d move without sails or oars, and that it was
not dangerous, people began to believe in it, and a steamboat company
was organized by Fitch. Another boat was built, which carried passengers
who paid their fare, and afterwards a larger boat was constructed, in
the hope that a good passenger traffic might be established.

We cannot wonder that there should have been a desire among enterprising
people to establish some better method of transportation in travel than
existed in the early days of New Jersey. At first the only roads in the
State were narrow paths, sometimes more than fifty miles long, but only
wide enough for the easy passage of a man on horseback. After that,
better roads gradually came into use; and in the beginning of the
eighteenth century there was a "stage wagon," intended for the carriage
of merchandise, not passengers, which made a trip every two weeks from
Perth Amboy to Philadelphia. This was considered as a great public
convenience; because, before that, there was no regular method of
shipping merchandise from New York to Philadelphia, except by sea.

After a time, stage wagons, which carried passengers, began to run in
some parts of New Jersey; and in 1750 a grand stage line was
established, intended especially for the transportation of travelers. In
an advertisement the proprietor of this line announced to all persons
"who have occasion to transport themselves, goods, stores, or
merchandise from New York to Philadelphia," that he would take them in
"forty-eight hours less than by any other line," and he promised to "use
the people in the best manner." It is stated that this trip by land and
water between New York and Philadelphia lasted seven or eight days,
although it now seems almost impossible to travel so slowly.

Sixteen years afterward, a new and improved line of stage wagons was
established, which were faster and very much more comfortable than any
which had yet been known. They were actually mounted on springs, and it
was promised that the trip would be made in two days in summer, and
three days in winter. These stagecoaches were so much swifter than
anything else of the kind ever known in the State, that they were called
"flying machines."

Fifteen years afterward, the price of conveyance between New York and
Philadelphia on one of these "flying machines" was forty shillings in
gold or silver for each passenger, and as much for each hundred and
fifty pounds of baggage.

The mail facil