the screw thread and nut, similar to that now used, was adopted
as the standard.

The rail was first designed to weigh thirty-six pounds per yard, but
it was almost immediately increased in weight to between forty and
forty-two pounds, and rolled in lengths of sixteen feet. It was then
three and a half inches high, two and one-eighth inches wide on the
head and three and a half inches wide at the base, the price paid in
England being L8 per ton. The import duty was $1.85.

The first shipment of rail, having arrived in America, was transported
to Bordentown, and here, upon the ground on which we stand, and which
this monument is erected to mark forever, was laid the first piece of
track (about five-sixths of a mile long) in August, 1831. The Camden
and Amboy Company, following the example of the Manchester and
Liverpool Railroad, laid their first track upon stone blocks two feet
square and ten to thirteen inches deep. These blocks were purchased
from the prison authorities at Sing Sing, N.Y. Some of these stone
blocks have been used in constructing the foundation for this
monument.

[Footnote 3: A list of the vessels chartered to transport the rails,
with dates, tonnage, etc., is given below:

No. of Tonnage. Rate of
Date. Ship. Bars. tons. cwt. lb. Duty.

May 16, 1831. Charlemagne 550 504 0 14 $1.85
May 19, 1831. Salem 963 744 2 14 1.85
April 7, 1832. Caledonia 38 63 3 07 1.85
April 23, 1832. Armadilla 525 1,000 3 21 1.85
May 4, 1832. George Clinton 624 986 2 14 1.85
June 2-18, 1833. Henry Kneeland 204 377 3 21 1.85
May 8, 1832. Cumberland 1,464 2,790 1 00 1.85
June 2, 1832. Gardiner 601 1,136 0 00 1.85
June 5, 1832. Globe 499 943 1 14 1.85
June 6, 1832. Jubilee 70 130 0 21 1.85
July 18, 1832. Hellen 1,080 2,004 3 21 1.85
July 19, 1832. Nimrod 937 1,745 3 00 1.85
Aug. 2, 1832. Emery 240 454 2 00 1.85
Aug. 7, 1833. Ajax 364 700 0 21 1.85
Aug. 13, 1832. Concordia 622 1,174 3 14 1.85
Aug. 14, 1830. William Byr