STEAM-LOCOMOTION ON RAILROADS. 179
the importance of applying the steam-engine to land-trans-
portation as well as to navigation; and not only that, but
he saw with equal distinctness the importance of a well-
devised and carefully-prosecuted scheme of internal com-
munication by a complete system of railroads. In 1812 he
published a pamphlet containing "Documents tending to
prove the superior advantages of Railways and Steam-Car-
riages over Canal-Navigation."[1] At this time, the only
locomotive in the world was that of Trevithick and Vivian,
at Merthyr Tydvil, and the railroad itself had not grown
beyond the old wooden tram-roads of the collieries. Yet
Colonel Stevens says, in this paper: "I can see nothing to
hinder a steam-carriage moving on its ways with a velocity
of 100 miles an hour;" adding, in a foot-note: "This as-
tonishing velocity is considered here merely possible. It is
probable that it may not, in practise, be convenient to ex-
ceed 20 or 30 miles per hour. Actual experiment can only
determine this matter, and I should not be surprised at
seeing steam-carriages propelled at the rate of 40 or 50
miles an hour."
At a yet earlier date he had addressed a memoir to the proper authorities, urging his plans for railroads. He proposed rails of timber, protected, when necessary, by iron plates, or to be made wholly of iron; the car-wheels were to be of cast-iron, with inside flanges to keep them on the track. The steam-engine was to be driven by steam of 50 pounds pressure and upward, and to be non-condensing.
Answering the objections of Robert R. Livingston and of the State Commissioners of New York, he goes further into details. He gives 500 to 1,000 pounds as the maximum weight to be placed on each wheel; shows that the trains, or "suits of carriages," as he calls them, will make their jour- neys with as much certainty and celerity in the darkest night as in the light of day; shows that the grades of proposed
- ↑ Printed by T. & J. Swords, 160 Pearl Street, New York, 1812.
