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Rh of the railway was one of the epoch-making events in our national history; "I consider this among the most important acts of my life," affirmed the venerable Charles Carroll, the Maryland commissioner for the railway, "second only to my signing the Declaration of Independence, if even it be second to that."

For a number of years the Baltimore and Ohio Railway—the heir and assign of Braddock's Road and the famed Cumberland Road—was the great avenue of western movement and progress. But brain and muscle, even genius, cannot make two miles one mile. The shortest route across the continent was, inevitably, to become the important highway. It must be remembered that in the early days Philadelphia was the metropolis of America, and Baltimore its chief rival. As long as these cities held the balance of power and trade, a southerly route to Pittsburg, such as that of Braddock's Road, then the Cumberland Road and, finally, the Baltimore and Ohio Railway would be successful. But with