exemption from injury (at least of that species which interrupts transportation), which characterizes rail-roads, has been already mentioned. The observation may be made, that no interruption, even of a single day, has occurred on any of the double track rail-roads since their first introduction into the United States. On the Mauch Chunk rail-road (which is a single line, hastily constructed, and the materials and plan not calculated for duration), interruption has occurred but five days, from its commencement in 1827 to the present time. Other roads have been more fortunate. Some of our canals are situated among the mountains, and in districts much elevated above the level of the ocean; consequently, they are frozen for a longer time than those near the tide water, which are open only 250 days in the year in the northern states; and even this brief period may be diminished by drought in summer, and by leaks, breaches, and other accidents. Great interruption is occasioned by the frequent freshets of our rivers, which, rising in their might, shake off the trammels which the puny efforts of man have attempted to prescribe for their governance: vast masses of ice, huge trees, and the wrecks of bridges, dams, and other structures, are borne away by a resistless force, and hurled with tremendous violence against the dams and banks of the canals which they encounter in their progress. Some of the dams of the Pennsylvania canal are injured, or prostrated, almost every year. During the last year the navigation of the whole western division was suspended for the summer and autumn by accidents; and the state canals, have from these causes, been navigable only for a few months in each year. During the present year, already have three great dams, which are essential to the supply of the leading canals of Pennsylvania; been swept with the besom of destruction. This havock will be of frequent occurrence, and the whole commerce of the interior will be suspended, sometimes for several months. "The repairs of the damages on the Pennsylvania canals, which the recent freshets have occasioned, will require many months, and the expenditure of at least $450,000. "The opponents of rail-roads have alleged that they are peculiarly liable to injury-that the rails might easily be broken or displaced by persons maliciously disposed. If this should be done, the wagons could be drawn for a short distance on the natural surface of the ground to the part of the railway which might remain uninjured. The injury could be speedily repaired, and the travelling would be either uninterrupted or slightly impeded. No injury would be sustained by the embankments; for it would require as much labour and time to destroy them as was expended in their construction. Every work of man may be injured by violence. Our dwellings, our bridges, our ships, may become the prey of the incendiary; all our property is at the mercy of the desperate and malignant. But does this contingent evil ever induce mankind to forego the certain benefit which results from the use of such property? Such contingent evil is not, however, peculiar to rail-roads-canals are much more liable to injury-to injury easily inflicted-suscepti ble of concealment, and most disastrous in its effects requiring much time and expenditure to repair. An embankment may be perforated by a stick in a few seconds; the water, at first oozing out almost imperceptibly, would soon enlarge the aperture; and the rushing and uncontrollable torrent would sweep away the most stupendous embankments, and strew their ruins over the desolated fields below them. Many miles of the canal would thus be rendered unnavigable. The injury inflicted on a rail-road is confined to the spot where the outrage is perpetrated. Canals have been injured in the manner just mentioned, in the United States; and the writer has seen the damage which, on one or two occasions, has been sustained. "The use of canals is, from all these various causes, not only limited, but also very uncertain: fleets of boats are frequently detained without a moment's warning; sometimes for weeks, and even months; sometimes, also, they are suddenly frozen up. The present year has afforded a striking illustration of the defects of canals. The transition from autumn to a most severe winter was effected in a few hours; hundreds of boats were suddenly frozen up, and thousands and tens of thousands of tons of coal, produce and merchandise could not be taken to their places of destination. The cities of Philadelphia and New York were destitute of their supply of fuel; the most serious inconvenience, and even intense suffering among the poor, was the result: several persons perished in consequence of the cold; whilst a raging epidemic spread misery and death in an unusual proportion among the destitute. The price of fuel rose 100, and even 200, per cent. The whole commerce of the country was paralyzed. If rail-roads had been adopted in lieu of the existing canals, transportation could have been effected without any interruption. The city of Baltimore was abundantly supplied, every day, by means of her rail-roads: fuel was sold at the usual price. The saving in this single article has been sufficient to render the value of these roads more generally