I shall write you when I can & shall depend on you to keep them posted.Yours till New York, Nelson.[P.S.] He was active in several businesses, including a granite manufacturing company owned by his brother Hollister. Postcard from the mid-1920s of a scene near Pocatello, Idaho before the road was officially named U.S. Highway 30.; (map on right) Route of Horatio's journey, arriving in Soda Springs June 16, 1903. But if there was one thing Horatio had, it was a steadfast commitment to the dream. The idea of driving across the country captured the imagination of millions of Americans. Several noted actors read the lines of various historical figures. The amazing journey of Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, and the first successful car trip across the United States, has been commemorated in a documentary film by the celebrated Ken Burns, "Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip", which debuts Monday, October 6th, at 9:00 p.m. on PBS. Jackson chose a cherry red 1903 Winton Company touring car. 2023 Behind Every Day - WordPress Theme by Kadence WP. About 15 miles (24km) from home his car once again broke down. [1] He married Bertha Richardson Wells, the daughter of William Wells, a Medal of Honor recipient and one of the richest men in Vermont as a partner in Wells, Richardson & Co., manufacturer of Paine's Celery Compound, a popular patent medicine. [6] The duo was also assisted in Sacramento by bicyclists who offered them road maps. An article in the. In Cheyenne, Wyoming, the trio took a short break as they waited for more money to come through the wire, and repaired yet another mechanical failure, this time to the wheel bearings. Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps. Darling SwipesOn our arrival here [I] was much surprised to find a man from the factory with a letter congratulating me and stating that they were willing to place men along the line with supplies at their expense.I have informed them that we have made the trip so far without their assistance & thought that perhaps [we] two greenhorns could do the rest of it. Long distance travel was done by train. If Im laughing, even at myself, then Im not crying, right? This post contains affiliate links. (5) Both men and the dog were thrown from the car after striking an obstacle. As an indication of how slow this trip would turn out to be, the first stop was a few blocks east of the Palace Hotel -- the San Francisco-Oakland ferry terminal. After leaving New York City Jackson joined his wife and drove home to Vermont. Horatio Nelson Jacksons Road Trip Route Across America. I am tired & got to get up early in the morning & damn anxious to get you in my arms. Dr. Jackson left his practice after a diagnosis of tuberculosis. Horatio Nelson Jackson (March 25, 1872 - January 14, 1955) was an American physician and automobile pioneer. In the spring of 1903, on a whim and a fifty-dollar bet, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson set off from San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car hoping to become the first person to cross the . There are a few windmill museums in the world and Ive been lucky enough to visit one. The film is based on the book of the same name by Dayton Duncan. Touch for map. Horatio's Journey. The Jackson party left Chicago at noon Saturday and arrived in Cleveland at 5:00 p.m. Monday, remarkably good time for notoriously bad roads which had been rendered worse by continued hard rains. A map of Horatio's route and his 63-day itinerary The Gear After removing the backseat to make room for more gear, they packed the following items to begin the long journey: sleeping bags cooking gear rubber mackintoshes for themselves and the car (remember - no roof, no windshield!) Jackson and Crocker replaced it with the only spare they had, which by the way, happened to be the only right-sized spare tire they could find before they left. Horatio's Journey Marker marker is listed in this topic list: Roads & Vehicles. The trek will begin at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco with a gala sendoff, including the attendance of filmmaker Ken Burns, who recently completed a documentary about the first cross-country drive. Im Sheila - a wife, mom to 3, and favorite human of a slightly-neurotic dog. He accepted, even though at age 31 he did not own a car, had practically no experience driving, and had no maps to follow. At Hailey, Idaho, Crocker wired the Winton Motor Carriage Company for more parts, which, combined with the increasing press coverage, spurred the Winton car company to step up their support efforts since to them it meant an increased positive image of the company. Most. Here we slept under our carriage. Film-maker Ken Burns presents the hilarious 1903 saga of the first transcontinental