=Study Questions.= _1._ How did the gold seekers reach the Pacific Coast? _2._ What demand did the increasing population in the West bring? _3._ What was the name of the first railway across the mountains to the Pacific coast? _4._ How many railways cross the mountains to-day? _5._ What did the railways bring about? _6._ How did this affect the Indians? _7._ How did the government aid the farmers in the dry areas? _8._ What happened in California when the free gold deposits gave out? _9._ What great cities grew up along the Pacific coast? _10._ What was happening in the plains east of the Rockies? _11._ What first brought home to Americans the urgent need of a canal across the Isthmus? _12._ Who began a canal at Panama? _13._ Why did the French not succeed? _14._ Who was put in charge of the work of the Americans? _15._ Where did Goethals study engineering? _16._ In what war did he serve? _17._ When was the Canal completed? _18._ How was the event celebrated? =Suggested Readings.= Wright, _Children's Stories of American Progress_, 268-298; Brooks, _The Story of Cotton_ and _The Story of Corn_; Nida, _Panama and Its "Bridge of Water,"_ 63-187. MEN OF RECENT TIMES WHO MADE GREAT INVENTIONS THOMAS A. EDISON, THE GREATEST INVENTOR OF ELECTRICAL MACHINERY IN THE WORLD [Sidenote: =His parentage=] =199. The Wizard of the Electrical World.= Thomas A. Edison was born in 1847 at Milan, Ohio. His father's people were Dutch and his mother's were Scotch. When he was seven years of age his parents removed to Port Huron, Michigan. Edison owed his early training to his mother's care. At the age of twelve he was reading such books as Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, Hume's _History of England_, Newton's _Principia_, and Ure's _Dictionary of Science_. The last-named book was too full of mathematics for him. [Illustration: EDISON SELLING PAPERS AFTER THE BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING] [Sidenote: =A tireless reader=] That Edison was a great reader is proved by his resolution to read all the books in the Detroit Free Library! He did finish "fifteen feet of volumes" before any one knew what he was doing. In 1862 General Grant fought the terrible battle of Pittsburg Landing. Everybody wanted to hear the news. Edison bought a thousand newspapers, boarded a train, and the engineer allowed him a few minutes at each station to sell papers. [Sidenote: =His experience as a newsboy=] As the first station came in sight, Edison looked ahead and saw a wild crowd of men. He grabbed an armful of papers, rushed out, and sold forty before the train left. At the next station the platform was crowded with a yelling mob. He raised the price to ten cents, but sold one hundred fifty.