appreciated. During the previous winter a deep snow covered the country-the canals, as usual, were sealed with ice, and even the great highways of the country were for some days impassable. The snow drifts were heaped up in the excavations of the rail-roads to a height of many feet but the application of the snow-plough removed every impediment from the rails, and the intercourse continued without interruption. "The great rivers of our country, by means of which most of the interior commerce of our citizens is conveyed, usually rise, and are in a good condition for navigation very early in the spring, or in the early and latter part of the winter: they rise and fall rapidly at all seasons: the canals which connect them are often necessarily of great length, and are trammelled by numercus locks. The cargo of a boat, if sent from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh by the Pennsylvania canal (even if the latter were navigable as early in the season as the great rivers of the west a circumstance scarcely ever to be expected), could not reach its place of destination in less than a fortnight, even if it proceeded day and night--and the time would probably be longer. In the mean time the rivers might subside, and their navigation be impeded. The Susquehanna, at Middletown, is swarming with vessels which descend that river during the freshets, and are detained for days at the locks of the Union canal before they can enter it in their regular turn. Again, at the opening of many canals, in the spring, the sudden deluge of trade creates a glut in the market-a depreciation in the price of produce, which is extremely injurious to the proprietors; at other seasons there is a scarcity, equally injurious to the merchant and to the consumer. Both results are prejudicial; they derange all calculations, interfere with the regular course of industry, and render trade a lottery. Regularity, not less than certainty, constitutes the soul of commerce. In these desirable and all-important properties, rail-roads are immeasurably superior to canals. of winter or the drought of summer, is productive of little injury-when canals, or slack-water navigation, can be effected at a cheaper rate, or, finally, when by means of a short canal, connecting an extensive line of existing navigation, a transhipment can be prevented. Every case must depend on its peculiar circumstances; and the conclusion will not, therefore, be invariable. The remark may, however, be made, that there is not a canal exceeding five miles in length, in Pennsylvania, New York, New England, or Ohio (and some other states might be mentioned), which is not a clear misapplication of capital; in every instance railroads would be far preferable. The canal system is superannuated and incapable of improvement: it is unable to withstand the assaults of its youthful, vigorous, and popular adversary-whose movements outstrip the speed of the wind-a giant who is daily increasing in strength, improving in skill, abounding in resources, and exhibiting a capacity in accord"7. Rail-roads do not injure the health of the ance with the spirit of the age. This adversary, districts through which they pass: canals occasion engendered by the necessities and nurtured by the wide-spread disease and mortality: the damp at- civilization of the nineteenth century, is about to mosphere, hovering over them and their vicinity, terminate the supremacy of its once favoured rival is eminently prejudicial to health; the deadly mi-a rival to which but yesterday it was a feeble asma which is also generated by them, affects the auxiliary-an humble dependent. Commencing its whole neighbourhood; rheumatism, colds, remit- career at our Atlantic cities, it may be traced by tent and intermittent fevers, are the almost inva- its tracks, in its progress, to the boundless regions riable concomitants of their almost stagnant waters, of the far west-striding over valleys and riversand the lands which receive the water from their scaling the loftiest mountains, or clinging to the numerous leaks. In our southern climate, canals sides of rugged precipices-resting in safety on are pestilential, and disease and death are their the bosom of the most treacherous and bottomless never-failing drawbacks. marshes, or hewing its way through rocks and every opposing obstacle, with a triumph which might almost rouse the astonished spirit of Brindley from the grave-wending its way into every spot where its presence is desirable, and extending its arms to embrace the commerce of a nation-it diffuses the productions of distant climes with a profusion previously unknown, and with a celerity almost realizing the dreams of the visionary. America, where the value of rail-roads was first discovered, is destined to be the theatre of their greatest extension and triumph--although the discoverer, to whose genius the world is indebted for the treasure, was scoffed at, while living, as an enthusiast and sunk into the grave poor and brokenhearted, the nineteenth century may yet render to the memory of the inventor of the locomotive engine-OLIVER EVANS, of Pennsylvania-the tardy homage of their gratitude: to the man whose farsighted sagacity foresaw and predicted, and whose mechanical intellect effected the triumph of the railroad system." 