Could the figure be passenger miles? In 1858,there were approximately 27,000 miles of railroads in the US. Dividing your figure by 27000 provides a much more realistic figure. Consider that the RR was a major form of local, as well as long distance, travel. It sure beat the alternatives! Tom David Minor wrote: > > York Staters, > > According to French's Gazetteer of 1860 in the fiscal year ending September > 30, 1858, New York State trains had carried 43,786,579 passengers. If I'm > reading the report correctly, that's a lot of people. Does anyone else have > any thoughts on the accuracy of that count?