[Picture: Olive Mount Cutting]

The Olive Mount cutting was the first extensive stone cutting executed on
any railway, and to this day it is one of the most formidable.  It is
about two miles long, and in some parts 80 feet deep.  It is a narrow
ravine or defile cut out of the solid rock; and not less than 480,000
cubic yards of stone were removed from it.  Mr. Vignolles, afterwards
describing it, said it looked as if it had been dug out by giants.

The crossing of so many roads and streams involved the necessity for
constructing an unusual number of bridges.  There were not fewer than 63,
under or over the railway, on the 30 miles between Liverpool and
Manchester.  Up to this time, bridges had been applied generally to high
roads where inclined approaches were of comparatively small importance,
and in determining the rise of his arch the engineer selected any headway
he thought proper.  Every consideration was indeed made subsidiary to
constructing the bridge itself, and the completion of one large structure
of this sort was regarded as an epoch in engineering history.  Yet here,
in the course of a few years, no fewer than 63 bridges were constructed
on one line of railway!  Mr. Stephenson early found that the ordinary
arch was inapplicable in certain cases, where the headway was limited,
and yet the level of the railway must be preserved.  In such cases he
employed simple cast-iron beams, by which he safely bridged gaps of
moderate width, economizing headway, and introducing the use of a new
material of the greatest possible value to the railway engineer.  The
bridges of masonry upon the line were of many kinds; several of them
askew bridges, and others, such as those at Newton and over the Irwell at
Manchester, straight and of considerable dimensions; but the principal
piece of masonry was the Sankey viaduct.

                        [Picture: Sankey Viaduct]

This fine work is principally of brick, with stone facings.  It consists
of nine arches of fifty feet span each.  The massive piers are supported
on two hundred piles driven deep into the soil; and they rise to a great
height,--the coping of the parapet being seventy feet above the level of
the valley, in which flow the Sankey brook and canal.  Its total cost was
about 45,000 pounds.

By the end of 1828 the directors found they had expended 460,000 pounds
on the works, and that they were still far from completion.  They looked
at the loss of interest on this large investment, and began to grumble at
the delay.  They desired to see their capital becoming productive; and in
the spring of 1829 they urged the engineer to push on the works with
increased vigour.  Mr. Cropper, one of the directors, who took an active
interest in their progress, said to Stephenson one day, "Now, George,
thou must get on with the railway, and have it finished without further
delay; thou must really have it ready for opening by the first day of
January next."  "Consider the heavy character of the works, sir, and how
much we have been delayed by the want of money, not to speak of the
wetness of the weather: it is impossible."  "Impossible!" rejoined
Cropper; "I wish I could get Napoleon to thee--he would tell thee there
is no such word as 'impossible' in the vocabulary."  "Tush!" exclaimed
Stephenson, with warmth; "don't speak to me about Napoleon!  Give me men,
money, and materials, and I will do what Napoleon couldn't do--drive a
railway from Liverpool to Manchester over Chat Moss!"

The works made rapid progress in the course of the year 1829.  Double
sets of labourers were employed on Chat Moss and at other points, by
night and day, the night shifts working by torch and fire light; and at
length, the work advancing at all points, the directors saw their way to
the satisfactory completion of the undertaking.

It may well be supposed that Mr. Stephenson's time was fully occupied in
superintending the extensive, and for the most part novel works,
connected with the railway, and that even his extraordinary powers of
labour and endurance were taxed to the utmost during the four years that
they were in progress.  Almost every detail in the plans was directed and
arranged by himself.  Every bridge, from the simplest to the most
complicated, including the then novel structure of the "skew bridge,"
iron girders, siphons, fixed engines, and the machinery for working the
tunnel at the Liverpool end, had to be thought out by his own head, and
reduced to definite plans under his own eyes.  Besides all this, he had
to design the working plant in anticipation of the opening of the
railway.  He must be prepared with waggons, trucks, and carriages,
himself superintending their manufacture.  The permanent road,
turntables, switches, and crossings,--in short, the entire structure and
machinery of the line, from the turning of the first sod to the running
of the first train of carriages upon the railway,--were executed under
his immediate supervision.  And it was in the midst of this vast
accumulation of work and responsibility that the battle of the locomotive
engine had to be fought,--a battle, not merely against material
difficulties, but against the still more trying obstructions of
deeply-rooted mistrust and prejudice on the part of a considerable
minority of the directors.

He had no staff of experienced assistants,--not even a staff of
draughtsmen in his office,--but only a few pupils learning their
business; and he was frequently without even their help.  The time of his
engineering inspectors was fully occupied in the actual superintendence
of the works at different parts of the line; and he took care to direct
all their more important operations in person.  The principal draughtsman
was Mr. Thomas Gooch, a pupil he had brought with him from Newcastle.  "I
may say," writes Mr. Gooch, "that nearly the whole of the working and
other drawings, as well as the various land-plans for the railway, were
drawn by my own hand.  They were done at the Company's office in Clayton
Square during the day, from instructions supplied in the evenings by Mr.
Stephenson, either by word of mouth, or by little rough hand-sketches on
letter-paper.  The evenings were also generally devoted to my duties as
secretary, in writing (mostly from his own dictation) his letters and
reports, or in making calculations and estimates.  The mornings before
breakfast were not unfrequently spent by me in visiting and lending a
helping hand in the tunnel and other works near Liverpool,--the untiring
zeal and perseverance of George Stephenson never for an instant flagging
and inspiring with a like enthusiasm all who were engaged under him in
carrying forward the works." {189}

