TF 
 
DOCUMENT 
 
 
 PROVE THE SUPERIOR ADVANTAGES 
 
 K A I L - W A Y S 
 
 STEAM CARRIAGES 
 
 CANAL NAVIGATION 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 P R I X T E D B Y T . v J . tf W R D P , 
 
 REPRINTED BY STANFORD & SWOIIDS, 187 BROADWAY. 
 
 1852.' 
 
DOCUMENTS 
 
 PROVE THE SUPERIOR ADVANTAGES 
 
 RAIL-WAYS 
 
 STEAM CARRIAGES 
 
 CANAL NAVIGATION, 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 PRINTED BY T. & J. SWORDS, 
 
 NO. 160 PEARL-STREET. 
 1812. 
 
 REPRINTED BY STANFORD & SWORDS, 137 BROADWAY. 
 
 1852. 
 
DOT 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The Pamphlet, here reproduced forty years after its first appearance, 
 will now, in the light of its fulfilled and realized speculations, be read 
 with a degree of interest and admiration which, at the period of its 
 publication, it failed to attract 
 
 Having, while recently preparing a paper on the growth of the city 
 of New-York during the last half century, been led into some investiga- 
 tions as to the pioneers in the construction of steamboats and railroads, 
 . and remembering something of a pamphlet about railroads, published 
 many years before, by Col. Stevens, of Hoboken, I long sought for a 
 copy of it, and at last, one was found among the bound pamphlets of 
 the New-York Society Library. 
 
 Upon being informed of its existence, the sons of the ingenious au- 
 thor obtained permission to have it copied, determining to reprint it in 
 honor of their distinguished father, and they placed the MS. in my 
 hands for that purpose. 
 
 It seemed altogether fitting that the direct successors of the publish- 
 ers, who had given the original to the world, should be invited to print 
 this edition : and accordingly it bears the impress of Stanford & Swordt, 
 137 Broadway, 1852, as its original bore that of T. & J. Swords, 160 
 Pearl St., 1812 : thus marking at once perpetuity and change. 
 
 Of the author of this pamphlet, Col. John Stevens, of Hoboken, a 
 fitting memorial is yet to be written, for he was, emphatically, a benefac- 
 tor of his country and his race. Born to affluence, his whole life was 
 devoted to experiments, at his own cost; for the common good. 
 
 Mr. Stevens was a native of this city, where he. was born in the 
 year 1749. His grandfather, John Stevens, a native of England, came 
 
 to the colony of New- York, in , as one of the Law Officers of the 
 
 Crown. His father, John Stevens, became a resident of New Jersey, 
 and married Elizabeth .Alexander, descended from one of the original 
 proprietors of New Jersey, and was himself much in public stations 
 there and for a time Vice President of the Council. 
 
 John Stevens, of whom we are treating, though born in this city, 
 was a Jersey man by residence, and eventually by his marriage with 
 Rachael Cox, daughter of John Cox, of Bloomsbury, N. J., who also 
 
J r PREFACE. 
 
 for many years was Vice President of the Council of that State. Mr 
 Stevens himself was for several years Treasurer of the State. 
 
 Mr. Stevens' attention was first turned, or rather the bent of his ge- 
 nius was developed and directed, towards mechanics and mechanical 
 philosophy, by the accident of seeing, in 1787, the early, and as now 
 may be said imperfect steamboat of John Fitch, navigating the Dela- 
 ware river. He was driving in his phaeton on the banks of the 
 river, when the mysterious craft, without sails or oars, passed by ; Mr. 
 Stevens' interest was excited he followed the boat to its landing fa- 
 miliarized himself with the design and the details of this new and curious 
 combination, and from that hour became a thoroughly excited and un- 
 wearied experimenter in the applications of steam to locomotion on the 
 water, and subsequently on the land. 
 
 Having been brought, by close family connection, into intimacy 
 with Robt. R. Livingston, (the Chancellor of this State, who married the 
 sister of Col. Stevens,) he induced Mr. L. to join him in these investi- 
 gations, and they were persevered in at great cost and with little imme- 
 diate success till Chancellor Livingston, in 18012, was sent as minister 
 to France. 
 
 So much however was the Chancellor encouraged by the experi- 
 ments then made, that as early as 1798 he obtained from the Legisla- 
 ture of New-York, an exclusive grant for the use of steam on the waters 
 of New- York. This, however, became forfeit by the failure to avail 
 within the limited time of its privileges. 
 
 But previously to the Act of '98 the Legislature of New- York had, 
 as early as 1787, granted successively to James Rumsey and to John 
 Fitch the exclusive right to navigate the waters of the State with steam 
 propelled vessels ; and on 9th January, 1789, John Stevens petitioned 
 the Legislature for a like grant nothing having resulted from the pre- 
 ceding ones. Mr. Stevens in his petition says that, " to the best of his 
 knowledge and belief, his scheme is altogether new, and does not inter- 
 fere with the inventions of either of the other gentlemen who have 
 applied to your honorable body for an exclusive right of navigating by 
 means of steam." The petitioner adds that he had " made an exact 
 draught of the different parts of his machine, which, with an explana- 
 tion thereof, he is ready to exiibit." The prayer of the petition was 
 unsuccessful; but these draughts should be among the papers of the 
 late Col. Stevens, and at this day would be curious. 
 
 Mr. Stevens, meanwhile, never renounced his experiments nor des- 
 paired of success, and in 1804 he actually constructed a propeller, (a 
 
PREFACE. v 
 
 small open boat, "worked by steam,) with such decided success that he 
 was encouraged to go on aud build the Phenix, steamboat, on his own 
 plan and model, and had her ready almost contemporaneously with, but 
 a little after, the first steamboat of Fulton, the ClermonL The Cler- 
 mont entitled Mr. Fulton and Chancellor Livingston, who was co-oper- 
 ating with Fulton, to the benefit of the law , which had been revived by 
 the State of New- York, granting a monopoly of the waters of the State, 
 and thus Mr. Stevens' steamboat was excluded from those waters. On 
 the Delaware, however, and on the Connecticut he placed boats ; and 
 his eminent son, Robt. L. Stevens, having embraced his father's views, 
 was now at work with him to improve the known, and invent new re- 
 sources for accelerated steam conveyance. 
 
 In 1 8 1 2, j ust before the commencement of the war with England, and 
 when this State was first addressing itself to the thought of connecting 
 the waters of the lakes with those of the ocean by the Hudson, a 
 thought, very rapidly matured in the sequel, by the delays and now in- 
 credible cost in transporting troops, artillery aud munitions during the 
 war from the sea-board to the lakes, Col. Stevens put forth the pam- 
 phlet here reproduced, -urging that rail-roads and steam-carriages should 
 be preferred to canals and canal boats. 
 
 At that day not a locomotive existed in the world and the only 
 railroads were those few, and short tram-roads, as they were called 
 in England, connecting for the most part coal mines with canals, or 
 other water transportation, and upon which carriages with the ordinary 
 wheels turning upon their axle-trees were drawn by horses. The car- 
 riages were prevented from running off sideways by a flange rising some 
 inches above the outer edge of the flat rail. In this state of knowledge 
 and experience of railroads it was that, in 1812, Col. Stevens made pub- 
 lic, in the following pamphlet, his extraordinary and most sagacious 
 views and accurate calculations respecting, not only the feasibility of 
 applying steam to locomotion on land, but the precise mode of such 
 application : its cost, and its almost illimitable advantages. It seems 
 all but impossible to realize the fact, when carefully reading his descrip- 
 tion of the rail-way, of the locomotive of its wheels made fast to the 
 axle, and revolving not on but with it, and held by flanges on the inner 
 periphery, from flying off at a tangent, of a whole train, or " suit," as he 
 calls it, of rail-way carriages, "all firmly attached to each other, and pur- 
 suing the same direction :" and of the possible speed they might attain 
 of 40 or 50 miles an hour, bul that probably "it would in practice be 
 found convenient not to exceed 20 or 30 miles an hour ;" it seems, I re- 
 
T i PBEFACE- 
 
 peat, almost impossible to realize the fact that, at that day no locomo- 
 tive existed except in the creative and ingenious mind of the writer ; and 
 that no railroad, such as he needed for his unrevealed plan, had ever 
 been laid down. 
 
 If he had seen then, what he lived to see afterwards, and from the 
 handiwork and genius mainly of his son Robert on the Camden and 
 Amboy Railroad, the spectacle, ever impressive, however frequently 
 witnessed, of long trains of care sweeping on with the rapidity of the 
 pigeon's flight, he could not have described with more absolute accuracy 
 all the details of such a train, such a road, and such a locomotive, than 
 is done in the prophetic pamphlet of 1812. 
 
 He was treated as a " visionary projector." Time has vindicated 
 his claim to the character of a far-seeing, accurate, and skilful practical 
 Experimentalist and Inventor ; and who can estimate, if at that day, 
 acting upon the well considered suggestion of President Madison, "of the 
 signal advantages to be derived to the United States from a general sys- 
 tem of internal communication and conveyance," Congress had enter- 
 tained Col. Stevens' proposals, and after verifying, by actual experiment 
 upon a small scale, the accuracy of his plan, had organized such a "gene- 
 ral system of internal communication and conveyance ;" who can begin 
 to estimate the inappreciable benefits that would have resulted there- 
 from to the comfort, the wealth, the power, and above all to the abso- 
 lutely impregnable union of our great Republic and all its component 
 parts? 
 
