dieseltaylor Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Travel in the US from 1800. Though an obvious booboo is that there were no trains in the US in 1800 and few in 1830 so despite the blurb it is not just trains being considered. : ) " This first map from the 1932 Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States shows the rate of travel by rail from New York City in 1800. " http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/public-transportation/how-fast-could-you-travel-across-usa-1800s/page/2/#slide-top 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowMotion Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I think before cars became common most long distance travels were slow and rare. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I think before cars became common most long distance travels were slow and rare. Indeed. Before the rail net began to be established around the middle of the 19th. century, you either walked, took a boat, rode horseback or in a coach. Boat would have been the most desirable wherever possible as the others were exhausting. It would also have been the most economical way to move freight, which explains the effort put into canal building. The larger cities grew up either on or near the coasts or on major inland waterways. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 The growth of towns and cities is quite an interesting subject. The necessity of a town within half a days travel was quite an important driver to expand commerce from the village. All other things being equal you could find towns a certain distance from each other being twice a half days travel. Obviously towns themselves had reasons to be where they were - good communications, river for travel or crossing, a pass, or raw resources. Salt being one of the prime ones from earliest times. You can download free travel books and my favourite for travel descriptions and a very clever plot is "The Lightning Conductor" by C.N & A.M Williamson October 1902. I have the eighth edition dated November 1904. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33845/33845-h/33845-h.htm For context: " By the start of the 20th century, the automobile industry was beginning to take off in Western Europe, especially in France, where 30,204 were produced in 1903, representing 48.8% of world automobile production that year." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Other Means Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 This is pretty cool. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Did somebody show that chart to Sid Meier? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Other Means Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Yeah that's what it reminded me of too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 That's funny, I didn't think about him at all. But I did have a thought for the game this morning when a piece of music that gets used on the sound track popped up on the radio. Sic transit gloria mundi. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Nice map/chart?. I have a this book which is interesting on early travel. http://www.questia.com/library/407387/touring-in-1600-a-study-in-the-development-of-travel 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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