the Mississippi Basin. Well did Mr. Stevenson say that in boldness of design and in difficulty of execution this railway could be compared with no modern work he had seen, unless exception be made for the passes of the Simplon and Mount Cenis in Sardinia; and these, as engineering works, did not impress him as more wonderful.
The project had been proposed early in the history of the canal and in 1826 the experienced Erie Canal engineer Canvass White delivered an opinion that the plan was feasible, but added that a portage wagon road would perhaps answer temporary needs. As the canal building advanced in the valleys on either side of the mountains, the plan of a connecting link which would satisfactorily mount the towering crest which intervened was seriously debated. Late in 1828 Moncure Robinson became engineer in charge and went into the field in 1829 with plans well developed; in November he reported to the board of canal commissioners that the crest could best be overcome by a system of inclined planes, with stationary engines; near the