 All this, too, Col. Stevens embraced in his views ; for he was a 
 Statesman as well as an Experimental Philosopher ; and whosoever 
 shall attentively read this pamphlet will perceive that the political, finan- 
 cial, commercial and military aspects of this great question were all pre- 
 sent to Col. Stevens' mind ; and he felt that he was fulfilling a patri- 
 otic duty when he placed at the disposal of his native country, these 
 fruits of his genius. 
 
 The offering was not accepted. The THINKER was ahead of his 
 age; but it is grateful to know that he lived to see his projects car- 
 ried out, though not by the government and that, before he finally 
 in 1838, closed his eyes in death, at the great age of 89, he could 
 justly feel assured that the name of Stevens, in his own person and that 
 of his sons, was imperishably enrolled among those which a grateful 
 country will cherish. 
 
 I will detain the reader no longer frofn the pamphlet. 
 Col Coll., New- York, May, 1852. CHAS. KINO. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The following documents on a subject calculated, I should 
 suppose, to attract public attention, are committed to the 
 press from an estimation of their importance, and from a con- 
 viction of the practicability of the proposed improvement. 
 On a subject of such deep interest to the community at large, 
 I presume no apology will be necessary for the liberty I now 
 take of laying before the public private communications. 
 
 Had the subject matter of this publication been exhibited 
 to public view in the shape of an entire and connected essay, 
 written expressly for the purpose, numerous repetitions and 
 inaccuracies, both in style and matter, would not have oc- 
 curred. But, I am inclined to believe, that the desultory 
 manner in which it is now handled, and the unavoidable re- 
 petitions necessarily resulting therefrom, will render it more 
 generally impressive. 
 
 Although my proposal has failed to gain the approbation 
 of the Commissioners for the improvement of inland naviga- 
 tion in the State of New-York, yet I feel by no means dis- 
 couraged respecting the final success of the project. The 
 very objections their committee have brought forward serve 
 only to increase, if possible, my confidence in the superiority 
 of the proposed railways to canals. 
 
 So many and so important are the advantages which these 
 States would derive from the general adoption of the pro- 
 
yjii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 posed railways, that they ought, in my humble opinion, to 
 become an object of primary attention to the national govern- 
 ment. The insignificant sum of two or three thousand dol- 
 lars would be adequate to give the project a fair trial. On 
 the success of this experiment a plan should be digested, " a 
 general system of internal communication and conveyance " 
 adopted, and the necessary surveys made for the extension of 
 these ways in all directions, so as to embrace and unite every 
 section of this extensive empire. It might then, indeed, be 
 truly said, that these States would constitute one family, in- 
 timately connected, and held together in indissolubls bonds of 
 union. 
 
 Should the national government be induced to make an 
 appropriation to the amount above stated, an experiment 
 could soon be made, either in the vicinity of this city, or at 
 "Washington, as may be deemed most expedient. 
 
 But the attention of the general government is urged 
 more imperatively to this object, from the consideration of its 
 great national importance in a fiscal point of view. If any 
 reliance can be placed on the calculations I have made, the 
 revenue which this mode of transportation, when brought 
 into general use, would be capable of producing, would far 
 exceed the aggregate amount of duties on foreign importa- 
 tions. However extravagant this position may at first sight 
 appear, I contend it is capable of the strictest demonstration. 
 It is an indisputable fact, that the aggregate amount of inter- 
 nal commerce is vastly greater than that of external com- 
 merce. 
 
 But one half of the latter, viz., exports, are by the consti- 
 tution exempted from the payment of duties ; the other half, 
 foreign imports only, are subject to the payment of duties. 
 
 The far greater part of domestic commerce consists of 
 balky articles, many of which now pay fifty per cent, on 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 transportation to market. By the introduction of the proposed 
 railways, nine-tenths at least of this enormous tax would in 
 many instances be saved, and the expense of transportation 
 reduced from fifty to five per cent. A toll of five per cent, 
 would raise it to ten per cent. But still the farmer, remotely 
 situated, would save four-fifths of his present expense in the 
 transportation of his produce to market. An average toll, 
 then, of five per cent, would constitute a very moderate im- 
 post. But the product of such impost would, at no distant 
 period, be immense. That it would far exceed any amount 
 which could possibly be derived from duties on foreign im- 
 ports, cannot admit of a doubt. 
 
 At a period like the present, when the ordinary sources of 
 revenue no longer continue to pour into the treasury of the 
 United States their tributary streams, and when, too, we are 
 called upon to make "arrangements and exertions for the 
 general security," at such a period, the merits of a system 
 promising, not merely to facilitate most astonishingly " inter- 
 nal communication and conveyance," but to furnish new and 
 abundant sources of revenue, ought surely to command the 
 attention of the general government, and cannot fail to " be 
 seen in the strongest lights." 
 
 The extension and completion of the main arteries of such 
 a system of communication would by no means be a work of 
 time. It would be exempted totally from the difficulties, 
 embarrassments, casualties, interruptions, and delays incident 
 to the formation of canals. Requiring no supply of water 
 no precision and accuracy in leveling, the work could be com- 
 menced and carried on in various detached parts ; its progress 
 would be rapid, and its completion could be ascertained with 
 certainty. Innumerable ramifications would, from time to 
 time, be extended in every direction. Thus would the sources 
 of private and public wealth, going hand in hand, increase 
 
x INTRODUCTION. 
 
 \vith a rapidity beyond all parallel. For every shilling con- 
 tributed towards the revenue, a dollar at least would be put 
 into the hands of individuals. 
 
 But there remains another important point of view, in 
 which this improvement demands the attention of the general 
 government. The celerity of communication it would afford 
 with the distant sections of our wide extended empire, is a 
 consideration of the utmost moment. To the rapidity of the 
 motion of a steam carriage on these railways no definite limit 
 can be set. The flying Proas, as they are called by voyagers, 
 belonging to the natives of the islands in the Pacific ocean, 
 are said at times to sail more than twenty miles an hour. 
 Since the resistance of the water to the progress of a vessel 
 increases as the square of her velocity, it is obvious that the 
 power required to propel her must also be increased in the 
 same ratio. Not so with a steam-carriage. As it moves in a 
 fluid 800 times more rare than water, the resistance will be 
 proportionably diminished. Indeed, the principal resistance 
 to its motion arises from friction, which does not even in- 
 crease in a direct ratio with the velocity of the carriage. If, 
 then, a Proa can be driven by the wind (the propulsive power 
 of which is constantly diminishing, as the velocity of the Proa 
 increases) through so dense a fluid as water, at the rate of 
 twenty miles an hour, I can see nothing to hinder a steam 
 carriage from moving on these ways with a velocity of one 
 hundred miles an hour.* 
 
 I will now just observe, that should it be considered an 
 object of sufficient importance, sails might be used whenever 
 the wind was favorable. Van Bram gives a curious account 
 
 * This astonishing velocity is considered here as merely possible. It is pro- 
 bable that it may not in practice be convenient to exceed twenty or thirty miles 
 per hour. Actual experiments, however, can alone determine this matter, and I 
 should not be surprised at seeing steam -carriages propelled at the rate of forty or 
 fifty miles an hour. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 of the peasantry in the country round Pekin, availing them- 
 selves of sails, when the wind favors them, for propelling the 
 wheelbarrows in which their products are carried to markets. 
 
 In a military point of view, the advantages resulting from 
 the establishment of these railways and steam-carriages would 
 be incalculable. It would at once render our frontiers on 
 every side invulnerable. Armies could be conveyed in twen- 
 ty-four hours a greater distance than it would now take them 
 weeks, or perhaps months, to march. 
 
 Thus, then, this improvement would afford us prompt and 
 effectual means, not only of guarding against the attacks of 
 foreign enemies, but of expeditiously quelling internal com- 
 motions, and thus securing and preserving for ever domestic 
 tranquility. 
 
 Whatever constitutional doubts may be entertained re- 
 specting the power of Congress to cut and form canals, there 
 can be none about the power to lay out and make roads. 
 
 I shall now close this topic with an extract of a message 
 from President Madison to the Senate and House of Repre- 
 sentatives of the United States : 
 
 " The utility of canal navigation is universally admitted ; 
 and it is not less certain, that scarcely any country offers 
 more extensive opportunities for that branch of improvements 
 than the United States ; and none, perhaps, inducements 
 equally persuasive, to make the most of them. The particu- 
 lar undertaking contemplated by the State of New- York, 
 which marks an honorable spirit of enterprise, and comprises 
 objects of national, as well as more limited importance, will 
 recal the attention of Congress to the signal advantages to 
 be derived to the United States from a general system of in- 
 ternal communication and conveyance ; and suggest to their 
 consideration whatever steps may be proper on their part to- 
 wards its introduction and accomplishment. As some of 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 those advantages have an intimate connection with arrange- 
 ments and exertions for the general security, it is at a period 
 calling for these, that the merits of such a system will be 
 seen in the strongest lights. " JAMES MADISON. 
 
 " Washing-ton, Dec. 2d, 1811." 
 
