty years of age, it is remarkable that he 
should have received such an appointment. 
The location of the railroad was materially changed, additional legis- 
lation was obtained, a part of the line was laid within the limits of Penn- 
sylvan.a, on the Upper Delaware ; and Mr. Miller continued to be the 
Chief Engineer tor about three years, and until the work was suspended 
for the want of funds. The first division of the road was opened for 
public use while he had charge of it. 
It may be remarked, in this connection, that a great change has come 
over the general tenor of legislation in the several States of the Union, 
on the subject of internal improvements, 
Men change and die, but the mountain ranges remain and the streams 
flow on in their old channels. The arbitrary lines drawn upon the map 
as political divisions, cease, more and more, to act as barriers to obstruct 
the construction and use of railroads, which the people feel that they 
need to facilitate their free intercommunication, and thus the railroads 
of the country become one of the most powerful means of securing a 
more perfect Union. 
After leaving the New York and Erie Road, Mr. Miller returned to Phil- 
adelphia, and became President of the Harrisburg and Lancaster Com- 
pany, which post he held for two years, and while holding it he visited 
England as financial agent of the Company. In 1845 he was the Chief 
Engineer of the enlargement of the Schuylkill Navigation, a work by 
which the tonnage of the boats upon the Schuylkill River and Canal has 
been considerably more than doubled. 
On the 18th April, 1845, Edward Miller was elected a member of the 
American Philosophical Society. 
In 1856, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was chartered. The 
prompt construction of a continuous railroad from Philadelphia to Pitts- 
burg was demanded by public opinion ; and, in the face of much opposi- 
tion, the City of Philadelphia, in its corporate capacity, subscribed five 
millions of dollars to the stock of the company. 
Mr. John Edgar Thomson, now the distinguished President of that 
powerful and prosperous corporation, was appointed its Chief Engineer. 
Mr. Thomson is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Delaware county, and 
his great success as a railroad engineer in Georgia, recommended him for 
his new post of professional honor and responsibility. How worthily he 
was to fill it is best shown by the annual reports of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Company for the last twenty-five years. Edward Miller became 
the Associate Engineer of the Western Division, the most difficult part 
of the line, and under his supervision the surveys and location of the 
road from Altoona to Pittsburg were made, under Mr. Thomson as Chief 
Engineer. After Mr. Thomson became President of the Company, Mr. 
Miller succeeded him as Chief Engineer, 
How efficiently these gentlemen aided each other, and thus promoted 