8. Rail-roads do not injure land by leakage, nor do they divert water-courses from their accustomed channels, and thereby interfere with mills, meadows, and land. 9. Rail-roads do not present inconvenient and impassable barriers, whereby farms and streets are separated. 10. The tolls on rail-roads may be less than on canals. 11. The cost of transportation will be usually less on rail-roads than on canals, if the preceding circumstances be considered. “12. Rail-roads are susceptible of great improve ments; a great augmentation of their value has already been produced by recent meliorations: new modifications and applications are almost daily discovered, and others may be anticipated, increasing their utility, diminishing their expense, rendering them more durable, safe, and convenient. Canals, on the contrary, have been almost stationary for nearly two centuries, and, from their nature, seem to be incapable of any material improvement. Rail-roads are, therefore, more convenient and better adapted to the wants and means of our country than canals; although, in some few cases (which may be considered as exceptions to the general rule), the latter may sometimes be more eligible—particularly when the face of the country is nearly level, and when the supply of water is abundantthe climate mild and healthy-when speed is unnecessary in the conveyance of goods or passengers when interruption of the trade, during the frost Pennsylvania Rail-road. "The legislature of Pennsylvania authorized the Union Canal Company (in their charter granted in 1811), to construct rail-ways as appendages to that work. These, however, were intended as mere auxiliaries to the canal, and were not executed. On the 31st of March 1823, a law was passed, authorizing John Stevens and others to make a railroad from Philadelphia to the Susquehanna; the remainder of the road to Pittsburgh, which was ask ed for by the petitioners was not authorized. Surveys were promptly executed by the parties, but they were based on defective principles. The delay in obtaining subscriptions for this unprecedented enterprise (the first of the kind which was ever projected in any part of the world, and the first which was ever authorised by law in the United States), induced the friends of this work to apply to the legislature for certain alterations in the act of assembly; accordingly, an act was passed on the 7th of April 1826, annulling the act of 1823, and authorising the formation of a new company. Surveys were, in the mean time, in progress under the authority of the general and state governments, embracing the country through which the projected canal of the state was expected to pass. Until the completion of these surveys, no aid to the rail-road could at that time be obtained from the state. In the following year, however, on the 9th of April 1827, the legislature yielded to the wishes of the majority of the friends of the rail-way, who were anxious that the state should execute the road, and a new survey was authorised. In order to gratify the wishes of a few persons, who still imagined that a canal was practicable on this route, the engineer was ordered to report the facts in relation to a canal also. The result was reported to the legislature; and they authorized, on the 24th of March 1828, the construc. tion of this rail-way as a state work. This rail-road is, therefore, the first which was undertaken in any part of the world by a government. Prior to the passage of this latter act, namely, on the 5th of April 1826, they had authorised a company to construct a rail-road, as "a public highway for the transportation of persons and commodities," from the Lackawaxen to the Lackawanna; and a company incorporated on the 11th of March 1826, was authorised by a supplementary act, passed the 16th of April 1827, to construct a rail-road from the Great Bend of the Susquehanna to the mouth of the Lackawanna, forming a continuation of the former road. The first part of this work has been in operation for three years. An act was also passed, on the 5th of April 1826, authorizing a company to construct a public rail-road from Pottsville, on the Schuylkill, to the Susquehanna. This work is not finished, but is in rapid progress. These acts are prior to any passed in other states. "The Pennsylvania rail-road is not a continuous line, as might be supposed from the title, but is composed of two divisions, separated by a canal of 171 miles in length. The first division is commonly styled the Philadelphia and Columbia rail-road, and the second the Alleghany Portage: each will be described in order. "The first division (the history of which has just been narrated) commences in the city of Philadelphia, at the corner of Broad and Vine streets, whence various branches, constructed by the several corporations, will diverge. The main line proceeds northward to Callowhill street, and thence is curved to the west, and is continued due west along an avenue, which is designed to be 100 feet broad. The road is straight for about three quarters of a mile, and conforms to the inclination of the streets which are within the limits of the grades prescrib ed for the residue of the line. The road is then curved to the north-west, and proceeds afterwards in a