passengers who had an umbrella raised it as a protection against
the smoke and fire. They were found to be but a momentary
protection, for I think in the first mile the last umbrella went
overboard, all having their covers burnt off from the frames,
when a general melee took place among the deck passengers, each
whipping his neighbor to put out the fire. They presented a very
motley appearance on arriving at the first station. Then rails
were secured and lashed between the trucks, taking the slack out
of the coupling chains, thereby affording us a more steady run to
the top of the inclined plane at Schenectady.

"The incidents off the train were quite as striking as those on
the train. A general notice of the contemplated trip had excited
not only the curiosity of those living along the line of the
road, but those living remote from it, causing a large collection
of people at all the intersecting roads along the route.
Everybody, together with his wife and all his children, came from
a distance with all kinds of conveyances, being as ignorant of
what was coming as their horses, and drove up to the road as near
as they could get, only looking for the best position to get a
view of the train. As it approached a the horses took fright and
wheeled, upsetting buggies, carriages, and wagons, and leaving
for parts unknown to the passengers if not to their owners, and
it is not now positively known if some of them have stopped yet.
Such is a hasty sketch of my recollection of my first ride after
a locomotive."

The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was originally constructed with
inclined planes worked by stationary engines near each terminus,
the inclinations being one foot in eighteen. The rail used was a