CHAPTER XX.

ROBERT STEPHENSON'S VICTORIA BRIDGE, LOWER CANADA--ILLNESS AND DEATH.

George Stephenson bequeathed to his son his valuable collieries, his share in the engine manufactory at Newcastle, and his large accumulation of savings, which, together with the fortune he had himself amassed by railway work, gave Robert the position of an engineer millionaire--the first of his order. He continued, however, to live in a quiet style; and although he bought occasional pictures and statues, and indulged in the luxury of a yacht, he did not live up to his income, which went on accumulating until his death.

There was no longer the necessity for applying himself to the laborious business of a Parliamentary engineer, in which he had now been occupied for some fifteen years. Shortly after his father's death, Edward Pease recommended him to give up the more harassing work of his profession; and his reply (15th of June, 1850) was as follows:

"The suggestion which your kind note contains is quite in accordance with my own feelings and intentions respecting retirement; but I find it a very difficult matter to bring to a close so complicated a connection in business as that which has been established by twenty-five years of active and arduous professional duty. Comparative retirement is, however, my intention, and I trust that your prayer for the Divine blessing to grant me happiness and quiet comfort will be fulfilled. I can not but feel deeply grateful to the Great Disposer of events for the success which has hitherto attended my exertions in life, and I trust that the future will also be marked by a continuance of His mercies."

Although Robert Stephenson, in conformity with this expressed intention, for the most part declined to undertake new business, he did not altogether lay aside his harness, and he lived to repeat his tubular bridges both in Egypt and Canada. The success of the tubular system, as adopted at Menai and Conway, was such as to recommend it for adoption wherever great span was required, and the peculiar circumstances connected with the navigation of the Nile and the St. Lawrence may be said to have compelled its adoption in carrying railways across both those rivers.

Two tubular bridges were built after our engineer's designs across the Nile, near Damietta, in Lower Egypt. That near Benha contains eight spans or openings of 80 feet each, and two centre spans, formed by one of the largest swing-bridges ever constructed, the total length of the swing-beam being 157 feet, a clear waterway of 60 feet being provided on either side of the centre pier. The only novelty in these bridges consisted in the road being carried upon the tubes instead of within them, their erection being carried out in the usual manner by means of workmen, materials, and plant sent out from England. The Tubular Bridge constructed in Canada, after Mr. Stephenson's designs, was of a much more important character, and deserves a fuller description.

The important uses of railways had been recognized at an early period by the inhabitants of North America, and in the course of about thirty years more than 25,000 miles of railway, mostly single, were constructed in the United States alone. The Canadians were more deliberate in their proceedings, and it was not until the year 1840 that their first railway, 14 miles in length, was constructed between Laprairie and St. John's, for the purpose of connecting Lake Champlain with the River St. Lawrence. From this date, however, new lines were rapidly projected; more particularly the Great Western of Canada, and the Atlantic and St. Lawrence (now forming part of the Grand Trunk), until in the course of a few years Canada had a length of nearly 2000 miles of railway open or in course of construction, intersecting the provinces almost in a continuous line from Rivière du Loup, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to Port Sarnia, on the shores of Lake Huron.

But there still remained one most important and essential link to connect the lines on the south of the St. Lawrence with those on the north, and at the same time place the city of Montreal in direct railway connection with the western parts of Canada. The completion of this link was also necessary in order to maintain the commercial communication of Canada with the rest of the world during five months in every year; for, though the St. Lawrence in summer affords a splendid outlet to the ocean--toward which the commerce of the colony naturally tends--the frost in winter is so severe, that during that season Canada is completely frozen in, and the navigation hermetically closed by the ice.

The Grand Trunk Railway was designed to furnish a line of land communication along the great valley of the St. Lawrence at all seasons, following the course of the river, and connecting the principal towns of the colony. But stopping short on the north shore, nearly opposite Montreal, with which it was connected by a dangerous and often impracticable ferry, it was felt that, until the St. Lawrence was bridged by a railway, the Canadian system of railways was manifestly incomplete. But how to bridge this wide and rapid river! Never before, perhaps, was a problem of such difficulty proposed for solution by an engineer. Opposite Montreal, the St. Lawrence is about two miles wide, running at the rate of about ten miles an hour; and at the close of each winter it carries down the ice of 2000 square miles of lakes and rivers, with their numerous tributaries.

As early as the year 1846, the construction of a bridge at Montreal was strongly advocated by the local press as the only means of connecting that city with the projected Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway. But the difficulties of executing such a work seemed almost insurmountable to those best acquainted with the locality. The greatest difficulty was apprehended from the tremendous shoving and pressure of the ice at the break-up of winter. At such times, opposite Montreal, the whole river is packed with huge blocks of ice, and it is often seen piled up to a height of from 40 to 50 feet along the banks, placing the surrounding country under water, and occasionally doing severe damage to the massive stone buildings erected along the noble river front of the city.

But no other expedient presented itself but a bridge, and a survey was made accordingly at the instance of the Hon. John Young, one of the directors of the railway. A period of colonial depression having shortly after occurred, the project slept for a time, and it was not until six years later, in 1852, when the Grand Trunk Railway was under construction, that the subject was again brought under discussion. In that year, Mr. Alexander M. Ross, who had superintended the construction of Robert Stephenson's tubular bridge at Conway, visited Canada, and inspected the site of the proposed structure, when he at once formed the opinion that a tubular bridge carrying a railway was the most suitable means of crossing the St. Lawrence, and connecting Montreal with the lines on the north of the river.

The directors felt that such a work would necessarily be of a most formidable and difficult character, and before coming to any conclusion they determined to call to their assistance Mr. Robert Stephenson, as the engineer most competent to advise them in the matter. Mr. Stephenson considered the subject of so much interest and importance that, in the summer of 1853, he proceeded to Canada to inquire as to all the facts, and examine carefully the site of the proposed work. He then formed the opinion that a tubular bridge across the river was not only practicable, but by far the most suitable for the purpose intended, and early in the following year he sent an elaborate report on the whole subject to the directors of the railway. The result was the adoption of his recommendation and the erection of the Victoria Bridge, of which Robert Stephenson was the designer and engineer, and Mr. A. M. Ross the joint and resident engineer in directly superintending the execution of the undertaking. The details of the plans were principally worked out in Mr. Stephenson's office in London, under the superintendence of his cousin, Mr. George Robert Stephenson, while the iron-work was for the most part constructed at the Canada Works, Liverpool, from whence it was shipped, ready for being fixed in position on the spot.

The Victoria Bridge is, without exception, the greatest work of its kind in the world. For gigantic proportions, and vast length and strength, there is nothing to compare with it in ancient or modern times. The entire bridge, with its approaches, is only about sixty yards short of _two miles_ in length, being five times longer than the Britannia Bridge across the Menai Straits, seven and a half times longer than Waterloo Bridge, and more than ten times longer than Chelsea Bridge. The two-mile tube across the St. Lawrence rests on twenty-four piers, which, with the abutments, leave twenty-five spaces or spans for the several parts of the tube. Twenty-four of these spans are 242 feet wide; the centre span--itself a huge bridge--being 330 feet. The road is carried within the tube 60 feet above the level of the river, so as not to interfere with its navigation.

As one of the principal difficulties apprehended in the erection of the bridge was that arising from the tremendous "shoving" and ramming of the ice at the break-up of winter, the plans were carefully designed so as to avert all danger from this cause. Hence the peculiarity in the form of the piers, which, though greatly increasing their strength for the purpose intended, must be admitted to detract considerably from the symmetry of the structure as a whole. The western face of each pier--that is, the up-river side--has a large wedge-shaped cutwater of stone-work, presenting an inclined plane toward the current, for the purpose of arresting and breaking up the ice-blocks, and thereby preventing them from piling up and damaging the tube carrying the railway. The piers are of immense strength. Those close to the abutments contain about 6000 tons of masonry each, while those which support the great centre tube contain about 12,000 tons. The former are 15 feet wide, and the latter 18. Scarcely a block of stone used in the piers is less than seven tons in weight, while many of those opposed to the force of the breaking-up ice weigh fully ten tons.

As might naturally be expected, the getting in of the foundations of these enormous piers in so wide and rapid a river was attended with many difficulties. To give an idea of the water-power of the St. Lawrence, it may be mentioned that when the river comes down in its greatest might, large stone boulders weighing upward of a ton are rolled along by the sheer force of the current. The depth of the river, however, was not so great as might be supposed, varying from only five to fifteen feet during summer, when the foundation-work was carried on.

The method first employed to get in the foundations was by means of dams or caissons, which were constructed on shore, floated into position, and scuttled over the places at which the foundations were to be laid, thus at once forming a nucleus from which the dams could be constructed. The first of such dams was floated, got into position, scuttled, and sunk, and the piling fairly begun, on the 19th of June, 1854. By the 15th of the following month the sheet-piling and puddling was finished, when the pumping of the water out of the inclosed space by steam-power was proceeded with, and in a few hours the bed of the river was laid almost dry, the toe of every pile being distinctly visible. By the 22d the first stone of the pier was laid, and on the 14th of August the masonry was above water-level.

