There wasn't much money to be gained, but in 1859 he had saved a few hundred dollars, and when the widening of the Erie Canal made it necessary to pull down or move the buildings along its bank he went into the business of house-moving.
He had been drawn to the work in the first place by the idea of getting the hard wood that entered into the construction of some of the buildings. This was cheap, and some of it was suitable for cabinet-making. But the profit was not great, and the field for the sale of his goods had not increased. So he turned to house-moving, and by this greatly increased the amount of money at his command.
It was at this time that he got the idea of an improved sleeping-car. One night he was riding from Buffalo to Westfield, a distance of sixty miles, and the rattling and jolting of the cars as they swung around the curves or banged over the uneven roadbed made sleep almost impossible.
At that time the bunks provided were nothing more than three tiers of shelves similar to the bunks on the canal boats. It was necessary on rounding a curve to hold on tight to keep from being spilled out on the car floor. A person could recline in such a bunk, but it would have been foolhardy to try to sleep.
The unusual roughness and discomfort of the trip set Pullman to thinking, and during the six hours occupied by the run he considered the question in various ways. Before the end of the journey was reached he had decided to build a car in which it would be possible to sleep, and which would also give passengers as much comfort as the space at command permitted.
Young Pullman was not able then to put his idea into operation, for none of the railroad officials would listen to him, and he did not have the necessary money to carry on his experiments independently. He earned the money, however, in the work he did in Chicago. The whole city was being raised so that a sewerage system could be introduced.
Before that time Chicago was on a level with Lake Michigan, and during storms the water frequently backed into the cellars, and there was not fall enough to carry waste out into the lake. The work of raising buildings or removing them was in Pullman's line, and during the few years it lasted he made money quickly.
Then he set to work to carry out his ideas about sleeping-cars. He took two old passenger coaches and refitted them, and went to the head of the Chicago and Alton Railroad and asked that they be given a trial.
"All right," said the president; "go ahead. We won't charge you for the use of the road during the trial."
The trial showed that there was a demand for more comfortable cars, but none of the roads was willing to put any money into the scheme. This necessitated more experimenting by Pullman, at his own expense, and in 1863 he built, at a cost of eighteen thousand dollars, a car that was equipped throughout according to his plans.