straight line to the entrance of Pratt's gardens, where the cut of 70 feet deep, and one-fifth of a mile long, commences. This cut was executed in 1792, for the bed of a canal which has been long abandoned. The line then continues nearly parallel to the river Schuylkill, and generally occupies the bed of the old canal (which has been altered for the purpose), to the bridge over this river below Peters's Island. This viaduct is 984 feet in length between the extremities of the wooden platform, which is elevated 37 feet above the water. The stone piers are six in number, and the greatest depth of the foundation, below the surface, is 24 feet. These piers rest on rock, or compact gravel; coffer dams have been resorted to here. Crossing the stream, by this noble viaduct, the line is conducted to the foot of an inclined plane, which is located on the bank. This plane is straight, and uniform in inclination; the length of it is 41 chains 60 links, the height 187 feet. The line. is continued on the dividing ridge, between the waters flowing into the Delaware and the Schuylkill, and attains the first principal summit (547 feet above mean high tide), at a point near the Warren tavern; it then gradually descends the South Valley Hill into the Great Valley of Chester county, and crosses Valley Creek by a viaduct 577 feet long, the piers of which rise 58 feet above the water. Here the road approaches the southern slope of the valley, thence it is continued, and crosses the eastern branch of the Brandywine river by a viaduct situated immediately to the south of Downingtown, then it crosses the western branch of the river, just mentioned, by a viaduct at Coatesville. The viaduct over the Big Brandywine is 465 feet long, the the piers rise 26 feet above the water The viaduct over the Little Brandywine is 50 feet long, the piers rise 73 feet above the water. The piers of this structure are composed of rubble masonry, and are supposed to be the loftiest of the kind in existence. Thence it is located on the northern slope of the valley, which it now leaves, and ascends along the margin of a branch of the Octarara Creek (a tributary of the Susquehanna), to the second principal summit at Mine Hill. It passes through the Great Gap, in this ridge, by a cut of 37 feet deep. This summit is 555 feet above mean high tide at Philadelphia. Thence, gradually descending, the road proceeds westwardly, crossing the Pequa by a viaduct 145 feet long, elevated 18 feet above the stream, and Mill Creek, by a viaduct 550 feet long and 40 high, and the Big Conestoga by a viaduct 1412 feet long, elevated 60 feet. The plan is what is commonly called Town's; and this is the only instance on the line where it has been adopted. Seven of the eight large viaducts on this rail-road are made according to Burr's plan. The road then enters the city of Lancaster on the northern side; thence it is conducted across the Little Conestoga, by a viaduct 804 feet long and 47 high, in a direction towards the head of the inclined plane at Columbia. This plane is straight, the length 1720 feet, the height 90 feet. From the foot of the plane the road is conducted through Columbia, along the margin of the Susquehanna, to the outlet lock in the basin which terminates the great Pennsylvania canal. In the heights above mentioned, it is intended to describe the height of the piers above the surface of the water. The lengths include only the platforms, independent of the wing walls. On the line there are 31 viaducts. The aggregate length of the platforms of the viaducts is 7,349 feet. There are also 73 stone culverts, &c., having from 3 to 25 feet span (the aggregate of the spans being 538 feet), and nearly 500 stone drains, generally 2 feet wide, and 3 in the clear. There are 18 common road and farm bridges, 8 of which have stone arches of 25 feet span; the remainder have stone abutments, &c., and wooden superstructures; the span varying from 31 to 54 feet. The length of the rail-road from Vine street, in Philadelphia, to the the termination is 81,6 miles, and the whole is in rapid progress. The road formation of 80 miles is finished, and the remaining 1,6 miles will be finished in a few weeks; with the exception of two viaducts, and the deep cut through Mine Hill (which will not be finished until September). A temporary ferry will form a substitute at the Schuylkill until 1833, when the viaduct will be used. Westward from Philadelphia the rails are laid on a number of sections, and wagons are employed on them. Travelling has commenced; and the rails for the first track may be laid on the residue of the road during the present year. The cost will be about $28,000 per mile, viz. $12,000 for graduation and bridges, and $16,000 for the rail-way or superstructure. Six plans of rail-way have been adopted on various parts of the road, viz: 1. The use of granite sills, or rails, is confined to the first 10 miles westward from Philadelphia; these are from 4 to 9 feet long, and at least 1 foot wide, and 1 thick; and the trenches are 22 inches deep, including the thickness of the road metal, and are filled with small broken stone. These sills are arranged in continuous parallel lines. On the upper surfaces, near the inner edges, flat iron bars, 15 feet long, 24 inches wide, and five-eighths of an inch thick, are attached by square nails, 3 inches long, and inch in diameter, driven into cedar plugs five-eighths of an inch in diameter, which are inserted in holes 3 inches deep, drilled into the sills at intervals of 18 inches asunder. This part of the rail-way has recently been carefully examined by the engineer. The severe winter of 1831-2 (during which the frost was intense, and several thaws occurred) has not in the slightest degree affected the stability of the rails. 