TRANSPORTATION IN THE USA.

The United States was a large country, and travelling about it was difficult and took a lot of time. It took days for eastern farmers to get to city mar­kets. It took weeks to cross the Appalachians. A trip to the Rocky Mountains could take six months or more. The country needed better transportation and communication.

Robert Fulton. An American artist and inven­tor, Robert Fulton, visited Great Britain and learned about a new invention called the steam engine. Ful­ton thought of putting a steam engine on a boat.

In 1807 Fulton built a steamboat. He called it the Clermont. On August 17, 1807, the Clermont started from New York up the Hudson River toward the town of Albany, 240 kilometers away. About 30 hours later the Clermont arrived in Albany. Ful­ton's steamboat was a success. Soon steamboats travelled on many rivers and lakes in the United States.

The National Road. The National Road was an important improvement in transportation. It made travelling between the East and the West easier. The road went from Cumberland in the state of Maryland to Wheeling, in what later became West Virginia. Later the road was lengthened to St. Lou­is on the Mississippi River. Before the road was built, it took several weeks to get from Baltimore to Wheeling. By using the National Road, travellers could make the same trip in a few days.

Most of the roads built at that time were un-paved. When it rained, they became rivers of mud. In summer the horses raised clouds of dust.

Canals. The construction of canals also improved transportation. In 1817 people began constructing a canal connecting Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo on Lake Erie. The 580-kilometre Erie Ca­nal was completed in 1825. Boats were pulled by mules walking on a path alongside the canal. Even though the boats went only 3-4 kilometers an hour, canal transportation was still faster and cheaper than carrying goods over the^-mountains.

The Erie Canal was a great success. The canal opened up trade between New York and the West. It was now possible to go from the Atlantic coast to the Great Lakes area by water. Buffalo became a centre of western trade. New York City became the transportation centre of the country.

Railroads. There were some railroads in the coun­try, but they were not yet the most popular way of transporting people and goods. The first train en­gines were frightening. Noisy and smoky, they ter­rified horses and scared cows so much that they stopped giving milk.

These iron horses, as they were called, travelled at the unheard-of speed of 25 to 32 kilometers an hour! They moved people and goods much faster than steam­boats or canal boats. But the first trains of the 1830's were not very comfortable. Passengers travelled in open carriag­es, and the engine sparks and soot fell on them.

Communication was also improved during the first half of the 19th century. A man named Samuel Morse introduced tele­graph. He invented a code, in which each letter of the alphabet is a series of dots and dashes.

QUESTIONS.

1. What were the transportation problems in the Unit­ed States at the beginning of the 19th century?

2. Who used steam to improve American transporta­tion? How did he use it?

3. Why was the National Road important? What points did it connect?

4. Why did people prefer to travel long distances by boat rather than by road?

5. When was the Erie Canal constructed? What points did it connect? Why was the Erie Canal so important?

6. What were the first railways like? Why were they not very popular?

7. Who invented telegraph? What was the purpose of the telegraph?

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 1230