Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 13).djvu/129

 Brighter days were now dawning for the road. The past six years had been a time of trials, drawbacks, and discouragements. The contest for a right of way to Harper's Ferry had been exasperating and had at last been won only by agreeing to limit the extension of the road to that point. There were other difficulties to be overcome before the new company could claim the genuine confidence of the public. All features of the road, excepting the road-bed alone, were experiments—rails, sleepers (ties), and cars. The road was opened May 22, 1830, and soon the public had passed a favorable verdict on the enterprise. In this day we would call the affair a horsecar railway. The only difference between this and other ordinary roads was the fact that the coach wheels ran on rails, being held in position by means of flanges. The coaches used were almost precisely like those on an ordinary pike, but were mounted on four light cast-iron wheels. Among roads—dirt, macadamized, plank, and corduroy—this road with rails was "the latest." As to its general practicability there was much discussion. What grades