Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 256, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1910 — FIRST RAILROAD IN AMERICA [ARTICLE]

FIRST RAILROAD IN AMERICA

No Doubt That the Baltimore and Ohio Has the Right to Claim That Honor. . ; . \ p The earliest mention that is found of railways in the records of congress was in a bill introduced in the senate April 23, 1828, which authorized the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company to import into this country iron for •the construction of a railroad. This measure was laid on the table after a debate, but subsequently taken up, ordered to a third reading and passed. In May, 1830, there was a debate in the senate on the bill authorizing a subscription by the general government to the stock of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company. In 1832 another resolution was offered in the house of representatives and passed the same day which empowered a committee of manufacturers to inquire into the expediency of allowing a rebate on duty imposed upon iron imported for railroads to be used by a state or by a company incorporated by a state “when it shall be ascertained to the satisfaction of the secretary of the treasury that the said iron is peramnently laid on the road." Also in 1832 a Mr. Davis of Massachusetts >n a debate on a resolution to print the report of the British house of commons on the subject of steam carriages on railroads said that “he conceived the subject of land transportation by steam to be one of the greatest importance to the nation. They had seen the almost incredible effects which it had produced on water carriage, and there was reason to believe it would be found still more powerful by land.” On Saturday, September 20, 1834, the Boston and Worcester railroad was opened from Boston to West Hopkinton, twenty-four miles long, v is SS ■ itUI cc;.';; j-..,--. j j '