ailroad builders had done."

"Did the line go all the way across the country?"

"Oh, no, indeed. Our trans-continental railroads were a mighty project in
themselves and their story is a romance which I will tell you some other
time. Before such stupendous enterprises could be realities, our young,
young country had a vast deal of growing to do, and its infant railroads
and engineering methods had to be greatly improved. So long as we still
built roads where the rails were liable to come up through the floor and
injure the passengers, and where the tracks were not strongly enough
constructed to resist floods and freshets, our steam locomotion could
not expect any universal degree of popularity."

"I don't suppose, though, that the cows continued to tip the cars over
and turn the passengers out into the dirt as they did in the days of
Peter Cooper," mused Steve thoughtfully.

"They may not have derailed the trains," his father replied quite
seriously, "but they often did delay them. Nor could the passengers be
blamed for finding fault with the unheated cars, or the fact that
sometimes, when it snowed hard, the engineer ran his engine under cover
and refused to go on, leaving those on the train the choice of staying
where they were until the storm abated or going on foot to their
destination."

"Not really!"

"Yes, indeed. Such things happened quite frequently. Then there are
stories of terrible gales when the snow piled up on the track until the
engine had to be dug out, for snow plows did not keep the tracks clear
then as they do now; nor was it an uncommon thing for the mud from the
spring washouts to submerge the rails, in which case the engines had to
be pulled out of the mire by oxen. In fact, at certain seasons of the
year some trains carried oxen for this very purpose. For you must
remember that the engines of that date were not powerful enough to make
progress through mud, snow, or against fierce head winds. Often a strong
gale would delay them for hours or bring them to a standstill
altogether."

"Well, I guess it is no wonder we were not equipped to build a
trans-continental road under such conditions," said the lad, with a quiet
smile.

"Oh, these defects were only a minor part of our railroad tribulations,"
responded his father. "For example, when Pennsylvania started her first
railroad the year after the line between New York and Schenectady was
laid, there was a fresh chapter of obstacles. Strangel