to Cumberland, on condition that the rail road be allowed equal rights between Harper's Ferry and Cumberland! The gloomy year of 1837 in the financial world held the rail road back, and it was not until 1839 that the work was actively pushed on. From now on there was no delay; in June, 1842 the road was completed to opposite Hancock, and by the end of the year it was completed to Cumberland—one hundred and seventy-eight miles from Baltimore. Exciting as is the story of the westward movement of this giant, it cannot be treated here. The first division to Piedmont was opened in June 1851, not far from the "blind" trace Washington rode through far back in 1784, in search of a portage road from eastern to western waters. By June, 1852, the road was opened to Fairmont on the Monongahela, and on the following January the first train passed from Fairmont to Wheeling on the Ohio.[1] On the night of January 12, 1853 the banquet was spread in Wheeling to end the day of celebration. And of the five "regular" toasts none was so typical
- ↑ Smith's History and Description, pp. 78–81.