 From local circumstances, these rail-ways are calculated to 
 become pre-eminently beneficial to the Southern States. The 
 great predominance of sand, and the deficiency of gravel or 
 stone, precludes the practicability of making good turnpike 
 roads ; but the level surface, and great abundance of pine 
 timber throughout this district of country, would not only 
 render the construction of these rail- ways very cheap, but pe- 
 culiarly advantageous. By preserving nearly a horizontal 
 level, the power requisite for the transportation of heavy ^bodies 
 would be reduced astonishingly. The cheapness of fuel would 
 reduce too, the expense of supporting this power to almost 
 nothing. Articles would be transported one hundred miles 
 on these ways at less expense than they could now be carried 
 one mile on a deep sandy road. This projected improvement 
 is surely then an object worthy of the most serious attention 
 of the inhabitants of the Southern States. It would at once 
 more than double the value of their products. It appears to 
 me calculated to hold out the most flattering prospects of gain 
 to such enterprising individuals or companies as might be in- 
 duced to embark a capital in this object. 
 
 But, I consider it in every point of view so exclusively an 
 object of national concern, that I shall give no encouragement 
 to private speculations, until it is ascertained that Congress 
 will not be disposed to pay any attention to it. 
 
 Should it however be destined to remain unnoticed by the 
 General Government, 1 must confess I should feel much regret, 
 not so much from personal, as from public considerations. I 
 
INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 am anxious and ambitious that my native country should 
 have the honor of being the first to introduce an improve- 
 ment of such immense importance to society at large, and 
 should feel the utmost reluctance at being compelled to resort 
 to foreigners in the first instance. As no doubt exists in my 
 mind, but that the value of the improvement would be duly 
 appreciated and carried into immediate effect by trans-Atlan- 
 tic governments, I haye been the more urgent in pressing the 
 subject on the attention of Congress. "Whatever then may 
 be its fate, should this appeal be considered obtrusive and 
 unimportant, or from whatever other cause or motive should 
 it be suffered to remain unheeded, I still have the consolation 
 of having performed what I conceive to be a public duty. 
 
 JOHN STEVENS. 
 
 JUW-YORK, May 15, 1812. 
 
DOCUMENTS, &C. 
 
 NO. 1. 
 
 Copy of a Letter addressed to DeWitt Clinton, Esq. 
 
 NEW-YORK, February 24, 1812. 
 The Hon. DsWiTT CLINTON, Esq. : 
 
 Sir I enclose a memoir addressed to the Commissioners 
 for exploring an inland navigation, &c. 
 
 The more I reflect on the plan I have proposed, the more 
 thorough is my conviction, not merely of its practicability, 
 but that it must eventually supercede every other mode of 
 conveyance, where the nature of the country will admit of its 
 introduction. Under such impressions, I consider myself im- 
 pelled by duty to urge its adoption by the Commissioners. 
 An experiment sufficiently extensive, to ascertain unquestion- 
 ably its real merits or demerits, could be triod at the expense 
 of two or three thousand dollars. 
 
 "With sentiments of respect, I am, Sir, your ob't serv't, 
 
 JOHN STEVENS. 
 
 NO. 2. 
 
 Copy of Mr. De Witt Clinton's answer to the above. 
 
 ALBANY, March 2, 1812. 
 
 Dear Sir, I received your interesting communication ad- 
 dressed to the Commissioners of inland navigation, &c. and 
 shall lay it before the Board at their first meeting. 
 
 With my best compliments, I am yours respectfully, 
 JOHN STEVENS, ESQ. DE WITT CLINTON. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 Copy ffa Memoir addressed to the Commissioners. 
 
 To the Hon., the Commissioners for exploring the route of an 
 Inland Navigation, &c. 
 
16 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 The report of the Commissioners appointed by the Legisla- 
 ture of this State, to explore the route of an inland navigation 
 from Hudson River to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, contains 
 a luminous exposition of the vast importance of facilitating 
 the intercourse between the western country and the tide- 
 waters of Hudson's River. 
 
 The plan suggested of bringing the waters of Lake Erie in 
 a Canal, on an inclined plane of three hundred miles in length, 
 to communicate with Hudson's River, is unparalleled for the 
 boldness of its conception, and the grandeur of its object. 
 But the magnitude of such an undertaking must necessarily 
 protract the completion of it to a very distant day, and will 
 have a powerful tendency to make many hesitate respecting 
 the expediency of incurring so heavy an expenditure upon an 
 object presenting so distant a prospect of remuneration. 
 
 Still, however, I must concur most heartily with the Com- 
 missioners, when they observe, " that no supposable expense 
 can bear an undue proportion to the value of the work. Thus, 
 were it (by giving a loose to fancy) extended to fifty millions 
 of dollars, even that enormous sum does not exceed half the 
 value of what, in all human probability, and at no distant 
 period, will annually be carried along the Canal. The more 
 proper question perhaps is, in what time it can be effected ?" 
 
 But, independently of the great consumption of time and 
 money incident to so vast an undertaking, there are other 
 circumstances which require serious consideration. 
 
 The contemplated route of this Canal lies nearly in an east 
 course from Lake Erie to Albany, and in a high northern lati- 
 tude, where every thing remains locked up by frost for almost 
 five months during the winter season. Whereas, the south- 
 ern border of Lake Erie is in a latitude one and a half degree 
 lower, from whence easy communications may be formed 
 with the head waters of the Ohio and the Susquehannah, 
 and but little interrupted by ice. 
 
DOCUMENTS. 17 
 
 These routes, it must be confessed, are very circuitous, and 
 the navigation of the natural rivers in their present state, very 
 troublesome and tedious. From the nearest point on Lake 
 Erie, to tide-water on the Delaware, at Philadelphia on the 
 Chesapeake, at Havre de Grace, or Baltimore, in a straight 
 line is but a few miles farther than to Albany. But to form 
 a practicable navigation to either of those places by means of 
 Canals, would make a difference of at least an hundred miles 
 in favor of Albany. But as it respects the nature of the 
 ground through which these Canals must pass, there is no 
 comparison ; so great and so numerous are the elevations, that 
 the route to Albany is comparatively level. "When, in addi- 
 tion to these advantageous circumstances, we take into con- 
 sideration the decided superiority of the City of New- York, 
 in a commercial point of view, it will not be practicable to 
 divert into another channel the current of trade, when once 
 fairly established from the interior to this city. When, there- 
 fore, the immense magnitude of this internal commerce is 
 duly appreciated, every individual inhabitant of this State, 
 but more especially of this city, ought to feel himself inter- 
 ested in the accomplishment of so grand an object. 
 
 From the above view of the subject, it appears that there are 
 two considerations of primary importance to be attended to: 
 first, that this communication with the western country be 
 completed with all possible dispatch ; and next, that if practic- 
 ablo, such a mode of effecting the purpose be adopted, as that 
 the travel shall at no time be interrupted. 
 
 "Without further preface, I will now proceed to propose a 
 plan, which, I flatter myself, embraces both these important 
 objects. Let a railway of timber be formed, by the nearest 
 practicable route, between Lake Erie and Albany. The angle 
 of elevation in no part to exceed one degree, or such an eleva- 
 tion, whatever it may be, as will admit of wheel-carriages to 
 
18 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 remain stationary when no power is exerted to impel them 
 forward. This railway, throughout its course, to be support- 
 ed on pillars raised from three to five or six feet from the sur- 
 face of the ground. The carriage wheels of cast iron, the 
 rims flat, with projecting flanges, to fit on the surface of the 
 railways. The moving power to be a steam engine, nearly 
 similar in construction to that on board the Juliana, a ferry- 
 boat plying between this city and Hoboken.* 
 
 It would be altogether unnecessary to go into a detailed 
 description of the mode of adapting and applying the ma- 
 chinery of a steam-engine to the purpose of propelling car- 
 riages placed on railways. It is sufficient to say, that I feel 
 the fullest confidence in being able to convince an experienced 
 and skilful engineer of the entire practicability of the plan. 
 
 I shall now attempt to explain the many and important 
 advantages resulting from carrying this plan into effect: 
 
 In the first place, as to expense. On the most exaggerated 
 scale of calculation, the expense of such a railway would not 
 exceed that of an ordinary turnpike road, with a good coat of 
 gravel on it. 
 
 Second, The far greater part of the work can be performed 
 by common laborers, and as no accuracy of leveling would bo 
 
 * The steam ferry-boat Juliana here referred to was built by Col. Stevens, in 
 1811. She was an undecked, open boat sixty-two feet in length, and only twelve 
 feet in breadth, drawing from two and one-half to three feet water. The engine in 
 her was of the model pateute J by CoL Stevens having a cylinder of fourteen 
 inches diameter, and two and a half feet stroke, with copper boilers, cylindrical, witli 
 flues. The steam was used expansively cut off in the main valves as is now 
 done in the most approved engines. The Juliana attained a speed of seven miles 
 an hour. Mr. Fulton having an interest in the Jersey City ferry, objected to the 
 right of CoL Stevens to run the Juliana as a ferry boat between Hoboken and 
 New-York City, as infringing Lis monopoly from the State of New York, and the 
 Juliana was driven off 
 
 She afterwards plied on the Connecticut river between Middletown and Hart- 
 fordbeing the first boat to navigate the Sound, although undecked, as Col. Stevens' 
 boat Phenix was the first in 1808, to navigate the ocean, between Sandy Hook 
 and the Delaware. 
 
DOCUMENTS. 19 
 
 required, it may be commenced and carried on in as many 
 different places as may be found expedient. It might, there- 
 fore, be accomplished with ease in one or two seasons. 
 
