The Truck That Built America
So hello everyone.
Your Camp Counselor here.
Grab your coffee.
Pull that stump a little closer.
I hope you enjoyed the wagon ride.
I also hope your back has quit hurting by now.
Mine still is.
Now…
Earlier we climbed aboard a freight wagon and learned what moving freight looked like before trucks ever existed.
Today I want you to climb back up there with me.
But this time…
Don’t look at the wagon.
Look at the road.
Actually…
Calling it a road might be giving it more credit than it deserves.
Most of the roads in colonial America started out as little more than paths through the woods. Some had been used by Native Americans for generations. Others had simply been worn into the ground by years of wagons, horses, and people traveling the same route over and over again.
There were no engineers designing highways.
There were no road crews waiting to fill potholes.
There were no bridge inspectors.
If a tree fell across the road…
Somebody grabbed an axe.
If a bridge washed away…
You waited.
If the mud got too deep…
You hoped another team of horses could pull you out.
If not…
You waited some more.
Think about that.
Today we complain when construction slows traffic for ten minutes.
Back then, one hard rain could shut a road down for days.
Imagine trying to keep a grocery store stocked that way.
Imagine trying to move food to a growing town.
Imagine trying to supply an army fighting for independence.
Every sack of flour…
Every barrel of salt…
Every box of tools…
Every musket…
Every pound of powder…
Every blanket…
Everything had to survive that road before it reached its destination.
That is why transportation controlled everything.
It controlled where towns were built.
It controlled where businesses opened.
It controlled how far families could travel.
It even controlled how quickly America could grow.
Here is something else to think about.
When we climb into our pickups tomorrow morning, we never stop to wonder who built the road underneath us.
In 1776…
There wasn’t much of one.
That was simply life.
Nobody was asking for trucks.
Nobody even knew such a thing could exist.
They were just trying to get to the next town before sunset.
And that brings us back to the question Charles Gracey asked.
What would America look like if trucks had never been invented?
Well…
You have already seen part of the answer.
Long trips.
Slow freight.
Communities depending on whatever could arrive by horse and wagon.
Tomorrow, we’re going to discover why Americans started looking for another way to move freight.
Hint…
It wasn’t because they were tired of riding in wagons.
It was because an entire country was growing faster than horses could keep up.
Until then…
I need to make one more adjustment to the Flux Capacitor.
Our next talk around the campfire is going to take us somewhere that changed America forever.
Keep the coffee hot.