Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 13).djvu/103

 lars, beginning to build a rail road from Baltimore to the Potomac Valley, up the valley to Cumberland, and across the mountains to the Ohio River. It was evident at the start that the rivalry would be tremendously bitter; that the two companies would give rise to factions which would harm and decry each other in every way possible. The canal idea was, comparatively, very new, and the Erie Canal being successfully prosecuted from the Hudson to the Lakes had created immense enthusiasm. On the other hand the rail road was almost an untried novelty; on such roads as were in operation in England and America horse power was the only power to be relied upon; sails were in use but were not successful under many circumstances. The steam engine had not been successfully adapted as yet; the roadbeds were far more costly than even the most expensive macadamized roads; there was still a question whether the mountains could be spanned by this method of transportation, and whether, even if the locomotive could be utilized on a straight track, it could ever be useful on a curved track!