Transportation through History and Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper connects history with literature and talks about changes in the 20th century in the field of transportation. As cities grew, industry became the dominant form of economy, and transportation moved to new levels. In the past, people would stay around one location for their whole life. Once the transportation revolution ended, ordinary people had the power of moving wherever they wanted to go. The paper explains that this was one of the greatest times of change for the people of the world, and it is evident in the literature of the time.

From the Paper:

"It is said that the railroads were the first to unify the United States. In a way, this is correct. Canals had been built, cities had been strategically placed on rivers for ease of transportation, roads had been built, and carriages were used considerably. However, nothing matched the awesome power of the train. Steamboats were slow, carried a moderate amount of supplies, and could only travel on waterways that were hard to build. In fact, steamboats could not even run on canals. Barges were used, pulled by horses, to transport goods. Roads easily flooded and turned to mud, and carriages were at the mercy of the weather. Because of these circumstances, transportation was long, arduous, and sometimes even dangerous. Railroads offered a way out of this quagmire of transportation. They were easy to build, they were fast, they could carry a large amount of goods on many train cars, and the cars were, for the most part, enclosed. This meant that the trains could travel through any type of weather. By the end of the 19th Century, every major city had a connection to the railroad network, and the nation became unified."

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