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THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL
131

back successful realization of its schemes. For illustration, take the question of track: "The granite and iron rail; the wood and iron on stone blocks; the wood and iron on wooden sleepers, supported by broken stone; the same supported by longitudinal ground-sills, worked to a surface on one side to receive the iron, and supported by wooden sleepers; and the wrought iron rails of the English mode; had all been laid down, and as early as the year 1832, formed different portions of the work."[1] With the advent of the locomotive the light coach wheels were replaced by cast-iron wheels "to the perfection of which Ross Winans, John Elgar, Jonathan Knight, and Phineas Davis all contributed."[2] In 1832, steel springs were placed upon a new locomotive "York"—built at York, Pennsylvania—and soon springs were placed on all engines and cars. The discovery of the advantage of combined cylindrical and

  1. Smith's History and Description, p. 33.
  2. Reizenstein's Economic History, p. 34. It is interesting to find Jonathan Knight, formerly Superintendent of the Cumberland Road in Ohio, now Chief Engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road.—Cf. Historic Highways of America, vol. x, p. 91.