First Train to Harpers Ferry

Arrival of Cars at Harpers-Ferry.— Monday last will be remembered by the citizens of Harpers-Ferry, as an important era in its history.– On that day, at half past 2 o’clock, P. M., a locomotive came thundering up to the bridge, drawing after it a train of cars, containing nearly a hundred passengers. They had left the Upper Depot at Baltimore that morning, at 8 o’clock– having come 82 miles in six hours and a half, including the detention at breakfast, the inclined planes, and other stopping places. The average speed, for the entire distance, including all delay, was 13 miles per hour; from the Point of Rocks to Harpers-Ferry, 12 miles, they came in 45 minutes; and the portion of the road between the Monocacy and the Point, (eleven miles,) was traversed in 25 minutes– being at the rate of 26 miles and a traction per hour.

Among the passengers, were the following gentlemen:
Mr. Thomas, President of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company, Messrs. Elliott, Stewart, Morris, Williams, Sprigg of Prince George’s County, and Brown, Directors of that Raod; Mr. E. T. Finley, President of the Baltimore and Port Deposit Rail Road Company, and the Directors of that Road; Judge Nesbit, President of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Rail Road Company, and the Directors of that Road; the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore; and the following guests: Benjamin Ogle, Esq., of Prince George’s County; J. P. Kennedy, Esq. John A. Brown, Esq., of Philadelphia, William Gwynn, Lewis Jenkins, &c. &c.

At the junction of the lateral Road to Frederick and the main stem of the Rail Road, they were met by Richard Potts, Esq., Director in behalf of the State, in Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, and a party, consisting of the Mayor of Frederick, Mr. Niles, and other gentlemen.

On arriving on the Virginia side, they were met by Mr. Bruce and several of the Directors of the Winchester and Potomac Rail Road Company; when Mr. Bruce addressed the party, and was replied to by Richard Potts, Esq., of Frederick, Md.

The spectacle of the arrival was truly magnificent. We could not but exult in the consciousness of being witness to an event that seemed, when mentioned a few years since, a mere chimera. How different the aspect of Harpers-Ferry now, and its condition seven years ago! At that time, the passage thence to Baltimore was attended with fatigues, difficulties, and even peril. The traveller was sometimes liable to detention for a day or more, on account of the natural obstructions, before he had progressed ten miles on his journey. But the hand of man has cut a pathway through the cliffs that had been considered impregnable; and he has constructed causeways to bear him in safety, where he and his steed had trembled at the dashing billows.