The usual routine of his life at this time--if routine it might be
called--was, to rise early, by sunrise in summer and before it in winter,
and thus "break the back of the day's work" by mid-day.  While the tunnel
under Liverpool was in progress, one of his first duties in a morning
before breakfast was to go over the various shafts, clothed in a suitable
dress, and inspect their progress at different points; on other days he
would visit the extensive workshops at Edgehill, where most of the
"plant" for the line was in course of manufacture.  Then, returning to
his house, in Upper Parliament Street, Windsor, after a hurried
breakfast, he would ride along the works to inspect their progress, and
push them on with greater energy where needful.  On other days he would
prepare for the much less congenial engagement of meeting the Board,
which was often a cause of great anxiety and pain to him; for it was
difficult to satisfy men of all tempers, and some of these not of the
most generous sort.  On such occasions he might be seen with his
right-hand thumb thrust through the topmost button-hole of his
coat-breast, vehemently hitching his right shoulder, as was his habit
when labouring under any considerable excitement.  Occasionally he would
take an early ride before breakfast, to inspect the progress of the
Sankey viaduct.  He had a favourite horse, brought by him from Newcastle,
called "Bobby,"--so tractable that, with his rider on his back, he would
walk up to a locomotive with the steam blowing off, and put his nose
against it without shying.  "Bobby," saddled and bridled, was brought to
Mr. Stephenson's door betimes in the morning; and mounting him, he would
ride the fifteen miles to Sankey, putting up at a little public house
which then stood upon the banks of the canal.  There he had his breakfast
of "crowdie," which he made with his own hands.  It consisted of oatmeal
stirred into a basin of hot water,--a sort of porridge,--which was supped
with cold sweet milk.  After this frugal breakfast, he would go upon the
works, and remain there, riding from point to point for the greater part
of the day.  When he returned before mid-day, he examined the pay-sheets
in the different departments, sent in by the assistant engineers, or by
the foremen of the workshops.  To all these he gave his most careful
personal attention, requiring when necessary a full explanation of the
items.

After a late dinner, which occupied very short time and was always of a
plain and frugal description, he disposed of his correspondence, or
prepared sketches of drawings, and gave instructions as to their
completion.  He would occasionally refresh himself for this evening work
by a short doze, which, however, he would never admit had exceeded the
limits of "winking," to use his own term.  Mr. Frederick Swanwick, who
officiated as his secretary, after the appointment of Mr. Gooch as
Resident Engineer to the Bolton and Leigh Railway, has informed us that
he then remarked--what in after years he could better appreciate--the
clear, terse, and vigorous style of Mr. Stephenson's dictation.  There
was nothing superfluous in it; but it was close, direct, and to the
point,--in short, thoroughly businesslike.  And if, in passing through
the pen of the amanuensis, his meaning happened in any way to be
distorted or modified, it did not fail to escape his detection, though he
was always tolerant of any liberties taken with his own form of
expression, so long as the words written down conveyed his real meaning.

His letters and reports written, and his sketches of drawings made and
explained, the remainder of the evening was usually devoted to
conversation with his wife and those of his pupils who lived under his
roof, and constituted, as it were, part of the family.  He then delighted
to test the knowledge of his young companions, and to question them upon
the principles of mechanics.  If they were not quite "up to the mark" on
any point, there was no escaping detection by evasive or specious
explanations.  These always brought out the verdict, "Ah! you know nought
about it now; but think it over again, and tell me when you understand
it."  If there were even partial success in the reply, it was at once
acknowledged, and a full explanation given, to which the master would add
illustrative examples for the purpose of impressing the principle more
deeply upon the pupil's mind.

It was not so much his object and purpose to "cram" the minds of the
young men committed to his charge with the _results_ of knowledge, as to
stimulate them to educate themselves--to induce them to develop their
mental and moral powers by the exercise of their own free energies, and
thus acquire that habit of self-thinking and self-reliance which is the
spring of all true manly action.  In a word, he sought to bring out and
invigorate the _character_ of his pupils.  He felt that he himself had
been made stronger and better through his encounters with difficulty; and
he would not have the road of knowledge made too smooth and easy for
them.  "Learn for yourselves,--think for yourselves," he would
say:--"make yourselves masters of principles,--persevere,--be
industrious,--and there is then no fear of you."  And not the least
emphatic proof of the soundness of this system of education, as conducted
by Mr. Stephenson, was afforded by the after history of these pupils
themselves.  There was not one of those trained under his eye who did not
rise to eminent usefulness and distinction as an engineer.  He sent them
forth into the world braced with the spirit of manly self-help--inspired
by his own noble example; and they repeated in their after career the
lessons of earnest effort and persistent industry which his daily life
had taught them.

