27
Soon, the Port’s pace would really quicken: Up in New York,
they were digging a great ditch — more than 350 miles long — to
allow boats to travel from Lake Erie to the Hudson River, giving
the rival New Yorkers access to Baltimore’s highly profitable
Midwest markets. And if that wasn’t bad enough, another water-
way, the C&O Canal, threatened to provide other ports with
Midwest access via the Potomac River.
But steam-engine technology also had been applied to
land travel. The
TomThumb
, America’s first steam-powered
locomotive or “steam carriage” as it was billed — one-
horsepower engine and all — was built in Baltimore in 1830
by Peter Cooper. Alarmed by the threat posed by canals,
Cooper only wanted to hedge his investment in Canton real
estate. His was the tiny steam-powered engine which could
and did: the
TomThumb
proved the feasibility of rail travel
when it made a round trip to Ellicott City.
In 1827, Maryland’s legislators, driven by fears
Baltimore’s port would lose its choice Midwest markets,
chartered the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad — the first step
toward the development of an overland transportation
network which, in tandem with steam power, transformed
the Port’s commerce and American industry.
At the time, canals were considered the epitome
of overland transportation; railroads represented a
giant technological leap of faith.
The concept of adapting an apparatus used in
mines to long-distance transport seemed far-fetched
to many. But merchants in the Patapsco River Valley
supported the idea and signed on as investors, hoping
to minimize their transport costs; the B&O’s first few
miles of track were laid down in their valley. As the
century progressed, Maryland’s assorted ship, canal
and rail initiatives were the underpinnings of much of
the state’s economic progress, enabling metropolitan
Baltimore to evolve into a gateway for national and
international transport.
Facing page: Steam engine
technology revolutionized
freight and passenger service.
Light Street docks teemed
with draymen, drivers of carts
without fixed sides. Peter
Cooper, inset, developed the
first locomotive, the
Tom Thumb
,
shown in a sketch, far left.
Above and left: Steamboats
like the
Emma Giles
carried
passengers to vacation spots.
