The history of the first locomotives in America. From original ...

FIRST BRIGADE OF CARS. 97
copied them from old files of the Baltimore newspapers.
The Baltimore American, May 20, 1830, said
" We understand that a critical examination of the entire line
of the first division of the Baltimore and Ohio Kailroad, between
this city and Ellicott's Mills, was made on Thursday last, by the
president and engineer of the company, for the purpose of testing
the solidity of the work. A car was loaded with double the
weight intended hereafter to be transported on a single wagon, and
was passed over the whole of the first and those parts of the
second track which are finished, and it is highly gratifying to
learn that, notwithstanding the recent heavy rains, which have
placed the work in the most unfavorable condition, it sustained
the pressure to the entire satisfaction of those interested in the
work. About seven and a quarter miles of the single track are
laid on wooden sleepers, and the remaining six and three-quarter
mUes on stone slabs. Such is the stability of this mode of con-
struction that, in about 16,000 blocks, only forty were observed to
be the least afiected by the pressure. The horse-path and ' turn-outs
are finished, and the necessary arrangements for horses and driv-
ers having been already made, we understand that it is the intention
of the company to open the road for public travel on Monday
next, the 24th inst."
The Baltimore American, May 24, 1830, said :
" A brigade of cars will run three times a day each way from
Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills— passage 25 cents. •
" This morning at nine o'clock, in pursuance with previous
an-angements of the mayor and the members of the two branches
of the City Council, the president, directors, engineer, and officers,
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the editors of the different
papers of the city, and a number of strangers, left the depot at
the intersection of the railroad with .Pratt Street, on an excursion
to Ellicott's Mills. The procession was headed by the splendid
car Pioneer, in which, together with a number of others, rode the
venerable Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. Although the brigade
was of large dimensions and filled with passengers, it was drawn
with great ease by one horse at a rapid rate. The appearance which
they presented was novel and interesting in the extreme. A
great number of persons, attracted by the novelty of the sight,
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