Part 35 (1/2)

Steamboats could carry pa.s.sengers and goods up and down the Mississippi and its branches more cheaply and more comfortably than people and goods could be carried over the Alleghanies. Many persons therefore advised the building of a good wagon road to connect the Potomac with the Ohio.

The eastern end of this great road was at c.u.mberland on the Potomac in Maryland. It is generally called, therefore, the c.u.mberland Road. It was begun at the national expense in 1811. By 1820 the road was built as far as Wheeling on the Ohio River. From that point steamboats could steam to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, or New Orleans. Later on, the road was built farther west, as far as Illinois. Then the coming of the railroad made further building unnecessary.

[Sidenote: The Erie Ca.n.a.l, 1825. _McMaster_, 282-284.]

[Sidenote: De Witt Clinton.]

[Sidenote: Results of the building of the Erie Ca.n.a.l.]

296. The Erie Ca.n.a.l.--The best way to connect one steamboat route with another was to dig a ca.n.a.l. The most famous of all these ca.n.a.ls was the one connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie, and called the Erie Ca.n.a.l. It was begun in 1817 and was completed so that a boat could pa.s.s through it in 1825. It was De Witt Clinton who argued that such a ca.n.a.l would benefit New York City by bringing to it the produce of the Northwest and of western New York. At the same time it would benefit the farmers of those regions by bringing their produce to tide water cheaper than it could be brought by road through Pennsylvania. It would still further benefit the farmers by enabling them to buy their goods much cheaper, as the rates of freight would be so much lower by ca.n.a.l than they were by road. People who did not see these things as clearly as De Witt Clinton saw them, spoke of the enterprise most sneeringly and called the ca.n.a.l ”Clinton's big ditch.” It very soon appeared that Clinton was right. In one year the cost of carrying a ton of grain from Lake Erie to the Hudson River fell from one hundred dollars to fifteen dollars. New York City soon outstripped all its rivals and became the center of trade and money in the United States. Other ca.n.a.ls, as the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca.n.a.l, were marvels of skill. But they were not so favorably situated as the Erie Ca.n.a.l and could not compete with it successfully.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CONESTOGA WAGON AND TEAM.]

[Sidenote: The first railroads. _McMaster_, 285-289.]

297. Early Railroads.--The best stone and gravel roads were always rough in places. It occurred to some one that it would be better to lay down wooden rails, and then to place a rim or f.l.a.n.g.e on the wagon wheels to keep them on the rails. The first road of this kind in America was built at Boston in 1807. It was a very rude affair and was only used to carry dirt from the top of a hill to the harbor. The wooden rails soon wore out, so the next step was to nail strips of iron on top of them.

Long lines of railroads of this kind were soon built. Both pa.s.sengers and goods could be carried on them. Some of them were built by private persons or by companies. Others were built by a town or a state. Any one having horses and wagons with f.l.a.n.g.ed wheels could use the railway on the payment of a small sum of money. This was the condition of affairs when the steam locomotive was invented.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN EARLY LOCOMOTIVE.]

[Sidenote: Invention of the locomotive, 1830.]

[Sidenote: Hards.h.i.+ps of early railroad travel.]

298. The Steam Locomotive.--Steam was used to drive boats through the water. Why should not steam be used to haul wagons over a railroad?

This was a very easy question to ask, and a very hard one to answer.

Year after year inventors worked on the problem. Suddenly, about 1830, it was solved in several places and by several men at nearly the same time. It was some years, however, before the locomotive came into general use. The early railroad trains were rude affairs. The cars were hardly more than stagecoaches with f.l.a.n.g.ed wheels. They were fastened together with chains, and when the engine started or stopped, there was a terrible b.u.mping and jolting. The smoke pipe of the engine was very tall and was hinged so that it could be let down when coming to a low bridge or a tunnel. Then the smoke and cinders poured straight into the pa.s.sengers' faces. But these trains went faster than ca.n.a.l boats or steamboats. Soon the railroad began to take the first place as a means of transport.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A LOCOMOTIVE OF TO-DAY.]

[Sidenote: Use of hard coal.]

[Sidenote: Growth of the cities.]

299. Other Inventions.--The coming of the steam locomotive hastened the changes which one saw on every side in 1830. For some time men had known that there was plenty of hard coal or anthracite in Pennsylvania.

But it was so hard that it would not burn in the old-fas.h.i.+oned stoves and fireplaces. Now a stove was invented that would burn anthracite, and the whole matter of house warming was completely changed. Then means were found to make iron from ore with anthracite. The whole iron industry awoke to new life. Next the use of gas made from coal became common in cities. The great increase in manufacturing, and the great changes in modes of transport, led people to crowd together in cities and towns. These inventions made it possible to feed and warm large numbers of persons gathered into small areas. The cities began to grow so fast that people could no longer live near their work or the shops.

Lines of stagecoaches were established, and the coaches were soon followed by horse cars, which ran on iron tracks laid in the streets.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN EARLY HORSE CAR.]

[Sidenote: Growth of the school system.]

[Sidenote: Webster's ”Dictionary.”]

[Sidenote: American men of letters.]

[Sidenote: American men of science.]