to secure to himself any special advantage or pecuniary benefits from patent rights.

The success of the Mohawk and Hudson road created a revolution in public sentiment in relation to railroads, and an effort was soon made to extend the road up the valley of the Mohawk. The construction of the Utica and Schenectady road was soon afterwards commenced, and it was completed and opened in 1836; the distance being seventy-eight miles. It was built as cheaply as possible, the flat, thin iron bar being then in universal use for railroads; but it was a richly-paying road from the commencement. In fact it was one of the most productive railroad enterprises then in operation in the whole country, the annual dividends averaging ten per cent., up to the period of its consolidation with the New York Central road. Utica was a great point of concentration from the North, the South, the East, and the West, and the cars were crowded throughout the year.

The Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad, twenty-two miles in length, was constructed in 1836, and opened for business in 1837. The Tonawanda road, running from Rochester to Attica, a distance of forty-two miles, was put in operation in 1837, and these two roads at once found as much business as they could attend to. In the mean time, another link in what afterwards became the New York Central road, was being built. This was the Utica and Syracuse Railroad, by way of Rome, fifty-three miles long, which was completed and opened in the year 1839. The business of this road was very great from the first. The annual dividends, for a long series of years,

reached about ten per cent. Still another link, the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad, twenty-six miles in length, was commenced in 1836, and opened in 1838. Until 1840 it was operated with horse-power coaches on a wooden rail. In 1840 the wooden rail was superseded by the iron strap rail, and the road was operated by steam. In 1843 the first saloon, or long car with seats having reversible backs, used on the New York Central Railroad, was placed upon the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad, and would hold between thirty and forty passengers.

The Auburn and Rochester Railroad was begun in 1838, and completed with iron rail, and operated by steam in 1843, a portion of the road (from Rochester to Canandaigua) having been opened two or three years before. This road crosses the northern extremity of Cayuga Lake near the site of the famous old Cayuga Bridge, over which, before the Erie Canal was built, thirty crowded stage coaches thundered each way daily on the route between Albany and Buffalo. The site of this old bridge is now marked by rows of piles that formerly supported the roadway.

CHAPTER XIV.

NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD: CONTINUED.

THE two roads last mentioned formed the zigzag line between Rochester and Syracuse, by way of Canandaigua, Auburn, and Geneva. The route was exceedingly crooked and indirect, but it was necessarily so, on account of the financial difficulties that were encountered in the inception of the enterprise. At that time money was very scarce, and could only be obtained at very high rates; and capitalists were reluctant to embark in enterprises the success of which was not fully assured. The towns and villages near the proposed line, however, strained their means to assist the work; and it has been truly said that the zigzag course of the track shows that they exerted a commanding influence in determining its course. This road was used until it was superseded by the direct road in 1853.

Rochester and Syracuse

The short, but important road from Troy to Schenectady, was built in 1841 and 1842. It was a losing concern from the outset. It never paid any dividends, and was never profitable until it was consolidated with the Central road.

The Attica and Buffalo Railroad, thirty miles in length, was opened in 1844, and the next year a gap of about a quarter of a mile between the Auburn and

Rochester Railroad and the Tonawanda Railroad was closed, which completed the connection by rail of Albany with Buffalo.

All the railroads now forming the New York Central were operated by steam from their opening except the Mohawk and Hudson, Auburn and Syracuse, and the Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad, which were for a short time operated by horse-power.

Thus the connection of the waters of the Hudson River with Lake Erie by railroad was now complete with the exception of the gaps between the roads composing the line. These gaps made it necessary for the passengers to change cars five or six times in the course of the journey. Baggage checks had not yet been invented, and the vexation and annoyance attending these frequent transfers of baggage, the great delay consequent, and the extortion of hackmen, all conspired to produce great impatience and dissatisfaction. The running time of course was very slow. The train which left Buffalo at seven in the morning reached Rochester at one o'clock in the afternoon, Auburn at seven in the evening, and Syracuse at nine o'clock at night. It was customary for most of the passengers to remain at Syracuse over night. Sleeping cars had not then been invented; and after riding fourteen hours in the uncomfortable cars then in use, some rest seemed to be indispensably necessary. In the summer, two trains daily were run each way, but in the winter only one train each way daily. The trains from Albany to the west usually stopped at Syracuse over night, while those from Buffalo to Albany usually stopped at Auburn. Snow-storms fre

quently blocked up the road, and it was no unusual thing for travel to be interrupted for three or four days. at a time.

In the year 1849, an entire revolution in the mode of travel took place. The different railway companies on the line, united their tracks, took up the thin bar iron rail, and put down a heavy uniform T rail on the whole track. New locomotives, and cars of an improved construction, were put upon the track, and the trains began to run at a very high rate of speed. From twenty miles an hour the speed was increased to twenty-five, and then to thirty. After running some weeks at thirty miles an hour, the speed was still further increased to thirty-five, then to forty, and finally to forty-five miles per hour. The frightful velocity of the latter rate of speed was kept up for some months, but it was finally reduced to thirty miles an hour, and kept at that rate.

In 1850 the Auburn and Syracuse, and Auburn and Rochester Railroad, were consolidated under the title of the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad, and immediately commenced the construction of a more direct line between the two cities, called the Rochester and Syracuse Direct Railroad, and opened it in 1853, making a saving in distance over the old line of twenty-one miles.

About the same time (1850) the Tonawanda Railroad was consolidated with the Attica and Buffalo Railroad, under the title of the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad, and in 1852 opened a more direct line between Buffalo and Batavia, making a saving of five miles over the old line. Upon the opening of the new