1. TRANSPORTATION

2. ROADS 1795 Wilderness Road (trail blazed by Daniel Boone)
– opened to covered wagons and stagecoaches
KY to Knoxville, TN.
4 mph
Travel difficult, about 12 people per coach
Usually did some walking and riding to ease pain!
Wagon – avg. 2 mph
Coach – avg. 6-8 mph
Carried passengers, mail, packages, etc.

3. Map of Wilderness Road

4. PHILADELPHIA-LANCASTER TURNPIKE
- privately built
First important turnpike
1st broken-stone gravel surface in America built to formal plans
Opened up territory northwest of the Ohio River
Provided cheap transportation between the coast and the “bread basket”.

5. General Information Stimulated construction of short toll roads
By mid 1820s connected most major cities
About 4,000 miles of turnpikes completed by 1821
Paved with crushed stones.
Western traffic moved along the Frederick Turnpike to Cumberland, and then along the National Road to Wheeling on the Ohio River in 1818, and then to Columbus and the Northwest Territory and on to Vandalia, IL. By mid century

6. Funding?
States’ righters blocked the spending of federal money on internal improvements.
Kept highways from crossing state lines
This really doesn’t change until the Federal Highways Act of 1916.
Places that need the roads desperately support government involvement, and those that didn’t (east coast) and had the least to gain don’t want government involvement.

7. NATIONAL ROAD/CUMBERLAND ROAD
EXCEPTION – the National Road a/k/a Cumberland Road
1806 Jefferson signed a measure for a survey and construction of the road.
Paved highway
Major route west
MD to Ill.
Begun 1811, completed 1850s
By 1818 it ran from the Atlantic Coast to Ohio
B y 1838 to Illinois
Federal and state $
Reduced transportation costs and opened up new markets
600 miles, road twenty feet wide, clearing of 80 feet.

8. National Road

9. three major stagecoach lines which carried passengers
estimated there was about one tavern every mile
Stagecoach taverns – for travelers with money
Wagon stand – like a truck stop!
Both provided food, lodging, drink

10. traffic was heavy throughout the day and into the early evening
two most common vehicles were the stagecoach and the Conestoga wagon
Stagecoach travel was designed with speed in mind. Stages would average 60 to 70 miles in one day.

11. Conestoga Wagon
Conestoga wagon was the "tractor-trailer" of the 19th Century
designed to carry heavy freight both east and west over the Allegheny Mountains.
pulled by a team of six horses, averaged 15 miles a day.

12. Henry Clay’s American System
Based on protection and internal improvements – roads, canals and other transportation needs. Proposed a protective tariff for manufacturers, an improved market for farmers, and better transportation for agricultural and industrial goods.
Would pay for transportation improvements with money from the tariff.
Hoped it would bring prosperity to all sections of the country and to the nation – economic independence from the rest of the world.
Problem was resistance by state’s right people who didn’t want the federal government to interfere in their state even by spending money on internal improvements!

13. CANALS Erie Canal – 1825 connected east to west
stimulated growth and canal building
lower food prices in the east and more settlement in the west
360 miles from Albany to Buffalo, NY
Reduced travel time from 20 days to 6
Reduced cost of moving a ton of freight from $100 to $5
By 1837 – 3000 miles of waterways
Canals in Ohio and Indiana, from north to south, through much of the Ohio River Valley.

14. Erie Canal
effect of the Canal was immediate and dramatic and settlers poured west
Within 15 years of the Canal's opening, New York was the busiest port in America, moving tonnages greater than Boston, Baltimore and New Orleans combined.

15. Early 1820s – flatboats on rivers
Carried the bulk of goods to market
3000 flatboats a year on the Ohio River
Water travel was much more comfortable
Basic and affordable
Named b/c of flat underside
Large deck
Hard to steer
Could carry heavier loads

16. Flatboats

17. Flatboats 75 tons/day 50 miles/day downstream Upstream – 10 miles/day
1830’s – steamboats towed flatboats
Later steamboats replaced flatboats

18. STEAMBOATS 1807 – Fulton’s Clermont – faster and cheaper
1836 – 361 steamboats navigated western waters
steamboats brought two-way traffic to the rivers – could go upstream against the current.
Villages at strategic locations evolved into commercial centers
1840s – shallow draft boats on river rather than in it.
Traveled the far reaches of the Miss. River
flatboats still used a lot

19. 1811 - passenger and freight route on the lower Mississippi River.
a 150-mile trip taking 32 hours at an average speed of about 5 miles-per-hour. 
Later improved to 20 mph
passenger and freight route on the lower Mississippi River.
Safer, easier, relatively safe
Whole families could travel together, rather than send father ahead and family join him later.