Stephenson's evenings at home were not, however, exclusively devoted
either to business or to the graver exercises above referred to.  He
would often indulge in cheerful conversation and anecdote, falling back
from time to time upon the struggles and difficulties of his early life.
The not unfrequent winding up of his story addressed to the young men
about him, was, "Ah! ye young fellows don't know what _wark_ is in these
days!"  Mr. Swanwick takes pleasure in recalling to mind how seldom, if
ever, a cross or captious word, or an angry look, marred the enjoyment of
those evenings.  The presence of Mrs. Stephenson gave them an additional
charm: amiable, kind-hearted, and intelligent, she shared quietly in the
pleasure of the party; and the atmosphere of comfort which always
pervaded her home contributed in no small degree to render it a centre of
cheerful, hopeful intercourse, and of earnest, honest industry.  She was
a wife who well deserved, what she through life retained, the strong and
unremitting affection of her husband.

When Mr. Stephenson retired for the night, it was not always that he
permitted himself to sink into slumber.  Like Brindley, he worked out
many a difficult problem in bed; and for hours he would turn over in his
mind and study how to overcome some obstacle, or to mature some project,
on which his thoughts were bent.  Some remark inadvertently dropped by
him at the breakfast-table in the morning, served to show that he had
been stealing some hours from the past night in reflection and study.
Yet he would rise at his accustomed early hour, and there was no
abatement of his usual energy in carrying on the business of the day.




CHAPTER XI.
ROBERT STEPHENSON'S RESIDENCE IN COLOMBIA, AND RETURN--THE BATTLE OF THE
LOCOMOTIVE--"THE ROCKET."


We return to the career of Robert Stephenson, who had been absent from
England during the construction of the Liverpool railway, but was shortly
about to join his father and take part in "the battle of the locomotive,"
which was now impending.

On his return from Edinburgh College in the summer of 1823, he had
assisted in the survey of the Stockton and Darlington line; and when the
Locomotive Engine Works were started in Forth Street, Newcastle, he took
an active part in that concern.  "The factory," he says, "was in active
operation early in 1824; I left England for Colombia in June of that
year, having finished drawing the designs of the Brusselton stationary
engines for the Stockton and Darlington Railway before I left." {193}

Speculation was very rife at the time; and amongst the most promising
adventures were the companies organised for the purpose of working the
gold and silver mines of South America.  Great difficulty was experienced
in finding mining engineers capable of carrying out those projects, and
young men of even the most moderate experience were eagerly sought after.
The Columbian Mining Association of London offered an engagement to young
Stephenson, to go out to Mariquita and take charge of the engineering
operations of that company.  Robert was himself desirous of accepting it,
but his father said it would first be necessary to ascertain whether the
proposed change would be for his good.  His health had been very delicate
for some time, partly occasioned by his rapid growth, but principally
because of his close application to work and study.  Father and son
together called upon Dr. Headlam, the eminent physician of Newcastle, to
consult him on the subject.  During the examination which ensued, Robert
afterwards used to say that he felt as if he were upon trial for life or
death.  To his great relief, the doctor pronounced that a temporary
residence in a warm climate was the very thing likely to be most
beneficial to him.  The appointment was accordingly accepted, and, before
many weeks had passed, Robert Stephenson set sail for South America.

After a tolerably prosperous voyage he landed at La Guayra, on the north
coast of Venezuela, on the 23rd July, from thence proceeding to Caraccas,
the capital of the district, about 15 miles inland.  There he remained
for two months, unable to proceed in consequence of the wretched state of
the roads in the interior.  He contrived, however, to make occasional
excursions in the neighbourhood, with an eye to the mining business on
which he had come.  About the beginning of October he set out for Bogota,
the capital of Columbia or New Granada.  The distance was about 1200
miles, through a very difficult region, and it was performed entirely
upon mule-back after the fashion of the country.

In the course of the journey Robert visited many of the districts
reported to be rich in minerals, but he met with few traces except of
copper, iron, and coal, with occasional indications of gold and silver.
He found the people ready to furnish information, which, however, when
tested, usually proved worthless.  A guide whom he employed for weeks,
kept him buoyed up with the hope of richer mining quarters than he had
yet seen; but when he professed to be able to show him mines of "brass,
steel, alcohol, and pinchbeck," Stephenson discovered him to be an
incorrigible rogue, and immediately dismissed him.  At length our
traveller reached Bogota, and after an interview with Mr. Illingworth,
the commercial manager of the mining Company, he proceeded to Honda,
crossed the Magdalena, and shortly after reached the site of his intended
operations on the eastern slopes of the Andes.

