flat bar laid upon longitudinal sills. This type of rail came
into general use at this period and continued in use in parts of
the country even as late as the Civil War.

The roads that now make up the New York Central were built
piecemeal from 1831 to 1853; and the organization of this company
in the latter year, to consolidate eleven independent roads
extending from Albany to Buffalo, finally put an end to the long
debate between canals and railroads. The founding of this company
definitely meant that transportation in the United States
henceforth would follow the steel route and not the water ditch
and the towpath. Canals might indeed linger for a time as
feeders, even, as in the case of the Erie and a few others, as
more or less important transportation routes, but every one now
realized that the railroad was to be the great agency which would
give plausibility to the industrial organization of the United
States and develop its great territory.

Besides the pioneer Mohawk and Hudson, this consolidation
included the Utica and Schenectady, which had been opened in 1836
and which had operated profitably for many years, always paying
large dividends. The Tonawanda Railroad, opened in 1837, and the
Buffalo and Niagara Falls, also finished in the same year, were
operated with profit until they were absorbed by the new system.
In 1838 the Auburn and Syracuse and the Hudson and Berkshire
Railroads were opened. The former after being merged in 1850 with
the Rochester and Syracuse Railway, became a part of the
consolidation. The Syracuse and Attica Railroad, opened in 1839,
the Attica and Buffalo, opened in 1842, the Schenectady and Troy,
opened in the same year, and several other small lines, some of