102 



Industrial aiid Material Progress 



staples of the east, were carried by, she has always been able, like the 

 free cities of the Rhine, to collect her toll on the passing trade. 



But we must not forget the improvements which had been taking 

 place in travel and transportation by land, while steam navigation 

 and internal canals had been transforming that by water. The first 

 railway charter granted in the United kStates was to the Mohawk and 

 Hudson E. E. E. Co., in 1825. It was not the first railway to be built, 

 but the first to be chartered. The road was running in 1830 between 

 Albany and Schenectady. The Albany terminus was at the south end 

 of the city, and an inclined plane with a stationary engine carried the 

 cars from the river level to the summit of the plateau. From here 

 they were drawn by a locomotive to the summit of another inclined 

 plane, by which they were let down to the level of the Mohawk at 

 Schenectady. In an interesting picture which is familiar to you all, 

 we have preserved to us the appearance of this first train of cars, as 

 it made its memorable trial trip on the 9th of August, 1831. The 

 names of the passengers deserve to be here transcribed : John Town- 

 send, afterward mayor, ex-G-ov. Yates, Charles E. Dudley, Lewis Ben- 

 edict, Thurlow Weed, Edwin Croswell, John I. Boyd, and Billy Winne, 

 penny-post. David Matthew was the engineer, and I. S. Clark, con- 

 ductor. The locomotive was called " DeWitt Clinton," and weighed 

 four tons ; a modern locomotive weighs thirty-two tons. The cars 

 were literally the old-fashioned stage-coach bodies set on railway trucks- 

 They were coupled together by three-link couplers, and were without 

 brakes. In slowing up and starting, this primitive contrivance made 

 a terrible jarring and clatter. The sparks from the wood-burning 

 locomotives were blown in upon the passengers, who, at the end of 

 their journey, found themselves frequently with holes burned in their 

 coats. 



For the convenience of passengers at Albany a branch was laid in 

 1833 down Little State street to a station in State street where Van 

 Vechten Hall now stands. From here the passenger cars were drawn 

 by horses to connect at the junction with those brought up the in- 

 clined plane. But this was expensive and inconvenient and was soon 

 abandoned, much to the disgust of the Albany people, who avenged 

 themselves by starting a line of stages to Schenectady, which they 

 continued to run for some time at a great loss. Finally, engineering 

 skill found ways to dispense with the inclined planes, both at Albany 

 and Schenectady, and in 1843 the lines were laid in their present 

 location. 