 Third, From its elevation above the surface of the ground, 
 the timber of which the railway is framed will be little sub- 
 ject to decay ; and from this elevation, too, the travel on it 
 can never be interrupted, as it will be raised above the ordi- 
 nary level of the deepest snows. 
 
 Fourth, These railways, from the nature of their construc- 
 tion, will be free from the numerous casualties to which 
 canals are liable. 
 
 Fifth, The expense of transportation would be much less 
 than on a canal of the best construction. 
 
 To prove this, a summary calculation will be necessary. 
 
 The Commissioners inform us (under the authority of Mr. 
 Latrobe), that "by the aid of a railway, one horse would 
 transport eight tons, supposing the angle of ascent not to ex- 
 ceed one degree." 
 
 In Nicholson's Journal is an account of one horse trans- 
 porting for several miles on a railway the enormous weight of 
 fifty tons. 
 
 A small steam-engine, then, of ten inches diameter, worked 
 with steam, the elastic power of which was fifty pounds to 
 the circular inch, would possess a power equal to five thou- 
 sand pounds on the whole area of the piston, moving with a 
 velocity of three feet in a second. This exceeds the power of 
 twenty horses; but one horse, as above stated, can transport 
 on a railway eight tons, and twenty horses would, at the 
 same rate, transport one hundred and sixty tons. 
 
 But after making every possible reduction for exaggera- 
 tion, we may fairly state, in round numbers, that a steam 
 engine, with a cylinder of ten inches diameter, worked on 
 the above principles, would be capable of transporting on a 
 
20 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 railway one hundred tons at the rate of four miles per hour. 
 It must be recollected, that Mr. Latrobe's estimate, above 
 stated, is founded on an ascent of one degree. Now, this 
 would give an elevation of ninety-two feet and upwards for 
 every mile. The whole difference of elevation estimated by 
 the Commissioners, between the tide-water at Albany, and 
 the surface of Lake Erie, is five hundred and twenty-five 
 feet. 
 
 To gain this ascent, therefore, would require somewhat less 
 than six miles. This bears so small a proportion to the whole 
 distance, that it would be but in a trifling degree erroneous 
 to consider the whole distance as one level. This would much 
 more than compensate for an increase of the rate of velocity 
 in the steam-carriage, from two and a half miles to four miles 
 an hour, especially when we advert to the well authenticated 
 experiment above stated, viz., that a horse is capable of trans- 
 porting more than fifty tons on a level railway, whereas the 
 above is "founded on an estimate of ^ only five tons to each 
 horse. 
 
 We will now proceed to estimate the expense per ton of 
 this mode of transportation. 
 
 The steam-engine of the above mentioned size would re- 
 quire about a cord of wood to keep it constantly going for the 
 whole twenty-four hours; but to silence all cavil, we will 
 fttate the consumption of wood at three cords a day. Wood, 
 at an average throughout the whole distance, may be pro- 
 cured for one dollar a cord, but we will estimate it at two 
 dollars a cord. 
 
 To attend the fire, and perform any other services that 
 may be required, we will allow four men, at one dollar each 
 per day, is four dollars ; which, added to the cost of three 
 cords of wood, would make ten dollars a day. The whole 
 distance, then, of two hundred and eighty miles, from Lake 
 
DOCUMENTS. 21 
 
 Erie to Albany, would be traveled in three days. Say the 
 back load would average only one-third of a full freight, there 
 would then remain five days at ten dollars a day, amounting 
 to fifty dollars, for the expense of transporting one hundred 
 tons of produce a distance of two hundred and eighty miles, 
 which is at the rate of fifty cents per ton. But the Commis- 
 sioners have estimated the expense of transportation through 
 the contemplated canal, from Lake Erie to Hudson's River, 
 at three dollars per ton. 
 
 In the above calculation, interest on the capital expended, 
 wear and tear,, and repair of machinery, carriages, railways, 
 &c., and no doubt many other incidental charges, are not in- 
 cluded. But were we even to double the rate of transporta- 
 tion, raising it from fifty cents to one dollar per ton, still it 
 would amount to only one-third of what the Commissioners 
 have stated as above. But if the construction of railways 
 would require only about one-fourth of the capital estimated 
 for a canal, and the transportation thereon could be afforded 
 at one dollar per ton, instead of three dollars, it is easy to see 
 what an immense revenue the State might derive from toll, 
 and still permit transportation to be performed for much less 
 than it could be done by a canal. 
 
 But here I expect to be encountered at the very threshold 
 to be stigmatized as a visionary projector. Have not, it 
 will be said, steam-engines and railways been long in use in 
 England ? And should it be practicable to apply them to such 
 immense advantage in the improvement of transportation, 
 would it not have been done in that country long ago ? To 
 this argumenlum ad hominem, thanks to the enterprise and 
 active genius of our citizens, we are now furnished with ready 
 and conclusive answers. Mr. Latrobe, in a memoir published 
 in the third volume of the Transactions of the American Phi- 
 losophical Society, animadverting on the projects " for pro- 
 
22 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 pelling boats by steam-engines," uses these remarkable ex- 
 pressions: "A sort of mania began to prevail, which indeed 
 has not yet entirely subsided." It is surely unnecessary to 
 say, that in despite of the formidable objections (no less than 
 six) he has urged, " from which," as he tells us, " no parti- 
 cular mode of application can be free," in despite of these 
 anathemas, the project, as we all with pleasure can testify, 
 has completely succeeded. Another gentleman, in the Ame- 
 rican Medical and Philosophical Register for April 1811, has 
 given a demonstration to prove, that a small obstacle would 
 be sufficient to stop a carriage impelled by a steam-engine. 
 That on roads perfectly hard and smooth it could not ascend 
 an inclined plane of seven or eight degrees ; and concludes by 
 saying, that " in whatever point of view we place this sub- 
 ject, we shall be more and more convinced of its futility." 
 He, however, in another place expresses himself as follows : 
 " If roads were perfectly hard, smooth and level, such an en- 
 gine would probably have the advantage over common car- 
 riages, because a small power continually exerted would give 
 a degree of velocity that could not be supported by horses." 
 This admission is amply sufficient to defend the plan now 
 proposed against the force of his demonstration, and renders it 
 unnecessary to go into any investigation to point out its de- 
 fects. If, then, notwithstanding the host of objections "from 
 which no particular plan can be free," the steam-engine has 
 been successfully applied to propelling boats, we surely need 
 not despair of applying it with success also to propelling car- 
 riages. But surely the mere novelty and magnitude of the 
 proposed improvement ought not to startle us. We are too 
 apt to look up with reverential awe to what has usually been 
 called the mother country, for every improvement in the arts, 
 without considering how recent has been the introduction and 
 establishment of these arts in that very country. 
 
DOCUMENTS. 23 
 
 It is about a century ago that the first crude attempts to 
 apply the power of steam to useful purposes were made ; and 
 it is, as it were, but yesterday that the Duke of Bridgewater 
 first introduced canals, which have since been so astonishingly 
 multiplied in that country. And as to railways, they are of 
 a much more recent date, and are at present very limited in 
 their use and application. A project, therefore, promising 
 such vast improvement in the transportation of commodities 
 to and from the interior of our country, if not stamped with 
 absurdity on the very face of it, surely merits the most serious 
 consideration ; and on this occasion I have every reason to 
 felicitate myself on my good fortune. 
 
 When I reflect on the high standing in society, and en- 
 lightened patriotism of the gentlemen who are, in the first 
 instance, to pass judgment on the plan I have proposed, I feel 
 perfectly satisfied that its real merits, whatever they may be, 
 will be duly appreciated. 
 
 It may be objected, that although the elevation of the 
 railways may secure them, in a great measure, from decay, 
 yet the constant transit of the wheels over them will very 
 soon wear them out, in like manner as we see happens to the 
 plank on bridges. But the cases are by no means similar. 
 As the plank on bridges are laid crossways, the warping of 
 the plank, and the enlargement of the cracks or seams be- 
 tween each, causes inequalities in the surface ; this produces 
 more or less jolting in the motion of the wheels of carriages 
 passing over. But what tends still more to wear away the 
 plank, are the heads of the nails in the tire of the wheels, and 
 also the nails and calks in the horse-shoes ; whereas the sur- 
 faces of both the railways, and the rims of the carriage-wheels, 
 are made, in the first instance, perfectly smooth, and free 
 from all inequalities of surface ; and as the rims of the wheels 
 will always continue so, the railways can never be affected 
 
24 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 by apything except mere pressure. I should presume, there- 
 fore, that they will be but little subject to wear. But wher- 
 ever this wear takes place, they can be renewed again at a 
 trifling expense. But should, contrary to expectation, expe- 
 rience prove these railways to be so subject to wear, as that 
 the frequency of their renewal becomes inconvenient and ex- 
 pensive, recourse could be had at any time to cast or plated 
 iron railways, which, without any further trouble and ex- 
 pense, could be fastened on the top of the wooden railways. 
 
 I would beg leave to suggest, that an experiment, by 
 which the real value of the plan now proposed might be com- 
 pletely and satisfactorily ascertained, could be made for a few 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 As the power of the engine is expended principally in 
 overcoming friction, which is increased in but a small degree 
 by an increase of velocity, and may be removed almost en- 
 tirely by using friction wheels, a carriage may be made, by a 
 small increase of power, to acquire a velocity far greater than 
 could be given by the fleetest horses ; and as, too, the rail- 
 ways must be incomparably better than the best turnpike 
 road could possibly be made, I am by no means prepared to 
 say what limits may be set to the rapidity with which a car- 
 riage may be driven on these ways. 
 
