The Franklin Mint History Of The United States, 1776-1973
Manufacturer
The Franklin Mint
DateNo Date
MediumSilver
DimensionsOverall: 1 3/4 in. (45 mm.)
ClassificationsDecorative arts
Credit LineGift of Dr. Eugene F. Poutasse
Object number76.81.55
On View
Not on viewThe 1830 medal: First Train Passenger Service Inaugurated
Thanks to the recommendations of Horatio Allen, chief engineer, who had previously tested the 'Stourbridge Lion' for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, the South Carolina Canal & Railroad Company was built for steam from the first. Chartered on December 19, 1827 to help Charleston regain her eminence as an important port by providing low cost transportation from the inland, the locomotive that arrived from the West Point Foundry in New York on October 23, 1830 at a cost of $4000 was appropriately named the 'Best Friend of Charleston.'
After several trial runs, regular service on the completed six-mile track began on Christmas Day, 1830. One of the 141 passengers described the trip as being "on the wings of the wind at a speed of fifteen to twenty-five miles an hour annihilating time and space and leaving all the world behind." Three weeks later on January 15, 1831, the first excursion run was held when stockholders and guests were invited in celebration of the anniversary of the railroad's construction which had begun a year before. Two pleasure cars were attached plus a small carriage from which a detachment of U.S troops fired a cannon at intervals.
Another first, which destroyed the 'Best Friend,' was the explosion that occured on June 17, 1831. The Negro fireman, annoyed by the constant hiss of escaping steam, shut the exhaust valve. The upright bottle-shaped boiler was thrown 25 feet and Nicholas Darrell, the engineer, and his helpers were injured.
In November 1831, the railroad was the first to transport the mails. Extended to Hamburg, S.C. in October 1833, its 136 miles was then the longest continuous railroad in the world.
