Transcript Problems in Transportation - Upper St. Clair School District

Problems in
Transportation
New Solutions Needed!
Formal Roads
» Turnpikes
» Maintained by private companies
» At various points, people needed to pay to use
them
» Corduroy Roads
»
»
»
»
Made in swampy areas
Created with logs
Kept wagons from sinking into mud, but…
They were very bumpy!
Roads/Highways
» Advantages
» Could be built
anywhere
» Travel during every
season
» Cheapest
» Travel at own pace
» Disadvantages
» Couldn’t carry as
much
» Slowest!
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
The Steamboat
• This new invention changed water travel forever
– First created by John Fitch
• Demonstrated capabilities to Constitutional
•
Convention
He opened a ferry service with it, but his business
failed
– Robert Fulton successfully used a steamboat
• Clermont served as a ferry on the Hudson River
• 300 mile trip in 62 hours
The Steamboat
• Advantages
– Cut travel time
– Easily travel upstream
– Could carry large
amounts of goods
– Cheap$$$$$$
• Disadvantages
– Technology not
perfected yet
• Explosions & fires
were
common(boom)
– Had to follow the path
of a river
• Couldn’t go everywhere
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Canals
• Man-made waterways
– Like rivers
• A few existed early on
– They were very short
– Used to connect things very close together
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Canal Boom
• Erie Canal
– “Clinton’s Ditch”
• Plan to link Hudson River (New York City) with
Lake Erie
DeWitt Clinton (NY Governor)
•
– Work began in 1817
• Much dug by hand
• Bridges over rivers
• Complete in 1825
– End Result
• Success!
Canals
• Advantages
– Could connect any two
bodies of water
– Linked places that
otherwise couldn’t
have been linked
• Disadvantages
– Expensive to build
– Difficult to build
– Froze during the
winter (sometimes)
– Slower than river
travel
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Effects on
People/Economy
•
•
•
•
•
Allowed for farmers to profit
Allowed for greater western expansion
New cities were formed
Costs of travel and shipping dropped
Communication improved
Map Activity MSQ

1.
2.
3.
Use the map on page 306 titled, “Major Canals”
Which canal helped connect Pittsburgh to the
East Coast?
The Erie Canal was created to connect what
two major bodies of water?
Explain why the canals on this map for the most
part were connected to the Great Lakes.
Answer this from both a logistic perspective
and also for practicality.
Wrap-Up

Your homework is on the back of
your note guide!

Answer the target now!
I can identify improvements made in
transportation in the 1800s and
explain how they benefited an
expanding America.
