Steve and the Steam Engine

by Sara Ware Bassett

  CHAPTER VII

  A HOLIDAY JOURNEY

  The next morning, when Steve woke to the swaying of the train and adrowsy sense of confusion and smoke, he could not for an instant thinkwhere he was; but it did not take long for him to open his eyes,recollect the happenings of the previous day, smile with satisfaction,and hurriedly wriggle into his clothes.

  Already he could hear his father stirring in the berth below andpresently the elder man called:

  "We shall be in New York in half-an-hour, son, so get your traps packedup. How did you sleep?"

  "Sound as a top!"

  "That is fine! I was afraid you might not rest very well. As I observedlast night, a sleeping car is not all that it might be. The day willcome when it will have to be improved. However, since it gets us to NewYork safely and economizes hours of day travel, it is a blessing forwhich we should be grateful."

  As he spoke he moved into the aisle and helped the boy down from hisperch; they then sought out a distant seat where they dropped down andwatched the rapidly passing landscape.

  "I have been thinking, as I was dressing, of the story you told me lastnight about our American railroads," said the lad. "It surprised me agood deal to hear that the South took the lead over the North in theintroduction of the steam locomotive."

  Mr. Tolman smiled into the eager face.

  "While it is true that South Carolina took the initiative in railroadingfor a short time the South did not remain long in the ascendency," heanswered, "for the third steam locomotive put into actual passengerservice was built at Albany. This city, because of its geographicalposition, was a great stagecoach center, having lines that radiated fromit into the interior in almost every direction. And not only was it animportant coaching rendezvous but as it was also a leading commercialtributary of New York the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad had built a shorttrack between Albany and Schenectady and supplied it with cars propelledby horse power. Now in 1831 the company decided to transform this roadinto a steam railroad and to this end ordered a steam locomotive calledthe 'DeWitt Clinton' to be constructed at West Point with the aim ofdemonstrating to the northern States the advantages of steamtransportation. You can imagine the excitement this announcement caused.Think, if you had never seen a steam engine, how eager you would be tobehold the wonder. These olden time New Yorkers felt precisely the sameway. Although the route was only sixteen miles long the innovation wassuch a novel and tremendous one that all along the way crowds ofspectators assembled to watch the passing of the magic train. At thestarting point near the Hudson there was a dense throng of curiousonlookers who gathered to see for the first time in all their lives thesteam locomotive and its brigade of coaches,--for in those days peoplenever spoke of a train of cars; a group of railroad carriages was alwaysknown as a brigade, and the term _coach_ was, and in many cases still isapplied to the cars. This train that created so much interest waspractically like Stephenson's English trains, being made up of a smalllocomotive, a tender, and two carriages constructed by fasteningstagecoach bodies on top of railroad trucks. Stout iron chains heldthese vehicles together--a primitive, and as it subsequently proved, avery impractical method of coupling."

  "It must have been a funny enough train!" Steve exclaimed.

  "I doubt if it appeared so to the people of that time," his fatherreturned, "for since the audience of that period had nothing with whichto compare it, it probably seemed quite the ordinary thing. Was it notlike the railroad trains used in England? How was America to knowanything different? Yes, I am sure the 'DeWitt Clinton' was considered avery grand affair indeed, even though it was only a small engine withouta cab, and had barely enough platform for the engineer to stand uponwhile he drove the engine and fed the pitch-pine logs into the furnace."

  "How many people did the train hold?" inquired Steve, with growingcuriosity.

  "Each coach carried six persons inside and two outside," was Mr.Tolman's reply, "and on this first eventful trip not quite enoughadventurous souls could be found to fill the seats. Perhaps could theunwary passengers who did go have foreseen the discomforts ahead of themthere would have been fewer yet. But often ignorance is bliss. Itcertainly was so in this case for in high feather the fortunate onestook their places, the envied of many a beholder."

  "What happened?" asked the boy eagerly. "Was the trip a success?"

