But George Stephenson had thought out a plan for a machine that would pull the cars along by steam. He called his engine "Puffing Billy." He kept at work always improving it. In 1825, after eleven years of hard work, he made an engine that could pull both passengers and freight. [Sidenote: =The first long railroad=] In 1828 the first long railroad in America was started. A great ceremony took place. It was a very solemn occasion. Charles Carroll, the only living signer of the Declaration of Independence, drove the first spade into the ground where the first rail was to be laid. As he did so he said, "I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to that of signing the Declaration of Independence." This railroad was the famous Baltimore & Ohio. Inventors continued to improve the locomotive. In 1831 an American company built one which ran at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. At that time that was considered a very rapid rate. [Sidenote: =By rail from Boston to Buffalo=] Since then railroad building and transportation have improved wonderfully. By 1842 one could travel by rail from Boston to Buffalo. But it was not until ten years later that Chicago was connected by rail with the East. [Sidenote: =To the Pacific coast=] Gradually the railroads spread a network over the country. In 1857 St. Louis and Chicago were connected. A railroad to the Pacific coast was much needed, and Congress voted an appropriation of $50,000,000 for the work. By 1869 the great work was completed. Other lines to the coast were started, and to-day many railroads cross the mountains, connecting the Pacific with the North, South, and Atlantic regions. SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH [Sidenote: =Morse, 1791=] =133. The Coming of the Telegraph.= Samuel Morse was born in Massachusetts (1791). His father was a Presbyterian minister. Young Morse went to the common schools and to Yale College. [Sidenote: =Paints portraits=] In college he used his spare time in painting, and after graduation he went to England and studied under the best artists. He came home and for a time painted portraits for a living. [Illustration: MORSE WORKING ON HIS MACHINE] [Sidenote: =The idea came to him of sending news by electricity=] After having spent some years abroad, in work and study, Morse was again returning home from France when the idea of sending news by electricity first came to him. [Sidenote: =A machine and an alphabet=] "Why can't it be?" said Morse to a friend, who answered, "There is great need of sending news by electricity." He began, then and there, to plan a machine and to invent an alphabet. This was all done on shipboard. When he reached land he went to work with a will at his new-found problem. [Sidenote: =The hungry inventor=]