Mr. Stephenson used afterwards to speak in glowing terms of this his
first mule-journey in South America.  Everything was entirely new to him.
The variety and beauty of the indigenous plants, the luxurious tropical
vegetation, the appearance, manners, and dress of the people, and the
mode of travelling, were altogether different from everything he had
before seen.  His own travelling garb also must have been strange even to
himself.  "My hat," he says, "was of plaited grass, with a crown nine
inches in height, surrounded by a brim of six inches; a white cotton
suit; and a _ruana_ of blue and crimson plaid, with a hole in the centre
for the head to pass through.  This cloak is admirably adapted for the
purpose, amply covering the rider and mule, and at night answering the
purpose of a blanket in the net-hammock, which is made from fibres of the
aloe, and which every traveller carries before him on his mule, and
suspends to the trees or in houses, as occasion may require."  The part
of the journey which seems to have made the most lasting impression on
his mind was that between Bogota and the mining district in the
neighbourhood of Mariquita.  As he ascended the slopes of the
mountain-range, and reached the first step of the table-land, he was
struck beyond expression with the noble view of the valley of the
Magdalena behind him, so vast that he failed in attempting to define the
point at which the course of the river blended with the horizon.  Like
all travellers in the district, he noted the remarkable changes of
climate and vegetation, as he rose from the burning plains towards the
fresh breath of the mountains.  From an atmosphere as hot as that of an
oven he passed into delicious cool air; until, in his onward and upward
journey, a still more temperate region was reached, the very perfection
of climate.  Before him rose the majestic Cordilleras, forming a rampart
against the western skies, at certain times of the day looking black,
sharp, and, at their summit, almost as even as a wall.

Our engineer took up his abode for a time at Mariquita, a fine old city,
though then greatly decayed.  During the period of the Spanish dominion,
it was an important place, most of the gold and silver convoys passing
through it on their way to Cartagena, there to be shipped in galleons for
Europe.  The mountainous country to the west was rich in silver, gold,
and other metals, and it was Mr. Stephenson's object to select the best
site for commencing operations for the Company.  With this object he
"prospected" about in all directions, visiting long-abandoned mines, and
analysing specimens obtained from many quarters.  The mines eventually
fixed upon as the scene of his operations were those of La Manta and
Santa Anna, long before worked by the Spaniards, though, in consequence
of the luxuriance and rapidity of the vegetation, all traces of the old
workings had become completely overgrown and lost.  Everything had to be
begun anew.  Roads had to be cut to the mines, machinery to be erected,
and the ground opened up, in course of which some of the old adits were
hit upon.  The native peons or labourers were not accustomed to work, and
at first they usually contrived to desert when they were not watched, so
that very little progress could be made until the arrival of the expected
band of miners from England.  The authorities were by no means helpful,
and the engineer was driven to an old expedient with the object of
overcoming this difficulty.  "We endeavour all we can," he says, in one
of his letters, "to make ourselves popular, and this we find most
effectually accomplished by 'regaling the venal beasts.'" {196}  He also
gave a ball at Mariquita, which passed off with _eclat_, the governor
from Honda, with a host of friends, honouring it with their presence.  It
was, indeed, necessary to "make a party" in this way, as other schemers
were already trying to undermine the Colombian company in influential
directions.  The engineer did not exaggerate when he said, "The
uncertainty of transacting business in this country is perplexing beyond
description."

At last, his party of miners arrived from England, but they gave him even
more trouble than the peons had done.  They were rough, drunken, and
sometimes altogether ungovernable.  He set them to work at the Santa Anna
mine without delay, and at the same time took up his abode amongst them,
"to keep them," he said, "if possible, from indulging in the detestable
vice of drunkenness, which, if not put a stop to, will eventually destroy
themselves, and involve the mining association in ruin."  To add to his
troubles, the captain of the miners displayed a very hostile and
insubordinate spirit, quarrelled and fought with the men, and was
insolent to the engineer himself.  The captain and his gang, being
Cornish men, told Robert to his face, that because he was a North-country
man, and not born in Cornwall it was impossible he should know anything
of mining.  Disease also fell upon him,--first fever, and then visceral
derangement, followed by a return of his "old complaint, a feeling of
oppression in the breast."  No wonder that in the midst of these troubles
he should longingly speak of returning to his native land.  But he stuck
to his post and his duty, kept up his courage, and by a mixture of
mildness and firmness, and the display of great coolness of judgment, he
contrived to keep the men to their work, and gradually to carry forward
the enterprise which he had undertaken.  By the beginning of July, 1826,
we find that quietness and order had been restored, and the works were
proceeding more satisfactorily, though the yield of silver was not as yet
very promising.  Mr. Stephenson calculated that at least three years'
diligent and costly operations would be needed to render the mines
productive.

In the mean time he removed to the dwelling which had been erected for
his accommodation at Santa Anna.  It was a structure speedily raised
after the fashion of the country.

           [Picture: Robert Stephenson's Cottage at Santa Anna]

The walls were of split and flattened bamboo, tied together with the long
fibres of a dried climbing plant; the roof was of palm-leaves, and the
ceiling of reeds.  When an earthquake shook the district--for earthquakes
were frequent--the inmates of such a fabric merely felt as if shaken in a
basket, without sustaining any harm.  In front of the cottage lay a woody
ravine, extending almost to the base of the Andes, gorgeously clothed in
primeval vegetation--magnolias, palms, bamboos, tree-ferns, acacias,
cedars; and, towering over all, the great almendrons, with their smooth,
silvery stems, bearing aloft noble clusters of pure white blossom.  The
forest was haunted by myriads of gay insects, butterflies with wings of
dazzling lustre, birds of brilliant plumage, humming-birds, golden
orioles, toucans, and a host of solitary warblers.  But the glorious
sunsets seen from his cottage-porch more than all astonished and
delighted the young engineer; and he was accustomed to say that, after
having witnessed them, he was reluctant to accuse the ancient Peruvians
of idolatry.