2. Seventy chains on the recently formed embankments of the city division (commencing at the short curve of 300 feet radius, in the streets of Philadelphia, at Broad and Callowhill streets), are composed of Carolina string-pieces, six inches square; the iron bars 24 × of an inch; the sleepers, of the usual form and size, rest on bearing timbers eight inches square, secured by ties 20 feet apart. The edge rails, of rolled iron, are 16 feet long, 3 inches deep, and are parallel at the top and bot tom: they weigh 414 lbs. per yard. The cost in England was 67. 17s. 6d. per ton: cost, delivered in Philadelphia, $50,5%. The cast-iron chairs weigh 15 lbs. each; the nails, or bolts, 10 oz. each; the two wrought-iron wedges to each chair, weigh each 10 oz. On the turn-outs the rails weigh 33 lbs. to the yard; chairs 12 lbs. each. "3. The stone blocks are 3 feet apart on the straight lines, and three feet on the curves. Seventeen miles of single track have stone blocks; nine miles have stone sills. 4. The residue of the single track, and probably all but the city division of the second track, will rest on wooden sleepers, placed in trenches across the road, filled with broken stone. The rails and chairs will be similar to those resting on the stone blocks; the latter are 20 inches by 12, and upwards, and are placed in trenches in the same manner as the stone sills. 5. On the new heavy embankments, bearing timbers are placed beneath the sleepers. 6. In crossing a ravine, near the Conestoga, the road is supported by truss work for several hundred feet in lieu of an embankment. "The line traverses a very undulating country, and crosses the streams at right angles; consequently the expense of the road formation has been unusually great; the excavations are frequently deep, and the embankments extensive and lofty. Near the Warren tavern, the surface of the road is elevated 80 feet above the bottom of a ravine. The cut at Mine Ridge is 37 feet deep, through gravel abounding in springs and difficult quicksands. Large, but judicious expenditures have been incurred, to render the line as straight, direct, and level, as the country would permit. The curves have greater radii than those which have been resorted to on any extensive rail-road, located across ridges, in Europe or America. The length of the line is only a few miles greater than that of the turnpike between the same points. The length from Fairmount, to the basin at Columbia, is 80 miles by this rail-road. By the Schuylkill, Union, and Pennsylvania canals, which connect these points, the distance is 158 miles, or twice the length of the rail-road.* The maximum grade never exceeds 30,% feet to the mile, and this only in the direction of the greatest trade. Two points, only, require stationary engines. The width of the road bed is, in general, 25 feet, and sometimes it is wider. If the profile be analyzed, it will be perceived that 71 per cent of the useful effect of a perfectly level line, will be attainable of a line perfectly level. It is almost unnecessary to add, that every division of this great work evinces the skill and sound judgment of the engineer, Major John Wilson, to whom it has been entrusted from the commencement. "Branches.-At the termination of the state rail-road, at the corner of Broad and Vine streets, a continuation of the line, along Broad street southwardly, through the city, and thence to the Delaware, a distance of about 2 miles, is to be commenced, without delay, by the corporations. A law has been passed authorizing the construction of the rail-road through the middle of Lancaster. This pernicious project wil injure the line, increase the length, and delay, and expense of construction, repairs and transportation, and be a perpetual tax on the trade VOL. XVIII.-PART I. 2 X* and a junction is to be formed with the Delaware, north of the city, by a line about 1 mile long. Also a branch, four miles in length, which forms a junction with the rail-road from Philadelphia to Norristown. A company has been formed to construct a branch from Downington, via the valley of the Brandywine, to Wilmington; the surveys have been published, but the work is not yet commenced. Another company has been authorized to construct a branch towards Port Deposit, on the Susquehanna, via Oxford. The surveys were made by a corps detailed by Major Wilson. It is contemplated to extend this branch to Baltimore, for which purpose a company has been formed in the state of Maryland. A branch of nine miles in length from the South Valley Hill to West Chester has been made, and will be opened during the ensuing month." Allegheny Portage Rail-road. This is the most important work in the United States, inasmuch as it forms at present the only rail-road communication between the Atlantic states and the great valleys of the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri and their tributaries. It is now acknowledged that no canal is practicable across the Allegheny mountain in any part of its course; rail-roads have, therefore, been projected to cross it at several points -none of which have been commenced, except the one which is now described. 