Within  ten  years  railroads  began  to  take  away  the  passenger
travel  of  the  slower  canals;  by  1853  there  were  connecting
railroads  extending  all  the  way  from  New  York  to  Chicago  ;  by
i860  one  railroad  line,  the  Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph,  crossed
from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Missouri  River;  by  1869  there  was
through  rail  connection  from  ocean  to  ocean.  Half  a  dozen
states  built  or  subsidized  railroads ;  but  from  the  first  most
of  them  were  constructed  by  private  capital,  under  special
legislative  charters.
S.«]


Highw


i  and  Streets.
513


At  first  the  railroads  were  built  in  short  lengths,  with  a
change  at  the  end  o(  each  little  link  ;  and  were  of  various
gauges,  from  4  feet  up  to  6  feet,  a  system  which  required  fre-
quent traosshipment  of  car-loads.  During  and  after  the  Civil
War  rose  a  race  of  railroad  kings,  of  whom  the  best  known
was  Cornelius  Vanderhilt;  he  consolidated  the  various  local
roads  between  New  York  and  Buffalo,  making  a  great  trunk
line.  Then,  from  1875  to  iHi)o  came  a  period  of  alteration
of  gauges ;  till  now  all  the  main  roads  of  the  country  are  of
the  same  gMge,  —  namely,  4  feet  S  inches,  —  and  cars  once
started  may  be  sent  thousands  of  miles  without  reloading.