The getting in of the foundations of the other piers was proceeded with in like manner, though frequently interrupted by storms, inundations, and collisions of timber-rafts, which occasionally carried away the moorings of the dams. Considerable difficulty was in some places experienced from the huge boulder-stones lying in the bed of the river, to remove which sometimes cost the divers several months of hard labor. In getting in the foundations of the later piers, the method first employed of sinking the floating caissons in position was abandoned, and the dams were constructed of "crib-work,"[106] which was found more convenient, and less liable to interruption by accident from collision or otherwise.

By the spring of 1857 a sufficient number of piers had been finished to enable the erection of the tubes to be proceeded with. The operations connected with this portion of the work were also of a novel character. Instead of floating the tubes between the piers and raising them into position by hydraulic power, as at Conway and Menai, which the rapid current of the St. Lawrence would not permit, the tubes were erected _in situ_ on a staging prepared for the purpose, as shown in the following engraving.

Floating scows, each 60 feet by 20, were moored in position, and kept in their place by piles sliding in grooves. These piles, when firmly fixed in the bed of the river, were bolted to the sides of the scows, and the tops were leveled to receive the sills upon which the framing carrying the truss and platform was erected. Timbers were laid on the lower chords of the truss, forming a platform 24 feet wide, closely planked with deals. The upper chords carried rails, along which moved the "travelers" used in erecting the tubes. The plates forming the bottom of each tube having been accurately laid and riveted, and adjusted to level and centre by oak wedges, the erection of the sides was next proceeded with, extending outward from the centre on either side, this work being closely followed by the plating of the top. Each tube between the respective pairs of piers was in the first place erected separate and independent of its adjoining tubes; but after completion, the tubes were joined in pairs and firmly bolted to the masonry over which they were united, their outer ends being placed upon rollers so arranged on the adjoining piers that they might expand or contract according to variations of temperature.

The work continued to make satisfactory progress down to the spring of 1858, by which time fourteen out of the twenty-four piers were finished, together with the formidable abutments and approaches to the bridge. Considerable apprehensions were entertained as to the security of the piers and the unfinished parts of the work at the usual breaking-up of the ice. We take the following account from a letter written by Mr. Ross to Mr. Stephenson descriptive of the scene.

"On the 29th of March, the ice above Montreal began to show signs of weakness, but it was not until the 31st that a general movement became observable, which continued for an hour, when it suddenly stopped, and the water rose rapidly. On the following day, at noon, a grand movement commenced; the waters rose about four feet in two minutes, up to a level with many of the Montreal streets. The fields of ice at the same time were suddenly elevated to an incredible height; and so overwhelming were they in appearance, that crowds of the townspeople, who had assembled on the quay to watch the progress of the flood, ran for their lives. This movement lasted about twenty minutes, during which the jammed ice destroyed several portions of the quay wall, grinding the hardest blocks to atoms. The embanked approaches to the Victoria Bridge had tremendous forces to resist. In the full channel of the stream, the ice in its passage between the piers was broken up by the force of the blow immediately on its coming in contact with the cutwaters. Sometimes thick sheets of ice were seen to rise up and rear on end against the piers, but by the force of the current they were speedily made to roll over into the stream, and in a moment after were out of sight. For the two next days the river was still high, until on the 4th of April the waters seemed suddenly to give way, and by the following day the river was flowing clear and smooth as a millpond, nothing of winter remaining except the masses of bordage ice which were strewn along the shores of the stream. On examination of the piers of the bridge, it was found that they had admirably resisted the tremendous pressure; and though the timber "crib-work" erected to facilitate the placing of floating pontoons to form the dams was found considerably disturbed and in some places seriously damaged, the piers, with the exception of one or two heavy stone blocks, which were still unfinished, escaped uninjured. One block of many tons' weight was carried to a considerable distance, and must have been torn out of its place by sheer force, as several of the broken fragments were found left in the pier."

Toward the end of January, 1859, the plating of the bottom of the great central tube was begun. The execution of this part of the undertaking was of a very formidable and difficult character. The gangs of men employed upon it were required to work night and day, though the season was mid-winter, as it was of great importance to the navigation that the staging should be removed by the time that the ice broke up and the river became open. The night gangs were lighted at their work by wood-fires filling huge braziers, the bright glow of which illumined the vast snow-covered ice-field in the midst of which they worked at so lofty an elevation; and the sight as well as the sounds of the hammering and riveting, the puffing of the steam-engines, and the various operations thus carried on, presented a scene the like of which has rarely been witnessed. The work was not conducted without considerable risk to the men, arising from the intense cold. The temperature was often 20° below zero, and notwithstanding that they all worked in thick gloves, and that care was taken to protect every exposed part, many of them were severely frostbitten. Sometimes, when thick mist rose from the river, they would become covered with icicles, and be driven from their work.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, the laying of the great central tube made steady progress. By the 17th of February the first pair of side-plates was erected; on the 28th, the bottom was riveted and completed; 180 feet of the sides was also in place, and 100 feet of the top was plated; and on the 21st of March the whole of the plating was finished. A few days later the wedges were knocked away, and the tube hung suspended between the adjoining piers. On the 18th of May following the staging was all cleared away, with the moored scows and the crib-work, and the centre span of the bridge was again clear for the navigation of the river.

The first stone of the bridge was laid on the 22d of July, 1854. The works continued in progress for a period of five and a half years, until the 17th of December, 1859, when the first train passed over the bridge; and on the 25th of August, 1860, it was formally opened for traffic by the Prince of Wales. It was the greatest of Robert Stephenson's bridges, and worthy of being the crowning and closing work of his life. But he was not destined to see its completion. Two months before the bridge was finished he had passed from the scene of all his labors.

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We have little to add as to the closing events in Robert Stephenson's life. Retired in a great measure from the business of an engineer, he occupied himself for the most part in society, in yachting, and in attending the House of Commons and the Clubs. It was in the year 1847 that he entered the House of Commons as member for Whitby; but he does not seem to have been very regular in his attendance, and only appeared on divisions when there was a "whip" of the party to which he belonged. He was a member of the Sewage and Sanitary Commissions, and of the Commission which sat on Westminster Bridge. He very seldom addressed the House, and then only on matters relating to engineering. The last occasions on which he spoke were on the Suez Canal[107] and the cleansing of the Serpentine. Besides constructing the railway between Alexandria and Cairo, he was consulted, like his father, by the King of Belgium as to the railways of that country; and he was made Knight of the Order of Leopold because of the improvements which he had made in locomotive engines, so much to the advantage of the Belgian system of inland transit. He was consulted by the King of Sweden as to the railway between Christiana and Lake Miösen, and in consideration of his services was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olaf. He also visited Switzerland, Piedmont, and Denmark, to advise as to the system of railway communication best suited for those countries. At the Paris Exhibition of 1855 the Emperor of France decorated him with the Legion of Honor in consideration of his public services; and at home the University of Oxford made him a Doctor of Civil Laws. In 1855 he was elected President of the Institute of Civil Engineers, which office he held with honor and filled with distinguished ability for two years, giving place to his friend Mr. Locke at the end of 1857.

Mr. Stephenson was frequently called upon to act as arbitrator between contractors and railway companies, or between one company and another, great value being attached to his opinion on account of his weighty judgment, his great experience, and his upright character; and we believe his decisions were invariably stamped by the qualities of impartiality and justice. He was always ready to lend a helping hand to a friend, and no petty jealousy stood between him and his rivals in the engineering world. The author remembers being with Mr. Stephenson one evening at his house in Gloucester Square when a note was put into his hand from his friend Brunel, then engaged in his fruitless efforts to launch the _Great Eastern_. It was to ask Stephenson to come down to Blackwall early next morning, and give him the benefit of his judgment. Shortly after six next morning Stephenson was in Scott Russell's building-yard, and he remained there until dusk. About midday, while superintending the launching operations, the balk of timber on which he stood canted up, and he fell up to his middle in the Thames mud. He was dressed as usual, without great-coat (though the day was bitter cold), and with only thin boots upon his feet. He was urged to leave the yard and change his dress, or at least dry himself; but, with his usual disregard of health, he replied, "Oh, never mind me; I'm quite used to this sort of thing;" and he went paddling about in the mud, smoking his cigar, until almost dark, when the day's work was brought to an end. The result of this exposure was an attack of inflammation of the lungs, which kept him to his bed for a fortnight.

