urprises as those witnessed at Liverpool in 1829 and 1830.
Nevertheless, the people of Charleston were pressing close on the heels
of those at Liverpool, for on the 15th of January, 1831--exactly four
months after the formal opening of the Manchester and Liverpool road--the
first anniversary of the South Carolina Railroad was celebrated with due
honor. A queer-looking machine, the outline of which was sufficient in
itself to prove that the inventor owed nothing to Stephenson, had been
constructed at the West Point Foundry Works in New York during the summer
of 1830--a first attempt to supply that locomotive power which the Board
had, with sublime confidence in possibilities, unanimously voted on the
14th of the preceding January should alone be used on the road. The name
of _Best Friend_ was given to this very simple product of native genius.
The idea of the multitubular boiler had not yet suggested itself in
America. The _Best Friend_, therefore, was supplied with a common
vertical boiler, 'in form of an old-fashioned porter-bottle, the furnace
at the bottom surrounded with water, and all filled inside of what we
call teats running out from the sides and tops.' By means of the
projections or 'teats' a portion at least of the necessary heating
surface was provided. The cylinder was at the front of the platform, the
rear end of which was occupied by the boiler, and it was fed by means of
a connecting pipe. Thanks to the indefatigable researches of an
enthusiast on railroad construction, we have an account of the
performances of this and all the other pioneers among American
locomotives, and the pictures with which Mr. W. H. Brown has enriched his
book would alone render it both curious and valuable. Prior to the
stockholders' anniversary of January 15th, 1831, it seems that the _Best
Friend_ had made several trips 'running at the rate of sixteen to
twenty-one miles an hour, with forty or fifty passengers in some four or
five cars, and without the cars, thirty to thirty-five miles an hour.'
The stockholders' day was, however, a special occasion, and the papers of
the following Monday, for it happened on a Saturday, gave the following
account of it:--

"Notice having been previously given, inviting the stockholders, about
one hundred and fifty assembled in the course of the morning at the
company's buildings in Line Street, together with a number of invited
guests. The weather the day and night previous had been sto