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342 A History of Sweden
see his life’s work finished. He lies buried beside the
canal near Motala,
"By the billows he created,
On the banks himself had built,"
as Tegner sang.
Railroad Building. The protagonist of Swedish rail-
road building was Adolf von Rosen, who had carefully
studied the railroad problem in England. It was his
proud dream to make Sweden a leader on the continent
in peaceful enterprises by equipping her with a net-
work of railroads. He labored in speech and press to
gain supporters for his plan. But there was a stubborn
opposition to overcome. Most people regarded "Rail-
road-Rosen" as "a little off."
Even in the Riksdag some alleged that in a country
like Sweden railroads could be operated only in sum-
mer. Others held that people living along the lines
would steal and carry off the iron for home use. The
terrible fire engines rushing across the country like
dragons and comets would scare the life out of both
man and beast. The poor innkeepers, carters, and wag-
oners would lose their living and become charges of
the parishes.
But Von Rosen continued his work in spite of all op-
position, and finally at the Riksdag of the year 1853-54,
it was decided to build trunk lines to serve as a frame
work from which branch lines could extend to all parts
of the kingdom. The direction of the state railway
construction was intrusted to Colonel Nils Ericsson,
brother of Captain John Ericsson, the builder of the
Monitor. Colonel Ericsson’s high character and un-
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