automobile trip. On our way back we were stopped by a man and asked if I didnt want a dog for a mascot. We only made 45 miles in our direct route. Together, both events would dramatically alter the course of exploration and adventure for the next century. After driving the distance, they moved the path back in front of the car, repeating the process until they cleared the area. All Rights Reserved. Ill admit, I hadnt given it much thought myself despite my own epic road trip history. and their dog Bud made the first successful transcontinental automobile trip. On May 23, 1903 the car was transported by ferry from San Francisco to Oakland and pointed eastward. Sewall Crocker was a 22 year-old former bicycle racer who had been working in a gas engine factory when Dr. Jackson hired him to be the mechanic and co-driver for the journey. , The route of US 30 traces its origin to the early 1900s. In 1903, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson single handedly silenced a conversation taking place at the San Francisco University Club. Tom Hanks provided the voice-over narration for Horatio Nelson Jackson. You have done everything in the world to make me happy.I shall just tear up the ground until I can be with you. When we get there the worst will be over.I can run the car as well as Crocker & have rather surprised him We take 2 hours on and 2 off at the wheel. What roads did exist, were holdovers from the wagon train trading routes of the 1850s, 60s, and 70s the Old West of cowboy and Indian lore. Or sometimes I just need to, Read More The Right Word Peter Roget and His ThesaurusContinue, If youve never heard of Snowflake Bentley, then Ive got a treat for you! Lets follow along on his journey, shall we? The worst of it is over & everyone is congratulating us.There are [others] on the way trying to beat us across. [but] I feel confident they will give it up. We had no trouble in crossing railroad bridges With practice, bumping over bridge ties is no great task. Sponsored by the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the trip began and ended in New (You can see a few clips on the PBS website.) Want to know what other interesting things there are to see out on the road? At one point he was ticketed for exceeding the 6mph (9.7km/h) speed limit in Burlington. The duo was assisted in Sacramento by bicyclists who offered them road maps. That someone was Horatio Jackson Nelson. Documentary film maker Ken Burns produced a film, Horatio's Drive, for PBS. You are the best little wife in the world and I am a mighty lucky fellow to have you.Yes, old girl, I appreciate it, if, sometimes I have a queer way of showing it.Four years tomorrow!!!! This is a bad start for our first eleven days out. Jackson's trip started in a hastily purchased Winton that he named the "Vermont" four days after he made the bet. Here we were advised to changed our course a little and take the left hand road of the R. R. One old fellow said keep to the left road. Sign up to get updates about the film and future projects from Ken Burns and Florentine Films. They include: Archival footage of Horatio Nelson Jackson is included. The automobile with Jackson and Crocker, crossing the continent, which left here Thursday was badly smashed up twelve miles east of this city on a smooth road while running twenty five miles an hour. Ironically enough, I saw the headline for this story the night before I headed to the airport on, Read More The Voice of the AirportContinue, No trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico, is complete without a visit to the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum. The soundtrack includes a variety of music, including some bluegrass instrumentals and a modern rendition by Bobby Horton of an old song called "He'd Have to Get Under Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile)". In 1916, a car covered its entire length in just 5 days so much faster than that first trip across the country! You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. The only mishap happened just east of Buffalo, New York, when the Vermont ran into a hidden obstacle in the road and Jackson, Crocker, and Bud were thrown from the car. Upon reaching the threshold of Jackson's garage, the Vermont's drive chain snapped. This they consented to do and in about an hour we were on our way again. The state of Vermont was so alarmed that it passed a law requiring every auto to be preceded down the street with a person waving a red flag. more than 30 times. The film features many old songs, framed by a popular number from 1914 called "He'd Have to Get Under Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile)". Quite a flurry of excitement was erected Saturday evening by the arrival of an automobile. His enthusiasm was matched only by his underestimate of the effort needed to accomplish the journey. I explained to them that the next stop was twelve miles away and that if they would help us out I would take their baggage in for them. On July 21, they set out from Cleveland, Ohio, to finish the last leg of the journey. But when he, his mechanic, Sewall Crocker, and American bulldog Bud arrived in New York, a new era in American transportation had begun. My answer would probably be computer. Outside of major cities, spotting a car then was almost the equivalent of seeing a UFO today. Yesterday the framer drove in for miles to see my machine and there has been a hundred people around the livery stable since our arrival. 