But all these natural beauties failed to reconcile him to the harassing
difficulties of his situation, which continued to increase rather than
diminish.  He was hampered by the action of the Board at home, who gave
ear to hostile criticisms on his reports; and, although they afterwards
made handsome acknowledgment of his services, he felt his position to be
altogether unsatisfactory.  He therefore determined to leave at the
expiry of his three years engagement, and communicated his decision to
the directors accordingly.  On receiving his letter, the Board, through
Mr. Richardson, of Lombard street, one of the directors, communicated
with his father at Newcastle, representing that if he would allow his son
to remain in Colombia the Company would make it "worth his while."  To
this the father gave a decided negative, and intimated that he himself
needed his son's assistance, and that he must return at the expiry of his
three years' term,--a decision, writes Robert, "at which I feel much
gratified, as it is clear that he is as anxious to have me back in
England as I am to get there." {199}  At the same time, Edward Pease, a
principal partner in the Newcastle firm, privately wrote Robert to the
following effect, urging his return home:--"I can assure thee that thy
business at Newcastle, as well as thy father's engineering, have suffered
very much from thy absence, and, unless thou soon return, the former will
be given up, as Mr. Longridge is not able to give it that attention it
requires; and what is done is not done with credit to the house."  The
idea of the manufactory being given up, which Robert had laboured so hard
to establish before leaving England, was painful to him in the extreme,
and he wrote to the manager of the Company, strongly urging that
arrangements should be made for him to leave without delay.  In the mean
time he was again laid prostrate by another violent attack of aguish
fever; and when able to write in June, 1827, he expressed himself as
"completely wearied and worn down with vexation."

At length, when he was sufficiently recovered from his attack and able to
travel, he set out on his voyage homeward in the beginning of August.  At
Mompox, on his way down the river Magdalena, he met Mr. Bodmer, his
successor, with a fresh party of miners from England, on their way up the
country to the quarters which he had just quitted.  Next day, six hours
after leaving Mompox, a steamboat was met ascending the river, with
Bolivar the Liberator on board, on his way to St. Bogota; and it was a
mortification to our engineer that he had only a passing sight of that
distinguished person.  It was his intention, on leaving Mariquita, to
visit the Isthmus of Panama on his way home, for the purpose of inquiring
into the practicability of cutting a canal to unite the Atlantic and
Pacific--a project which then formed the subject of considerable public
discussion; but his presence being so anxiously desired at home, he
determined to proceed to New York without delay.

Arrived at the port of Cartagena, he had to wait some time for a ship.
The delay was very irksome to him, the more so as the city was then
desolated by the ravages of the yellow fever.  While sitting one day in
the large, bare, comfortless public room at the miserable hotel at which
he put up, he observed two strangers, whom he at once perceived to be
English.  One of the strangers was a tall, gaunt man, shrunken and
hollow-looking, shabbily dressed, and apparently poverty-stricken.  On
making inquiry, he found it was Trevithick, the builder of the first
railroad locomotive!  He was returning home from the gold-mines of Peru
penniless.  He had left England in 1816, with powerful steam-engines,
intended for the drainage and working of the Peruvian mines.  He met with
almost a royal reception on his landing at Lima.  A guard of honour was
appointed to attend him, and it was even proposed to erect a statue of
Don Ricardo Trevithick in solid silver.  It was given forth in Cornwall
that his emoluments amounted to 100,000 pounds a year, {201} and that he
was making a gigantic fortune.  Great, therefore, was Robert Stephenson's
surprise to find this potent Don Ricardo in the inn at Cartagena, reduced
almost to his last shilling, and unable to proceed further.  He had
indeed realised the truth of the Spanish proverb, that "a silver-mine
brings misery, a gold-mine ruin."  He and his friend had lost everything
in their journey across the country from Peru.  They had forded rivers
and wandered through forests, leaving all their baggage behind them, and
had reached thus far with little more than the clothes upon their backs.
Almost the only remnant of precious metal saved by Trevithick was a pair
of silver spurs, which he took back with him to Cornwall.  Robert
Stephenson lent him 50 pounds to enable him to reach England; and though
he was afterwards heard of as an inventor there, he had no further part
in the ultimate triumph of the locomotive.

But Trevithick's misadventures on this occasion had not yet ended, for
before he reached New York he was wrecked, and Robert Stephenson with
him.  The following is the account of the voyage, "big with adventures,"
as given by the latter in a letter to his friend Illingworth:--"At first
we had very little foul weather, and indeed were for several days
becalmed amongst the islands, which was so far fortunate, for a few
degrees further north the most tremendous gales were blowing, and they
appear (from our future information) to have wrecked every vessel exposed
to their violence.  We had two examples of the effects of the hurricane;
for, as we sailed north we took on board the remains of two crews found
floating about on dismantled hulls.  The one had been nine days without
food of any kind, except the carcasses of two of their companions who had
died a day or two previously from fatigue and hunger.  The other crew had
been driven about for six days, and were not so dejected, but reduced to
such a weak state that they were obliged to be drawn on board our vessel
by ropes.  A brig bound for Havannah took part of the men, and we took
the remainder.  To attempt any description of my feelings on witnessing
such scenes would be in vain.  You will not be surprised to learn that I
felt somewhat uneasy at the thought that we were so far from England, and
that I also might possibly suffer similar shipwreck; but I consoled
myself with the hope that fate would be more kind to us.  It was not so
much so, however, as I had flattered myself; for on voyaging towards New
York, after we had made the land, we ran aground about midnight.  The
vessel soon filled with water, and, being surrounded by the breaking
surf, the ship was soon split up, and before morning our situation became
perilous.  Masts and all were cut away to prevent the hull rocking; but
all we could do was of no avail.  About 8 o'clock on the following
morning, after a most miserable night, we were taken off the wreck, and
were so fortunate as to reach the shore.  I saved my minerals, but Empson
lost part of his botanical collection.  Upon the whole, we got off well;
and, had I not been on the American side of the Atlantic, I 'guess' I
would not have gone to sea again."

