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G
 S
.
A small collection of houses in a mining district, called Wylam, about
nine miles west of Newcastle-on-Tyne, we find to be the birth-place of
George Stephenson, born June 9th, 1781.
His father was a very humble workman, who filled the position of fireman
of the pumping-engine in use at the colliery, at three dollars a week. With a
wife and six children to support, there was not much left after satisfying the
cravings of hunger. The children, soon as opportunity afforded, were set at
work to help support the family. We find young George beginning life
pulling turnips at two pence a day. At eight years old he tended Widow
Ainslie's cows at five cents a day. Later, he received fifty cents a week
when caring for horses.
Of course, it is the rule to find something in the boy indicative of the man,
and in Stephenson's case, legend or history furnishes the material. It seems
that while acting as herder, in company with other boys, it was his favorite
amusement to model engines out of clay. After a time he received a dollar a
week as assistant to his father, and at the age of sixteen he was appointed to
work as attendant upon the pumping-engine, at men's wages,—three dollars
per week. He was delighted, and it is doubtful if he was ever happier over
subsequent triumphs as a locomotive builder, than when he was elevated to
this position. He was employed at various collieries, as fireman, and
afterwards as plugman, and gradually acquired so complete a knowledge of
the engine as to be able to take it apart and make ordinary repairs. His
ingenuity in repairing an obstinate defect in a steam engine gained him the
charge of the engine.
After this his fondness for his work increased until, with study, he had
thoroughly mastered all its details. At the age of eighteen he could not even
read, and he began to long for some education, so that he might fit himself
for a higher place in his business. He accordingly commenced his studies by

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taking lessons in reading, of a neighboring school-master, three nights in a
week, at a small tuition. At the end of a year he could read and spell some,
and could write his own name. He now had a great thirst for mathematics,
which he studied faithfully the second year; at the close of which, by his
attentiveness, he could cipher with tolerable facility.
During odd moments he gave some attention to mending shoes, by which
he was able to earn a few extra pence. Among some shoes that were sent
him to repair was a pair belonging to a young lady, whom he afterward
married. In 1805 he removed to Killingworth colliery, and about this time
he was desirous of emigrating to the United States, but was unable to raise
money for his outfit and passage. He continued to work at his home
evenings and leisure hours, cutting out clothes for the miners, mending
clocks and shoes, and all this time studying mechanics and engineering with
a view to perpetual motion, which a great many others of his time were
studying.
His first opportunity to show his superiority was when an expensive pump
had been put in the colliery, and utterly failed to do the work required of it.
Various experts gave it their best efforts, but it still refused to do what was
required of it. Stephenson was heard to say, by some of the workmen, that
he could repair it. After all others had failed, the overseer, in despair, with
but little expectation that anything could be accomplished by a raw colliery
hand, employed him to attempt a remedy. He took the engine to pieces and
at the end of a few days repaired it ready for work, and in two days it
cleared the pit of water.
For this, and other improvements made upon old machinery, he was
appointed chief engineer in 1813, at Killingworth, at a salary of £100 per
year. Besides erecting a winding engine for drawing up coal, and a
pumping-engine, he projected and laid down a self-acting incline along the
declivity of the Willington ballast quay, so arranged that full wagons
descending to the vessels drew up the empty ones. But the construction of
an efficient and economical locomotive steam engine mainly occupied his
mind. He was among those who saw the Blenkinsop engine first put on the
track, and watched its mechanism for some time, when he concluded he
could make a better machine. He found a friend in his employer, Lord

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Ravensworth, who furnished the money, and in the work-shops at West
Moor, Killingworth, with the aid of the colliery blacksmith, he constructed
a locomotive which was completed in July, 1814. The affair, though clumsy,
worked successfully on the Killingworth railway, drawing eight loaded
carriages, of thirty tons each, at the rate of four miles an hour. It was the
first locomotive made with smooth wheels, for he rejected the contrivance
which Trevithick, Blenkinsop and others had thought necessary to secure
sufficient adhesion between the wheels and the rails.
While engaged on plans for an improved engine his attention was attracted
to the increase in the draught of the furnace obtained by turning the waste
steam up the chimney, at first practiced solely in the desire to lessen the
noise caused by the escape of the steam. Hence originated the steam-blast,
the most important improvement in the locomotive up to that time. The
steam-blast, the joint action of the wheels by connecting them with
horizontal bars on the outside, and a simplifying connection between the
cylinder and the wheels, were embodied in the second engine, completed in
1815. For some years Stephenson had been experimenting with the fire-
damp in the mines, and in the above year completed a miner's safety lamp,
which he finally perfected under the name of the "Gregory Lamp," which is
still in use in the Killingworth collieries. The invention of a safety lamp by
Sir Humphry Davy was nearly simultaneous, and to him the mining
proprietors presented a service of plate worth £2,000, at the same time
awarding £100 to Stephenson. This led to a protracted discussion as to the
priority of the invention, and in 1817 Stephenson's friends presented him
with a purse of $5,000 and a silver tankard.
Having now brought the locomotive to a considerable degree of
perfection, Stephenson next turned his attention to the improvement of
railways, his opinion being that both were parts of one mechanism, and that
the employment of steam carriages on common roads was impracticable.
For the purpose of making railways solid and level, and preventing jerks at
the junction of the rails, he took out a patent for an improved rail and chair,
and recommended the employment of heavier rails, and the substitution of
wrought for cast-iron. In connection with these improvements he added
considerably to the lightness and strength of the locomotive, simplified the