 JOHN STEVENS. 
 New-York, Feb. 24, 1812. 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Robert R. Livingston, Esq. 
 
 ALBANY, March 11 th, 181,2. 
 
 Dear Sir I did not till yesterday receive yours of the 25th 
 of February ; where it has loitered on the road I am at a loss 
 to say. I had before read your very ingenious propositions as 
 
DOCUMENTS. 25 
 
 to the railway communication. I fear, however, on mature 
 reflection, that they will be liable to serious objections, and 
 ultimately more expensive than a canal. They must be 
 double, so as to prevent the danger of two such heavy bodies 
 meeting. The walls on which they are placed must at least 
 be four feet below the surface, and three above, and must be 
 clamped with iron, and even then would hardly sustain so 
 heavy a weight as you propose moving at the rate of four 
 miles an hour on wheels. As to wood, it would not last a 
 week : they must be covered with iron, and that, too, very 
 thick and strong. The means of stopping these heavy car- 
 riages without a great shock, and of preventing them from 
 running upon each other (for there would be many on the 
 road at once), would be very difficult. In case of accidental 
 stops, or the necessary stops to take wood and water, &c. 
 many accidents would happen. The carriage of condensing 
 water would be very troublesome. Upon the whole, I fear 
 the expense would be much greater than that of canals, with- 
 out being so convenient. 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 Answer to Robert -ff. LivingstorHs Objections. 
 
 NEW- YORK, March 16, 1812. 
 
 Dear Sir Yours of the llth inst. I have just now received, 
 and as you probably will not remain in Albany until this let- 
 ter reaches that place, I have directed it to Mr. Gr. Morris, 
 that the Commissioners may be duly apprized of the answers 
 I shall give to your objections against the proposed railways. 
 " I fear," you say, " the expense would be much greater 
 than that of canals." I have in my memoir stated the ex- 
 pense of the railways at one-fourth of that of a canal ; and, for 
 the reasons I shall now assign, I am now convinced the differ- 
 
26 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 ence of expense between them will be much greater, if wood 
 only is used. 
 
 The Commissioners have estimated the expense of ex- 
 cavating a canal fifteen yards wide, and three feet deep, " at 
 $1,500,000, drawn through a favorable soil lying convenient- 
 ly, without the opposition of rocks or other impediments. 
 Many of these, however, must be expected, and perhaps 
 double that sum." 
 
 Thus, then, the cost of the canal merely is estimated by 
 the Commissioners at $3,000,000. " If the locks be put at 
 $1,500,000, it is the lowest rate that can prudently be sup- 
 posed. It would, indeed, be safer to set them at two mil- 
 lions." 
 
 Not one shilling of this aggregate sum of five millions 
 would be required in the erection of railways. " There will 
 still remain for aqueducts, embankments and mounds a con- 
 siderable expenditure," and " it is believed that one million 
 of dollars would provide for everything of this sort." Nearly 
 one-half of this sum would be required in constructing a 
 mound over the Cayuga Lake, one hundred and thirty feet 
 high, sixty feet wide at top, with a base of one hundred and 
 ninety feet at bottom, whereas the railways would not require 
 a mound at this place of one-tenth part of this magnitude, 
 and so in proportion throughout the whole distance. "We will, 
 however, estimate the necessary embankments, mounds, &o. 
 (aqueducts none would be wanted) at half a million of dollars. 
 There now remains, then, the cost of the railways to be cal- 
 culated. I shall, in the first instance, suppose the whole to 
 be constructed of wood. Calculating timber at New- York 
 price of twelve and a half cents per cubic foot, four rails, 
 then, of six inches wide, by twelve inches deep, would make 
 two cubic feet, or twenty-five cents a foot running measure, 
 equal to $1320 per mile. The posts or pillars, say eight feet 
 
DOCUMENTS. 27 
 
 long, at twenty-five cents a piece, twelve feet apart, four rows 
 would be one dollar for every twelve feet, or $440 per mile. 
 Digging holes, setting posts, braces, and carpenter work, $740. 
 Total $2500 per mile, or $750,000 for the whole distance of 
 three hundred miles. This sum of $750,000 added to 
 $500,000, estimated for embankments, mounds, &c. makes 
 an aggregate sum of $1,250,000 for the whole expense of the 
 railways. And should they even require to be totally renewed 
 once in every ten years, still a capital of $1,500,000, or double 
 the sum of $750,000, would be more than adequate to the 
 purpose. 
 
 For the reasons already assigned in the memoir, these 
 wooden ways must be much more durable than the plank on 
 a bridge ; and I must confess I do not perceive on what 
 grounds you found your assertion, when you say that they 
 would not last a week. 
 
 But were we to admit the absolute necessity, in the first 
 instance, of shoeing these railways with iron, the whole ex- 
 pense of them would fall far short of the cost of a canal. For 
 this purpose I should prefer plate iron of about an eighth of 
 an inch thick. Such plates, I presume, might be procured 
 for twelve and a half cents per pound, at which rate the 
 shoeing four rails would cost somewhat less than $4000 per 
 mile, or $1,200,000 for the whole distance. Should, however, 
 cast iron be preferred, plates of an inch thick would cost for 
 the whole distance about $3,000,000. 
 
 These plates, provided they remained unaffected by frost, 
 would last an age, and, by protecting the wooden ways from 
 the effects of the weather, will render them also very durable. 
 
 One manifest advantage would, however, attend the adop- 
 tion of these railways : we would be able to count the cost of 
 the undertaking with sufficient accuracy before the business 
 was commenced, whereas the cost of a canal is, in a great 
 
28 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 measure, conjectural, and may, at all events, be estimated at 
 more than double the sum calculated upon by the Commis- 
 sioners. 
 
 But, after all, I must beg leave to refer once more to the 
 very judicious observations of the Commissioners on the sub- 
 ject of expense. " No supposable expense can bear an undue 
 proportion to the value of the work. Thus, were it (by giv- 
 ing a loose to fancy) extended to fifty millions of dollars, even 
 that enormous sum does not exceed half the value of what, in 
 all human probability, and at no distant period, will annually 
 be carried along the canal. The more proper question, per- 
 haps, is, in what time can it be effected ?" 
 
 Were I not thoroughly convinced of the many superior 
 advantages of the proposed railways over canals, the mere 
 saving of expense would not alone induce me to press their 
 adoption. But were railways to cost fifty millions of dollars, 
 whil.st a canal could be completed for five, yet, if there is any 
 truth in my calculations, still the railways would ultimately 
 prove the cheapest. Two-thirds of the expense of transporta- 
 tion would be saved, by substituting railways in the place of 
 a canal. The period is not far distant, then, when the an- 
 nual amount of this saving would be equal to legal interest 
 on a capital of fifty millions, even should the calculation be 
 founded on the supposition, that the increase of population in 
 the western country should in future be in no greater ratio 
 than what it has been for the last ten years. But the in- 
 crease of population will most assuredly be in a much greater 
 ratio, more, especially should these railways be speedily com- 
 pleted. 
 
 When you say that a thick stone wall, " clamped with 
 ro n, could hardly sustain so heavy a weight, moving at the 
 rate of four miles an hour on wheels," you appear to have 
 formed an erroneous idea of the distribution of the weight. 
 
DOCUMENTS. 23 
 
 One hundred tons placed on four wheels would indeed be a 
 very " heavy weight," but it is not contemplated to put more 
 than one ton on four wheels, or certainly not more than two 
 tons, which would be only five hundred, or, at most, one 
 thousand pounds on each wheel. So moderate a weight could 
 surely have little or no tendency to crush down the ways, 
 and the quicker the passage" of the wheels over, then the less 
 would be this tendency. 
 
 But I am surprised that you should consider canals as 
 being more convenient than the proposed railways. I must 
 own that I am not able to perceive that canals, in this respect, 
 have in any one particular a preference over them ; but, on 
 the contrary, they have in many respects a preference over 
 canals. 
 
 In the first place, as there are no locks to pass through, 
 and separate ways for the up and down transit, there can 
 never be any interruptions or detentions. And everyone, whe- 
 ther he is induced to travel either by business or pleasure, 
 can calculate with certainty and precision when he will ar- 
 rive at the end of his journey ; I may, indeed say, with al- 
 most absolute certainty ; for it must be recollected, that the 
 simplicity and equable motion of the machinery, and the per- 
 fect uniformity of the work to be performed, precludes almost 
 entirely the possibility of derangement. Wind and tide, 
 rough and smooth water, light or darkness, would have no 
 influence whatever over steam-carriages moving on these 
 ways. 
 
 It cannot be denied, then, that these circumstances must 
 render the travel on these railways very convenient. But it 
 is not the certainty alone, but the celerity and dispatch of 
 this mode of traveling, which gives it so decided a preference 
 to navigating on a canal, and, indeed, to every other mode of 
 conveyance, The farmer who carries his produce to market, 
 
30 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 will, by means of this mode of conveyance, save three days 
 out of four. And by means of it, also, the traveler will in 
 one day perform more than a week's journey on a canal. 
 
