Early Travel Around the Country Proved Difficult

By Sam Moore
Published on January 25, 2013
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A painting by John Charles Maggs (1819-1896) of a mail coach on the road. It shows an English coach, but the ones used in this country would have been very similar.
A painting by John Charles Maggs (1819-1896) of a mail coach on the road. It shows an English coach, but the ones used in this country would have been very similar.
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George Escol Sellers: born Nov. 26, 1808; died Jan. 1, 1899.
George Escol Sellers: born Nov. 26, 1808; died Jan. 1, 1899.
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During the 1830s, one slow way between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia was a mixture of rail, canal and river; the other was by stage coach along the National Road, nothing like today’s Pennsylvania Turnpike.
During the 1830s, one slow way between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia was a mixture of rail, canal and river; the other was by stage coach along the National Road, nothing like today’s Pennsylvania Turnpike.
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An 1839 advertisement for a railroad locomotive built by Coleman Sellers and his sons, George Escol and Charles. The firm’s only two engines were both sold to the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, which ran for 82 miles between Philadelphia and Columbia on the Susquehanna River.
An 1839 advertisement for a railroad locomotive built by Coleman Sellers and his sons, George Escol and Charles. The firm’s only two engines were both sold to the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, which ran for 82 miles between Philadelphia and Columbia on the Susquehanna River.

In my many travels around
the country, the journeys are made at an average speed of probably 50 miles per
hour in climate-controlled comfort. We are so accustomed to fast, comfortable
travel by air or on the interstate highway system crisscrossing America that
it’s easy to forget how difficult even a short journey was back in “the good
old days.”

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