20. Picture!

21. OVERLAND TRAILS Santa Fe Trail 1820’s – 30’s
thousand mile trail from St. Louis to Santa Fe
begun by traders who braved deserts, mountains, and Indian attack
soon had so much traffic that Mexican traders started leading caravans east to Missouri and the peso became the main medium of exchange in Missouri.
Pioneers showed that wagons could cross the plains and mountains and developed a new technique of organized caravans for common protection.

22. 8 week journey
experienced dust, mud, gnats, mosquitoes, and heat occasional swollen streams, wildfires, hailstorms, strong winds, or blizzards could imperil wagon trains.

23. OREGON TRAIL Oregon Trail (Overland Trail)
people bound for Oregon and California
didn’t travel in big caravans like on the Santa Fe Trail – most traveled in family groups and came from all over the US
trail went from Independence, MO. Along the North Platte River into what is now Wyoming, through South Pass down to Fort Bridger, then down the Snake River to the Columbia River and along the Columbia to the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
2000 mile trip, 6 months, usually left in late spring (up to a year by boat until 1854 – Flying Cloud - 3 months)
wagon train averaged miles/day
ox-drawn, canvas covered wagons, called “prairie schooners”
about 5000 people/year went (1845)
by 1850, about 55,000/year
rarely attacked by Indians
many never saw an Indian
By 1850 more problems b/c more settlers
Few were adequately prepared
Sickness/death
Chores/hard labor
Division of labor changed – women took on more tasks associated with men – gathering buffalo dung for fuel, helping get wagons unstuck, making bridges, etc.

24. Expense?
the fare for a sea journey to Oregon was quite expensive--few pioneer families could afford it
most Oregon-bound pioneers came from the central states--far from any sea port.
the sea journey often took up to full year--versus 4-6 months by wagon.
Ferry crossings – avg. $16

25. Supplies?
should provide himself with, at least, 200 pounds of flour, 150 pounds of bacon; ten pounds of coffee; twenty pounds of sugar; and ten pounds of salt."
family of four would need over a thousand pounds of food to sustain them on the 2000 mile journey to Oregon. The only practical way to haul that much food was a wagon.
For every person on a wagon train, an estimated 11 animals accompanied them
Oxen, mules, horses, cattle, sheep

26. Wagons?
Huge Conestoga wagons were never used by the pioneers--they were just too unwieldy.
used small farm wagons
wagon box measured only four feet by ten feet
loaded them to the brim with food, farm implements and furniture--often over a ton of cargo.
toolbox on the side, a water barrel, and most importantly, hardwood brakes.

27. Early Railroads Early railroads risky
Iron straps on wooden rails, worked loose and curled up, pierced railroad coaches
Wood for fuel – sparks caused fires, damaged clothing
Jerky, bumpy, wearying – water was the most comfortable way to travel.
Railroads were economical, fast and reliable
10 mph average
Twice as fast a stage coach
Four times as fast a water

28. RAILROADS late 1820s – cheaper to build than canals (1/3 the cost)
early safety problems
1830s competing with canals
1st regular service was B & O Railroad
Quickly changed towns like Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago into booming commercial centers
1840s and 1850s – railroad building, especially in the Northeast
Cheap and rapid transportation promoted western agriculture by linking Il and Io to northeast
Strategic advantage to civil war
1867 NY Central Railroad – NY to Chicago
4500 miles of track
Baltimore, Ohio and Penn. Railroad – connected eastern ports with Chicago and Midwest
May 10, 1869 Promontory Point, Utah – transcontinental railroad completed.
1883 – Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe Railroad – carried between Kansas City and CA.
North Pacific – MN to Washington

29. Transcontinental Railroad
Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, as the Union Pacific tracks joined those of the Central Pacific Railroad.

30. Expense? Dangers? Time? Omaha to California
1st class $111.00
2nd class $80.00
3rd class $40
Dangers: washouts, buffalo, train robberies, Indians
Time? 4 days, 4 hours, 40 minutes

31. OCEAN TRAVEL early 1800s regular service weekly from NY to Liverpool
1845 – 52 transatlantic shipping lines in NYC with 3 sailings a week
1845 – first clipper ship (Rainbow) – doubled the speed
Built for speed, sleek construction, fast but lacked cargo space.
1854 – Flying Cloud – 89 days, 8 hours from NY to San Francisco

32. Flying Cloud – Clipper Ship

33. Expense? Steamship from NY to California (1862) 300.00
Via Panama (overland)