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table on page 130 ("Passengers carried annually," etc.)
the final digit cannot be determined and has been
replaced with 0.

THE GREATEST HIGHWAY IN THE WORLD

Historical, Industrial and Descriptive Information of the Towns,
Cities and Country passed through between New York and Chicago
via The New York Central Lines

Illustrated

Based on the
Encyclopaedia Britannica

FOREWORD

In furtherance of giving the utmost service to the public, the New York
Central Lines asked the editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica to
prepare this booklet descriptive of and vivifying the historical
development of what has been termed "The Greatest Highway in the World."

It is presented to you in the hope that it may prove a pleasant
companion on a journey over our Lines. The information will afford a new
appreciation of the historical significance and industrial importance of
the cities, towns and country which the New York Central Lines serve.

The New York Central Lines enter twelve states and serve territory
containing 51,530,784 inhabitants or 50.3 per cent of the nation's
population. This rich and busy territory produces 64 per cent of the
country's manufactured products and mines a similar proportion of its
coal.

This system does approximately 10 per cent of the railroad
transportation business of the United States, although its main-track
mileage is only 6 per cent. In other words the business it handles
exceeds that of the average railroad, mile for mile, by nearly 100 per
cent. The New York Central carries 52 per cent of all through passengers
between New York and Chicago, the remaining 48 per cent being divided
among five other lines. The freight traffic of the New York Central
Lines in 1920 was greater than that carried by all the railroads of
France and England combined.

The scenes that stretch before the eyes of passengers on these Lines are
rich with historic interest. Few persons know that the second settlement
in the United States was at Albany and that it antedated Plymouth by
several years. Probably fewer persons know that the first United States
flag was carried in battle at Fort Stanwix, now the city of Rome, N.Y.
We hope that the reader will discover in the following pages more than
one historic shrine which he will wish to visit.

It has been said that the history of a country's civilization is the
history of its highways. Certainl