71 "It commences at Johnstown, on the Conemaugh river, and rising 1171,58 feet, by means of five inclined planes and gently graded stages, attains the summit of the mountain; it then descends in the same manner, by five inclined planes and graded stages, 1398 feet. One of these stages descends at the rate of 52 feet per mile. All the inclined planes are straight, and the greatest angle of inclination with the horizon is 5° 51' 9". The curves on the residue of the road have larger radii than the rugged surface of the country would at first seem to admit. On the western slope of the mountain the rail-road passes through a tunnel 900 feet long, 22 feet wide and 19 high, excavated through rock. The bridges are of stone, one of which, over the Conemaugh, has a span of 80 feet; two of these are skewed. Stationary steam engines are located at the head of each inclined plane. The length of the road is 36,6 miles. The grading is nearly finished, and the first track will be laid before the termination of the present year. edge rails are of rolled iron of the Clarence pattern, weighing 40 lbs. to the yard. The chairs weigh 12 lbs. each; they rest on large stone blocks placed three feet apart from centre to centre. On the heavy embankments wooden sleepers and bearing timbers support string pieces and iron bars, similar to the eastern division of the Pennsylvania railroad. A space, 120 feet in width, is appropriated to the road, of which 25 feet in width is now graded. The second track will be laid in the course of the ensuing year. Mauch Chunk Rail Road. The "This work commences at the coal mines which are, in fact, in the valley of the Little Schuylkill, on the Panther Creek, a short distance below the summit of Mauch Chunk, or "Mountain of Bears." It is used for the purpose of carrying the Schuylkill coal from this valley to the top of the mountain, and thence to the Lehigh river: hence the common, but erroneous name of this coal, in the market, is Lehigh coal. The road was commenced in the winter of 1826-7, and finished in four months. The extent of the main line, which is single, is nine miles, and the branches and side lines extend in the aggregate 34 miles. This was the first rail road of any considerable extent in the United States. The Quincy road, near Boston, was commenced in 1826, but its extent was only three miles; and a number of rail-ways of less length had been in use for a number of years in Pennsylvania. Rail-roads, however, were then in their infancy in this country. This work was executed without the superintendence of a rail-road engineer. Notwithstanding the mechanical ingenuity of the public-spirited, enterprising, and estimable gentleman who directed the execution of this primitive rail-way, imperfections might be, of course, expected to exist in the structure and location. The latter is peculiarly disadvantageous. Although this road has been referred to by the uninformed, as a specimen of the capacity of rail-roads, it is well known to those who are conversant with the subject, as the least efficacious of all the extensive rail-roads in America. The useful effect produced by a horse is far less on it than on any rail-road in the Union. The plan exhibits continual, frequent, and often very abrupt curves; some of the radii are only 190 feet. A few of them have subsequently been slightly improved. These curves were, moreover, irregular; formed with no precision or mathematical science. The profile is very irregular. The mine in which the rail-road commences is 860 feet above the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk. From the mine to the summit, 960 feet above the Lehigh, the line ascends 100 feet in threequarters of a mile, 133 feet in a mile; and this steep stage is worked solely by horse power. Onethird of a mile, at the summit, is nearly level; thence, for eight miles, the line descends 745 feet to the head of the inclined plane (the latter is 750 feet long, and 215 feet high), the grade being from 0 to 107 feet per mile, and in one place, for 80 yards, it is 1 in 25. Baltimore and Ohio Rail-road. "In the year 1827, the citizens of Baltimore having ascertained that a canal was impracticable from that city to the Potomac, and that the execution of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal would be attended by enormous expense, unprecedented difficulties, and great delay and embarrassment—and being also convinced that rail-roads possessed numerous advantages over canals-they determined, on the 19th of February 1827, to construct a rail-road—a decision evincing their foresight, wisdom, and enterprise. Rail-roads had several years previously begun to attract attention in Pennsylvania, and a number of charters had been already granted in this state, and one in New York, authorizing railroads-several of which have been finished. A charter was immediately obtained, on the 28th of Feb |