After a short tour in the United States and Canada, Robert Stephenson and
his friend took ship for Liverpool, where they arrived at the end of
November, and at once proceeded to Newcastle.  The factory was by no
means in a prosperous state.  During the time Robert had been in America
it had been carried on at a loss; and Edward Pease, much disheartened,
wished to retire, but George Stephenson was unable to buy him out, and
the establishment had to be carried on in the hope that the locomotive
might yet be established in public estimation as a practical and
economical working power.  Robert Stephenson immediately instituted a
rigid inquiry into the working of the concern, unravelled the accounts,
which had fallen into confusion during his father's absence at Liverpool;
and he soon succeeded in placing the affairs of the factory in a more
healthy condition.  In all this he had the hearty support of his father,
as well as of the other partners.

The works of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were now approaching
completion.  But, singular to say, the directors had not yet decided as
to the tractive power to be employed in working the line when opened for
traffic.  The differences of opinion among them were so great as
apparently to be irreconcilable.  It was necessary, however, that they
should come to some decision without further loss of time; and many Board
meetings were accordingly held to discuss the subject.  The old-fashioned
and well-tried system of horse haulage was not without its advocates;
but, looking at the large amount of traffic which there was to be
conveyed, and at the probable delay in the transit from station to
station if this method were adopted, the directors, after a visit made by
them to the Northumberland and Durham railways in 1828, came to the
conclusion that the employment of horse power was inadmissible.

Fixed engines had many advocates; the locomotive very few: it stood as
yet almost in a minority of one--George Stephenson.  The prejudice
against the employment of the latter power had even increased since the
Liverpool and Manchester Bill underwent its first ordeal in the House of
Commons.  In proof of this, we may mention that the Newcastle and
Carlisle Railway Act was conceded in 1829, on the express condition that
it should _not_ be worked by locomotives, but by horses only.

Grave doubts existed as to the practicability of working a large traffic
by means of travelling engines.  The most celebrated engineers offered no
opinion on the subject.  They did not believe in the locomotive, and
would scarcely take the trouble to examine it.  The ridicule with which
George Stephenson had been assailed by the barristers before the
Parliamentary Committee had not been altogether distasteful to them.
Perhaps they did not relish the idea of a man who had picked up his
experience in Newcastle coal-pits appearing in the capacity of a leading
engineer before Parliament, and attempting to establish a new system of
internal communication in the country.  The directors could not disregard
the adverse and conflicting views of the professional men whom they
consulted.  But Mr. Stephenson had so repeatedly and earnestly urged upon
them the propriety of making a trial of the locomotive before coming to
any decision against it, that they at length authorised him to proceed
with the construction of one of his engines by way of experiment.  In
their report to the proprietors at their annual meeting on, the 27th
March, 1828, they state that they had, after due consideration,
authorised the engineer "to prepare a locomotive engine, which, from the
nature of its construction and from the experiments already made, he is
of opinion will be effective for the purposes of the Company, without
proving an annoyance to the public."  The locomotive thus ordered was
placed upon the line in 1829, and was found of great service in drawing
the waggons full of marl from the two great cuttings.

In the mean time the discussion proceeded as to the kind of power to be
permanently employed for the working of the railway.  The directors were
inundated with schemes of all sorts for facilitating locomotion.  The
projectors of England, France, and America, seemed to be let loose upon
them.  There were plans for working the waggons along the line by water
power.  Some proposed hydrogen, and others carbonic acid gas.
Atmospheric pressure had its eager advocates.  And various kinds of fixed
and locomotive steam-power were suggested.  Thomas Gray urged his plan of
a greased road with cog rails; and Messrs. Vignolles and Ericsson
recommended the adoption of a central friction rail, against which two
horizontal rollers under the locomotive, pressing upon the sides of this
rail, were to afford the means of ascending the inclined planes.  The
directors felt themselves quite unable to choose from amidst this
multitude of projects.  The engineer expressed himself as decidedly as
heretofore in favour of smooth rails and locomotive engines, which, he
was confident, would be found the most economical and by far the most
convenient moving power that could be employed.  The Stockton and
Darlington Railway being now at work, another deputation went down
personally to inspect the fixed and locomotive engines on that line, as
well as at Hetton and Killingworth.  They returned to Liverpool with much
information; but their testimony as to the relative merits of the two
kinds of engines was so contradictory, that the directors were as far
from a decision as ever.