 But " many accidents would happen by carriages running 
 against each other, in cases of accidental or necessary stops." 
 There are easy and obvious modes of effectually guarding 
 against all accidents of this sort. In the first place, deposits 
 of wood and water must be formed every ten or twelve miles ; 
 and each. suit of carriages must make no regular halt, except 
 at those places. As to accidental stops, these, for the reasons 
 assigned above, will very rarely or never happen. The stop- 
 ping places must, of course, be always on level ground. And 
 it must be an invariable and established rule, that all the 
 carriages which stop at one time and place be firmly con- 
 nected to each other. 
 
 "Whilst these regulations are strictly observed, no accidents 
 of this sort can ever happen. The conductor of each suit of 
 carriages is precisely acquainted with the position of every 
 stopping place, and governs himself accordingly. He takes 
 care to bring too in time, so as not to run against other car- 
 riages ; and should it be necessary (although I am inclined 
 to think it will not), means might readily be taken to bring 
 too more expeditiously. For the accommodation of carriages 
 for carrying passengers, it will be very practicable and easy 
 to contrive, at each of these stopping places, a mode of turn- 
 ing out on the adjoining ways, so as to admit of their passing 
 the carriages for the transport of heavy articles. 
 
 " But the means of stopping these heavy carriages, with- 
 out a great shock, would be very difficult." It is very sur- 
 prising that you should apprehend the least difficulty about a 
 thing so easy to effect. On stopping the engine, the friction 
 of the wheels, turning on their axis, will gradually retard the 
 motion of the whole suit of carriages (the friction operating 
 
DOCUMENTS. 31 
 
 uniformly at the axis of each wheel), till at length they will 
 all, almost imperceptibly, become stationary, without the pos- 
 sibility of producing anything like a shock. 
 
 " The carriage of condensing water would be very 
 troublesome." I am persuaded you would never have ad- 
 vanced this objection, had you adverted to the circumstance 
 of my stating expressly in the memoir, that the engine was 
 to be wrought by the elasticity of the steam merely. 
 
 I have now fully, and, as I conceive, satisfactorily an- 
 swered every objection you have urged, and, of course, they 
 have only served to establish more firmly in my mind the 
 very favorable sentiments I entertain respecting the practical 
 utility of the proposed railways. Yours, &c. 
 
 JOHN STEVENS. 
 
 Addressed to Gouverneur Morris, Esq., Chairman to the Board of Com- 
 missioners for Inland Navigation. 
 
 NO. 6. 
 
 The following is a copy of a letter addressed to Gouverneur Morris, Esq., Chairman 
 to the Commissioners for the improvement of Inland Navigation. 
 
 NEW-YORK, March 11, 1812. 
 
 Sir I lately enclosed, in a letter directed to De Witt 
 Clinton, Esq., a memoir addressed to the Commissioners, 
 which no doubt, he has communicated to the Board. In this 
 memoir I have endeavored to prove, and I hope not unsat- 
 isfactorily, the great superiority of the proposed railways, 
 to canals. The only question then is, whether steam engines 
 can, without much difficulty be applied to the purpose of pro- 
 pelling carriages. To the expression of an opinion on this 
 matter, I certainly have some pretensions to competency. 
 After having then maturely considered the subject, I am 
 firmly convinced that steam engines can be applied to pro- 
 pelling carriages on these rail-ways, with much more facility 
 
gg DOCUMENTS. 
 
 than they are now made use of for propelling boats. The 
 machinery of a steam engine requisite for propelling carriages 
 may be simplified greatly. Cog-wheels, air-pumps, condens- 
 ing apparatus, plug frame, and fly-wheels can all be dispensed 
 with. Of course then, the liability of the machinery to de- 
 rangement will be proportionably diminished. But to place 
 this matter beyond all possibility of doubt, let it be subjected 
 to the infallible test of actual experiment. As has already 
 been stated in my letter to Mr. Clinton, "an experiment suf- 
 ficientfy extensive to ascertain unquestionably the real merits 
 or demerits of this proposed plan could be tried at the expense 
 of two or three thousand dollars." It remains then for the 
 Commissioners to determine whether the advantages which 
 this plan promises, afford sufficient inducements to authorize 
 them to recommend an appropriation of a moderate sum, to 
 be applied to the making the necessary experiments. I now 
 pledge myself that the expense of these experiments shall not 
 exceed $3,000. 
 
 I am aware how unnecessary it would be to attempt to 
 point out to you the magnitude and importance of the conse- 
 quences which must necessarily result from these railways 
 and steam carriages coming into general use. The commu- 
 nications between the extremes of this extensive empire 
 would be rendered beyond all conception rapid, and, at all 
 seasons, and in all weathers, invariably certain. What in- 
 fluence these circumstances would have on the moral, politi- 
 cal, and intellectual attainments of the citizens of these 
 States, cannot now be duly appreciated ; but unquestionably 
 their permanent prosperity and happiness, as well as tempo- 
 rary ease and comfort, would be greatly promoted. 
 
 Should any objections occur, either to yourself, or any of 
 the rest of the members of your Board, against the plan I have 
 submitted to their consideration, you will confer a particular 
 
DOCUMENTS. 33 
 
 favor by stating them to me. Pardon the trouble which my 
 solicitude on this subject occasions. I must confess, that 
 having been somewhat instrumental in the introduction of 
 the art of propelling boats by means of steam, I feel ambi- 
 tious of the honor of introducing the application of the same 
 agent to propelling carriages. And as steam-boats have been 
 first brought into practical use on the waters of the Hudson, 
 so I hope and trust that it will not be long before the abun- 
 dant products of our interior will be conveyed to the banks of 
 this noble river by means of steam-carriages. 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 JOHN STEVENS. 
 
 NO. 7. 
 
 The following is a copy of a Letter from Mr. G. Morris. 
 
 ALBANY, March 16, 1812. 
 
 Sir I am directed by the Board of Commissioners to 
 transmit the enclosed copy of a report made by the Commit- 
 tee to which your letter was referred. I avail myself of the 
 opportunity to present the assurances of that respect with 
 which I have the honor to be, 
 
 Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. 
 
 NO. 8. 
 
 Copy of the Report of the Committee. 
 
 The Committee to whom was referred the Communication 
 from John Stevens, Esq., recommending the construction 
 of a Wooden Railway, 
 
 REPORT, 
 
 That they have considered the said communication, with 
 
y4 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 the attention due to a gentleman whose scientific researches 
 and knowledge of mechanical powers entitle his opinions to 
 great respect, and are sorry not to concur in them. 
 
 Mr. Stevens proposes a railway on which a steam engine 
 is to propel, by a force equal to the competent number of 
 horses, one hundred tons at the rate of four miles an hour. 
 
 As horses move on the earth, when drawing a weight, it is 
 believed that an equal power must, to produce the same effect, 
 have sufficient hold on the earth ; and it is doubted whether 
 an engine in a wagon can work it forward with as much ad- 
 vantage as horses on a road. 
 
 If the engine turn the wheels, and propel the weight by 
 their friction on the railways, it may be questioned whether 
 the effect will equal expectation. 
 
 The rims of the wheels (however acurate), will, it is appre- 
 hended, impede (by their friction) the progressive motion. 
 Such at least would be the case were the wagon drawn by 
 
 Friction must be increased, if the logs of the railway 
 should warp. And it may be doubted whether workmen could 
 be found of sufficient skill (even could they have a choice of 
 seasoned timber) to prevent the warping of logs by change of 
 weather from hot to cold and from wet to dry. 
 
 If the rims and railway should not fit exactly, there 
 might result such variance of direction, as would bring the 
 rims to cut the rails. But if the wheels fit exactly when the 
 logs are green or wet, they can do so no longer when those 
 logs become seasoned and dry. If, on the contrary, the rail- 
 way should be constructed of dry or seasoned stuff, wheels 
 when well fitted to it would, when rain or damp air had 
 swollen the rails, be squeezed along with difficulty. 
 
 Supposing, nevertheless, that non-elastic, incompressible 
 railways were so constructed as not to warp, the slightest 
 
DOCUMENTS. 35 
 
 failure of foundation on either side would give a bias which 
 (to use a workman's phrase), throwing it out of truth, might 
 occasion its destruction by lateral pressure. 
 
 But the result just mentioned would be produced unless 
 foundations are laid below the power of frost, and of materials 
 sufficiently solid to bear the great incumbent pressure pro- 
 posed in the shock of rapid motion. 
 
 And thus we are definitely led to ask whether a railway 
 can be constructed of sufficient strength. It is proposed that 
 one hundred tons be put in motion on it, at the rate of four 
 miles per hour, which is nearly two yards in a second. If 
 this motion were produced by force fixed to the earth it must 
 not only be equal to the weight multiplied into the velocity, 
 but as much greater as would be needful to overcome the 
 resistance of friction. No formula has yet been discovered by 
 which to calculate the proportion between power, friction and 
 effect, but experience has demonstrated, that friction is 
 always a deduction from power. When that operates (as is 
 supposed to be intended on the present occasion) by friction 
 at the circumference of wheels, overcoming that which is at 
 their axis (and propelling so great a weight) the deduction 
 must be greater than in common cases. Put it however, for 
 the present at nothing, and for the weight of wagon, steam 
 engine, and fuel allow nothing : still we shall have force 100, 
 and weight 100 (together 200,) working with a velocity of 
 four miles per hour by friction on a railway. It does not seem 
 probable that a way could be made of sufficient strength. 
 
