Transportation

6 million B.C.

The primary form of transportation in most of human history has been walking.

Line-of-sight communication was always possible, and shouting works well for limited distances.

walking: 3 mph (a "brisk walk")

3000 B.C.

The horse was domesticated as early as 4500 B.C., in Eurasia. Horses were sources of meat, milk, and, only later, they were pack animals and riding animals.

Smoke signals were used by the Chinese (on the Great Wall of China, for instance), and by American Indians (mostly to signal some major happening). Delivery by horseback was the only quick way to send a message.

horseback: 10 mph (average for the Pony Express in 1860)

1492

Sailing Ships were around from the days of the Phoenicians. Their speed went up with the introduction of new sails, etc.

Over the seas, ships were a quick way to go.

sailing ship: 6 mph (average for Columbus' sailings, he was a speed demon at up to 150 miles a day.)

1776

Movement through Wagon Trains was mostly walking: the wagons were for the supplies and the frail. Roads were nearly nonexistant at first, and it wasn't until the 1880s that there was sufficient civilization to raise the speed above the average walking speed.

A single horse rider carried messages.

wagon train: 3.5 mph (1890)

1782

The earliest transportation within the U.S. at speed was river boats, up and down the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The first flat boat to traverse the Mississippi to New Orleans was 1782. Steamships began in 1790. Robert Fulton's steamship made the 150-mile voyage between New York and Albany in 32 hours, averaging a speed of 5 miles per hour, about 1807. By 1823 Ohio had 800 miles of canals. The steampship Titanic, in 1912 on the sea, could do 20 mph (23 knots).

Travelling North and South you could do well.

river boat: 5 mph

1860

Railroads began as a way to pull boats through the canals. Between 1834 and 1850 tremendous strides were made in railroads, and in 1869 the first Transcontinental Railroad was completed. On June 4, 1876, an express train called the Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after it left from New York City. This averages out over 25 mph. By 1900 the train record stood at over 100 mph, and today bullet trains go up to 300mph.

Immediately the trains carried the mail wherever they went.

train: 20 mph

1923

The earliest roads were nothing more than expanded trails. It was not until the automobile that roads were improved enough to allow anything like high-speed traffic. In the 1920's, U.S. 40 was the first highway to traverse the continent. It included Zane's Trace, one of the earliest roads in the U.S., and in Denver it includes Colfax Avenue, the longest continuous same-named street in the world. There were only 2 places in the U.S. where you had to stop for another street when travelling U.S. 40, one was the stop for Broadway in Denver. Today, legal speeds are generally 55 to 70 mph on the highway.

Highways moved faster, and telephone lines lined the highways.

motor vehicles: 30 mph

1934

Travel by air began in the 1920s, but it was dangerous and extremely uncomfortable until 1934, when the DC-2 Airplane was able to fly coast-to-coast in relative comfort. Charles Lindbergh's flight in 1928 was 107 mph. In 1947 Charles Yeager made the first supersonic flight (761 mph). Today's Commercial jets travel at about 550 mph.

Airmail began before 1918.

airplane: 100 mph

COMMUNICATIONS

1840

Mail moves the country.

Great Britain introduced the Penny Black postage stamp in 1840, and the rest of the world followed shortly after. Mail was delivered within a city the same day, starting in 1863. Services like Special Delivery came in 1885, but Rural Free Delivery was not until 1896. Postal services before the postage stamp had to be paid by the receiver, so were available mainly only for the wealthy.

mail: same day

1861

The telegraph required you to go to where it was located.

The telegraph was invented in 1838. Dispatching trains began in 1851, and the telegraph was wide-spread (transmission lines covering the civilized U.S.) by 1861. A good morse-code operator could transmit 40-50 words per minute using a sounding key (earlier versions used a paper tape).

telegraph: 40-50 words per minute

1880

The telephone was wired to a large system.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1874. The telephone came into common use about 1890. Most of America was wired for personal telephone use by 1920, but it was not until 1930 that the 2-piece phone started replacing the old candlestick phone. If you wanted to call long distance before that time, you had to go to an exchange to do it. Today, Cellular Telephones make use of Radio Waves (and Satellites) to remove the wired limitations.

telephone: as fast as you can talk (or transmit data).

1920

Radio and television are primarily receiving media. Two-way communications for private citizens is limited.

The first successful radio waves were demonstrated by Marconi in 1899, when he transmitted across the English Channel. In 1909, Robert Peary radiotelegraphed "I found the Pole." In 1912, the Titanic radiotelegraphed its position. Amplitude Modulation was invented to allow voice broadcasting. After the World War I, RCA set up the first regular radio station in Philadelphia, 1920. It spread very quickly throughout the U.S. FM radio was invented, transistors were invented, and Broadcast Television was invented. T.V. came into widespread use, by 1948 there were 1 million sets in the U.S.

radio: as fast as you can listen.

1985

E-mail and the Internet make communications go in more directions.

Digital Communications are doing away with many of the old categories of communications by doing it in different ways. Snail Mail (mail by physical movement) seems to be disappearing; telephones are moving to the internet, even radio and television are being delivered by new routes. In a few years it will be nearly impossible to watch television by just tapping into the airwaves.

Digital Media: where else can we go?