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    A Pioneer Railway of the West
    A Pioneer Railway of the West
    A Pioneer Railway of the West
    Ebook67 pages49 minutes

    A Pioneer Railway of the West

    By Maude Ward Lafferty

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 27, 2013
    A Pioneer Railway of the West

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      Book preview

      A Pioneer Railway of the West - Maude Ward Lafferty

      Project Gutenberg's A Pioneer Railway of the West, by Maude Ward Lafferty

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

      Title: A Pioneer Railway of the West

      Author: Maude Ward Lafferty

      Release Date: November 14, 2008 [EBook #27256]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PIONEER RAILWAY OF THE WEST ***

      Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed

      Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was

      produced from images generously made available by The

      Kentuckiana Digital Library)

      A Pioneer Railway of the West

      By Maude Ward Lafferty

      This restoration of a portion of the original track of the

      Lexington and Ohio (now Louisville and Nashville) Railroad

      laid at Lexington in 1831, is dedicated to those men of

      forethought and courage who were pioneers in railroad

      development in America.

      Erected Anno Domini

      MCMXVI.

      Dedication Exercises

      10 A. M.

      May 30, 1916

      College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering

      University of Kentucky

      During the month of July, 1915, there appeared in a local newspaper an account of the finding of Old Rail Stones and Old Strap Iron Rails which had been used in the construction of the railroad generally known as the old Lexington and Frankfort Road, though it was incorporated under the name of the Lexington and Ohio Rail Road. It is believed by many to have been the first railroad west of the Alleghany Mountains. Be that as it may, the quaint and interesting relics had just been dug up that week by the workmen who were reconstructing the freight yards of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The workmen were moving more recently laid tracks back to the old original road bed of the pioneer railroad, and in doing so they unearthed those curious relics of 1831.

      Although just starting that very day for a summer vacation, I hurried down town a little before train time, and went to the Main Street offices of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad where the interesting relics were on display.

      As I stood gazing at that worn and rusty bar of iron with its single bent and rusty spike, I was whisked back across the years by some strange trick of memory and I saw, instead, a dimly lighted sick room, on a hot summer night—myself a little sufferer, and sitting beside me, fanning my fevered brow, my beloved father, who, notwithstanding the fatigue of a heavy and exacting practice sat thus night after night, soothing me to sleep by telling me entertaining stories of his youth, and as he was born one hundred and one years ago, the strange experiences of his boyhood were thrilling indeed to his youthful adorer.

      And so, I saw in my mind's eye that familiar room of my childhood—the open window, the breezes blowing the curtains to and fro, the moonlight casting strange shadows on the terrace outside, and I heard again that voice which has meant so much to me telling how when the first railroad started and all the people had gathered from far and near to witness its departure, he and a group of fellow students from Transylvania University, mounted on fast horses, galloped ahead to see if the Wonderful Thing could round the curve without running off the track; and how it came in sight, thundering along, puffing out clouds of black smoke, the engineer adding to the confusion by incessantly blowing his shrill whistle, all of which so terrified his horse, he had great difficulty in keeping his seat, but yet, how tremendously impressed he was by the gallant way in which the gentlemen seated in the coach raised their stovepipe hats in greeting as they passed by like a streak of lightning.

      He said the locomotive had been invented by his old friend Tom Barlow, in whose honor he had named our Tom Barlow, his favorite race horse.

      He also said the old

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