  "That depends on what you mean by success," laughed his father. "If youare asking whether the passengers arrived safely at Schenectady I canassure you that they did; but if you wish to know whether the journeywas a comfortable one, and likely to convert the stranger to steamtravel, that is quite another matter. The description of the excursionwhich history has handed down to us is very naive. In the first placethe pitch-pine fuel sent a smudge of smoke and cinders back over all thepassengers and if it did not entirely choke them it at least encrustedthem thickly with dirt, particularly the ones who sat outside. Theumbrellas they opened to protect themselves were soon demolished, theircoverings being blown away or burned up by the sparks. In fact, it wasonly by continual alertness that the clothing of the venturesometravelers was not ignited. In the meantime those inside the coachesfared little better, for as the coaches were without springs and thetrack was none too skilfully laid, the jolting of the cars all but sentthe heads of the passengers through the roof of the coaches. Added tothis the train proceeded in a series of jerks that wrenched the chainsand banged one coach into another with such violence that those outsidewere in danger of being hurled down upon the track, and those insidewere tossed hither and thither from seat to seat. You will easilycomprehend that the outing was not one of unalloyed pleasure."

  The boy laughed heartily.

  "Of course," went on Mr. Tolman, "there was no help for anybody untilthe first stopping place was reached; but when the engine slowed downand the grimy, almost unrecognizable pilgrims had a chance to catchtheir breath, something had to be done by way of a remedy. The remedyfortunately was near at hand and consisted of nothing very difficult.Some of the more enterprising of the company leaped out and tore therails from a near-by fence and after stretching the coupling chains taut,they bound them to the wooden boards. In this way the coaches were keptapart and the silk hats of the dignitaries who had been invited toparticipate in the opening of the road rescued from totalannihilation."

  "I'll bet everybody was glad to disembark at Schenectady," declaredStephen.

  "I'll wager they were! They must have been exhausted from being jouncedand jostled about. Nevertheless the novelty of the adventure probablybrought its own compensations, and they were doubtless diverted fromtheir woes by the sight of the cheering and envious spectators, theterrified horses, and the open-mouthed children that greeted themwherever they went."

  "But the promoters could hardly expect the public to be very keen for asteam railroad after such an exhibition," reflected Steve.

  "Fortunately our forefathers were not as critical as you," said hisfather, "and in consequence the coach line from Albany to Schenectadywas speedily supplanted by a steam railroad, as were the various coachlines into the interior of the State. As a result hundreds ofbroken-down coach horses were turned out to pasture, a merciful thing.Gradually a series of short steam railway lines were constructed fromone end of the State to the other, until in 1851 these were joinedtogether to make a continuous route to Lake Erie. Perhaps we have onlyscant appreciation of the revolution that came with this advance intransportation. It meant the beginning of travel and commerce betweenthe eastern States and those in the interior of the country; it alsomeant the speedy shipment of eastern products to the West, where theywere greatly needed, and the reception of western commodities in theEast. But more than all this, it signified a bond of fellowship betweenthe scattered inhabitants of the same vast country who up to this timehad been almost total strangers to one another, and was a mighty stridein the direction of national loyalty and sympathy. Therefore it wasentirely seemly that Millard Fillmore, then President of the UnitedStates, and Daniel Webster, the Secre
tary of State, should be honoredguests at the celebration that attended the opening of the railroad."

  "Did the road reach no farther than Lake Erie?" asked Stephen.

  "Not at first," replied his father. "From that point commerce wascarried on by means of ships on the Great Lakes. But in time westernrailroad companies began to build short stretches of track which lateron they joined together as the other railroad builders had done."

  "Did the line go all the way across the country?"

  "Oh, no, indeed. Our trans-continental railroads were a mighty project inthemselves and their story is a romance which I will tell you some othertime. Before such stupendous enterprises could be realities, our young,young country had a vast deal of growing to do, and its infant railroadsand engineering methods had to be greatly improved. So long as we stillbuilt roads where the rails were liable to come up through the floor andinjure the passengers, and where the tracks were not strongly enoughconstructed to resist floods and freshets, our steam locomotion couldnot expect any universal degree of popularity."

  "I don't suppose, though, that the cows continued to tip the cars overand turn the passengers out into the dirt as they did in the days ofPeter Cooper," mused Steve thoughtfully.

  "They may not have derailed the trains," his father replied quiteseriously, "but they often did delay them. Nor could the passengers beblamed for finding fault with the unheated cars, or the fact thatsometimes, when it snowed hard, the engineer ran his engine under coverand refused to go on, leaving those on the train the choice of stayingwhere they were until the storm abated or going on foot to theirdestination."

  "Not really!"

