The next great improvement was the
use of steam-power to transport people and goods overland. It was brought
about by the railroad and the locomotive.
[Illustration: "Tom Thumb," Peter Cooper's Locomotive Working Model. First
Used Near Baltimore in 1830.]
In this country, the first laying of rails to make a level surface for
wheels to roll upon was at Quincy, Massachusetts. This railroad was three
miles long, extending from the quarry to the seacoast. The cars were drawn
by horses.
Our first passenger railroad was begun in 1828. It was called the
Baltimore and Ohio and was the beginning of the railroad as we know it
to-day. But those early roads would seem very strange now. The rails were
of wood, covered with a thin strip of iron to protect the wood from wear.
Even as late as the Civil War rails of this kind were in use in some
places. The first cross-ties were of stone instead of wood, and the
locomotives and cars of early days were very crude.
[Illustration: From an Old Time-table (furnished by the "A B C Pathfinder
Railway Guide"). Railroad Poster of 1843.]
In 1833, people who were coming from the West to attend President
Jackson's second inauguration travelled part of the way by railroad.
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