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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing) 1 1 Browse Search
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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Electricity in the nineteenth century. (search)
d by him in practical electric railway work about 1886 and thereafter. The year 1888 may be said to mark the beginning of this work, and in that year Frank J. Sprague put into operation the electric line at Richmond, Va., using the under-running trolley. The Richmond line was the first large undertaking. It had about 13 miles of track, numerous curves, and grades of from 3 to 10 per cent. The Richmond installation, kept in operation as it was in spite of all difficulties, convinced Mr. Henry M. Whitney and the directors of the West End Street Railway, of Boston, of the feasibility of equipping the entire railway system of Boston electrically. The West End Company, with 200 miles of track in and around Boston, began to equip its lines in 1888 with the Thomson-Houston plant. The success of this great undertaking left no doubt of the future of electric traction. The difficulties which had seriously threatened future success were gradually removed. The electric railway progress