Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/127

GEORGE STEPHENSON 293 harmlessness of smoke and noise, and the facility with which animals became in- different to trains. He said that at Killingworth cattle would not stop feeding as the trains went by. As to the effect of speed, he boldly asserted that at twelve miles per hour the load on a rail would be no more than at six, and in support of his position he appealed to skaters who go swiftly over thin ice. As to the " spinning " of the wheels, he was positive that no such thing ever had happened or could happen. The enemies of the bill caught at his suggestion of twelve miles per hour, and so pressed and led him on that he declared his honest conviction that his trains could run on such a road as he could make twelve miles per hour. This rashness alarmed his friends, and they tried in vain to smooth it over by declaring such speed to be purely "hypothetical." In spite of all that could be said in its favor, in spite of the pressing need of better transportation for coal, cotton, merchandise, and passengers, the bill failed. Such was the blindness, and ignorance, and prejudice of the House of Commons! Think of calling George Stephenson " an ignoramus, a fool, a maniac," in Parlia- ment, yet such was done. The friends of the bill were not discouraged ; they determined to apply again the next year ; but poor Stephenson was discredited, Mr. George Rennie, the great bridge engineer, was employed to make a new survey, and Mr. Stephenson was not called before the committee. Meanwhile, the Darlington line was opened, and reports of its success had reached London. It seemed to be ad- mitted that the road was a good thing, but there was great scepticism in regard to the locomotive. However, the bill passed in the spring of 1826, and the directors were not long in deciding that the only competent man to build the road was George Stephenson, and he was elected principal engineer at a salary of $5,000. The building of the road seemed to be, and was at the time, a tremendous undertaking. Bridges, viaducts, tunnels, and above all, Chat Moss, a yielding bog four miles across and of unknown depth, all taxed the engineer and the company to the utmost. The road was finished in 1830. With the exception of bridges and rails it was very much as it exists to-day. For a long time the directors were undecided as to the method of propelling the cars. Nearly every engineer except Stephenson was opposed to the loco motive, or travelling engine. It seems incredible that Telford and the two Rennies, road-makers and bridge-builders, lacked faith in the locomotive, and preferred stationary engines and long cables. Their main objection to the locomotive appears to have been based on the fact that the steam capacity was small, and that it was impracti- cable to build a locomotive large enough to furnish all the steam that was needed. Stephenson insisted that already his locomotives were better than sta- tionary engines, and yet they could be greatly improved. He said, " Offer a gen- erous prize for the best locomotive, and inventors and builders will greatly im- prove their machines, and we will have a far better locomotive than now." He said he felt sure he could make a much better one himself. By that time Sts