1903 was a big year for the United States- President Teddy Roosevelt sent a wireless radio message across the Atlantic to the King of England, a cable was laid across the Pacific Ocean, completing the circuit and allowing Roosevelt to send the first telegraph around the world, and the Wright brothers made the worlds first airplane flight. They are all like a lot of kids I have made arrangements to have the Winton agent at New York to take you up the Hudson to meet me. Source: 'The Mad Doctor's Drive,' by Ralph Nading Hill; 'Winton 1903,' by Peter C. Kesling. Let's share the joy of discovery together. The thick coating of mud gave evidence that it had been somewhere and that somewhere a long way off. Horatio Jackson's Winton in the Smithsonian, 5. Jackson and Crocker opted to start out following the railroad north into Oregon. Explore a chronology of the invention of the automobile. It took five months, and covered more than 10,000 miles. Explore the Winton touring car, which Jackson took on his historic trip. 1st auto passed thru yesterday; came via Camas Prairie and Croy Gulch to Hailey, "hence to Bellevue and on to Blackfoot." There is nothing more quintessentially American than to set out on the open road in search of adventure. ), additional tanks to hold extra oil and gasoline for emergencies. It was for $50 and made on the spur of the moment, over drinks at the San. "I had," he later recalled, "succumbed completely to a primary enthusiasm for the newfangled horseless buggy.". The rough and tumble wagon trails which they followed, combined with the noisiness of their Winton, rendered them unable to tell when they would lose valuable items off the back of the car. Thanks for stopping by my campfire to share a story. The next day they arrived in Ontario, Oregon, where supplies waited for them. Going northwards out of Sacramento, the noise of the car covered the fact that the duo's cooking gear was falling off. Alturas, California. Last summer I received a letter that had been carried by the Pony Express. The press came out at every stop to take their picture and conduct interviews. , Read More Who was Snowflake Bentley?Continue. While it was neither, the people's curiosity had been aroused from a report that an automobile was coming this way, and that if they wished to see it pass it was necessary to have a seat in the front row, otherwise it might go through at the rate of 90 miles an hour, and would be out of sight before they could run a block.It drove in sight at just 4 o'clock and the crowds surged forward to get a first look at a real live auto, a machine that nine-tenths of the people of Lake county had never seen. The trip took 64 days, including numerous delays while the two men waited for parts or paused to hoist the Winton up and over a gully. Despite mud, washouts, breakdowns, and a lack of roads and bridges in the West, they finished their trip in 63 days. (c) 2014 Re:West Media House, LLC. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. (3) The car's 'cyclometer' fell off before crossing Idaho, leaving no way to tell how fast or how far they traveled for the remainder of the trip. "Horacio was the big guy on the road with a brand new car. Its not until they reach Iowa that they finally begin to travel at a decent unimpeded speed, averaging nearly 150 miles per day. They have been very short & dear ones to me. I go from here to Buffalo.I am tired & got to get up early in the morning & [I am] damn anxious to get you in my arms. Heeding the omens of a previously failed attempt to cross the continent just a couple years earlier by automobile pioneerAlexander Winton(original builder of Horatios Winton) by way of the deserts of Nevada and Utah, the two explorerstook a more northerly route through theSacramento Valley along the remnants of the originalOregon Trail. Dr. Nelson has provided the very latest kind of gasoline machine, large and commodious and 20-horsepower. Dr. H. Nelson Jackson and Sewall K. Crocker (and Bud!) Contractor Welland assisted the party back to Archer and they are now coming to Cheyenne to remain till repairs can be made. After twomore days ofplanning and preparation, the two began their unbelievable impromptu journey eastwardtowards New York City. Occasionally horses and cars gave her I find it fascinating how similar my own road trip experiences were in some ways to the very first cross-country journey. The technology nevertheless began to catch on, slowly. 