He was habitually careless of his health, and perhaps he indulged in narcotics to a prejudicial extent. Hence he often became "hipped," and sometimes ill. When Mr. Sopwith accompanied him to Egypt in the _Titania_, in 1856, he succeeded in persuading Mr. Stephenson to limit his indulgence in cigars and stimulants, and the consequence was that by the end of the voyage he felt himself, as he said, "quite a new man." Arrived at Marseilles, he telegraphed from thence a message to Great George Street, prescribing certain stringent and salutary rules for observance in the office there on his return. But he was of a facile, social disposition, and the old associations proved too strong for him. When he sailed for Norway in the autumn of 1859, though then ailing in health, he looked a man who had still plenty of life in him. By the time he returned his fatal illness had seized him. He was attacked by congestion of the liver, which first developed itself in jaundice, and then ran into dropsy, of which he died on the 12th of October, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He was buried by the side of Telford in Westminster Abbey, amid the departed great men of his country, and was attended to his resting-place by many of the intimate friends of his boyhood and his manhood. Among those who assembled round his grave were some of the greatest men of thought and action in England, who embraced the sad occasion to pay the last mark of their respect to this illustrious son of one of England's greatest working-men.

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It would be out of keeping with the subject thus drawn to a conclusion to pronounce any panegyric on the character and achievements of George and Robert Stephenson. These, for the most part, speak for themselves; and both were emphatically true men, exhibiting in their lives many valuable and sterling qualities.

No beginning could have been less promising than that of the elder Stephenson. Born in a poor condition, yet rich in spirit, he was from the first compelled to rely upon himself, every step of advance which he made being conquered by patient labor. Whether working as a brakesman or an engineer, his mind was always full of the work in hand. He gave himself thoroughly up to it. Like the painter, he might say that he had become great "by neglecting nothing." Whatever he was engaged upon, he was as careful of the details as if each were itself the whole. He did all thoroughly and honestly. There was no "scamping" with him. When a workman, he put his brains and labor into his work; and when a master, he put his conscience and character into it. He would have no slop-work executed merely for the sake of profit. The materials must be as genuine as the workmanship was skillful. The structures which he designed and executed were distinguished for their thoroughness and solidity; his locomotives were famous for their durability and excellent working qualities. The engines which he sent to the United States in 1832 are still in good condition; and even the engines built by him for the Killingworth Colliery, upward of thirty years since, are working there to this day. All his work was honest, representing the actual character of the man.

He was ready to turn his hand to any thing--shoes and clocks, railways and locomotives. He contrived his safety-lamp with the object of saving pitmen's lives, and periled his own life in testing it. With him to resolve was to do. Many men knew far more than he, but none was more ready forthwith to apply what he did know to practical purposes. It was while working at Willington as a brakesman that he first learned how best to handle a spade in throwing ballast out of the ships' holds. This casual employment seems to have left upon his mind the most lasting impression of what "hard work" was; and he often used to revert to it, and say to the young men about him, "Ah, ye lads! there's none o' ye know what _wark_ is." Mr. Gooch says he was proud of the dexterity in handling a spade which he had thus acquired, and that he has frequently seen him take the shovel from a laborer in some railway cutting, and show him how to use it more deftly in filling wagons of earth, gravel, or sand. Sir Joshua Walmsley has also informed us that, when examining the works of the Orleans and Tours Railway, Stephenson, seeing a large number of excavators filling and wheeling sand in a cutting, at a great waste of time and labor, went up to the men and said he would show them how to fill their barrows in half the time. He showed them the proper position in which to stand so as to exercise the greatest amount of power with the least expenditure of strength; and he filled the barrow with comparative ease again and again in their presence, to the great delight of the workmen. When passing through his own workshops he would point out to his men how to save labor and get through their work skillfully and with ease. His energy imparted itself to others, quickening and influencing them as strong characters always do, flowing down into theirs, and bringing out their best powers.

His deportment to the workmen employed under him was familiar, yet firm and consistent. As he respected their manhood, so they respected his masterhood. Although he comported himself toward his men as if they occupied very much the same level with himself, he yet possessed that peculiar capacity for governing which enabled him always to preserve among them the strictest discipline, and to secure their cheerful and hearty services. Mr. Ingham, M.P. for South Shields, on going over the workshops at Newcastle, was particularly struck with this quality of the master in his bearing toward his men. "There was nothing," said he, "of undue familiarity in their intercourse, but they spoke to each other as man to man; and nothing seemed to please the master more than to point out illustrations of the ingenuity of his artisans. He took up a rivet, and expatiated on the skill with which it had been fashioned by the workman's hand--its perfectness and truth. He was always proud of his workmen and his pupils; and, while indifferent and careless as to what might be said of himself, he fired up in a moment if disparagement were thrown upon any one whom he had taught or trained."

In manner, George Stephenson was simple, modest, and unassuming, but always manly. He was frank and social in spirit. When a humble workman, he had carefully preserved his sense of self-respect. His companions looked up to him, and his example was worth much more to many of them than books or schools. His devoted love of knowledge made his poverty respectable, and adorned his humble calling. When he rose to a more elevated station, and associated with men of the highest position and influence in Britain, he took his place among them with perfect self-possession. They wondered at the quiet ease and simple dignity of his deportment; and men in the best ranks of life have said of him that "he was one of Nature's gentlemen."

Probably no military chiefs were ever more beloved by their soldiers than were both father and son by the army of men who, under their guidance, worked at labors of profit, made labors of love by their earnest will and purpose. True leaders of men and lords of industry, they were always ready to recognize and encourage talent in those who worked for and with them. Thus it was pleasant, at the openings of the Stephenson lines, to hear the chief engineers attributing the successful completion of the works to their assistants; while the assistants, on the other hand, ascribed the principal glory to their chiefs.

George Stephenson, though a thrifty and frugal man, was essentially unsordid. His rugged path in early life made him careful of his resources. He never saved to hoard, but saved for a purpose, such as the maintenance of his parents or the education of his son. In his later years he became a prosperous and even a wealthy man; but riches never closed his heart, nor stole away the elasticity of his soul. He enjoyed life cheerfully, because hopefully. When he entered upon a commercial enterprise, whether for others or for himself, he looked carefully at the ways and means. Unless they would "pay," he held back. "He would have nothing to do," he declared, "with stock-jobbing speculations." His refusal to sell his name to the schemes of the railway mania--his survey of the Spanish lines without remuneration--his offer to postpone his claim for payment from a poor company until their affairs became more prosperous, are instances of the unsordid spirit in which he acted.

Another marked feature in Mr. Stephenson's character was his patience. Notwithstanding the strength of his convictions as to the great uses to which the locomotive might be applied, he waited long and patiently for the opportunity of bringing it into notice; and for years after he had completed an efficient engine, he went on quietly devoting himself to the ordinary work of the colliery. He made no noise nor stir about his locomotive, but allowed another to take credit for the experiments on velocity and friction which he had made with it upon the Killingworth railroad. By patient industry and laborious contrivance he was enabled, with the powerful help of his son, almost to do for the locomotive what James Watt had done for the condensing engine. He found it clumsy and inefficient, and he made it powerful, efficient, and useful. Both have been described as the improvers of their respective engines; but, as to all that is admirable in their structure or vast in their utility, they are rather entitled to be described as their inventors. They have both tended to increase indefinitely the mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and to render them cheap and accessible to all. But Stephenson's invention, by the influence which it is daily exercising upon the civilization of the world, is even more remarkable than that of Watt, and is calculated to have still more important consequences. In this respect it is to be regarded as the grandest application of steam-power that has yet been discovered.

George Stephenson's close and accurate observation provided him with a fullness of information on many subjects which often appeared surprising to those who had devoted to them a special study. On one occasion the accuracy of his knowledge of birds came out in a curious way at a convivial meeting of railway men in London. The engineers and railway directors present knew each other as railway men and nothing more. The talk had been all of railways and railway politics. Stephenson was a great talker on those subjects, and was generally allowed, from the interest of his conversation and the extent of his experience, to take the lead. At length one of the party broke in with, "Come, now, Stephenson, we have had nothing but railways! can not we have a change, and try if we can talk a little about something else?" "Well," said Stephenson, "I'll give you a wide range of subjects; what shall it be about?" "Say _birds' nests_!" rejoined the other, who prided himself on his special knowledge of the subject. "Then birds' nests be it." A long and animated conversation ensued: the bird-nesting of his boyhood--the blackbird's nest which his father had held him up in his arms to look at when a child at Wylam--the hedges in which he had found the thrush's and the linnet's nests--the mossy bank where the robin built--the cleft in the branch of the young tree where the chaffinch had reared its dwelling--all rose up clear in his mind's eye, and led him back to the scenes of his boyhood at Callerton and Dewley Burn. The color and number of the birds' eggs--the period of their incubation--the materials employed by them for the walls and lining of their nests, were described by him so vividly, and illustrated by such graphic anecdotes, that one of the party remarked that, if George Stephenson had not been the greatest engineer of his day, he might have been one of the greatest naturalists.

