. From trail to railway through the Appalachians . Fig. 27. Entrance to Tunnel, Old Portage Railway rail from Philadelphia to Columbia on the Susquehannariver. There the boats took them to the east end of thePortage road. The next haul was over the AlleghenyFront, with its lofty forests, to Johnstown. Then theboats received the merchandise and landed it in Pitts-burg, whence other boats could carry it to any town onthe Ohio river. THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 77 The Hit or Miss was one of the boats that cameup to HoUidaysburg. It was desirable to take this par-ticular boat over the heights, so a
. From trail to railway through the Appalachians . Fig. 27. Entrance to Tunnel, Old Portage Railway rail from Philadelphia to Columbia on the Susquehannariver. There the boats took them to the east end of thePortage road. The next haul was over the AlleghenyFront, with its lofty forests, to Johnstown. Then theboats received the merchandise and landed it in Pitts-burg, whence other boats could carry it to any town onthe Ohio river. THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 77 The Hit or Miss was one of the boats that cameup to HoUidaysburg. It was desirable to take this par-ticular boat over the heights, so a car was built whichwould fit its keel. The car was dragged up the east sideof the mountain and down to Johnstown, where the boat. Fig. 28. Broad Street Station, Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Railroad was put into the water again and sent off to the Missis-sippi river. We can now look across a gorge from thecoaches of the Pennsylvania Railroad, beyond Altoona,and see the grade of the old Portage Railway. The canal almost put out of business the Conestogawagons on the dusty pike which had seen so much travelby way of Carlisle and Bedford. But the people did not 78 FROM TRAIL TO RAILWAY Stop with a canal. Like the men of New York, theywanted something even better than that. They wishedto have a raihoad all the way, and in 1846 the Penn-sylvania Railroad Company was incorporated. By thistime it was very well known that railroads were success-ful both in America and in England, and that steam wasbetter than horses. Over the Allegheny Front a route was found wherethe grades were not too steep for locomotives. Thegrade, of course, had been the one great hindrance tothe whole project, and when this difficulty was overcomet
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