" l James Buchanan, Big Wheel of the Railroads BY OLIVER S. SPROUT While much has been written concerning the early development of our railroads; two local men appear as having been slighted in the roles they filled as railroad builders. Their advancement of land transport techniques would have

Franklin and Marshall College Library. ° George Tichnor Curtis, Life of James Buchanan, N. Y., 1883, I, pi 21. 10 Boston Herald, Aug. 28, 1883; Boston Post, Sept. 12, 1883, containing the refutation. �In those days Lancaster was a proud community which was still quite conscious of the fact that it had

cold, and clambered aboard the wagon provided for its use. They marched out Marietta Avenue all the way to Wheatland where they learned that Buchanan's party was still not ready to leave. At last, to the echo of rousing cheers, the car- riage came round to the front portico, Buchanan, Miss Lane, James

. The South — always a good Democratic Party strong-hold — dominated his cabinet making and cabinet. Buchanan had been selected by the Democrats as their Presidential nominee largely because, being ambassador to the Court of St. James — he had not up to the time of his election been directly involved in

Law School. He was admitted to the Bar of Lancaster County in 1936, and is associated with the law firm of Rengier and Musser. His numerous civic responsibilities include serving as president of The James Buchanan Founda- tion for the Preservation of Wheatland, secretary of the Lancaster Heart

Lieutenant-General, commander-in-chief of the Army. Courtesy the Library of Congress �At the same meeting, he, and Birch and Maj. Richard Claiborne, of Virginia, the Secretary, were appointed a committee of three to prepare a "corrected and fair copy of the Constitution."39 Thus, James Thackara took a major

those speaking a familiar language ; and this rule holds good in the main to this day. Early in the spring of the year 1796 Charles Sproul, a native of county Ar- magh, in the north of Ireland, with his wife and family sailed for Philadelphia, his son, James Sproul, the subject of this sketch, being