TRANSPORTATION, INDUSTRY, AND NATURAL RESOURCES 1800’s & 1900’s Pennsylvania

TRANSPORTATION Early 1800’s – PA switched to stagecoach (more comfortable and faster) PA needed to make money in transportation because they were losing business to the Erie Canal. Private companies began building better roads.

TURNPIKES Lancaster Pike – first long-distance paved road in the United States. - travel from Lancaster to Philadelphia in 12 hours - had to pay a toll every 10 miles (used to pay for road)

TURNPIKES Cumberland Road (National Road) – completed by the U.S. government in 1817. (Cumberland, MD – Uniontown, PA) - eventually went across Ohio, Indiana, & Illinois - control was eventually turned over to PA - PA turned it into a turnpike and charged a toll

STEAMBOATS John Fitch – creates the first working steamboat in the U.S. (Philadelphia – 1787) Robert Fulton – creates the first widely-used steamboat, the Clermont, in 1807.

RAILROADS The first railroads were powered by horses and mules along wooden rails. (soon switched to steam) Pennsylvania Railroad Company – set up a continuous connection between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

RAILROADS Montour Iron Company (Danville) – produced the first iron T rails in the United States Matthias Baldwin - built the famous engine, Old Ironsides, with half iron and half wood.

CANALS Schuylkill Canal – completed in 1827 to connect Philadelphia and Pottsville. (108 miles – longest in the U.S.) State Works of Pennsylvania – series of canals that connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Industrial Revolution – change from home industry to the production of goods by machines in factories. The revolution spread from England through the textile industry. (Cloth)

COAL Bituminous (soft) – mined in western PA (used to heat homes and boil water for steam engines) Anthracite (hard) – mined in eastern PA ( burned longer, hotter, and was cleaner than soft coal)

IRON Pennsylvania led all states in production of iron. (Supplied more than ½ of the United States) New furnaces used anthracite coal to ignite the mixture. (Charcoal, iron ore, & limestone)

OIL Oil Creek – named by the Seneca Indians when they noticed the liquid floating on top. (Medicine) Oil was refined into kerosene. Kerosene was burned in lamps for bright, clean light.

OIL Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company – began drilling for oil in 1858. They sent Edwin Drake to Titusville. He established the first commercial oil well in the United States.