In the autumn of 1825, when the canal was finished, there was a great celebration. A "fleet" of canal boats carried Governor Clinton of New York and a number of other distinguished men across the state.
New York recovered her trade
The merchants of the East were no longer afraid of the Mississippi route, for they had a route of their own. The canal became the great highway of commerce from the East to the West and from the West to the East. New York recovered her trade, and flourishing cities grew up along the canal.
But there were cities in the East that could not use the canal. Farther south they could not dig a canal across the mountains. All their goods had to be carried over the Cumberland Gap on the backs of horses. But a new means of travel and transportation had been invented, which was to far surpass the steamboat and which was to help every city no matter where located.
The first railroad
132. Railroad Building. The first railroad in America was a very rude affair. There were no "palace cars" or steel rails, nor did the trains run at a speed of sixty miles an hour. Instead, cars that looked like huge wagons ran on wooden rails and were dragged along by horses.
Stephenson's "Puffing Billy"
But George Stephenson had thought out a plan for a machine that would pull the cars along by steam. He called his engine "Puffing Billy." He kept at work always improving it. In 1825, after eleven years of hard work, he made an engine that could pull both passengers and freight.
The first long railroad
In 1828 the first long railroad in America was started. A great ceremony took place. It was a very solemn occasion. Charles Carroll, the only living signer of the Declaration of Independence, drove the first spade into the ground where the first rail was to be laid. As he did so he said, "I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to that of signing the Declaration of Independence." This railroad was the famous Baltimore & Ohio.