The history of the Erie Railroad ever since 1901 has been a record of progress

The railroad originally was as completely dissociated from steam propulsion as was the ship

Horses and mules, and even sail cars, made more rapid progress than did the earliest locomotive.

The public conviction that a railroad linking the West and the East was an absolute necessity became so pronounced after the gold discoveries of '49 that Congress passed an act in 1853 providing for a survey of several lines from the Mississippi to the Pacific.

Yet, in 1850 nearly all the railroads in the United States lay east of the Mississippi River, and all of them, even when they were physically mere extensions of one another, were separately owned and separately managed.

While no one railroad can completely duplicate another line, two or more may compete at particular points

As the contest proceeded, public interest increased and the entire country watched to see which company would win the big government subsidies through the mountains.