s opened;
and whereas Mr. Felton found the road with only a single track, 25
locomotives and 308 cars, he left it with many miles of double track,
its depots rebuilt, 49 locomotives and 1145 cars. When he took the
road its locomotives traveled 312,840 miles per year, and earned
$718,010, at a cost of $252,184.54: when he left it, borne down by
disease, the locomotives traveled 780,537 miles per year, at a cost of
$1,960,649. The capital stock in 1851 was $3,850,000, and paid three
and a half per cent.: it is now $13,486,250, and pays eight per cent.

[Illustration: VIEW OF THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER AND WEST PHILADELPHIA.]

When the war broke out in 1862 this road was the key of the continent,
and the fact that it was officered and controlled by Northern and
energetic men saved it from destruction or becoming an engine in the
hands of our enemies. Over it hundreds of thousands of soldiers
and citizens were carried to the front, and millions of tons of
merchandise and supplies were poured into the quarter-master's,
commissary's and medical departments all along the line.

In 1864, worn out by disease, the able manager laid down his
authority, to be taken up by another vigorous New England man, who
in his turn has given almost life-blood to carry the road on to
greatness.

[Illustration]

Since 1864 the advance in earnings has not been so great as in the
four preceding years, because of the necessary reduction in travel
and transportation since the war. But enormous improvements have been
made, thousands of steel rails have been laid, locomotives, freight
cars and passenger cars of the most beautiful description have
been added to the stock, new depots made (some of the finest in the
country), a new line planned and executed, carrying the road from the
meadows and marshes of the Delaware through the valleys and beautiful
rolling uplands of Delaware county to Chester, avoiding all danger
from floods, and going over or under twenty-seven streets to enter the
city without possible peril to life or limb. A whole railroad system
subsidiary to this road has been developed in Delaware, and to-day,
with the best road-bed, double tracks, steel rails, the best
locomotives, the best passenger cars in the country, supplied with all
the modern improvements of brake, platform and signal, and a perfectly
drilled corps of subordinates, this road may challenge the attention
of the country, and be pointed out as one of the best evidences o