1899 -Louise and John Davis made the first known attempt to drive a car from coast to coast. Churning dust irritated Buds eyes, and Jackson purchased this pair of goggles for him. Tires, somewhat expectedly, continued to blow out forcing them at times to wind rope around the wheel so it could act as rudimentary tire but at least they could go on. There were also no signs because most people out driving were locals who knew all the turns already. A stop of two days was made here to await their arrival, and on Tuesday morning the adventurous travelers resumed their journey.". Theres also a book which I grabbed on my very next visit to the library. Want to know what happened? Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip View history Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip is a 2003 documentary film directed by Ken Burns and written by Dayton Duncan. The trip had to be called off after a one-armed bicyclist made up a 10- day head start from New York and passed the hapless car before it reached Syracuse. In the spring of 1903, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson became the first person to cross the United States in a car, following portions of what is now US 30 in Idaho and Wyoming. "At the time they made the trip, there was a perception that the American frontier was closed. Horatio Nelson Jackson (March 25, 1872 - January 14, 1955) . I have been using thesauruses (thesauri is the preferred plural of the author but thesauruses is definitely more fun to say!) 2023 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). As I had been trying to steal one we were glad to get him so accepted the present (consideration $15.00). The Pres of the firm with his associates came out & we had quite a procession into the city. Funding provided by General Motors, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, and the Park Foundation. Data by OpenStreetMap, under CC BY SA. Ramseys sisters-in-law and a friend accompanied her on the trip from New York to San Francisco. An automobile trip across the continent that will be watched with a great deal of interest will start from this city this morning. At Mountain Home, Idaho they veered from the Oregon Trail for the first time since near the California border and turned south glancing by the southern edge of the Sawtooth Mountains. After suffering a flat tire on the bicycle, he returned with 4 US gallons (15L) of fuel (which Jackson complained cost him "nearly twenty dollars"), and they returned to Burns to fill up.[6]. This growing glimmer of hope eventually attracted the attention of the Press, who would anticipate their next town arrival and show up to document their adventures. "Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip", Learn how and when to remove this template message, He'd Have to Get Under Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile), The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God, Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Horatio%27s_Drive:_America%27s_First_Road_Trip&oldid=1107453344, Documentary films about United States history, Articles needing additional references from May 2019, All articles needing additional references, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 30 August 2022, at 02:26. Early life and medical career [ edit] York City. When Im writing something, I want to use the perfect word to get my meaning across. "Fifty dollars says I can drive a car to New York." This was quite a boast for a man without a car or mechanical knowledge. for many, many years. Who knew there were, Are there any other thesaurus lovers out there? At a time when few women owned or drove cars, taking the wheel was a powerful symbolic act. Watch me now come to you.Nel. "Right down that road," she said and pointed. One hundred years ago, on May 23, 1903, an eccentric doctor from Vermont named Horatio Nelson Jackson set off from San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car, hoping to become the first . Jackson decided to give it a try. The first family road trip was in 1908. They offered locals rides in the car in exchange for a "wild west show". California to New York. Following the railroad would also make it easier to access supplies along the way. Finally, the end is in sight! As the nineteenth century came to an end, there were only 8,000 cars in the United States compared to 14 million horses. DriveBestWay.com is a route planner for car travelers, providing a lot of travel-related calculations like road distance, driving time, fuel cost Online route planner for car travelers - United States and worldwide - DriveBestWay.com He also writes about the cannabis industry, outdoor adventure, Native American issues and the culture of the West. View my full disclosure. The travelers eventually reached Omaha, Nebraska, on July 12. There had to be an easier way to win a $50 bet. [Horatio Nelson Jackson] Interactive Map Home . [Horatio Nelson Jackson].