Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 242, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1917 — HAIL FIRST TRAIN [ARTICLE]

HAIL FIRST TRAIN

How Philadelphia Greeted First Railroad Cars on Afternoon of April 16, 1834. CONSIDEREDASGREAT JOKE Took Six Years of Agitation to Construct Track Between Columbia and Quaker City—Horses Were Ready to Rescue. The first railroad train seen In Philadelphia arrived at the head of the Schuylkill incline plane at 4:30 o’clock on the afternoon of Aprjl 16, 1834, after an elght-and-a-half-hour trip from Lancaster. Everybody laughed at this nine days’ wonder, so sure to be a failure. It had taken six years of agitation to provide the construction of a single track between Columbia and Philadelphia, to connect this city with the canal at the former place. So little confidence had the managers In the endurance of the locomotive that an empty horsecar followed the train with relays of horses at different points to rescue the party in case the locomotive gave out. They had much difficulty with “Black Hawk,” for that was the locomotive’s name, and the passengers had to get out and give it a healthy push from time to time.

Desperate Resistance. There had been desperate resistance to the introduction of railroads throughout the state. There was a huge vested interest in the Conestoga wagons. Hundreds of six-horse teams hauling the immense covered wagons were constantly on the highways, transporting passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and between many other points. Every few miles along our through turnpikes was found the “wagon .tavern.” Well-to-do farmers whose homes were on the pike ran a tavern as a side industry. These inns, besides refreshment for travelers, had large yards to accommodate the teams during the night. It was a thriving business, and when the proposition to construct railways was seriously urged the wagon drivers and the wagon tavern-keepers made an aggressive fight against the innovation, which would deprive them of so much of their income and their pleasure. Anti-Railroad Men. Mass meetings were held along the lines of the turnpikes to protest against railways. It was urged that they were of doubtful utility. Political orators delivered harangues against the injustice of bringing “an untried experiment" into vogue to “ruin the great industrial interests which centered in wagon transportation.” In some instances United States senators and representatives made these speeches and were elected solely on the strength of being “afiti-railroad men.” But the progress of the railroad was so gradual that there was no sudden and violent destruction of the wagon transportation Interests. The grand old Conestoga wagons, “prairie schooners," died a slow and natural death. But the tavern-keepers who allied themselves with politicians to hold back progress have maintained the alliance ever since the days when “Black Hawk" came to Philadelphia.—Philadelphia Ledger.