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Straight
Track #172
Celebrate Railroading On The Fourth of July!
Hoey & Farina
1-888-425-1212
We thought we might take time out from our
regular FELA-related topics to wish you and yours a Happy Fourth of July
weekend with an article in our occasional series on railroad history.
The following passage describing the July
4, 1828 launch of America's first public railway carrier is excerpted from
Norm Cohen's "Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong.”
For additional information on America's first public railway carrier, see
the links below.
Happy Fourth of July!
On Independence Day in 1828,
ground-breaking ceremonies were held in Baltimore for the construction of
America's first public railway carrier to be put in regular service: the
Baltimore-Ohio Railroad Company.
Charles Carroll, a prominent citizen of
Baltimore and patriot of the revolutionary war, participated in the
ceremony, declaring it to be his most important act since signing the
Declaration of Independence.
A song, which the author believes is
probably America's first railroad ditty, was specially written for the
occasion:
"O we're all full of life, fun and
jollity,
We're all crazy here in Baltimore.
"Here's a road to be made
With the pick and spade,
‘Tis to reach to Ohio, for the benefit of trade;
"Here are mountains to be level'd,
Here are valleys to be filled,
Here are rocks to be blown, and bridges too to build.
"And we're all hopping, skipping,
jumping,
And we're all crazy here in Baltimore.
"And when the road is made,
With the pick and the spade,
In the locomotive engine, they will put a little fire,
And while the kettle boils,
We may ride three hundred miles
Or go to bed in Baltimore and breakfast in Ohio.
Where they're all waiting, hoping, praying
For a quick way to come to Baltimore."
For further reading on the birth of
railroading in America, and the B&O's beginnings, see two 1820-era
original journals available for free online at Cornell University's
digital library collection called "The Making of America."
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