ies of the Ohio
Valley, but this trade, like the wagon trade preceding it, was largely
one-sided, the westbound movement of light merchandise exceeding the
eastbound movement of agricultural produce. The inclined planes which
carried the traffic across the mountains proved to be an expensive and
cumbersome device, and because of a lack of better transportation
facilities, the trade of Philadelphia and Baltimore suffered constant
losses, and for a time it seemed that New York was destined to
monopolize the entire commerce between the Atlantic coast and the
trans-Appalachian region.

In 1841, however, this situation was modified by the entrance of a new
factor--the Western Railroad, the completion of which gave through rail
connection between Boston and Albany. Because of its isolated position
Boston had not shared in the direct trade with the Central States, but
had been compelled to buy and sell through the merchants of New York
and Philadelphia. The new railroad completely altered the position of
Boston and brought an era of great prosperity to the city, at the same
time demonstrating the practicability of the steam road as a carrier of
nearly all kinds of freight.

The immediate success of this road was a signal for the beginning of
more extensive railway construction, and the decade from 1850 to 1860
witnessed the entrance of the trunk line roads as competitors with the
canals for traffic between the East and the West. The failure of the
Pennsylvania Canal and the growing prosperity of Boston incited the
people of Pennsylvania to take decisive steps to win back some of the
trade lost by Philadelphia and in 1846 the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company was chartered for the purpose of completing steam railway
connection between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. By 1854, this line, the
Erie, the New York Central and the Baltimore and Ohio all reached the
Ohio River or Lake Erie. During the next six years these four lines
took over two-thirds of the flour traffic and practically all the
merchandise and live-stock traffic between the eastern cities and the
trans-Alleghany region, leaving to the Erie Canal the forest products
and grain. In addition to capturing a large share of the canal freight
the railroads easily secured most of the traffic that was accustomed to
go from the cities along the Ohio River to the eastern coast and to
Europe by way of New Orleans. The lakes and canals had previously made
some inroad on the commerce d