"They'd better have given the plan a showdown," interrupted Steve
grimly.

"No doubt that is true," admitted his father. "However, it is very easy
for us, with our knowledge of science, to look back and laugh at their
mistakes. The world was very new in those days and probably had we lived
at that time and been equally ignorant of railroads and engines we
should have been just as cautious and unbelieving. The railroad was
still a young invention, you must remember, and to many persons it
seemed a rather mad, uncertain enterprise."

"When was the first American railroad built?" inquired the lad.

"If by a railroad you mean something which moved along rails like a
tram-car, the first such road was built at Quincy, Mass., in 1826; but
it was not a steam railroad. It was merely a train of cars drawn by
horses along a track that spanned a series of stone ties. Nor was it
very extensive in length. In fact, it was only three miles long and
probably would not have been built at all if the question had not arisen
as to how the heavy blocks of granite necessary for the construction of
Bunker Hill monument were to be carried from the quarries to the
Neponset River, the point from which they were to be shipped to
Charlestown. Bryant, the builder of the road, had heard of Stephenson's
successful use of tracks at the Newcastle coal mines and saw no reason
why a road of similar pattern could not be laid from the quarries to the
ship landing. If such a plan could be worked out, he argued, it would be
a great saving of time and labor. Accordingly the railroad was built at
a cost of more than ten thousand dollars a mile and it unquestionably
performed the service required of it even if it did necessitate the
expenditure of a good deal of money. Since the grade sloped toward the
river the heavily loaded cars moved down the tracks very easily and as
they were empty on their return the ascent was made with equal ease. All
the year round this quaint railroad was in constant use, a snowplow
being attached to the front car in winter to clear the deep snow from
the tracks."

"I suppose that was the first railroad snowplow, too," observed Stephen.

"I suppose it was," his father agreed. "For some time afterward this
old road with its granite ties was the model from which American
engineers took their inspiration, it being many years before railroad
builders realized that wooden ties were more flexible and made a better,
even though less