His powers of conversation were very great. He was so thoughtful, original, and suggestive. There was scarcely a department of science on which he had not formed some novel and sometimes daring theory. Thus Mr. Gooch, his pupil, who lived with him when at Liverpool, informs us that when sitting over the fire, he would frequently broach his favorite theory of the sun's light and heat being the original source of the light and heat given forth by the burning coal. "It fed the plants of which that coal is made," he would say, "and has been bottled up in the earth ever since, to be given out again now for the use of man." His son Robert once said of him, "My father flashed his bull's eye full upon a subject, and brought it out in its most vivid light in an instant: his strong common sense and his varied experience, operating on a thoughtful mind, were his most powerful illuminators."

The Bishop of Oxford related the following anecdote of him at a recent public meeting in London: "He heard the other day of an answer given by the great self-taught man, Stephenson, when he was speaking with something of distrust of what were called competitive examinations. Stephenson said, 'I distrust them for this reason--they will lead, it seems to me, to an unlimited power of cram;' and he added, 'Let me give you one piece of advice--never to judge of your goose by its stuffing!'"

George Stephenson had once a conversation with a watchmaker, whom he astonished by the extent and minuteness of his knowledge as to the parts of a watch. The watchmaker knew him to be an eminent engineer, and asked how he had acquired so extensive a knowledge of a branch of business so much out of his sphere. "It is very easily to be explained," said Stephenson; "I worked long at watch-cleaning myself, and when I was at a loss, I was never ashamed to ask for information."

His hand was open to his former fellow-workmen whom old age had left in poverty. To poor Robert Gray, of Newburn, who acted as his brideman on his marriage to Fanny Henderson, he left a pension for life. He would slip a five-pound note into the hand of a poor man or a widow in such a way as not to offend their delicacy, but to make them feel as if the obligation were all on his side. When Farmer Paterson, who married a sister of George's first wife, Fanny Henderson, died and left a large young family fatherless, poverty stared them in the face. "But ye ken," said our informant, "_George struck in fayther for them_." And perhaps the providential character of the act could not have been more graphically expressed than in these simple words.

On his visit to Newcastle, he would frequently meet the friends of his early days, occupying very nearly the same station in life, while he had meanwhile risen to almost world-wide fame; but he was not less hearty in his greeting of them than if their relative position had remained the same. Thus, one day, after shaking hands with Mr. Brandling on alighting from his carriage, he proceeded to shake hands with his coachman, Anthony Wigham, a still older friend, though he only sat on the box.

Robert Stephenson inherited his father's kindly spirit and benevolent disposition. We have already stated that he was often called in as an umpire to mediate between conflicting parties, more particularly between contractors and engineers. On one occasion Brunel complained to him that he could not get on with his contractors, who were never satisfied, and were always quarreling with him. "You hold them too tightly to the letter of your agreement," said Stephenson; "treat them fairly and liberally." "But they try to take advantage of me at all points," rejoined Brunel. "Perhaps you suspect them too much?" said Stephenson. "I suspect all men to be rogues," said the other, "till I find them to be honest." "For my part," said Stephenson, "I take all men to be honest till I find them to be rogues." "Ah! then, I fear we shall never agree," concluded Brunel.

Robert almost worshiped his father's memory, and was ever ready to attribute to him the chief merit of his own achievements as an engineer. "It was his thorough training," we once heard him say, "his example, and his character, which made me the man I am." On a more public occasion he said, "It is my great pride to remember that, whatever may have been done, and however extensive may have been my own connection with railway development, all I know and all I have done is primarily due to the parent whose memory I cherish and revere."[108] To Mr. Lough, the sculptor, he said he had never had but two loves--one for his father, the other for his wife.

Like his father, he was eminently practical, and yet always open to the influence and guidance of correct theory. His main consideration in laying out his lines of railway was what would best answer the intended purpose, or, to use his own words, to secure the maximum of result with the minimum of means. He was pre-eminently a safe man, because cautious, tentative, and experimental; following closely the lines of conduct trodden by his father, and often quoting his maxims.

In society Robert Stephenson was simple, unobtrusive, and modest, but charming and even fascinating in an eminent degree. Sir John Lawrence has said of him that he was, of all others, the man he most delighted to meet in England--he was so manly yet gentle, and withal so great. While admired and beloved by men of such calibre, he was equally a favorite with women and children. He put himself upon the level of all, and charmed them no less by his inexpressible kindliness of manner than by his simple yet impressive conversation.

His great wealth enabled him to perform many generous acts in a right noble and yet modest manner, not letting his right hand know what his left hand did. Of the numerous kindly acts of his which have been made public, we may mention the graceful manner in which he repaid the obligations which both himself and his father owed to the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Institute when working together as fellow experimenters many years before in their humble cottage at Killingworth. The Institute was struggling under a debt of £6200, which impaired its usefulness as an educational agency. Mr. Stephenson offered to pay one half the sum provided the local supporters of the Institute would raise the remainder, and conditional also on the annual subscription being reduced from two guineas to one, in order that the usefulness of the institution might be extended. His generous offer was accepted and the debt extinguished.

Both father and son were offered knighthood, and both declined it. During the summer of 1847, George Stephenson was invited to offer himself as a candidate for the representation of South Shields in Parliament. But his politics were at best of a very undefined sort. Indeed, his life had been so much occupied with subjects of a practical character that he had scarcely troubled himself to form any decided opinion on the party political topics of the day, and to stand the cross-fire of the electors on the hustings might possibly have proved an even more distressing ordeal than the cross-questioning of the barristers in the Committees of the House of Commons. "Politics," he used to say, "are all matters of theory--there is no stability in them; they shift about like the sands of the sea; and I should feel quite out of my element among them." He had, accordingly, the good sense respectfully to decline the honor of contesting the representation of South Shields.

We have, however, been informed by Sir Joseph Paxton that, although George Stephenson held no strong opinions on political questions generally, there was one question on which he entertained a decided conviction, and that was the question of Free Trade. The words used by him on one occasion to Sir Joseph were very strong. "England," said he, "is, and must be, a shopkeeper; and our docks and harbors are only so many wholesale shops, the doors of which should always be kept wide open." It is curious that his son should have taken precisely the opposite view of this question, and acted throughout with the most rigid party among the Protectionists, supporting the Navigation Laws and opposing Free Trade, even to the extent of going into the lobby with Colonel Sibthorp, Mr. Spooner, and the fifty-three "cannon-balls," on the 26th of November, 1852. Robert Stephenson to the last spoke in strong terms as to the "betrayal of the Protectionist party" by their chosen leader, and he went so far as to say that he "could never forgive Peel."

But Robert Stephenson will be judged in after times by his achievements as an engineer rather than by his acts as a politician; and, happily, these last were far outweighed in value by the immense practical services which he rendered to trade, commerce, and civilization, through the facilities which the railways constructed by him afforded for free intercommunication between men in all parts of the world. Speaking in the midst of his friends at Newcastle in 1850, he observed:

"It seems to me but as yesterday that I was engaged as an assistant in laying out the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Since then, the Liverpool and Manchester, and a hundred other great works have sprung into existence. As I look back upon these stupendous undertakings, accomplished in so short a time, it seems as though we had realized in our generation the fabled powers of the magician's wand. Hills have been cut down and valleys filled up; and when these simple expedients have not sufficed, high and magnificent viaducts have been raised, and, if mountains stood in the way, tunnels of unexampled magnitude have pierced them through, bearing their triumphant attestation to the indomitable energy of the nation, and the unrivaled skill of our artisans."

As respects the immense advantages of railways to mankind there can not be two opinions. They exhibit, probably, the grandest organization of capital and labor that the world has yet seen. Although they have unhappily occasioned great loss to many, the loss has been that of individuals, while, as a national system, the gain has already been enormous. As tending to multiply and spread abroad the conveniences of life, opening up new fields of industry, bringing nations nearer to each other, and thus promoting the great ends of civilization, the founding of the railway system by George Stephenson and his son must be regarded as one of the most important events, if not the very greatest, in the first half of this nineteenth century.

FOOTNOTES:

[106] The dams of "crib-work" were formed by laying flattened pine logs along the whole outer edge of the work, and at intervals of from 5 to 10 feet parallel therewith throughout the whole of the breadth, connected with transverse timbers firmly treenailed and notched into them. When one course was formed, another was laid upon and firmly treenailed to it. After two or three courses were laid, transverse timbers were placed over them close together, so as to form a flooring, on which stone was placed to suit the crib as the work progressed. When the under side of the crib touched the bottom, it was carefully filled with loose stones and clay puddle to the water level. The process of puddling and pumping out the water, and building up the pier within the dam thus formed, then proceeded in the usual manner. In some cases a powerful steam dredge was employed to clear out the puddle-chambers.

