was at this time that he got the idea of an improved sleeping-car. One
night he was riding from Buffalo to Westfield, a distance of sixty miles,
and the rattling and jolting of the cars as they swung around the curves
or banged over the uneven roadbed made sleep almost impossible.

At that time the bunks provided were nothing more than three tiers of
shelves similar to the bunks on the canal boats. It was necessary on
rounding a curve to hold on tight to keep from being spilled out on the
car floor. A person could recline in such a bunk, but it would have been
foolhardy to try to sleep.

The unusual roughness and discomfort of the trip set Pullman to thinking,
and during the six hours occupied by the run he considered the question in
various ways. Before the end of the journey was reached he had decided to
build a car in which it would be possible to sleep, and which would also
give passengers as much comfort as the space at command permitted.

Young Pullman was not able then to put his idea into operation, for none
of the railroad officials would listen to him, and he did not have the
necessary money to carry on his experiments independently. He earned the
money, however, in the work he did in Chicago. The whole city was being
raised so that a sewerage system could be introduced.

Before that time Chicago was on a level with Lake Michigan, and during
storms the water frequently backed into the cellars, and there was not
fall enough to carry waste out into the lake. The work of raising
buildings or removing them was in Pullman's line, and during the few years
it lasted he made money quickly.

Then he set to work to carry out his ideas about sleeping-cars. He took
two old passenger coaches and refitted them, and went to the head of the
Chicago and Alton Railroad and asked that they be given a trial.

"All right," said the president; "go ahead. We won't charge you for the
use of the road during the trial."

The trial showed that there was a demand for more comfortable cars, but
none of the roads was willing to put any money into the scheme. This
necessitated more experimenting by Pullman, at his own expense, and in
1863 he built, at a cost of eighteen thousand dollars, a car that was
equipped throughout according to his plans.

Pullman's First Sleeping-Car.

This first sleeping-car, the "Pioneer," embodied many of the features of
the modern Pullman, but it was condemned by practically every railroad man
in the