They then resolved to call to their aid two professional engineers of
high standing, who should visit the Darlington and Newcastle railways,
carefully examine both modes of working--the fixed and the
locomotive,--and report to them fully on the subject.  The gentlemen
selected were Mr. Walker of Limehouse, and Mr. Rastrick of Stourbridge.
After carefully examining the modes of working the northern railways,
they made their report to the directors in the spring of 1829.  They
concurred in the opinion that the cost of an establishment of fixed
engines would be somewhat greater than that of locomotives to do the same
work; but thought the annual charge would be less if the former were
adopted.  They calculated that the cost of moving a ton of goods thirty
miles by fixed engines would be 6.40d., and by locomotives,
8.36d.,--assuming a profitable traffic to be obtained both ways.  At the
same time it was admitted that there appeared more ground for expecting
improvements in the construction and working of locomotives than of
stationary engines.  On the whole, however, and looking especially at the
computed annual charge of working the road on the two systems on a large
scale, the two reporting engineers were of opinion that fixed engines
were preferable, and accordingly recommended their adoption.  And, in
order to carry the system recommended by them into effect, they proposed
to divide the railroad between Liverpool and Manchester into nineteen
stages of about a mile and a half each, with twenty-one engines fixed at
the different points to work the trains forward.

Such was the result, so far, of George Stephenson's labours.  Two of the
best practical engineers of the day concurred in reporting substantially
in favour of the employment of fixed engines.  Not a single professional
man of eminence supported the engineer in his preference for locomotive
over fixed engine power.  He had scarcely an adherent, and the locomotive
system seemed on the eve of being abandoned.  Still he did not despair.
With the profession as well as public opinion against him--for the most
frightful stories were abroad respecting the dangers, the unsightliness,
and the nuisance which the locomotive would create--Stephenson held to
his purpose.  Even in this, apparently the darkest hour of the
locomotive, he did not hesitate to declare that locomotive railroads
would, before many years had passed, be "the great highways of the
world."

He urged his views upon the directors in all ways, and, as some of them
thought, at all seasons.  He pointed out the greater convenience of
locomotive power for the purposes of a public highway, likening it to a
series of short unconnected chains, any one of which could be removed and
another substituted without interruption to the traffic; whereas the
fixed engine system might be regarded in the light of a continuous chain
extending between the two termini, the failure of any link of which would
derange the whole. {206}  He represented to the Board that the locomotive
was yet capable of great improvements, if proper inducements were held
out to inventors and machinists to make them; and he pledged himself
that, if time were given him, he would construct an engine that should
satisfy their requirements, and prove itself capable of working heavy
loads along the railway with speed, regularity and safety.  At length,
influenced by his persistent earnestness not less than by his arguments,
the directors, at the suggestion of Mr. Harrison, determined to offer a
prize of 500 pounds for the best locomotive engine, which, on a certain
day, should be produced on the railway, and perform certain specified
conditions in the most satisfactory manner. {207}

It was now felt that the fate of railways in a great measure depended
upon the issue of this appeal to the mechanical genius of England.  When
the advertisement of the prize for the best locomotive was published,
scientific men began more particularly to direct their attention to the
new power which was thus struggling into existence.  In the mean time
public opinion on the subject of railway working remained suspended, and
the progress of the undertaking was watched with intense interest.

During the progress of the discussion with reference to the kind of power
to be employed, Mr. Stephenson was in constant communication with his son
Robert, who made frequent visits to Liverpool for the purpose of
assisting his father in the preparation of his reports to the Board on
the subject.  They had also many conversations as to the best mode of
increasing the powers and perfecting the mechanism of the locomotive.
These became more frequent and interesting, when the prize was offered
for the best locomotive, and the working plans of the engine which they
proposed to construct came to be settled.

One of the most important considerations in the new engine was the
arrangement of the boiler and the extension of its heating surface to
enable steam enough to be raised rapidly and continuously, for the
purpose of maintaining high rates of speed,--the effect of high-pressure
engines being ascertained to depend mainly upon the quantity of steam
which the boiler can generate, and upon its degree of elasticity when
produced.  The quantity of steam so generated, it will be obvious, must
depend chiefly upon the quantity of fuel consumed in the furnace, and by
necessary consequence, upon the high rate of temperature maintained
there.

It will be remembered that in Stephenson's first Killingworth engines he
invented and applied the ingenious method of stimulating combustion in
the furnace, by throwing the waste steam into the chimney after
performing its office in the cylinders, thus accelerating the ascent of
the current of air, greatly increasing the draught, and consequently the
temperature of the fire.  This plan was adopted by him, as we have
already seen, as early as 1815; and it was so successful that he himself
attributed to it the greater economy of the locomotive as compared with
horse power.  Hence the continuance of its use upon the Killingworth
Railway.

