Norwalk After Two Hundred & Fifty Years

„«t*ei. Also, he is much interested in the attitude of the people at this stage or the other in the country's history and in this or that section of the country to specific travel routes and means of t-ravel — notably of course to the new developments in the means of transportation from the days of the canoe to the completion of the first transcontinental railway. At the same time, he has produced an informative rath- er than a speculative work, and this is well, for the collection of picturesque facts — and, one must add, illustrations — is his metier. The result of his labors has been to produce a book which all Americans who love to study the days and ways of their country's past or who are susceptible in any degree to the fascination of travel will read with pleasure. A few generali- izations upon national or sectional char- acteristics may here and there seem a little overdone; but the author's general con- ception is intelligent and interesting, and there is a wealth of entertaining informa- tion in every one of his 53 chapters, and if some readers will look in vain for some piece of cherished local history with re- gard to old trails, post roads, taverns or early railways, that is only what is to be expected in a book of so wide scope. Mr Dunbar has conducted an exhaustive search through the records of the past, and, as his eye for the picturesque has gen- erally prevailed with him, the pages of his book are alive with interest. The early settlers adopted the birch bark canoe of the Indians, but were unskilful in manipu- lating so light a craft, and abandoned the use of it for the canoe made by hollowing out a log. From this beginning Mr Dun- bar takes us along through the colonial and early national periods down to recent times. The advent of horse-drawn vehicles is fully described, with such illustrations as are available from old prints. The vari- ous types of harbor and river craft— barges, pole-boats, flatboats and the rest— are en- tertainingly brought before our eyes, and the development of the steamboat, needless to say, receives a number of chapters, wherein the tragic story of John Fitch is told. On land Indian trails were expand- ed into wagon roads, and how this came about is well told, with due attention to the corduroy road. The stage coach and the Conestoga wagon make their appearance in the proper places. The railroad was not. as most persons probably suppose, au outgrowth of the application of the use of steam to land transportation. It was first conceived as a device for hauling wagons with the aid of horses, and sprang from ob- servations on the increased ease of moving vehicles where fixed rails were used. For some time much doubt was expressed as to the successful use of steam on such a road, and horses were the first motive power on some railroads that soon became steam railroads. The various steps in the de- velopment of the railroad when the use of steam had been established make a chap- ter in which all Americans must find great 'interest. The problem of ownership was early in the field, and the fear of monopoly soon was evident. Railroads were owned by one company, and the ve- hicles operated on them were owned by many individuals. In comparative- ly short time, however, the desirability of having the equipment controled by the pro- prietors of the railroad was apparent. Railroads do not seem to have had to over- come the same amount of prejudice against them on sentimental grounds as in En- gland, but -Mr Dunbar shows that here in Massachusetts the promoters of the west- ern railroad (now the Boston and Albany) sent a letter to the clergy of the state, asking them to reassure the people as to the propriety of railroads in general; here the objection seems to have been mainly due to a fear that the sanctity of the Sabbath would be desecrated by the operation of trains. 3795 117 University of Connecticut Libraries