[107] Mr. Stephenson entertained a very strong opinion as to the inexpediency of making this canal, and the impracticability of keeping it open except at an enormous expense. Of course it was possible to make the canal provided there was money enough raised for the purpose. But, even if made, he held that it would not long be used, for there would not be traffic enough to pay working expenses. In 1846, Mr. Stephenson carefully examined the country along the line of the proposed canal, from Tineh on the Mediterranean, to Suez on the Red Sea, in company with the agents of M. Talabot, a French engineer, and M. de Negrelli, an Austrian engineer. They ascertained that there was no difference of level between the two seas, and that consequently a canal capable of being scoured by the waters of either was impracticable. On the occasion of Captain Pim's reading a paper on the subject of the revived project of the canal before the Geographical Society on the 11th of April, 1859, Mr. Stephenson took part in the discussion which followed. He held that any harbor constructed at Port Said, however far it might be extended into the sea, would only act as a mud-trap, and that it would be impracticable to keep such a port open. Mr. George Rennie had compared the proposed breakwater at Pelusium with the breakwater at Portland, on which Mr. Stephenson observed, "Why, at Portland, the stones are carried out from the shore and thrown into the sea, but at Pelusium there is no solid shore, and all the stones must be brought 100 miles. Can there be any comparison between a breakwater at Portland and one in the Mediterranean on a lee-shore, where there is no stone and no foundation whatever? It is only the silt of the Nile. The Nile brings down millions of tons of mud yearly, and hence the Delta formed at its mouth. The moment you construct a harbor at Port Said and project piers into the sea, you immediately arrest the course of the mud, and will never be able to keep the port open. It would be the most extraordinary thing in the world to project two jetties into an open sea on a lee-shore, which has for almost three months in the year a northeast wind blowing upon it. There is no seaman, except in fair weather, who would venture to approach such a place. To render it at all accessible and safe, there must be a harbor of refuge made, and we know from experience in our own country what a large question that would open up. But even suppose such a harbor to be made. The current carries the mud of the Nile in an easterly direction; and if you provide a harbor of refuge, which means a quiescent harbor, it will act merely as a gigantic mud-trap. I believe it to be nearly if not absolutely true, that there is no large harbor in the world maintained on the delta of a large river. Any such harbor would be silted up in a few years. And whoever has traveled over the district between Port Said and Suez, and seen the moving sands, must see that it would be necessary to dredge, not only that harbor, but the canal itself." Mr. Stephenson's conclusion accordingly was that the scheme was impracticable, that it would not justify the expenditure necessary to complete it, and that, if ever executed, it would prove a commercial failure.

[108] Address as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, January, 1856.

INDEX.

Accident, G. Stephenson's stage-coach, 389.

Accidents in coal-mines, 175, 196.

Adam, Mr., counsel for Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill, 265.

Adhesion of wheel and rail, 82, 152, 156, 165.

Albert, Prince, an early traveler by rail, 390.

Alderson, Mr., counsel against Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill, 268, 271, 274, 275.

Allcard, Wm., 283.

Alton Grange, G. Stephenson's house at, 344.

Ambergate, land-slip at, 372; lime-works at, 394, 395.

Anderson, Dr., his early advocacy of railroads, 73.

Arnold, Dr., on railways, 390.

Atmospheric railways, 402, 403, 426-428.

Bald, Robert, mining engineer, 198, 212.

Barrow, Sir John, on railway speed, 262.

Beaumont, Mr., his wooden wagon-ways, 48.

Belgium, railways in, 382; G. Stephenson's visits to, 382, 383, 415.

Benton Colliery and village, 138, 140, 151.

Berkeley, Mr., on railways, 341.

Berwick, Royal Border Bridge at, 430.

Bird-nesting, G. Stephenson's love of, 106, 109, 380, 491.

Black Callerton Colliery, 109, 116, 117.

Blackett, Mr. Wylam, 102, 153, 154, 157-161.

Blast, the steam, its invention, 170.

Blenkinsop, Mr., Leeds, his locomotive, 155-157, 162.

Blisworth Cutting, 355.

Boiler, the multitubular, its invention, 316-318.

Booth, Henry, 256, 312, 318, 319.

Boulton, Matthew, his tubular boiler, 316-318.

Boulton and Watt, and the locomotive, 63-68.

Bradshaw, Mr., his opposition to Liverpool and Manchester line, 255, 258.

Braithwaite and Ericsson's "Novelty," 322-324.

Brake, G. Stephenson's self-acting, 334, 398.

Brakeing of colliery engines, 116-118, 131.

Brandling, Messrs., 184, 191, 192, 431.

Brandreth's "Cycloped," 322.

Bridge building, rapid progress of, 431, 432.

Bridges-- Royal Border, 430; High-Level, Newcastle, 431; Britannia (Menai), 439-442; Conway, 451; Victoria, Lower Canada, 476.

Britannia Bridge, North Wales, 449, 452-459.

Brougham, William, counsel for Liverpool and Manchester Bill, 262, 265.

Bruce, Mr., R. Stephenson's schoolmaster, 141.

Brunel, I. K., 423-427, 486.

Brunton's "Mechanical Traveler," 157.

Brussels, railway celebrations at, 383, 416.

Buckland, Dr., 467.

Bull Bridge, near Ambergate, 373.

Bull, Edward, his Cornish engine, 76; William, partner of Trevithick, 76, 88.

Burrell, G. Stephenson's partner, 207.

Burstall's "Perseverance," 322, 326.

Callerton Colliery and village, 109, 116, 117.

Canada, railways in, _Pref._, v., 476.

Canal Companies' opposition to railways, 260, 341.

Cardiff and Merthyr Railroad, 73.

Carrying stock of railways, _Pref._, ix., 334.

Cattle brought to London by rail, _Pref._, xx.

Chapman's locomotive, 157, 163.

"Charlotte Dundas," the first practical steam-boat, 70.

Chat Moss, surveying on, 252, 264; railway constructed on, 283-288.

Chester and Birkenhead Railway, 402; and Holyhead Railway, 438.

Chesterfield, town of, 395, 471.

Clanny, Dr., his safety-lamp, 179, 196.

Clark, Edwin, R. Stephenson's assistant, 448.

Claycross Colliery, 394, 420.

Coach, first railway, 240.

Coal, working of, 100, 101; supply of, to London, _Pref._, xxv.; haulage of, 153, 161; supply of, by railways, 386, 392.

Coal Railways, G. Stephenson on, 393.

Cochrane, Lord, and Peruvian revolution, 89.

Coe, William, 116, 117, 121, 125.

Coffin, Sir Isaac, on railways, 280.

Collieries, G. Stephenson's, at Snibston, 344; at Claycross, 392.

Colombia, R. Stephenson's residence in, 301-308.

Companies, joint-stock railway, 339, 404.

Contractors and railways, 353, 360, 361, 493.

Conversation, G. Stephenson's love of, 463, 491.

Conway, tubular bridge at, 450, 451.

Cooper, Sir A., R. Stephenson's interview with, 350.

Cornish engineers, early, 75, 76.

Correspondence, G. Stephenson's, 297, 379, 380.

Crib-work, Victoria Bridge, 479, 480.

Cropper, Isaac, Liverpool, 293, 313, 325.

"Crowdie night," a, 465.

Croydon and Merstham Railroad, 74, 216.

Cubitt, W., evidence of, on Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 272.

Cugnot, N., his road locomotive, 60.

Curr, John, his cast-iron tram-way, 50.

Cuttings-- Olive Mount, 291; Tring, 354; Blisworth, 355; Ambergate, 372; Oakenshaw, 372.

Darlington, railway projected at, 218.

Darwin, Erasmus, his fiery chariot, 53-59.

Davy, Sir H., on Trevithick's steam-carriage, 79; his paper on fire-damp, 179; his safety-lamp, 189; testimonial to, 191; his lamp compared with Stephenson's, 195.

Denman, Lord, 463.

Derby, Earl of, and Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 252, 258, 280.

Dewley Burn Colliery, 107-111.

Direct lines, rage for, 408.

Dixon, John, assists in survey of Stockton and Darlington Railway, 219, 236; resident engineer Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 283.

Dodds, Ralph, Killingworth, 132, 139.

Dutton Viaduct, 366.

East Coast route to Scotland, 426.

Edgeworth, R. L., early speculations on railways, 56, 57.

Eggs, brought to London by rail, _Pref._, xxii.

Egypt, R. Stephenson's tubular bridges in, 475; Suez Canal, 484, 485.

Electric telegraphing on railways, _Pref._, xiii.

Emerson, G. Stephenson's meeting with, 469, 470.

Ericsson's "Novelty," 322-324.

Evans, Oliver, his steam-carriage, 71, 72; his boiler, 77.

Explosions from fire-damp, 175.

Fairbairn, William, C.E., early friendship with G. Stephenson, 124, 125; experiments on iron tubes for R. Stephenson, 446.

Fire-damp, explosions of, 175.

Fish brought to London by rail, _Pref._, xxi.

Fitch, John, American engineer, 71.

Food brought to London by rail, _Pref._, xix.

Forth-Street Works, Newcastle, 232, 396.

Foster, Jonathan, Wylam, 158.

Foundations--of bridge on the Derwent, 372; of High-Level Bridge, Newcastle, 434; of Victoria Bridge, Montreal, 479.

Free Trade, G. Stephenson's notions of, 494, 495.

