A TRANSPORTATION
REVOLUTION
Chapter 10- Section 2
Before 1800..
If you need to get from Point A
to Point B you could….
• Walk
• Ride a horse
• Ride on a buggy or
coach
Before the 1800’s
• In the early days of our country, there were
very few roads.
• Most roads had started out as “Indian trails”
barely wide enough for a horse and rider.
• Over time, these trails widen with use.
• They became rutted from wagon wheels and
in rainy weather nearly impossible to travel.
Solutions…
• One way to “fix” the problem of muddy roads was
to build a corduroy road.
• A corduroy road consisted of trees that had been cut
down and tied together.
Westward Expansion
• As Americans moved West, the need for
better roads became obvious.
• Most of the first “paved” roads were built
by private companies.
• The builders of the road collected fees, or
tolls, from the people who used them.
Roads
• The tollgate was usually a pike or pole
which blocked the road.
• After the traveler paid his toll, the pike was
turned so they could pass.
• Hence, the word “turnpike”
“Old School” Toll Booths or
Pikes
Typical Turnpike Tolls
Roads…
• Overland travel was both expensive and
slow.
• In the early 1800’s, it cost more to haul a
ton of goods several miles overland than to
bring the same ton all the way across the
Atlantic Ocean!
The National Road
• To improver overland
transportation, the
federal government
began construction of
the National Road.
•
It stretched from Maryland to Illinois .
•
It was a remarkable engineering achievement.
•
It had a foundation of solid stone and a top of
gravel.
HC: Early American
Turnpikes
Rivers and Canals
Rivers and Canals
• In the early years, rivers were the country’s
“interstate highway” system.
• Floating down rivers was much easier than
the bumpy and muddy roads.
• Two problems existed with river travel…
• #1..They didn’t always go exactly where
you need them to…
• #2…Downstream was fine, upstream was
difficult.
Rivers and Canals..
• To solve the first of these problems canals were
dug.
• Goods were carried along canals on barges.
• These barges were towed by horses or mules
which walked alongside the canal.
• It was much easier for animals to pull heavy loads
on water than it was to pull them on dry land.
• Thus, canal transportation was much cheaper than
transportation by road.
Rivers and Canals…
• Canals were expensive to build, however,
and could not be constructed without great
financial support.
• One of the first canals built was the Erie
Canal in New York.
• At 363 miles long, 40 feet wide and 4 feet
deep it was an engineering wonder.
HYPERLINK
The Erie Canal
• The Erie Canal or “Clinton’s Big Ditch”
cost the state $ 7 million, an enormous
amount at the time.
• However, the canal attracted so much traffic
that the tolls collected soon paid its cost.
• The costs of shipping goods fell from $100
a ton before the canal was built to $5 a ton
afterward.
Low Bridge Songs
HC: Erie Canal
Canals…
• When people in other states saw how profitable
the Erie Canal was they hurried to build their own.
• By 1840, more than 3,300 miles of canals had
been built.
• These canals united the different sections of the
country and stimulated their economies.
• Farm products in the West and manufactured
goods in the East no longer had to be lugged over
the Appalachian Mountains by wagon.
A Transportation
Revolution…The steamboat
• The steam engine provided an
unprecedented revolution in transportation .
• In 1807, Robert Fulton launched began the
first successful steamboat in the U.S.
• He ran his steamboat, the Clermont, from
New York City to Albany and back again
(roughly 300 miles total) in the record time
of 62 HOURS!!!
HC: Steamboats
Robert Fulton’s Clermont
Steamboat Travel
• The age of steamboat travel ushered in an
era of unprecedented speed.
• Suddenly, travel was not dependent on
water current or straining horses.
• Instead, power now rested on the power of
the boiling steam engine and the bravado of
those who would stoke it higher and higher
and then close the safety valves to ensure
the fasted time travel.
Steamboats….
• Not surprisingly,
steamboat captains
became known as
terrible daredevils and
raced each other for
titles of who had the
fastest times.
The Dangers of Steamboat Travel
• Steamboats were always in danger of hitting
snags—trees lying just below the surface of
the water—which could open a hole in the
hull of the ship and sink the boat in a matter
of minutes.
• Since the steamboats were made of wood
fire was also a constant danger.
The Dangers of Steamboat Travel
• Most dangerous, though, were illmaintained boilers. Rushing captains and
inattentive crews that did not release the
steam from the boilers caused numerous
violent explosions.
• Between 1811 and 1851, 44 steamboats
collided, 166 burned, and more than 200
exploded!
The Steam Locomotive
• Americans continued to build new roads and
canals. Steamboats ran along the coasts and major
rivers in the East and the West.
• But the greatest change came with railroads.
• Railways had been in existence for quite some
time—carts on rails pulled by horses.
• In 1829, an English family designed a steampowered engine to pull rail cars.
The Steam Locomotive…
• Called The Rocket it
barreled along at 30
miles per hour, an
amazing speed at the
time.
• In the US people
laughed at the noisy
clatter of the “iron
horses”.
click here to how the engine works
The Steam Locomotive
• Others watched in horror as sparks flew from the
smokestack, burning holes in passengers clothing
and setting barns on fire.
• Many Americans believed that horse-drawn rail
cars were safer and faster than trains pulled by
steam engines.
The Steam Locomotive…
• In 1830, a race was held to settle the
question.
• A huge crowd gathered in Baltimore to
watch a horse-drawn rail car race the
Tom Thumb, a steam powered engine.
• At first, the horse struggled to keep up.
Suddenly, Tom Thumb broke down.
• The crowd cheered as the horse crossed the
finish line first.
Tom Thumb
but Tom Thumb’s defeat
did not mean an end to
the steam locomotive..
Steam Locomotives
• Engineers soon designed better engines and
rails.
• Private companies began to build railroads,
often with the help of state governments.
• By the 1850’s, railroads linked eastern cities
to Cincinnati and Chicago in the mid-west.
• By 1869, a transcontinental railroad was
completed.
Look at this picture…Can you think of FOUR advantages the
railroads had over all other forms of travel at the time?
The Railroads Advantages
• #1… They were FASTER
• #2… They were CHEAPER
• #3… They could GO ANYWHERE
TRACKS COULD BE LAID.
• #4 …They could RUN IN ANY
WEATHER
HC: 1st trans/Atlantic
passenger ships
CONCLUSION…
• The railroads expanded the transportation
growth that began with turnpikes.
• This TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION
made it easier for people in one region to
meet and do business with people in other
regions.
• The Transportation Revolution began a
process linking this vast nation closer
together that continues today.