 But, if it can. the Committee conceive that it must be 
 composed of materials much more solid and durable than 
 wood. Moreover, as it is self-evident that the same way will 
 not serve for carriages going and returning, the expense which 
 would (it is conceived) for a single way exceed that of a 
 
gg DOCUMENTS. 
 
 Canal must be doubled, and would therefore render the con- 
 struction unadvisable, were it sanctioned by experience." 
 A true copy from the minutes. 
 
 JOHN L. MORTON, 
 Secretary to 1he Canal Commissioners. 
 
 NO. 9. 
 
 Answer to the Report of the Committee. 
 
 The objections urged against the proposed railways in the 
 above report of the Committee, appear to me so void of real 
 foundation, that I am constrained to repeat again the senti- 
 ment I have already expressed in my answer to the objections 
 brought forward by Mr. Livingston. , * 
 
 These objections " have only served to establish more firmly 
 in my mind the very favorable sentiments I entertain respect- 
 ing the practical utility of the proposed railways." 
 
 The respect, however, due to the gentlemen who constitu- 
 ted this Committee, prompts me to give the following answer. 
 
 It is an established principle, resulting from the laws of 
 motion, that all bodies are indifferent to a state of motion or 
 rest. When, therefore, by any means, a determinate velocity 
 is given to a body, that body' would continue to move adinfin- 
 itum, with the velocity originally impressed upon it, were it 
 not resisted by some other force or power. Thus, were we to 
 suppose a sphere or cylinder, perfectly hard and smooth, to 
 be set in motion upon a horizontal plain, also perfectly smooth 
 and hard, it would revolve round the earth forever, were it not 
 impeded by the resistance of the atmosphere. Gravity, in this 
 case, would have no tendency either to retard or accelerate 
 its motion, as the action of gravity would always be exerted 
 in a direction perpendicular to the^ line of motion. But a 
 railway cannot, in practice, be constructed of materials per- 
 fectly hard and smooth ; and, although friction rollers in the 
 
DOCUMENTS. 37 
 
 hubs of the wheels would take off from the axis a large share 
 of friction, yet still there would remain a considerable quan- 
 tity to be overcome : what this would amount to in practice, 
 cannot theoretically be precisely ascertained. However, the 
 fact of one horse drawing on a railway upwards of fifty tons 
 for several miles, furnishes sufficient data to calculate upon. 
 We may certainly, with great safety, estimate a steam engine 
 of a two horse power adequate to the purpose of giving mo- 
 tion to one hundred tons weight, on a horizontal railway. 
 But it is proposed to give to this railway, where necessary, 
 an ascent of one degree. On these occasions, then, there will 
 be required a power equal to somewhat more than one six- 
 tieth part of the whole weight of one hundred tons ; we will 
 call it three thousand five hundred pounds. This added to 
 the two horse power, necessary to overcome friction, &c., on 
 a horizontal plain, would make a sum total of four thousand 
 pounds. But I have stated already the power of the steam 
 engine at five thousand pounds. But Mr. Latrobe has esti- 
 mated that " by-the aid of a railway, one horse would trans- 
 port eight tons, supposing the angle of ascent not to exceed 
 one degree." One hundred tons, then, would require twelve 
 and a half horses, allowing two hundred and fifty pounds for 
 each horse : the power of twelve and a half horses would 
 equal only three thousand one hundred and twenty-five 
 pounds, instead of four thousand, as above estimated. 
 
 But when it is considered that more than nineteen twen- 
 tieths of the whole distance will be nearly on a horizontal 
 level, which would require no more than a two or three 
 horse power, instead of twenty, at which the engine is esti- 
 mated, we surely need not apprehend a deficiency of power. 
 But " as horses move on the earth when drawing a weight, it 
 is believed that an equal power must, to produce the same 
 effect, have sufficient hold on the earth : and it is doubted 
 
38 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 whether an engine in a wagon can work it forward with as 
 much advantage as horses on a road." 
 
 I must confess I cannot see the force of this objection ; and 
 fearful that it might contain something which had escaped 
 my attention, I submitted it to a number of scientific gentle- 
 men, who unanimously concur with me, that, provided the 
 wheels do not slip on the ways, the whole power of the en- 
 gine is exerted to the best advantage in propelling the car- 
 riage forward. There will, no doubt, in proportion as the 
 shackle pin approaches to, or recedes from, the periphery of 
 the wheel, be a difference in the relative velocity of the car- 
 riage and the piston ; whereas, the horse and .the carriage 
 always move forward with the same velocity. 
 
 " If the engine turn the wheels, and propel the weight by 
 their friction on the railway, it may be questioned whether 
 the effect will equal expectation." 
 
 No friction (except at the hubs) results from the revolu- 
 tions of the wheels on the railways. Resistance will, how- 
 ever, occur, in proportion to the frequency and magnitude of 
 the elevations and depressions of the railways, and their de- 
 viations from a horizontal plain. 
 
 " The rims of the wheels, however accurate, will, it is ap- 
 prehended, impede by their friction the progressive motion. 
 Such at least would be the case, were the wagon drawn by 
 horses." 
 
 It has just now been stated, that no friction whatever takes 
 place at the rims of the wheels of a carriage on a railway. 
 This would invariably be the case whether the carriage were 
 propelled by horses or by a steam engine. 
 
 But the timber of these railways would be liable to warp : 
 I would propose to construct the ways of white pine, twelve 
 inches deep and six wide at bottom, reduced to four at top, 
 and of as great a length as can conveniently be had : say fifty 
 
DOCUMENTS. 39 
 
 or sixty feet. Now, if the supports are thirteen feet apart, 
 these pieces will rest on them in five or six different places, 
 where they can be confined immoveably. Under such cir- 
 cumstances it is not possible they should warp. As pine, al- 
 though sufficiently strong to support the weight of the car- 
 riages, would be too soft for the rims of the wheels to run on, 
 cap-pieces of oak, two inches thick and four inches wide, 
 must be fastened on the top of the rails. 
 
 But these rails will be liable to shrink and swell with " the 
 changes of the weather, from hot to cold, and from wet to 
 dry." From the observations I have made on this subject, 
 the greatest variations of dimension in a piece of timber of 
 four inches wide, does not, from the joint operations of these 
 causes, exceed the eighth of an inch ; but were it even half an 
 inch, the effects apprehended by the Committee could never 
 occur. The extremities of the rims of the wheels should be 
 about two inches deep, and curving outwards in such a man- 
 ner as merely to squeeze the rail when on any variation of 
 direction, the projections of the rims should be made to come 
 in contact with each side of the rails. As, however, the 
 wheels to which the shackle pins are fixed, are wedged fast 
 to each end of an axis revolving with them, they are neces- 
 sarily prevented from deviating from the line of draught. 
 And, as the carriages which are drawn behind are firmly at- 
 tached to each other, they must all pursue one course. 
 
 For this reason, I still continue decidedly of opinion that 
 wooden railways will answer well in practice, and be but 
 little subject to wear. Bat should experience hereafter prove 
 the fallacy of the ideas I now entertain respecting wooden 
 railways, recourse could at any time be had to iron. Not 
 one shilling of unnecessary expense would be incurred. The 
 iron, whether wrought or cast, could be fastened on the top of 
 the wooden rails, and the business would be done. All the 
 
40 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 objections which have been urged against wood, as an unfit 
 material, would thus be completely obviated. 
 
 But it would be essentially necessary that " foundations be 
 laid below the power of frost, and of materials sufficiently 
 solid." And should it also be found necessary that the wheels 
 should be made to run on iron, the Committee give it as their 
 opinion that the expense would exceed more than double that 
 of a canal. 
 
 In support of this assertion they exhibit no proofs, they ad- 
 vance no calculations. The Commissioners themselves ac- 
 knowledge that, with respect to a canal, it " would be unpar- 
 donably presumptious should they pretend to acuracy of 
 calculation." The truth is, as I have elsewhere observed, 
 that any estimation of the cost of a canal, such as is contem- 
 plated, must, from the nature of the business, be in a great 
 measure conjectural. In their former report they have stated 
 it at five millions, and in their late report, they sum up the 
 whole expense at six millions of dollars. Nine tenths, or, 
 perhaps ninety-nine one hundredths of this expense will be 
 incurred for labor bestowed principally in excavating ground 
 at present unexplored. Without taking into calculation, then, 
 the great want of economy and gross abuses which ever attend 
 all public works, there is every reason to believe that were the 
 estimate of the Commissioners doubled, it would fall far short 
 of the ultimate cost of the proposed canal. But as has been 
 already well observed in the report of the Commissioners, the 
 magnitude of the expense is not an object of the first moment. 
 Were a canal to cost ten times as much as the proposed rail- 
 ways, if decidedly preferable, the difference of expense should 
 by no means prevent it being carried into effect. And so, on 
 the contrary, should the railways be found most convenient 
 and eligible, the difference in expense ought not to be regarded. 
 
 I shall now proceed to a minute calculation of the cost of 
 
DOCUMENTS. 41 
 
 railways executed in the most solid and permanent manner. 
 Such, however, is the nature of the work, that the far greater 
 part of it is susceptible of being calculated with a great degree 
 of precision and accuracy. 
 