Friction, G. Stephenson's early experiments in, 202; and gradients, 400.

Frolic, G. Stephenson's love of, 135, 375, 465.

Gauge of railways, 234, 424.

"Geordy" safety-lamp, 175-195.

Gilbert, Davies, and Trevithick, 79, 82, 83.

Giles, Francis, C.E., his evidence against Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill, 273, 275, 289.

Gooch, Thomas, C.E., 277, 295, 328, 330.

Government and railways, 337, 338.

Gradients and friction, 202, 400.

Grand Allies, Killingworth, 135.

Grand Junction Railway, 341, 365.

Grand Trunk Railway, Canada, 476.

Gray, Thomas, and the locomotive, 156, 311.

Great Western Railway, 340, 342, 424.

Greenwich Railway opened as a "show," _Pref._, xv.

Gurney, Goldsworthy, 171, 317.

Hackworth, T., and the steam-blast, 174; his locomotive "Sanspareil," 322, 324, 325, 326.

Half-lap joint, G. Stephenson's, 200.

Harrison, Mr., counsel against Liverpool and Manchester Bill, 265, 272, 276.

Harvey, Mr., engineer, Hayle, 76.

Hedley, William, Wylam, 159, 160, 171.

Henderson, Fanny, G. Stephenson's first wife, 118, 123, 125, 127.

Heppel, Kit, Killingworth, 132, 135.

Hetton Railway constructed by G. Stephenson, 208.

High-Level Bridge, Newcastle, 433.

Hindmarsh, Miss, G. Stephenson's second wife, 214.

Hodgkinson, Professor, his calculations as to strength of iron tubes, 447.

Holyhead, railway to, 438.

Hornblower, Jonathan, 75, 76.

Horticulture, G. Stephenson's experiments in, 460, 461.

Horse traction on railways, 48, 57, 74, 153, 166, 234, 240.

Howick, Lord, his support of atmospheric railways, 427; G. Stephenson's interview with, 428, 429.

Hudson, George, the "Railway King," 407, 411.

Huskisson, Mr., an early advocate of railways, 278, 280; fatal accident to, 331.

Hydraulic press used to lift the tubes at the Britannia Bridge, 456.

Ice-flood at Montreal, 481, 482.

Inclined planes, self-acting, 149, 150, 162.

India, railways in, _Pref._, iv.

Iron bridge building, progress in, 432, 443.

Italian railways, _Pref._, iv.

James, William, surveys Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 248; visit to Killingworth, 250; arrangement with Stephenson and Losh, 251; compelled to relinquish the survey, 253, 254.

James, W. H., his tubular boiler, 317.

Jameson, Professor, Edinburg, 213.

Jessop, William, his cast-iron edge-rail, 51.

Joy, Mr., counsel for Liverpool and Manchester Bill, 265, 268.

Keelmen of the Tyne, 101, 102.

Kent, opposition to railways in, 342.

Killingworth, 126, 129; High Pit, 131; locomotive, 168; underground machinery, 198; visited by Edward Pease, 230; W. James, 250; promoters of Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 257.

Kilmarnock and Troon tram-road, 206.

Kilsby Tunnel, 342, 357-361, 363.

Lambton, Mr. (Earl of Durham), 225.

Lamp, invention of the safety, 175.

Land-slip at Ambergate, 372.

Landlords and railways, 223, 252, 341, 352, 469.

Lardner, Dr., on undulating lines, 400.

Leicester and Swannington Railway, 343.

Leopold, King, G. Stephenson's interviews with, 382, 383, 416.

Lime-works at Ambergate, 394, 395.

Littleborough Tunnel, 368.

Liverpool and Manchester Railway projected, 247; survey by W. James, 249; George Stephenson appointed engineer, 254; virulent opposition, 259, 260; the bill in committee, 265; rejected, 277; renewed application, 278; the bill passed, 280; the railway constructed, 281; discussion as to the power to be employed to work the line, 311; prize offered for the best locomotive, 314; the competition at Rainhill, 322; triumph of the "Rocket," 326; public opening of the railway, 330; its success, 332.

Locke, Joseph, C.E., resident engineer on Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 283.

Locomotive engine gradually perfected, 47; Sir I. Newton's idea, 53; Darwin's, 53-59; Cugnot's, 60-63; James Watt's, 60, 64; William Murdock's model locomotive, 66; William Symington's model, 68-70; Oliver Evans's 71; Richard Trevithick's steam-carriage and first locomotive, 77-82; Blenkinsop's Leeds locomotive, 155; Blackett's Wylam locomotive, 157-161; Stephenson's Killingworth locomotive, 164-170; farther improvements by Stephenson, 201, 202; locomotives constructed for Stockton and Darlington Railway, 235; the "Rocket," 319; farther improvements in locomotives, 335; number of locomotives in the United Kingdom, _Pref._, ix., x.; self-feeding apparatus of, _ib._, xiv.

Locomotive workshops at Newcastle, the Stephensons', 232, 396.

London and Birmingham Railway, 349-364.

London, railways in, opening or the Greenwich line, _Pref._, xv.; magnitude of suburban traffic, _ib._, xvi.; new lines opened, _ib._, xvi.; population increased by, _ib._, xviii.; provisioning of London, _ib._, xix.; coal supply of, _ib._, xxv.

Losh, Mr. Stephenson's partner, 201, 233.

Lough's statue of G. Stephenson, 472.

Mackworth, Sir H., his sailing-wagon, 52.

Mail service by railway, _Pref._, xxvi.

Manchester, railways projected in connection with, 340; and Leeds Railway, 366.

Mania, the railway, 405, 406.

Maps-- of Newcastle district, 98; Stockton and Darlington Railway, 224; Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 250-251; Leicester and Swannington Railway, 343; London and Birmingham Railway, 354; Midland Railway, 370; Straits of Menai, 442.

Mechanics' Institutes, G. Stephenson at meetings of, 397.

Menai, bridge over Straits of, 439.

Merchandise, traffic of London, _Pref._, xxvi.

Merstham tram-road, 74, 217.

Merthyr tram-road, 73; Trevithick's locomotive tried on, 80.

Middlesborough-on-Tees, growth of, 245.

Midland Railway, 370.

Milk brought to London by rail, _Pref._, xxiv.

Miller, Mr., Dalswinton, and steam navigation, 70.

Montreal, Victoria Bridge at, 476.

Moore, Francis, his patent for steam-carriages, 63.

Morecambe Bay, G. Stephenson's proposed line across, 376.

Moss, Chat (see _Chat Moss_).

Multitubular boiler, invention of the, 318.

Murdock, William, his model locomotive, 66; Watt discourages his application to the subject, 67, 77.

Murray, Matthew, and the Leeds locomotive, 155.

Nasmyth's steam-hammer first applied to pile-driving, 434.

Navvies, Railway, 362.

Newcastle-on-Tyne, early history, 97; Literary and Philosophical Institute, 142, 185, 189, 209, 494; Mechanics' Institute, 397; High-Level Bridge, 431.

Newcastle and Berwick Railway, 426.

Newcomen's atmospheric engine, 100.

Neville's tubular boiler, 317, 318.

Newton, Sir I., his idea of steam locomotion, 53.

Nicholson's steam-jet, 82, 171.

Nile, R. Stephenson's tubular bridges over the, 475.

North Midland Railway, 370, 373, 374.

North, Roger, description of early tram-roads, 49.

Northampton, opposition of, to railways, 342.

Northumberland Atmospheric Railway, 427.

"Novelty" locomotive, 323.

Oaks Pit Colliery explosion, 195.

Offices, Stephenson's London, 381, 407.

Old Quay Navigation, Liverpool, 256.

Olive Mount Cutting, 291.

Openings of railways-- Hetton, 209; Stockton and Darlington, 236; Liverpool and Manchester, 330; London and Birmingham, 384; in Midland Counties, 384; East Coast route to Scotland, 426, 437: Britannia Bridge, 458; Trent Valley, 469.

Opposition to railways-- in country districts, 337, 341; at Northampton, 342; in Kent, 342; at Eton, 342; to London and Birmingham, 350.

Organization--of early railways, 330, 333; of modern railways, _Pref._, xi.

Outram's railway, first use of stone blocks, 51.

Parliament and railways, 338, 406, 410.

Parr Moss, railway across, 288.

Passenger-carriage, the first, 240.

Passenger-traffic, beginnings of, _Pref._, vii., xv., 240, 241, 333, 338; of London, _Pref._, xvii.

Pease, Edward, promotes Stockton and Darlington Railway, his character, 222; anticipations concerning railways, 225; intercourse with George Stephenson, 227, 229, 230, 231, 232; assists George Stephenson with capital, 232; faith in the locomotive, 235, 246; letter to Robert Stephenson, 306, 307.

Peel, Sir R., on undulating lines, 409, 410; G. Stephenson's visit to, 467.

Penmaen Mawr, railway under, 439.

