"Hell in Harness"

"Hell in Harness". . , In the early 1830s, when railroads were new to America, the term "Hell in Harness" was a widely accepted description of the new steam-powered locomotives that belched fire, steam, and smoke. The earthen embankment before you was built to hold a track that would carry one of these new and frightening locomotives. , The Cahawba and Marion Railroad Company was incorporated in January of 1834, and several miles of railroad bed were constructed, but when the subscribers to the capitol stock refused to pay, no locomotive was purchased and this early Alabama enterprise failed. , A plank pathway was laid upon the old embankment to create a pleasant walk over the ravine that separated Cahawba's business district from the residential part of town. Everyone jokingly referred to this path as "our railroad" until 1858, when Cahawba finally did get a steam-powered locomotive. Cahawba's locomotive was inaugurated in August of 1858. However, it did not use the old 1830s embankment. Instead, the newer railroad line ran directly down Capitol Street-the remains of that railroad bed lie buried beneath your feet. , Early Alabama Railroads Solve Problems , Alabama's earliest railroad, the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad, was created to transport goods and people around the difficult shoals of the Tennessee River. The Cahawba and Marion Railroad was also seen as a solution to difficult environmental conditions. , In Cahawba's case, the problem was the prairie soil of the Black Belt region. This soil was capable of producing cotton in rich abundance, but when there was rain, the prairie mud made roads from the plantations to the warehouses and steamboat landings at Cahawba impassable. Instead of wagons and mules buried in the mud and mire, Cahawba's merchants wanted to see train cars full of cotton "hurrying with the speed of the wind to the earliest market and bringing in return the comforts and luxuries of life." , [Captions] , [Main Photo] Above: 1830s Railroad. Cahawba's 1830s railroad failed before its locomotive was delivered. The locomotive shown here was constructed in 1831 by the West Point Foundry, New York. , [Small photo] Below: 1850s Railroad. In 1858, Cahawba finally received a locomotive built by Baldwin and Company of Philadelphia.