Mr. Dripps informs me that, after many attempts, he succeeded in putting the parts of the engine together, and when it was placed in position upon the track he notified Robert Stevens of the fact.  Mr. Stevens came at once to Bordentown, as his anxiety to see it in operation was very great.  Upon his arrival the boiler was pumped full of water, by hand, from the hogshead in which it was brought.  Benjamin Higgins made the fire with pine wood, and when the scale[5] showed thirty pounds steam pressure, Isaac Dripps opened the throttle, Robert Stevens standing by his side, and the first locomotive on this great highway moved.  It would be difficult to describe the feeling of these three men as they stood upon the moving engine—­the first human freight drawn by steam on what was afterward destined to be the great highway connecting the two most populous cities of the American continent; a most important link in the chain of intercommunication between the North and South and West.  What possibilities must have dawned upon them if they cared to lift the veil of the future!

  [Footnote 5:  The dial gauge was not in use at that time.]

During the next few days after this preliminary trial the engine was again taken apart, and as a few of the parts needed modification some time intervened before it was again in running order.  It will be remembered that young Dripps had never seen a locomotive before and there were no “old engineers” to consult in regard to the construction or management of the engine.

A TENDER IMPROVISED.

As no tender came with the locomotive, one was improvised from a four-wheel flat car that had been used on construction work, which was soon equipped to carry water and wood.  The water tank consisted of a large whisky cask which was procured from a Bordentown storekeeper, and this was securely fastened on the center of this four-wheeled car.  A hole was bored up through the car into the barrel and into it a piece of two-inch tin pipe was fastened, projecting below the platform of the car.  It now became necessary to devise some plan to get the water from the tank to the pump and into the boiler around the turns under the cars, and as a series of rigid sections of pipe was not practicable, young Dripps procured four sections of hose two feet long, which he had made out of shoe leather by a Bordentown shoemaker.  These were attached to the pipes and securely fastened by bands of waxed thread.  The hogshead was filled with water, a supply of wood for fuel was obtained, and the engine and tender were ready for work.

STEAM OR HORSE POWER?

At that time the question whether the railroad should be operated by steam locomotives or horse power had already become a political issue.  The farmers and other horse owners and dealers, who had made money by selling hay and grain and horses to the stage and freight wagon lines, were discussing the possibilities of loss of business.