[P.S.] [13], Jackson's military awards included the Distinguished Service Cross, the Legion of Honour, and the Croix de Guerre. Horatio Nelson Jackson died on January 14, 1955, at the age of 82. Jackson had made it from San Francisco in 63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes - well within his wager of 90 days. He also served as a senior officer in the Officer Reserve Corps. coats and sweaters and two small suitcases for their clothes 15 miles into the journey, they blew the first of what would be many, many tires. After Cheyenne, Jackson and Horatio both knew that the hard part of the journey was now behind them. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), A Sky Full of Adventure at the Balloon Museum, The Right Word Peter Roget and His Thesaurus, Mosquitos - What are they good for? But only 15 miles (24km) into the journey, the car blew a tire. There are no maps, no roads, no repair shops. Horatio's letter to Bertha | May 31, 1903 . Later, somewhere in Idaho, they lost Jacksons coat which contained most of the travelers money. Constantly working in the face of heavy machine-gun and shell fire, Major Jackson was most devoted in his attention to the wounded, always present in the line of advance, directing the administering of first aid, and guiding the work of litter bearers. "HORATIO CAM" DIGITAL FOOTAGE Allen Moore ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Susanna Steisel COORDINATING PRODUCER Pam Tubridy Baucom FIELD PRODUCER Craig Mellish NARRATED BY Keith David THE VOICE OF HORATIO. I came pretty nearly having cold feet. The public's perception of this newfangled conveyance took a deep public relations dive on Sept. 13, 1899, when Henry H. Bliss stepped off a streetcar in Manhattan and was flattened by an electric-powered taxicab, becoming the first automobile fatality in the country. Yet the young retired doctor, along with a mechanical assistant and a dog, took up the . After repairing the flat, they stopped again inSacramento, CA to replace & upgrade their all too dim headlights and met some friendly cyclists who offered them road maps to the local area. "I wanted paw and maw and my husband to see you," she said. No sooner than Jackson had finished the repair however, that they then suffered a gasoline leak which wasted all their available fuel. The trip, sparked by a $50 gentlemen's wager, took 63 days. And having become the first to drive a car across the nation, within hours of their. At the time there were only 150 miles of paved roads in the entire country, all of them within city limits. While in San Francisco's University Club as a guest on May 18, 1903, he agreed to a $50 wager (equivalent to $1,508 in 2021[3]) to prove that a four-wheeled machine could be driven across the country. The car is at the shop & they are to work all night so that I can get away in the morning I go from here to Buffalo. [6] Before reaching Cheyenne, however, the car's wheel bearings gave out, and Crocker had to talk a farmer into letting them have the wheel bearings of his mowing machine. The running time to Alturas was five and a half days; about 125 miles per day, without accident or incident worthy of mention. Jackson described the mostly unmarked paths he was forced to bounce over as "a compound of ruts, bumps and thank-you-marms.". Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, otherwise known as "The Mad Doctor," had no idea what he was getting into in 1903 when he strapped a spare tire onto his 20-horsepower Winton touring car and started out from San Francisco's Palace Hotel on the first automobile trip across America. On June 9, outside of Vale, Oregon, the Vermont ran out of oil. Be amazed! I asked her. At this point, the trio became celebrities. My darling Swipes. Western roads were still unimproved in 1909 when Alice Huyler Ramsey drove across the country. It will be undertaken by Dr. H. Nelson Jackson of Vermont and S.K. Press Clipping from Horatio Nelson Jacksons road trip across America. . In everyday life, the 31 year old Horatio was a successful Burlington, Vermont physician. If you click & make a purchase, I receive a commission! When I telegraph you to come down leave on the first train, telephone the agency you are at the Holland & I will telegraph you both then come. I had to know more! Take good care of yourself & dont worry.