Pen-y-darran, Trevithick's locomotive made and tried at, 80-82.

Permanent way, _Pref._, viii., xi., 159, 200.

Peruvian mining, Trevithick's adventures in connection with, 87.

Petherick, J., his description of Trevithick's steam-carriage, 78, 79.

Phillips, Sir Richard, on railroads, 217.

Pile-driving by steam, 434

Pitmen, habits and character of Newcastle, 100, 101.

Plate-ways, 50, 82.

Politics, G. and R. Stephenson's, 494.

Population of London, how influenced by railways, _Pref._, xviii.

Postal service and railways, _Pref._, xxvii.

Potatoes brought to London by rail, _Pref._, xxiii.

Poultry brought to London by rail, _Pref._, xxii.

Primrose Hill Tunnel, 356.

Professional charges, G. Stephenson's, 382.

Provisioning of London, _Pref._, xix.

Pyrenean pastoral, 418.

_Quarterly Review_ on railway speed, 263.

Queen, the, her first use of the railway, 390; opens the High-Level and Royal Border Bridges, 437; visits the Britannia Bridge, 456.

Rails-- stone blocks first used, 48; planks, 48; plates of iron, 50; cast-iron rails, 50; flanched rails, 51; tram-plates at Merthyr, 81; Wylam wagon-way, 153; rack-rail, 156, 157, 159, 160; heavier cast-iron rails used, 160; roughly laid, 200; Stephenson's half-lap joint, 200; Stephenson recommends wrought-iron rails, 233; temporary rails in constructing roads, 284; Vignolles's and Ericsson's central friction, 311; strained by high speed, 399.

Railway locomotive (see _Locomotive_).

Railway king, the, 407, 411.

Railway speed (see _Speed_).

Railway speculation and mania, 374, 401-405.

Railways, length of, constructed, _Pref._, iii.; in India, _ib._, iv.; in United States, _ib._, vi.; carrying stock of, _ib._, ix.; effects of, _ib._, xv.; in London, _ib._, xv.; number of workmen employed on, _ib._, xxviii.

Railways constructed and opened-- Cardiff and Merthyr, 73; Sirhowy, 73; Wandsworth, Croydon, and Merstham, 73, 74; Wylam, 160; Kilmarnock and Troon, 206; Hetton, 207; Stockton and Darlington, 224; Liverpool and Manchester, 247; Canterbury and Whitstable, 339; Grand Junction, 340, 365; Leicester and Swannington, 343; London and Birmingham, 349; Manchester and Leeds, 366; Midland, 370; in Belgium, 382; Chester and Birkenhead, 402; Newcastle and Darlington, 412; Newcastle and Berwick, 414, 426; Royal North of Spain, 417; Chester and Holyhead, 438; Trent Valley Railway, 469; Grand Trunk, Lower Canada, 476.

Rainhill, locomotive contest at, 322.

Ramsbottom's locomotive self-feeding apparatus, _Pref._, xiv.

Rastrick, Mr., C.E., 153, 312, 315.

Ravensworth, Lord, 135, 192.

Rennie, John, C.E., 220, 221; Messrs. Rennie and Liverpool and Manchester line, 279, 281.

Residential area of London, enlarged by railways, _Pref._, xvii.

Richardson, Thomas, Lombard Street, 230, 232, 266, 267, 307.

Road locomotion-- Stevin's sailing-coach, 52; Mackworth's and Edgeworth's sailing-wagons, 52, 53, 57; Cugnot's road locomotive, 61; Murdock's model, 66; Symington's steam-carriage, 68; Oliver Evans's locomotive, 71, 72; Trevithick's steam-carriage, 77; G. Stephenson's views of locomotion on common roads, 202-205; House of Commons report in favor of, 338.

Robins at Alton Grange, anecdote of, 381.

"Rocket" locomotive, the, 319-328.

Roscoe, Mr., his farm on Chat Moss, 282, 283.

Ross, A. M., joint engineer of Victoria Bridge, Montreal, 477.

Royal Border Bridge, Berwick, 429.

Safety-lamp-- Dr. Clanny's, 179; George Stephenson's first lamp, 180; second and third lamps, 186; Sir H. Davy's paper on fire-damp, 179; his lamp, 187; dates when lamps produced, 188; controversy Davy _v._ Stephenson, 187; comparative merits of lamps, 195.

Safety of railway traveling, _Pref._, x.

Sailing-coaches and wagons, 52, 53, 57.

Saint Fond on colliery wagon-roads, 49.

Saint Lawrence River, Victoria Bridge across, 476-484.

Sandars, Mr., Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 248, 253, 254, 255, 262, 263, 297, 313.

Sankey Viaduct, 292, 293.

"Sanspareil" locomotive, Hackworth's, 324, 325.

Scarborough, railway to, 374.

Screw-propeller patented by Trevithick, 86.

Seguin, M., his tubular boiler, 317, 318.

Self-feeding apparatus of boilers, _Pref._, xiv.

Sheep carried to London by rail, _Pref._, xxi.

Sibthorp, Col., on railways, 341, 390, 391.

Signaling of railway trains, _Pref._, xi.

Simplon, Midland Railway compared with road over the, 371.

Sirhowy Railroad, 73.

Snibston, George Stephenson's sinking for coal at, 344.

Sopwith, Mr., F.R.S., 416, 467.

South Devon atmospheric railway, 428.

Spain, George Stephenson's visit to, 418.

Spankie, Mr. Sergeant, counsel for Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill, 271.

Speculation in railways, 374, 401; G. Stephenson on, 406, 407; R. Stephenson and, 425.

Speed, railway, _Pref._, viii.; on Liverpool and Manchester line, 332; George Stephenson on, 398, 399.

Spur-gear, George Stephenson's, 164, 165.

Stage-coach traveling, _Pref._, vii., 337, 387, 389.

Statues of George Stephenson, 472.

Steam-blast, invention of the, 168, 170; rival claims, 170, 171; of the "Rocket," 320.

Steam-boat, the first working, 70.

Stephenson family, the-- Robert and Mabel, George's father and mother, 103-105; brothers and sisters, 111, 112; old Robert, 123; maintained by his son George, 129.

Stephenson, George, birth and birthplace, 103, 104; his parents, 105; boyhood, 107-110; fireman and engine-man, 109-113; learns to read, 114; learns to brake, 116, 117; makes and mends shoes and "falls in love," 118; thrashes a bully, 119, 120; self-improvement, 121; removes to Willington, 122; marries Fanny Henderson, 123; studies mechanics, perpetual motion, 124; cleans clocks, 125; birth of only son and removal to Killingworth, 126; death of his wife, 127; goes to Scotland, his pump boot, 128; returns to Killingworth, _ibid._; brakesman at West Moor pit, 129; joins in a brakeing contract, 130, 131; cures a pumping-engine, 132-134; appointed engine-wright, 135; education of his son, 139-141; his cottage at West Moor, 146; the sun-dial, 148, 149; studies the locomotive, 151, 161-163; his first traveling-engine, 163-170; invents his safety-lamp, 179-186; improves underground machinery at Killingworth, 198; patent for improved rails and chairs, 200, 201; experiments on friction, 202; constructs Hetton Railroad, 208; marries Elizabeth Hindmarsh, 214; appointed engineer of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 228, 229; commences locomotive factory at Newcastle, 232; supplies locomotives to Stockton and Darlington Railway, 235; appointed engineer to Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 254; obstructions to the survey, 259, 260; his evidence in committee, 266; bill rejected, 277; reappointed engineer, 281; construction of Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 282-295; battle of the locomotive, 310-315; triumph of the "Rocket" at Rainhill, 319-328; organization of the railway traffic, 333; improvements of the locomotive, 335; the self-acting brake, 334, 398; leases the Snibston estate, 344; engineer of Manchester and Leeds Railway, 366; engineer of North Midland, 371; of York and North Midland, 373; quickness of observation, 375; proposed line across Morecambe Bay, 376; immense labors, 377; extensive correspondence, 379, 380; London office, 381; visits to Belgium, 382, 383; leases Claycross estate and colliery, 394; on railway speculation, 406, 407; third visit to Belgium, 415; visit to Spain, 417; interview with Lord Howick, 428, 429; life in retirement at Tapton, 460; visit to Sir Robert Peel, 467; theory about sun's light, 468; illness and death, 470; statues of, 472; characteristics, 487-492.

