Horatio's Drive: America's First Road TripThe companion volume to the PBS documentary film about the first—and perhaps most astonishing—automobile trip across the United States. In 1903 there were only 150 miles of paved roads in the entire nation and most people had never seen a “horseless buggy”—but that did not stop Horatio Nelson Jackson, a thirty-one-year-old Vermont doctor, who impulsively bet fifty dollars that he could drive his 20-horsepower automobile from San Francisco to New York City. Here—in Jackson’s own words and photographs—is a glorious account of that months-long, problem-beset, thrilling-to-the-rattled-bones trip with his mechanic, Sewall Crocker, and a bulldog named Bud. Jackson’s previously unpublished letters to his wife, brimming with optimism against all odds, describe in vivid detail every detour, every flat tire, every adventure good and bad. And his nearly one hundred photographs show a country still settled mainly in small towns, where life moved no faster than the horse-drawn carriage and where the arrival of Jackson’s open-air (roofless and windowless) Winton would cause delirious excitement. Jackson was possessed of a deep thirst for adventure, and his remarkable story chronicles the very beginning of the restless road trips that soon became a way of life in America. Horatio’s Drive is the first chapter in our nation’s great romance with the road. With 146 illustrations and 1 map |
Contents
The Hardest Work I Ever Did | 24 |
One of the Wonders of the Century | 38 |
An Enthusiast for Motoring | 54 |
Copyright | |
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Alexander Winton Alturas American arrived auto automo automobile bear right Bertha blacksmith block and tackle Buffalo Burlington century Cheyenne Cleveland CRAIG MELLISH cross the continent Culver Pictures cyclometer darling Swipes Dayton Duncan Diamondville drove east Fetch and Krarup film Fork gasoline Horatio Nelson Jackson Horatio's Drive horse Hotel Iowa Jack Jackson and Crocker Jackson wrote journey July 25 June 20 KEN BURNS Lakeview later Lewis and Clark Lincoln Highway machine Mark Twain miles morning mountain NAHC nation nearly Nebraska Nevada newspaper night Oldsmobile Omaha open road Oregon Packard passed railroad reached repairs ride River road trip route San Francisco Soda Springs speed stop story stuck telegram telegraph tires took touring town trail transcontinental turn vehicle Vermont wagon Walpole West wheel Whitman and Hammond wife Winton Company WINTON MOTOR CARRIAGE Wyoming Wyoming July York City