Moving Westward By 1820, so many people had moved West that the population of the original 13 states had declined!

Traveling West Settlers took a number of routes West … Great Wagon Road Across Pennsylvania Dates back to colonial days Wilderness Road Opened by Daniel Boone before the Revolution Led through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky

Cumberland gap

Cumberland gap Beautiful landscape like this still exists across the Cumberland Gap and throughout the Appalachian Mountains. Within this scenery, some of the poorest people in our country struggle with day to day living.

Traveling West Ohio River Trails Loaded animals and wagons onto flatboats and floated down the shallow Ohio River into Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois Trails Took people into the South where the plantation system flourished in the rich soil

Flat boats on the river

New States Between 1792 – 1818, eight new states joined the union: Louisiana Kentucky Tennessee Ohio Indiana Mississippi Illinois Alabama

Transportation Systems

Improvements to Roads Turnpikes and Corduroy Roads Private companies built gravel and stone roads that were better than the muddle, narrow roads most used To pay for these roads, they collected tolls from travelers Compare this to the “turnpike” or “tollway” systems we have today. Do you mind paying extra $$ to drive on these better roads? How would you have felt in the early 1800s?

Lancaster Turnpike Best road in the United States Linked Philadelphia and Lancaster Built on a bed of gravel so that water drained off quickly Topped off with flat stones

The Lancaster Turnpike 1795

Building the turnpike Workers laid out the gravel over the graded down dirt and then topped it off with flat stones that were made flat by those hired to hammer them down.

Corduroy Roads Roads made of logs in swampy areas Noisy and Bumpy Kept wagons from sinking in the mud

Corduroy road

Corduroy road

National Road In 1806, Congress approved funds for a national road building project Slated to run from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling, Virginia The project was later extended to Illinois

Map of the national road Look at all of the cities that sprang up along the National Road – settlement patterns across this area would be very different had the road not been built

Steam Transport Traveling “up river” was very difficult – a boat could travel downstream from Pittsburgh to New Orleans in six weeks but the return trip took seventeen weeks!

Fitch and Fulton 1787 – John Fitch presents the steam engine to Congress He opened a ferry service on the Delaware River that failed Robert Fulton launched the Clermont on the Hudson River and set a record for the voyage from NYC to Albany

The Age of Steamboats Gave farmers and merchants a cheap means of moving goods Flat Bottom Steamboats – Henry Shreve designed this for the shallow rivers in the West

Dangers of Steamboats Sparks from smokestacks could cause fire Boilers exploded Between 1811 – 1851 44 collided 166 burned 200 exploded

Steamboats on the cumberland

steamboats

Steamboats on the mississippi

The Canal Boom Western Farmers needed a way to get their goods directly to market To meet this need, Americans dug canals

Erie Canal Linked the Great Lakes with the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers Let farmers ship their goods to the port of New York Brought business to towns along the route Took thousands of workers Became an instant success creating a vital link between the east and west

Erie Canal

Erie Canal

Erie Canal today

Erie Canal today