 It will be necessary to reduce the angle of elevation throughout 
 the whole course of the railways so as no part of it shall exceed 
 one degree. To effect this, the hills must be reduced by cuttings, 
 and the valleys raised by mounds. But the expense of these 
 operations will be, in no comparison, as great as would be re- 
 quired for a canal. As the course of a canal must be level, 
 or very nearly so, the depth of the cuttings and the elevation 
 of the mounds must be in proportion. The Commissioners 
 have estimated the expenditure for " aqueducts, embank- 
 ments, and mounds," at one million of dollars. But as they 
 have estimated the cost of a mound over the Cayuga Lake at 
 nearly one half of this sum, there would remain then about 
 half a million to be applied to these purposes. But for rail- 
 ways no aqueducts are required, and as a variation of one 
 degree from a horizontal line admits of elevations and de- 
 pressions of upwards of ninety-two feet in a mile, it perhaps 
 might be practicable to carry the railway through from 
 Albany to Lake Erie, with scarcely any occasion for the re- 
 moval of the earth. For the reduction, then, of elevations, 
 and the erection of necessary bridges, $250,000 appear more 
 than sufficient ; but to silence all cavifl, we will put it at half 
 a million. 
 
 I have met with no person yet, the least conversant with the 
 subject, who entertains the smallest doubt about the strength 
 of wooden supports. "Wood, it must be conceded, falls far 
 short of stone or brick in respect of durability. But, as I 
 have already stated, it may still be the most economical ma- 
 terial. Athough, then, I can see no valid objection against 
 the use of wood, I will, merely to satisfy the gentlemen of 
 
42 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 the Committee, substitute stone or brick in the following esti- 
 mate. 
 
 It may be urged that extensive tracts in the course of the 
 railways are destitute of stone proper for the purpose, and that 
 clay for the making bricks cannot be found everywhere. It 
 wili not, I presume, be contested, that ki a distance of three 
 hundred miles through a country no section of which, except 
 from Albany to Schenectady, is sandy, a number of places 
 will be found affording good building stone, and good clay for 
 making bricks. By commencing the railways in the vicinity 
 of such places, stone and brick could be transported to wher- 
 ever these articles may be wanted, at a trifling expense. I 
 have stated the actual expense of transportation at fifty cents 
 per ton for three hundred miles. Supposing, then, that some 
 parts of the way may require a transportation of materials a 
 distance of twenty miles, this, at the above rate, would amount 
 to three and a third cents per ton. But, to avoid all dispute, 
 let the average amount of expense of transportation of mate- 
 rials be estimated at twelve and a^half cents per ton. We will, 
 in the first instance, suppose tne pillars are composed of brick, 
 six feet high, and eighteen inches square. Each pillar will 
 contain about two hundred bricks. In every thirteen feet of 
 the railway three pillars will be required, or six hundred 
 bricks. 
 
 600 bricks, at $3 per 1000, is . . . $1 80 
 
 6-10ths of a days' work of a mason, . 75 
 
 Do. of a Laborer, . 60 
 
 Lime, 50 
 
 Digging, &c., . . . M& -. -. - v . -. ;v- 35 
 
 $4 00 
 
 for every thirteen feet of railway, or $20 a chain, =$1600 
 per mile. Should stone be used, we may add fifty per cent, 
 
DOCUMENTS. 43 
 
 or $2400 per mile. Estimating timber at twelve and a half 
 cents a foot, which is certainly more than double what it may 
 be got for, the timber for the ways and the carpenters' work 
 would come to about $1500 per mile. There cannot be a 
 doubt that wrought iron is, on various accounts, preferable to 
 cast iron for the wheels to run on, provided it is of sufficient 
 thickness. I would propose, then, to take, for this purpose, 
 bar iron of half an inch thick and four inches broad. This 
 may be had, at retail price, at six cents per pound ; but cer- 
 tainly at much less by the larger quantity. It takes about 
 four cubic inches of wrought iron to make a pound ; each 
 inch, then, of these bars will weigh half a pound, and four of 
 them will weigh two pound per inch, or twenty-four pound per 
 foot, at six cents per pound =144 cents per foot, or $7603 
 per mile'. 
 
 Bar iron plates, $7603 
 
 Brick pillars, .... v-' & . 1600 
 Timber ways, 1500 
 
 $10,703 
 
 Or, -..v,: $3,210,900 
 
 for the whole distance of three hundred 
 miles. a 
 For reducing elevation, &c., 500,000 
 
 Total, $3,710,000 
 
 Should stone, however, be used, the expense will be enhanced 
 $800 per mile, or $240,000 for the whole distance ; making 
 a sum total of $3,950,000. 
 
 Thus, then, executed in the most durable manner with 
 stone or brick pillars and iron ways, this great undertaking 
 could be completed for a sum certainly not exceeding four 
 millions of dollars. 
 
44 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 The only article of expenditure in the foregoing estimate 
 liable to uncertainty is the reduction of elevations of the 
 ground throughout the course of the railways, so as not to 
 exceed one degree. But the Commissioners must have erred 
 very widely from the truth in that part of their estimate rela- 
 tive to the reducing hills, and raising vallies to a horizontal 
 plain, or nearly so, or the sum assigned to the foregoing object 
 must be more than sufficient. The shortest distance between 
 Albany and Lake Erie is two hundred and eighty miles, 
 whereas the Commissioners, in their late report, have con- 
 ceived it necessary, in order to preserve the requisite levels, 
 to extend the route of the canal, in a circuitous course, to 
 three hundred and fifty miles. With a rise and fall of ninety- 
 two feet in a mile, it will by no means be necessary for the 
 railways to make so extensive a circuit. It probably will be 
 practicable to conduct these ways by a route not exceeding 
 three hundred miles. This will not only be a saving in 
 the expense of construction, but what will be much more 
 important it will effect a great saving in the time and ex- 
 pense of transportation. 
 
 I have now answered, and, I expect, satisfactorily, every 
 objection made by the Committee. These objections are 
 aimed principally against the use of wood. As iron, stone, 
 or brick, are now substituted, they, of course, become inap- 
 plicable. And as the doubt the Commissioners expressed 
 " whether an engine in a wagon can work it forward with 
 as much advantage as horses on a road " has not the least 
 foundation, the only objection then remaining is, that the ex- 
 pense of railways would be more than double that of a canal. 
 But if the above estimate is not very erroneous, the railways 
 will not cost one-half as much as a canal. But as the Com- 
 missioners in their late report have abandoned the idea of 
 taking the waters of Lake Erie in an inclined plane to the 
 
DOCUMENTS. 45 
 
 Hudson, a never-failing supply of water will be required at 
 the summit level or levels. It is a notorious fact that tracts 
 of country become more or less arid as they become cleared of 
 timber. Whether, then, a sufficient supply of water will at 
 all times be commanded when the country through which the 
 canal has to pass becomes fully populated, is a very serious 
 and important question. Besides canals are liable to innum- 
 erable casualties. Sudden torrents frequently produce in- 
 calculable mischief. It is often extremely difficult to prevent 
 and stop effectually leaks in a loose porous soil. The frosts 
 in winter and droughts in summer will occasion cracks in the 
 clay. Vermin of various descriptions are perpetually perforat- 
 ing holes. "Weeds are ever very troublesome and difficult to 
 eradicate. Their roots are constantly penetrating into the 
 loose earth, and occasioning leaks. The locks are perpetually 
 requiring repairs. Whereas, I know of no casualties to which 
 railways, constructed as now proposed, are liable. Whilst the 
 materials last they must ever remain unaffected by anything 
 short of an earthquake. When it is considered, too, that the 
 travel on these ways remains always, winter and summer, 
 uninterrupted that there are no locks or other circumstances 
 to occasion delay, that the expense of transportation would 
 not be more than one-third of that on a canal, and the original 
 expense of construction not more than one-half when, I say, 
 all these things are taken into consideration, how can we 
 hesitate to give a preference to the railways ? 
 
 But, notwithstanding the many inconveniences I have 
 enumerated, the great utility of canals is "sanctioned by ex- 
 perience ;" whereas the practical utility of railways on the 
 proposed construction, remains yet to be ascertained by actual 
 experiment. 
 
 But when millions are to be expended, shall a few thou- 
 
46 DOCUMENTS. 
 
 sand dollars be grudged to make the experiment on an object 
 promising so fairly ? 
 
 But it wonld be useless to pursue the subject farther. 
 Should what has been already said be insufficient to open the 
 eyes of the Committee, I have only to lament that their 
 blindness on this occasion will certainly be followed by a fu- 
 ture regret. A discovery, more especially a physical one, 
 when once made, and its developement fairly exhibited before 
 the public, can never, if of any importance, be lost or sup- 
 pressed. Sooner or later then, the improvement now pro- 
 posed will be brought into general use, and, if I mistake not, 
 long before the projected canal will be completed. 
 
 It will obviously occur that a number of passages con- 
 tained in the report of the Committee are not particularly no- 
 ticed. If, for instance, no particular notice is taken of the 
 following passages, viz.: " If this motion were produced by 
 force fixed to the earth,. it must not only be equal to the 
 weight multiplied into the velocity" again " No formula 
 has yet been discovered by which to calculate the proportion 
 between power, friction, and effect" " Still we shall have 
 force 100, and weight 100 (together 200), working with a 
 velocity of four miles per hour by friction on a railway," if 
 these and some other passages are not particularly noticed, 
 yet a due attention to what has been advanced in the above 
 reply to the Committee's objections, will satisfy every impar- 
 tial reader that they have been all substantially answered. 
 

 
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