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THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN AMERICA. 169
erected at Mount Clare, Baltimore, was a large car-house, in which railroad
tracks were laid at right angles with the road track communicating with the
latter by a turn-table—a Lilliputian affair indeed, compared with the revolving
platforms, it's successors, now in use. In this car-shop Mr. Cooper had his
engine, and here steam was first raised, in the presence of Mr. George Brown,
the treasurer of the company,, his father, Mr. Alexander Brown, Mr. Philip
E. Thomas, and one or two more. Mr. Cooper, with his own hands opened
the throttle and admitted the steam into the cylinder; the crank-substitute
operated successfully with a clacking noise, while the machine moved slowly
forward, with some of the bystanders who had stepped upon it. And this
was the first locomotive for railroad purposes ever built in America, and this
was the first transportation of persons by steam that had ever taken place on
this side of the Atlantic.
Mr. Cooper's success was such as to induce him to try a trip to Ellicott's
Mills; and an open car, the first used upon the road already mentioned, having
been attached to his engine, and filled with the directors and some friends, the
first journey by steam in America was undertaken. The trip was most interesting. The curves were passed without difficulty at a speed of fifteen miles an
hour. The grades were ascended with comparative ease ; the day was fine,
and the company in the highest spirits. The return from the Mills—a distance of thirteen miles—was made in fifty-seven minutes. This was on the
28th of August, 1830.1
Sufficient subscriptions having been received, the commissioners of the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, deemed it expedient to call a general meeting of
the stockholders in Washington, on the 20th clay of June, 1828. On the day
appointed, they assembled in Washington, and formally organized the company in pursuance of the provisions of the charter, by the election of a board
of president and directors. They soon after qualified, and on the 23d of June,
entered on the discharge of their duties. On the 25th of the same month,
they appointed Benjamin Wright, their chief engineer, and on the 4th of July,
1828, this rival enterprise of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was formally
commenced by John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, who dug
the first spadeful of earth from the site marked out for the channel of the
canal.
On the 15th day of August, 1828, the Potomac Company by deed duly
executed, surrendered and conveyed to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Company their charter, and all the property, rights and privileges, by them
owned, possessed and enjoyed under the same, and thenceforth ceased to have
any existence as a separate corporation. In the same month, thirty-four sections of the canal extending from the Little Falls, to Seneca (seventeen miles),
were put under contract, and on the 1st of September, 1828, the work was
and one-half feet in diameter. The fuel was wooden drum attached to one of the road-
anthracite coal, and an artificial draught, in the wheels, and a pulley on the fan-shaft."
fire-box at the bottom of the boiler, was created : William H. Brown's History of the First
by a fan, driven by a belt passing around a Locomotives in America.
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000200 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN AMERICA. 169 erected at Mount Clare, Baltimore, was a large car-house, in which railroad tracks were laid at right angles with the road track communicating with the latter by a turn-table—a Lilliputian affair indeed, compared with the revolving platforms, it's successors, now in use. In this car-shop Mr. Cooper had his engine, and here steam was first raised, in the presence of Mr. George Brown, the treasurer of the company,, his father, Mr. Alexander Brown, Mr. Philip E. Thomas, and one or two more. Mr. Cooper, with his own hands opened the throttle and admitted the steam into the cylinder; the crank-substitute operated successfully with a clacking noise, while the machine moved slowly forward, with some of the bystanders who had stepped upon it. And this was the first locomotive for railroad purposes ever built in America, and this was the first transportation of persons by steam that had ever taken place on this side of the Atlantic. Mr. Cooper's success was such as to induce him to try a trip to Ellicott's Mills; and an open car, the first used upon the road already mentioned, having been attached to his engine, and filled with the directors and some friends, the first journey by steam in America was undertaken. The trip was most interesting. The curves were passed without difficulty at a speed of fifteen miles an hour. The grades were ascended with comparative ease ; the day was fine, and the company in the highest spirits. The return from the Mills—a distance of thirteen miles—was made in fifty-seven minutes. This was on the 28th of August, 1830.1 Sufficient subscriptions having been received, the commissioners of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, deemed it expedient to call a general meeting of the stockholders in Washington, on the 20th clay of June, 1828. On the day appointed, they assembled in Washington, and formally organized the company in pursuance of the provisions of the charter, by the election of a board of president and directors. They soon after qualified, and on the 23d of June, entered on the discharge of their duties. On the 25th of the same month, they appointed Benjamin Wright, their chief engineer, and on the 4th of July, 1828, this rival enterprise of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was formally commenced by John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, who dug the first spadeful of earth from the site marked out for the channel of the canal. On the 15th day of August, 1828, the Potomac Company by deed duly executed, surrendered and conveyed to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company their charter, and all the property, rights and privileges, by them owned, possessed and enjoyed under the same, and thenceforth ceased to have any existence as a separate corporation. In the same month, thirty-four sections of the canal extending from the Little Falls, to Seneca (seventeen miles), were put under contract, and on the 1st of September, 1828, the work was and one-half feet in diameter. The fuel was wooden drum attached to one of the road- anthracite coal, and an artificial draught, in the wheels, and a pulley on the fan-shaft." fire-box at the bottom of the boiler, was created : William H. Brown's History of the First by a fan, driven by a belt passing around a Locomotives in America. |
