EARLY WESTERN RAILROADS. 
81 
canal boat (length thirty feet, and five feet beam) made of small 
pieces of sheet or boiler plate-iron riveted together, the whole 
being evidently on the eve of dissolution. Apparently in order 
to hold it together it was partially slung from a cast-iron crane 
originally used for unlading the canal boats. 
PORTREATH RAILWAY. 
In 1809 the first tramway in Cornwall was opened. It ran 
between Portreath and the mines at Poldice ; and Lord de 
Dunstanville laid the first rail, October 25th of that year. The 
line was about four miles long. Hitchin and Drew's History 
of Cornwall (1824) notes concerning it: "A rail or tramroad has 
been made, over which the wheels of the carriages that are 
constructed for the purpose run on cast-iron, which facilitates 
in an extraordinary manner the progress of the vehicles, and 
greatly lessens the force of animal exertion." Mr. Francis 
Michell, c.e., of Kedruth, informs me that the line has been 
taken up, and that it consisted of two angle irons, placed face 
to face, and not back to back, as was usual ; thus, L -J . 
These irons were fastened to stone blocks, and the gauge was 
about three feet. 
THE HEYTOR RAILWAY. 
The next railway to which I have to refer was three years 
later in date than the Morwellham incline, but of a more 
primitive character, resembling, in fact, an Egyptian quarry-road 
almost as much as a modern tram-line. 
In 1792 Mr. James Templar obtained an Act for the con- 
struction of a canal from Bovey Tracey to Newton to communicate 
with the river Teign, and made it at his own expense, completing 
it in 1794 to Stover. This canal, known as the Stover Canal, 
is six and a-half miles long. 
The same Mr. Templar also completed, and likewise at his Own 
expense, a tramroad from Heytor to Stover to communicate with 
the canal. This tramway, opened in 1820, was made with the 
intention of developing the Heytor granite quarries; and at 
the same time workmen's dwellings were erected in a sheltered 
position on the flank of the tor. These dwellings are now known 
as "The Buildings." 
vol. x. G 
