The Homa Files

Trick question.

Of course not.  None of us were around in 1800 .

Cool chart below from FlowingData.com …. reporting Census Bureau data massaged by researchers at the Univ. of Nebraska.

With NYC pegged as the destination, the isolines show how long it took to get from wherever to NYC.

Chicago is on the 6-week isoline.

Ouch.

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The bigger question: why did it take so damn long?

Basic answer: Steam-powered trains were very slow and prone to mechanical breakdowns.

Plus, tracks were problematic, and not always continuous.  Travelers sometimes had to change rail lines along the way.

The good news: trains picked up speed.

By 1830, the Chicago to NYC trip was cut… to a lightning fast 2-weeks.

All aboard.

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This entry was posted on January 10, 2013 at 12:59 pm and is filed under History, Trains - rail, Travel & Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.