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construction of the working parts, and substituted steel springs for the small
cylinder, on which the boiler had at first rested.
His next important undertaking was the construction of a railway eight
miles in length, for the owners of the Helton Colliery, which was
successfully opened November 18th, 1822. The level parts were traversed
by five of Stephenson's locomotives, while stationary engines were
employed to overcome the heavy grades.
In 1820 an act of Parliament was obtained for a railway between Stockton
and Darlington, which was opened September 27th, 1825. Stephenson, who
made the preliminary surveys and specifications, was appointed engineer.
The line was intended to be worked by stationary engines for the steep
gradients, with horse-power on the level portions; but at Stephenson's
urgent request, the act was amended so as to permit the use of locomotives
on all parts of the road. In the meantime he had opened, in connection with
Edward Pease, an establishment for the manufacture of locomotives, at
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
In 1825 he was appointed principal engineer of the Liverpool &
Manchester railroad, which employed him during the next four years.
Canals connected the two towns, Liverpool and Manchester, but it was
believed that the carrying trade would support this new railway if it could
be made to work. The people were told by the newspapers that locomotives
would prevent cows from grazing and hens from laying. The poisoned air
from the locomotives would kill birds as they passed over them, and render
the preservation of pheasants and foxes no longer possible. Householders
adjoining the line were told that their houses would be burned up by fire
thrown from the engine chimneys, while the air around would be polluted
by the clouds of smoke. There would be no longer any use for horses, and if
the railways extended the species would become extinct, and therefore oats
and hay would become unsalable. Traveling by road would be rendered
exceedingly dangerous, and country inns would be ruined. Boilers would
burst and blow the passengers to pieces.
Of course, the inculcation of such theories rendered it extremely difficult
for Stephenson and his party to survey for the proposed line. The land-

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owners along the line made all sorts of trouble for them. Their instruments
were smashed and they were mobbed, yet, on they went,—at meal times
they worked, before the residents awoke in the morning, and nights, in
some instances were employed. At last the survey was accomplished, the
plans drawn, and the estimates furnished the company, were approved.
In Parliament even more opposition was experienced. Public sentiment
can be inferred from an article which appeared in the Quarterly Review for
March, 1825. Among other things it said: "What can be more palpably
absurd and ridiculous than the prospect held out of locomotives travelling
twice as fast as horses. We should as soon expect the people of Woolwich to
suffer themselves to be fired off upon one of Congreve's richochet rockets
as to trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine, going at such a rate.
We trust that Parliament will, in all the railways it may grant, limit the
speed to eight or nine miles an hour, which we entirely agree with Mr.
Sylvester is as great as can be ventured on."
But despite all such seemingly insurmountabilities, Stephenson succeeded
in getting the railway bill passed. But the troubles of George Stephenson
were not at an end. The company, not fully satisfied with his opinion alone,
conferred with two of the leading engineers of England, who reported
averse to the locomotive, recommending stationary engines at a distance of
one and a-half miles apart. But at last Stephenson prevailed upon the
company to offer a prize of about $2,500 for the best locomotive produced
at a trial to take place on the 6th of October, 1829. At last the eventful day
came, and with it thousands of spectators. Four engines appeared to
compete for the prizes. "The Novelty," the "Rocket," the "Perseverance"
and the "Sanspareil." The "Perseverance" could only make six miles an
hour, and as the rules called for at least ten, it was ruled out. The
"Sanspareil" made an average of fourteen miles an hour, but as it burst a
water-pipe, it lost its chance. The "Novelty" did splendidly, but unluckily
also burst a pipe, and was crowded out, leaving the field to the "Rocket,"
which carried off the honors. The average speed made by this engine, which
belonged to Stephenson, was fifteen miles, and even attained twenty-nine
miles an hour.

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The distinguishing features of the Rocket, the first high-speed locomotive
of the standard modern type, were the multitubular boiler, which was not
Stephenson's invention, but was first applied by him to locomotives; the
blast pipe; and the direct connection of the steam cylinders to one axle, and
one pair of wheels. At the opening of the road, September 15th, 1830, eight
locomotives, constructed at the Stephenson works, were employed, and Mr.
Huskinson, having been accidentally struck down and fatally injured by the
Rocket, was conveyed in the Northumbrian, driven by George Stephenson,
from Parkside to Eccles, fifteen miles, at the unprecedented rate of thirty-
six miles an hour.
Stephenson was almost incessantly employed for the next fifteen years on
new roads, and was called three times to Belgium, and once to Spain as a
consulting engineer. With his increasing wealth he also engaged extensively
and profitably in coal mining and lime works, particularly in the
neighborhood of Tapton Park, an elegant seat in Derbyshire, where he
passed his latter years. He declined the honor of Knighthood.
To Watt is due the honor of giving the world a practical stationary engine;
George Stephenson picked that engine up bodily and placed it on wheels,
and against the most direful predictions of the foremost engineers of his
age, proved the practicability of harnessing steam to coaches for rapid
transportation.
On August 12th, 1848, Stephenson died, leaving an immense fortune,
which was the honest reward he deserved.

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