ails was not begun until
the fall of 1829, and this first section was not opened for traffic
until May 22, 1830. At first, experiments were made with sails for
propelling the cars, but it was soon found that a more effective source
of power was supplied by mules and horses. The Flying Dutchman, one of
the cars devised to furnish motive power, provided for the horse or
mule a treadmill which would revolve the wheels and make the distance of
twelve miles in about an hour and a quarter. Steam locomotives at this
time were in their infancy and, until the opening of the Liverpool and
Manchester Railroad in this same year, they had attained a speed of only
six miles an hour. Horses and mules, and even sail cars, made more rapid
progress than did the earliest locomotive. In spite of these crude and
primitive facilities for transportation, however, the traffic on the new
railroad was of large volume from the beginning, and the company could
not handle the amount of merchandise offered for transport in the first
months.

Construction was now rapidly pushed ahead, and by 1832 the whole line
had been opened to Point of Rocks, with a branch to Frederick, Maryland,
making seventy-two miles in all. In 1831, steam locomotives were tested,
and one of them, the York, was found capable of conveying fifteen tons
at the rate of fifteen miles an hour on level portions of the road. This
achievement was regarded as a great triumph, and in 1832 the directors
of the road called attention to "the great increase in velocity" that
had been obtained in this way.

From this time forward the expansion of the railroad proceeded with a
certainty born of success. A branch was built to Washington and the main
line was extended to Harper's Ferry. Beyond this point construction was
slow because financial difficulties stood in the way, and it was not
until after the panic of 1837 that further aggressive building began.
But by 1842 the line was completed to Cumberland, Maryland, and by
1853, to Wheeling. Meanwhile, the branch from Cumberland to Parkersburg,
Virginia, was built. The road now comprised a total system of more than
five hundred miles and reached two points of importance on the Ohio
River, one northward near the Pennsylvania-Ohio state line and one
southward in the direction of Cincinnati. The Parkersburg extension was
of great importance because it opened a through route to St. Louis, by
means of the Cincinnati and Marietta Railroad--which was