Stephenson, Robert, his birth, 126; boyhood and education, 140-143; boyish tricks, 143, 144; scientific amusements, 145; teaches algebra, 148; joint production with his father of a sun-dial, 148, 149; assists his father in safety-lamp experiments, 181, 184; Newcastle Institute, 209; apprenticed as coal-viewer, 209; coal-pit explosion, narrow escape, joint studies with his father, 210; sent to Edinburg University, 211; his notes of lectures, 212; life in Edinburg, 213; geological excursion in the Highlands, return to Killingworth, 213, 214; assists Mr. James in survey of Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 252; makes drawings for engines, 301; engages with Colombian Mining Association, and residence in South America, 301-306; resigns his situation, 306; meeting with Trevithick at Cartagena, 308; shipwreck, 308; tour in the United States, and return home, 309; cooperates with his father in the locomotive competition, 315; builds the "Rocket," 319; engineer of Leicester and Swannington Railway, 343; engineer of London and Birmingham Railway, 349; marriage to Miss Sanderson, 353; report on atmospheric system, 404; succeeds his father generally as engineer, 421; his extensive practice, 422, 423; his caution, 425, 448, 456; engineer of High-Level Bridge, Newcastle, 431; engineer of Chester and Holyhead Railway, 438; designs the first iron tubular bridge, 444; opens the Britannia Bridge, 457; designs tubular bridges over the Nile, 475; designs the Victoria Tubular Bridge, Lower Canada, 477; member of House of Commons, 484; honors, 485; present at launch of "Great Eastern," 486; illness and death, 487; characteristics, 492-494.

Stevin's sailing-coach, 52.

Stockton and Darlington Railway projected and surveyed, 222; Edward Pease, promoter, 222; act obtained, 224; George Stephenson resurveys and constructs line, 228, 229; line opened, 236; coal-traffic, 239; first passenger-traffic, 240, 241; growth of Middlesborough, 245.

Straits of Menai, bridge over, 441.

Strathmore, Earl of, 135, 192.

Suez Canal, Robert Stephenson's opinion of, 484, 485.

Summers and Ogle's tubular boiler, 317.

Sun-dial at Killingworth, 148, 149, 396.

Sun's light and coal formation, G. Stephenson's ideas on, 468, 491.

Sunshine, effect of, on tubes of Britannia Bridge, 458.

Superheated steam, Trevithick's use of, 91.

Swanwick, Frederick, G. Stephenson's secretary, 297, 299, 315.

Sylvester, Mr., on maximum speed, 264.

Symington, William, his working model of a road locomotive, 68; co-operation with Miller of Dalswinton in applying power to boats, 70; his misfortunes and death, 70.

Tapton House, George Stephenson's residence at, 392, 395, 460.

Telegraph signaling on railways, _Pref._, xiii.

Thames Tunnel begun by Trevithick, 85, 86.

Thirlwall, William, engineer, 108.

Thomas, Mr., of Denton, on railways, 73.

Traffic, passenger, beginnings of, _Pref._, vi., xv., 240, 241, 333, 385, 388; cattle, _Pref._, xx.; coal, _ib._, xxv., 153, 161, 386, 392; food, _Pref._, xix.; merchandise, _ib._, xxvi.; poultry, etc., _ib._, xxii.; postal, _ib._, xxvi.

Train service of London, _Pref._, xvii.

Tram-ways, early, 48, 49, 73, 106, 152.

Trevithick, Richard, birth and education, 74; engineering ability in youth, 75; partner with Andrew Vivian at Camborne, 76; his improved engine and boiler, 77; his steam-carriage for roads, 77-79; carriage exhibited in London, 79, 80; constructs the first railway locomotive, 80; dredges the Thames by steam-power, 83; his high-pressure engines and new patents, 83, 84; partly constructs a Thames tunnel, 85, 86; returns to Camborne, new patents, 86; his tubular boiler, engines for Peru, 86, 87; goes to Lima, received with honors, 88; civil war and ruin, 89; meets Robert Stephenson at Cartagena, 90; shipwreck and return to England, 91; new inventions, his last days and death in poverty, 92, 93; his character, his important inventions, _ibid._; his locomotive, 152, 153, 170, 317.

Tring Cutting, 354.

Trinity Church, Chesterfield, G. Stephenson's burial-place, 471.

"Tubbing" in coal-pits, 344.

Tubes, floating of, at Conway, 451, 452; at Menai Strait, 452; lifting of the, 455; erection of, at Victoria Bridge, Montreal, 480.

Tubular boilers by various inventors, 317.

Tubular bridges-- over Menai Straits, 443; at Conway, 451, 452; at Damietta and Benha, Lower Egypt, 475; at Montreal, 480.

Tunnels-- at Liverpool, 290; at Primrose Hill, 356; at Kilsby, 357; at Littleborough, 368.

Turner, Rev. William, Newcastle, 185.

Undulating Railways, theory of, 400.

United States, railways in, _Pref._, v.

Uvillé, M., and Trevithick, 87-89.

Vegetables carried to London by rail, _Pref._, xxiii.

Viaducts-- Sankey, 292; Dutton, 366; Berwick, 430; Newcastle, 431.

Victoria Bridge, Montreal, 477.

Vignolles, Charles, C.E., 279, 291, 311.

Vivian, Andrew, Trevithick's partner, 76.

Walker, James, C.E., report on fixed and locomotive engines, 312.

Wallsend, 97.

Walmsley, Sir Joshua, 418, 419.

Waters, Mr., Gateshead, 158.

Watt, James, his model locomotive, 60; his scheme of 1784, 64, 65; discourages application of steam to locomotion, 67.

"Way-leave" tram-ways, 49.

Wellington, Duke of, and railways, 330-332, 390.

West Moor Colliery, 177, 214.

Wharncliffe, Lord, and George Stephenson, 135, 367.

Wheat carried to London by rail, _Pref._, xx.

Whinfield, Mr., Gateshead, 154.

Wigham, John, G. Stephenson's teacher, 138.

Williams, Mr. Scorrier, his gratitude to Trevithick, 77.

Willington Quay, G. Stephenson at, 122.

Wind, power of, employed in locomotion, 52, 57.

Wood, Nicholas, testimony concerning Stephenson's invention of the steam-blast, 171-173; makes drawing for Stephenson's safety-lamp, 180; assists in experiments, 180, 185, 189, 196, 198; in colliery explosions, 210; on the locomotive, 262, 314, 315.

Woolf, Cornish engineer, 84, 317.

Workmen, railway, _Pref._, xxviii., 336, 362.

Wylam Colliery and village, 102-104; wagon-way, 153.

York and North Midland Railway, 373, 374; public opening of, 384.

Young, Arthur, on early tram-ways, 49.

THE END.

BOOKS OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE

PUBLISHED BY

HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.

HARPER & BROTHERS will send any of the following Works by mail, postage free, to any part of the United States, on receipt of the Price.

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* * * * *

=Livingstone's Zambesi.= Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries; and of the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864. By DAVID and CHARLES LIVINGSTONE. With Map and Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.

=Dr. Livingstone's South Africa.= Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa; including a Sketch of Sixteen Years' Residence in the Interior of Africa, and a Journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Loando on the West Coast; thence across the Continent, down the River Zambesi, to the Eastern Ocean. By DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D., D.C.L. With Portrait, Maps by Arrowsmith, and numerous Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $4 50.

=Social Life of the Chinese=: With some Account of their Religious Governmental, and Business Customs and Opinions. With special but not exclusive reference to Fuhchau. By Rev. JUSTUS DOOLITTLE, Fourteen Years Member of the American Board. With over 150 Illustrations. In Two Volumes. 12mo, Cloth. Beveled Edges, $5 00

=The Story of the Great March=: Diary of General Sherman's Campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas. By Brevet Major GEORGE WARD NICHOLS, Aid-de-Camp to General Sherman. With a Map and numerous Illustrations, and an Appendix, containing Official Reports by Major-General Sherman, Quarter-master and Commissary Reports, &c. Twenty-second Edition. 12mo, Cloth, Beveled Edges, $2 00.

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=Vámbéry's Central Asia.= Travels in Central Asia. Being the Account of a Journey from Teheran across the Turkoman Desert, on the Eastern Shore of the Caspian, to Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarcand, performed in the Year 1863. By ARMINIUS VÁMBÉRY. With Map and Woodcuts. 8vo, Cloth, $4 50.

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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Bold text is denoted by =equals signs=. The oe and OE ligatures have been replaced by 'oe' and 'OE'.

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

Except for those changes noted below, misspelling by the author, inconsistent or archaic usage, has been retained. For example, chainman, chain-man; lifetime, life-time; mail train, mail-train; wrought iron, wrought-iron; 'savans' retained (archaic form of 'savants').

p. ix 'Kingdon' changed to 'Kingdom'. p. 97 'Frith' changed to 'Firth'. p. 115 "Robin Cowen's" changed to "Robin Cowens's". p. 135 'and, and Mr.' changed to 'and Mr.' p. 184 'o' with macron replaced by 'o' in 'hydrogen,'. p. 208 'compararatively' changed to 'comparatively'. p. 212 'Frith' changed to 'Firth'. p. 220 'Frith' changed to 'Firth'. p. 239 'orginal' changed to 'original'. p. 330 'cenveniently' changed to 'conveniently'. p. 410 'tisue' changed to 'tissue'. p. 416 'enconiums' changed to 'encomiums'. p. 445 'cleet' changed to 'cleat'. Index entry: 'Egypt' page '507' changed to '475'.