Though the adoption of the steam-blast greatly quickened combustion and
contributed to the rapid production of high-pressure steam, the limited
amount of heating surface presented to the fire was still felt to be an
obstacle to the complete success of the locomotive engine.  Mr.
Stephenson endeavoured to overcome this by lengthening the boilers and
increasing the surface presented by the flue-tubes.  The "Lancashire
Witch," which he built for the Bolton and Leigh Railway, and used in
forming the Liverpool and Manchester Railway embankments, was constructed
with a double tube, each of which contained a fire and passed
longitudinally through the boiler.  But this arrangement necessarily led
to a considerable increase in the weight of the engine, which amounted to
about twelve tons; and as six tons was the limit allowed for engines
admitted to the Liverpool competition, it was clear that the time was
come when the Killingworth locomotive must undergo a further important
modification.

For many years previous to this period, ingenious mechanics had been
engaged in attempting to solve the problem of the best and most
economical boiler for the production of high-pressure steam.  As early as
1803, Mr. Woolf patented a tubular boiler, which was extensively employed
at the Cornish mines, and was found greatly to facilitate the production
of steam, by the extension of the heating surface.  The ingenious
Trevithick, in his patent of 1815, seems also to have entertained the
idea of employing a boiler constructed of "small perpendicular tubes,"
with the same object of increasing the heating surface.  These tubes were
to be closed at the bottom, and open into a common reservoir, from which
they were to receive their water, and where the steam of all the tubes
was to be united.

About the same time George Stephenson was trying the effect of
introducing small tubes in the boilers of his locomotives, with the
object of increasing their evaporative power.  Thus, in 1829, he sent to
France two engines constructed at the Newcastle works for the Lyons and
St. Etienne Railway, in the boilers of which tubes were placed containing
water.  The heating surface was thus found to be materially increased;
but the expedient was not successful, for the tubes, becoming furred with
deposit, shortly burned out and were removed.  It was then that M.
Seguin, the engineer of the railway, pursuing the same idea, adopted his
plan of employing horizontal tubes through which the heated air passed in
streamlets.  Mr. Henry Booth, the secretary of the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway, without any knowledge of M. Seguin's proceedings,
next devised his plan of a tubular boiler, which he brought under the
notice of Mr. Stephenson, who at once adopted it, and settled the mode in
which the fire-box and tubes were to be mutually arranged and connected.
This plan was adopted in the construction of the celebrated "Rocket"
engine, the building of which was immediately proceeded with at the
Newcastle works.

The principal circumstances connected with the construction of the
"Rocket," as described by Robert Stephenson to the author, may be briefly
stated.  The tubular principle was adopted in a more complete manner than
had yet been attempted.  Twenty-five copper tubes, each three inches in
diameter, extended from one end of the boiler to the other, the heated
air passing through them on its way to the chimney; and the tubes being
surrounded by the water of the boiler, it will be obvious that a large
extension of the _heating surface_ was thus effectually secured.  The
principal difficulty was in fitting the copper tubes within the boiler so
as to prevent leakage.  They were made by a Newcastle coppersmith, and
soldered to brass screws which were screwed into the boiler ends,
standing out in great knobs.  When the tubes were thus fitted, and the
boiler was filled with water, hydraulic pressure was applied; but the
water squirted out at every joint, and the factory floor was soon
flooded.  Robert went home in despair; and in the first moment of grief,
he wrote to his father that the whole thing was a failure.  By return of
post came a letter from his father, telling him that despair was not to
be thought of--that he must "try again;" and he suggested a mode of
overcoming the difficulty, which his son had already anticipated and
proceeded to adopt.  It was, to bore clean holes in the boiler ends, fit
in the smooth copper tubes as tightly as possible, solder up, and then
raise the steam.  This plan succeeded perfectly, the expansion of the
copper tubes completely filling up all interstices, and producing a
perfectly watertight boiler, capable of withstanding extreme internal
pressure.

The mode of employing the steam-blast for the purpose of increasing the
draught in the chimney, was also the subject of numerous experiments.
When the engine was first tried, it was thought that the blast in the
chimney was not strong enough to keep up the intensity of the fire in the
furnace, so as to produce high-pressure steam in sufficient quantity.
The expedient was therefore adopted of hammering the copper tubes at the
point at which they entered the chimney, whereby the blast was
considerably sharpened; and on a further trial it was found that the
draught was increased to such an extent as to enable abundance of steam
to be raised.  The rationale of the blast may be simply explained by
referring to the effect of contracting the pipe of a water-hose, by which
the force of the jet of water is proportionately increased.  Widen the
nozzle of the pipe, and the force is in like manner diminished.  So is it
with the steam-blast in the chimney of the locomotive.

Doubts were, however, expressed whether the greater draught secured by
the contraction of the blast-pipe was not counterbalanced in some degree
by the negative pressure upon the piston.  A series of experiments was
made with pipes of different diameters; the amount of vacuum produced
being determined by a glass tube open at both ends, which was fixed to
the bottom of the smoke-box, and descended into a bucket of water.  As
the rarefaction took place, the water would of course rise in the tube;
and the height to which it rose above the surface of the water in the
bucket was made the measure of the amount of rarefaction.  These
experiments proved that a considerable increase of draught was obtained
by the contraction of the orifice; accordingly, the two blast-pipes
opening from the cylinders into either side of the "Rocket" chimney, and
turned up within it, were contracted slightly below the area of the
steam-ports; and before the engine left the factory, the water rose in
the glass tube three inches above the water in the bucket.