Many  highways  were  raised,  drained,  and  graded.  From  1 790
to  about  1840  hundreds  of  miles  of  such  roads  were  con-
structed by  private  turnpike  companies,  which  received  the
right  to  collect  toll.  The  era  of  steam  navigation  on  lake  and
river  began  in  1807  with  the  success  of  Fulton's  craft,  and  is
still  a  favorite  means  of  freight  carriage  on  river,  lake,  and
sea.  Canal  construction  is  as  old  as  Assyria ;  but  the  Dutch
canals,  with  locks  to  raise  boats  from  one  level  to  another,
came  into  England  only  about  1760.  A  few  short  lines  were
constructed  in  America  between  1780  and  1800;  but  Madi-
son's veto  of  the  Bonus  Bill  in  181 7  for  the  time  prevented
the  federal  government  from  aiding  in  this  construction.  The
task  was  too  great  for  private  capital,  and  the  state  of  New
York  at  once  began  to  construct  the  Erie  Canal,  and  finished
it  from  tide-water  to  Lake  Erie  in  1825.  The  example  was
followed  by  most  of  the  states  west  and  south  of  New  York.
About  1830  a  new  mode  of  transportation  was  introduced,
the  railroad.  The  first  line  of  parallel  rails  used  for  transporta-
tion in  the  United  States  was  from  a  quarry  near  Philadelphia
three  quarters  of  a  mile  to  tide-water,  in  18 10.  The  first
line  to  use  steam  locomotives  successfully  was  the  Baltimore
and  Ohio,  of  which  a  short  section  was  constructed  in  1830.
