railroad would make the same trip in less than a day. Indeed, our
forefathers made one curious mistake: they predicted a speed for
the railroad a hundred miles an hour--which it has never attained
consistently with safety.

If the American of today could transport himself to one of the
first railroad lines built in the United States it is not
unlikely that he would side with the canal enthusiast in his
argument. The rough pictures which accompany most accounts of
early railroad days, showing a train of omnibus-like carriages
pulled by a locomotive with upright boiler, really represent a
somewhat advanced stage of development. Though Stephenson had
demonstrated the practicability of the locomotive in 1814 and
although the American, John Stevens, had constructed one in 1826
which had demonstrated its ability to take a curve, local
prejudice against this innovation continued strong. The farmers
asserted that the sparks set fire to their hayricks and barns and
that the noise frightened their hens so that they would not lay
and their cows so that they could not give milk. On the earliest
railroads, therefore, almost any other method of propulsion was
preferred. Horses and dogs were used, winches turned by men were
occasionally installed, and in some cases cars were even fitted
with sails. Of all these methods, the horse was the most popular:
he sent out no sparks, he carried his own fuel, he made little
noise, and he would not explode. His only failing was that he
would leave the track; and to remedy this defect the early
railroad builders hit upon a happy device. Sometimes they would
fix a treadmill inside the car; two horses would patiently propel
the caravan, the seats for passengers being arranged on either
side. So unformed was the prevalent conception of the ultimate