When I went to the USA in the 1900s I heard about American history. The British were fond of saying, "America has no history." Absolutely not true.
The Donner Party
One of the dramatic stories I heard for the first time when I visited the USA was about the Donner party disaster. When was it? I just looked it up. 1846.
I am now writing a novel set in 1880, the time when my great grandfather in Europe would have been deciding whether to emigrate from Lemberg (Lvov, or Lviv) in Ukraine, to the UK or USA? What would have influenced his decision? How fast could he have travelled?
The pioneer Donner party were travelling overland to California, in a series of wagons.
The journey would have taken four to six months. That wasn't from New York to California. That was just the last leg of the journey.
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is a place everybody has hard of. Most tourists see the city but don't think much about the salt or the lake. The Donner party got caught in the salt flats which took much longer to cross than they'd expected. My family read a book about this and recall reading, "The people ran out of water. The wagons got bogged down in the salt. The horses went mad from dehydrating after licking on the salt."
One man killed another and was sent off to ride alone into the wilderness. He said. He survived.
Snow
The others were caught up in the winter snow before they could cross the mountains. Out of water and food. They started dying.
Cannibalism
The survivors resorted to cannibalism.
Railway Revolution
So what was the situation a couple of decades later? The railways were the revolution. America built more railways than anywhere else in the world.
In the time of my great grandfather, a train from New York could travel, leaving New York state on a Monday, arriving by Thursday night.
Travel Time
As my family point out, trains could travel overnight. Horses and drivers of wagons had to stop every night.
Only the rich travelled in comfort. According to an article in Wikipedia, the rich might be on business or pleasure, sitting in style on padded seats, made up into padded beds at night.
Seating and Bedding
The poorer emigrants sat on wooden benches. They slept at night on the wood, I presume. Even so a lot better than the wagon trains 1946.
Comfortable Modern Trains
Now you can travel in style by train, in cars designed to give grand views to tourists who are not in a hurry, across the USA or Canada. Again, its a scenic and comfortable journey, if you can afford it.
Cheaper By Bus?
I travelled on a Greyhound bus as a student. I loved it. I would not do that now. Even so, it's a lot better by bus than overland like the Donner party.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Author of twenty books. To be published shortly: The Tailor And The Spy; The Tailor's Travels.
The Donner Party
One of the dramatic stories I heard for the first time when I visited the USA was about the Donner party disaster. When was it? I just looked it up. 1846.
I am now writing a novel set in 1880, the time when my great grandfather in Europe would have been deciding whether to emigrate from Lemberg (Lvov, or Lviv) in Ukraine, to the UK or USA? What would have influenced his decision? How fast could he have travelled?
The pioneer Donner party were travelling overland to California, in a series of wagons.
The journey would have taken four to six months. That wasn't from New York to California. That was just the last leg of the journey.
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is a place everybody has hard of. Most tourists see the city but don't think much about the salt or the lake. The Donner party got caught in the salt flats which took much longer to cross than they'd expected. My family read a book about this and recall reading, "The people ran out of water. The wagons got bogged down in the salt. The horses went mad from dehydrating after licking on the salt."
One man killed another and was sent off to ride alone into the wilderness. He said. He survived.
Snow
The others were caught up in the winter snow before they could cross the mountains. Out of water and food. They started dying.
Cannibalism
The survivors resorted to cannibalism.
Railway Revolution
So what was the situation a couple of decades later? The railways were the revolution. America built more railways than anywhere else in the world.
In the time of my great grandfather, a train from New York could travel, leaving New York state on a Monday, arriving by Thursday night.
Travel Time
As my family point out, trains could travel overnight. Horses and drivers of wagons had to stop every night.
Only the rich travelled in comfort. According to an article in Wikipedia, the rich might be on business or pleasure, sitting in style on padded seats, made up into padded beds at night.
Seating and Bedding
The poorer emigrants sat on wooden benches. They slept at night on the wood, I presume. Even so a lot better than the wagon trains 1946.
Comfortable Modern Trains
Now you can travel in style by train, in cars designed to give grand views to tourists who are not in a hurry, across the USA or Canada. Again, its a scenic and comfortable journey, if you can afford it.
Cheaper By Bus?
I travelled on a Greyhound bus as a student. I loved it. I would not do that now. Even so, it's a lot better by bus than overland like the Donner party.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Author of twenty books. To be published shortly: The Tailor And The Spy; The Tailor's Travels.
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