On December 23, 1852, the first train on the first railroad west of the Mississippi River steamed proudly from St. Louis to Cheltenham--the immense distance of five miles. In that moment of exaltation, writes Robert Edgar Riegel, "flags waved, bands played, and orators prophesied the flowering of the West under the beneficent influence of the steam locomotive. For once the orators were right. An epoch was marked. Twenty-five years earlier the musical whistle of the locomotive was as yet unheard in the United States. Twenty-five years later steel tracks spanned the continent from New York to...
On December 23, 1852, the first train on the first railroad west of the Mississippi River steamed proudly from St. Louis to Cheltenham--the immense di...