  "Yes, indeed. Such things happened quite frequently. Then there arestories of terrible gales when the snow piled up on the track until theengine had to be dug out, for snow plows did not keep the tracks clearthen as they do now; nor was it an uncommon thing for the mud from thespring washouts to submerge the rails, in which case the engines had tobe pulled out of the mire by oxen. In fact, at certain seasons of theyear some trains carried oxen for this very purpose. For you mustremember that the engines of that date were not powerful enough to makeprogress through mud, snow, or against fierce head winds. Often a stronggale would delay them for hours or bring them to a standstillaltogether."

  "Well, I guess it is no wonder we were not equipped to build atrans-continental road under such conditions," said the lad, with a quietsmile.

  "Oh, these defects were only a minor part of our railroad tribulations,"responded his father. "For example, when Pennsylvania started her firstrailroad the year after the line between New York and Schenectady waslaid, there was a fresh chapter of obstacles. Strangely enough, thelocomotive, 'Old Ironsides,' was built by Mr. M. W. Baldwin, whose namehas since become celebrated as the founder of the Baldwin LocomotiveWorks. In 1832, however, the Baldwin locomotive was quite a differentproduct from the present-day magnificently constructed steam engine.This initial attempt at locomotive building was a queer little enginewith wheels so light that unless there was plenty of ballast aboard itwas impossible to keep it on the track; and besides that, the poor weething could not get up steam enough to start itself and in consequenceMr. Baldwin and some of his machinists were obliged to give it a violentpush whenever it set out and then leap aboard when it was under way inorder to weigh it down and keep it on the track."

  "Imagine having to hold an engine down!" ejaculated Steve, withamusement.

  "The story simply goes to prove how much in the making locomotivesreally were," Mr. Tolman said. "And not only did this toy engine have tobe started by a friendly push, but it was too feeble to generate steamfast enough to keep itself going after it was once on its way. Thereforeevery now and then the power would give out and Mr. Baldwin and his menwould be forced to get out and run along beside the train, pushing it asthey went that it might keep up its momentum until a supply of steamcould again be acquired. Can you ask for anything more primitive thanthat?"

  "It certainly makes one realize the progress locomotive builders havemade," the boy replied, with gravity.

  "It certainly does," agreed his father. "Think how Baldwin and his menmust have struggled first with one difficulty and then with another;think how they must have experimented and worked to perfect the tinyengine with which they began! It was the conquering of this multitude ofdefects that gave to the world the intricate, exquisitely made machinewhich at this very minute is pulling you and me into New York."

  There was an interval of silence during which Stephen glanced out at theflying panorama framed by the window.

  "Where was New England all this time?" demanded he, with jealousconcern. "Didn't Massachusetts do anything except build the old graniteroad at Quincy?"

  "Railroads, for various reasons, were not popular in Massachusetts,"returned his father. "As usual New England was conservative and wastherefore slow in waking up to the importance of steam transportation.Boston was on the coast, you see, and had its ships as well as the canalboats that connected the city with the manufacturing districts of theMerrimac. Therefore, although the question of building railroads wasagitated in 1819 nothing was done about the matter. As was natural thecanal company opposed the venture, and there was little enthusiasmelsewhere concerning a project that demanded a great outlay of moneywith only scant guarantee that any of it would ever come back to thecapitalists who advanced it. Moreover, the public in general wassceptical about railroads or else totally uninterested in them. And evenhad a railroad been built at this time it would not have been a steamroad for it was proposed to propel the cars by horse power just as thoseat Quincy had been."

  "Oh!" interjected Steve scornfully. "They might at least have triedsteam."

  "People had little faith in it," explained Mr. Tolman. "Those who hadthe faith lacked the money to back the enterprise, and those who had themoney lacked the faith. If a company could have gone ahead and built asteam railroad that was an unquestioned success many persons wouldundoubtedly have been convinced of its value and been willing to putcapital into it; but as matters stood, there was so much antagonismagainst the undertaking that nobody cared to launch the venture. Therewere many business men who honestly regarded a steam railroad as amenace to property and so strong was this feeling that in 1824 the townof Dorchester, a village situated a short distance from Boston, actuallytook legal measures to prevent any railroad from passing through itsterritory."

  "They needn't have been so fussed," said Stephen, with a grin."Railroads weren't plenty enough to worry them!"

  "Oh, the Quincy road was not the only railroad in Massachusetts," hisfather asserted quickly, "for in spite of opposition a railroad toLowell, modeled to some extent after the old granite road, had beenbuilt. This railroad was constructed on stone ties, as the one at Quincyhad been; for although such construction was much more costly it wasthought at the time to be far more durable. Several years afterward,when experience had demonstrated that wood possessed more _give_, andthat a hard, unyielding roadbed only creates jar, the granite ties thathad cost so much were taken up and replaced by wooden ones."

