Wednesday her passengers did not arrive in Albany until ten o'clock at night, too late for the cars, and this morning she was seen with but one engine at work. Those travelling should patronize the only opposition on the river, and more especially as she is far the fastest boat. Fare, .50."

She put on such airs as a speedy boat that we couldn't stand it. So finally, when the Daniel Drew was built and had finished her first season, this advertisement was given as wide circulation as printer's type could give it:

"The steamboat Daniel Drew, having discontinued her trips on the day-route for the season, will for the purpose of gratifying the curiosity of certain individuals, hold herself in readiness until the 27th of the present month, to make a trial trip from New York to Albany with any other steamboat now built, for $1,000 or upwards, on one week's notice from this date, the boats to start from the foot of Thirtieth Street, North River, at eight to run with their usual tackle as used in their ordinary business. Any person or persons having a steamer that they think can beat her have an opportunity to make a profitable trip by calling on the subscriber." They didn't didn't accept the offer. So we didn't have to run the race; but we were ready for them.

a. m.,

After getting control of the Hudson River Association, I got in with Isaac Newton. Up to then I had been in with a couple of men, Kelley and Richards. But I wanted to be in big company.

Isaac Newton was a leading steamboat man of New York City. The kind of a proposition I made to him was this: We would start a line of steamboats, and call it the "People's Line." He would be the president and I the treasurer; and we would show the country what steamboating ought to be. He fell in with the idea and we formed the line. He owned the North American. That was the first steamboat to use blowers for an artificial blast in the furnace of the boilers run by an independent engine. He also owned the South American. These were good boats. But when we formed the "People's Line" we built a great new boat and called it the Isaac Newton. It was the first of the floating palaces that were soon to make the Hudson River famous throughout the world. It was three hundred feet long, and had berths for 500 passengers. When she started off on her first trip the people crowded the wharf black to see her sail away. She was so big they thought she was too bulky to be pushed against the tide, and that she would either tip over, break down, or something else. But she sailed away fine as anything. And the people clapped their hands. Then we added the Knickerbocker. She was built for us by

Smith & Dimon. She was a fine boat and had as many as twelve staterooms in the ladies' saloon. We took the engine for her out of the old DeWitt Clinton.

Pretty soon we bought the "Oregon" of George Law"Live Oak George" was the name he was known by in steamboat circles, he was that brisk and fearless. He was the one who offered to run his boat with only one wheel against the old Hendrick Hudson, for $1,000, and wasn't taken up on it. The Oregon was a boat we wanted for our line; because Law had made her well-known. I in particular was anxious to get her, because she was a thorn in the side of Captain Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt and I never got along very well together. From the first we were more or less running each other. This Oregon had beat his boat, the Commodore Vanderbilt (he got to be known as "The Commodore" after a while, because he owned so many boats; but when I first met him, he was just plain "Captain") in that famous race from New York to Croton Point and return. It was a distance of 75 miles. Vanderbilt was all-fired set on winning that race. He made big preparations. Got his boat in the best of trim. The people saw that he was going to win or bust. So everybody came out to see. It was almost as exciting as the bulletin boards in the city when they announced Scott's victory at Churubusco (because this was the time of the Mexican war, and there were a lot of New York boys in Scott's army). Well, they ran the race, and the Oregon won. They said the race might have turned out different, only

Vanderbilt got worked up with excitement, and
mixed in at the wrong moment.
When his boat

was about to turn the point up at the far end of
the course, be grabbed the control of the thing away
from the pilot. Wrong signals were given to the
engineer. Instead of slowing up to make a turn,
the boat went around at full speed. This lost her
so much distance that the Oregon got the lead,
kept it, and won the race. It was an awful blow
to the Commodore's pride. In fact, it was because
he felt so sore over it, that I wanted to own the
boat that had beat him.

and run it on our line.

So we took the Oregon,

I have always suspicioned that this defeat was one of the things that disgusted the Commodore with the steamboat business, and made him leave it for other things. Because pretty soon he was giving all of his time to railroading, and didn't bother with steamboats much more. When railroads were first coming in, he had stuck up his nose at them. In talking with me about them, he would refer to them with a sneer, as "them things that go on land." He was a lover of water craft, and didn't like to see anything come along that promised to hurt sail and steam boats. But when he lost that race to the Oregon it hurt his pride something terrible. It wasn't long after that before The changed his mind about railroads, and was after their shares lickety split.

I

XIII

WAS now as busy as a dog licking a dish.

For I was soon to be interested in those

same railroad contraptions that Vanderbilt had d gone into. I had lots of faith in him and his judgment, since he seemed to turn into money everything he put his hand to. And seeing I had done so well by following his lead into the steamboat business, I felt I couldn't make much mistake by following his lead once again, into the railroad business.

The spread of railroads was now almost as rapid as the spread of steamboats had been a few years before. before. When once it was found that locomotives could pull a train up a grade, it was a discovery. Because now railroads could be built even through hilly country. When iron rails came in and took the place of the old straps laid on beams of wood, which were everlastingly curling up into snake-heads and derailing the train, that was another big invention. By now it was seen that the railroad was not just a curious toy, but was a practical way of getting across the country; and every city and town wanted one.

I didn't have to go out of my way to learn about