Land Transportation

Land Transportation

By Joshua Pry

Roads

• 1700's post roads were built between towns to deliver mail

  • narrow, windy, dusty during summer, muddy during winter and spring

• Used horse-drawn coaches or wagons​

Land Transportation

Turnpikes

• between 1787 and 1810 there was a large push to create better roads

  • built and maintained by private companies

  • to pay for the construction, maintenance and upkeep they charged a toll [small fee]

  • they stopped passerbys using a large pointed log called a pike that they would turn or lift once the fee was paid​

Land Transportation

The National Road

• in 1811 the federal government began construction on a major east-west road across the norther states

  • used federal funds (money raised by tax payers)​

  • thousands of Americans that had migrated west to lands in the Ohio River Valley

    • The federal government wanted these citizens to remain connected to the US

Land Transportation

The National Road cont.

• The National Road was sometimes called the Old Cumberland Road

  • Started in Baltimore, Maryland and ran alongside the Potomac River and crossed the Appalachian Mtns. near Cumberland, Maryland.

  • The road continued through Pennsylvania, Virginia, across Ohio and into Illinois.

  • Was 620 miles long and wide enough for a wagon to turn around

Land Transportation

The National Road cont. cont.

• The federal gov't intended for the national road to eventually be built across the Mississippi River through St. Louis and into central Missouri.

  • but funding for the road halted during a financial panic in the 1830's

  • This was the first road funded by the gov't and used a new product called "macadam" (crushed gravel of uniform size)

  • even with better roads horse-drawn traffic could only go 2-4mph

Railroads

• Around the time that the National Road was being completed a new technology was advancing that would revolutionize travel.

• The steam locomotive was starting to be used to pull train carts

  • previously pulled by horses or cranks.

• in 1828 businessmen in America began to build railroads​

Land Transportation

Railroads cont.

• like the first roads, railroad were also built and maintained by private businesses

• The first steam locomotive built in the US as nicknamed the Best Friend of Charleston (where it was made)

• by 1834 762 miles of track had been laid in the US.

Land Transportation

Railroads vs Canals

• railroads were cheaper to build than canals

• transportation of goods was faster on railroads than canals

• Railroads effectively stopped production of canals

Land Transportation

Railroad Problems

• steam engines were still noisy and dirty

  • coal-burning

    • embers could set the countryside on fire

• private companies would try to cut cost which led to safety hazards​

Land Transportation

Railroad fever

• despite issues "railroad fever" gripped the nation

• improvements to both track and railcars made passenger and freight service safer and more practical.

• having a railroad run through town would bring business and opportunity

• b​y 1844 there were 4,300 miles of track, by 1854 15,700 carrying 60% of nations freight, and 1864 there was 33,800 miles

Land Transportation