  "What a shame!"

  "Thus do we live and learn," said his father whimsically. "Our blundersare often very expensive. The only redeeming thing about them is that wepass our experience on to others and save them from tumbling into thesame pit. Thus it was with the early railroad builders. When the Bostonand Providence Road was constructed this mistake was not repeated and aflexible wooden roadbed was laid. In the meantime a short steamrailroad line had been built from Boston to Newton, a distance of sevenmiles, and gradually the road to this suburb was lengthened until itextended first to Natick and afterward to Worcester, a span offorty-four miles. Over this road, during fine weather, three trains randaily; in winter there were but two. I presume nothing simpler or lesspretentious could have been found than this early railroad whose trainswere started at the ringing of a bell hung on a near-by tree. Althoughit took three hours to make a trip now made in one, the journey wasconsidered very speedy, an
d unquestionably it was if travelers had tocover the distance by stagecoach. When we consider that in 1834 it tookfreight the best part of a week to get to Boston by wagons a three-hourtrip becomes a miracle."

  "I suppose there was not so much freight in those days anyway," Stevespeculated.

  "Fortunately not. People had less money and less leisure to travel, andtherefore there were not so many trunks to be carried; I am not sure,too, but the frugal Americans of that day had fewer clothes to take withthem when they did go. Then, as each town or district was of necessitymore or less isolated, people knew fewer persons outside of their owncommunities, did a less extensive business, and had less incentive to goa-visiting. Therefore, although the Boston and Worcester Railroad couldboast only two baggage cars (or burthen cars, as they were called), thesupply was sufficient, which was fortunate, especially since thefreight house in Boston was only large enough to shelter these two."

  "And out of all this grew the Boston and Albany Railroad?" questionedthe boy.

  "Yes, although it was not until 1841, about eight years later, that theline was extended to New York State. By that time tracks had been laidthrough the Berkshire hills, opening up the western part ofMassachusetts. The story of that first momentous fifteen-hour journey ofthe Boston officials to the New York capital, where they were welcomedand entertained by the Albany dignitaries, is picturesque readingindeed. One of the party who set out from Boston on that memorable daycarried with him some spermaceti candles which on the delegates' arrivalwere burned with great ceremony at the evening dinner."

  "I suppose it seemed a wonderful thing to reach Albany in fifteenhours," remarked Steve.

  "It was like a fairy tale," his father answered. "To estimate the marvelto the full you must think how long it would have taken to drive thedistance, or make the journey by water. Therefore the Boston officialsburned their spermaceti candles in triumph; and the next day, when theAlbany hosts returned to Boston with their guests, they symbolized theonrush of the world's progress by bringing with them a barrel of flourwhich had been cut, threshed, and ground only two days before, and putinto a wooden barrel made from a tree which was cut down, sawed, andput together while the flour was being ground. This does not seem to usanything very astounding but it was a feat to stop the breath in thosedays."

  "And what did they do with the flour?"

  "Oh, that evening when they reached Boston the flour was made into somesort of bread which was served at the dinner the Boston men gave totheir visitors."

  "I wonder what they would have said if somebody had told them then thatsometime people would be going from Boston to New York in five hours?"the lad observed.

  "I presume they would not have believed it," was the reply. "Nor wouldthey have been able to credit tales of the great numbers of persons whowould constantly be traveling between these two great cities. At thattime so few people made the trip that it was very easy to keep track ofthem; and that they might be identified in case of accident the companyretained a list of those who went on the trains. At first this ruleworked very well, the passengers being carefully tabulated, togetherwith their place of residence; but later, when traffic began to increaseand employees began to have more to do, those whose duty it was to makeout these lists became hurried and careless and in the old railroadannals we read such entries as these:

  "'_Woman in green bonnet; boy; stranger; man with side whiskers,_'etc."

  A peal of laughter broke from Stephen.

  "Railroad officials would have some job to list passengers now, wouldn'tthey?" he said. "We should all just have to wear identification tags asthe men did during the War."

  His father acquiesced whimsically.

  "I have sometimes feared we might have to come to that, anyway," hereplied. "With the sky populated with aeroplanes and the streets filledwith automobiles man stands little chance in these days of preservingeither his supremacy or his identity. When we get on Fifth Avenue to-dayyou see if you do not agree with me," he added, as the train pulled intothe big station.