Planes, Trains, and to the Moon

By Christopher Hutton
Human transportation has always been an essential component of culture. From the
beginning of history, man has needed to get from one place to another. The fulfillment of
this need has taken many forms, but each one has made life easier. As we look at the big
history of transportation, we can divide it into four general ages: the Natural Age of
Transportation, Steam-Powered Transportation, The Automobile Age, and The Flight Age.
Natural Age of Transportation
For most of human history, man was stuck in what can be considered the Natural Age of
Transportation. Most people had to use natural means to travel, which meant that they
had to either walk or ride an animal in order to get somewhere. These methods were tiring.
For example, riding a horse sapped the strength of both horse and rider.
Boats offered only a slight improvement on this situation. During this Natural Age of
Transportation, if a man wanted to cross a river in a boat, he had to row it himself. The
discovery of wind power and sails made a huge improvement on mans travel. However, the
wind was unpredictable; one day it could blow north, and the next day it could blow south.
This meant that on most days, one could not predict the direction of the wind; thus, sailors
would often use sails from morning to night one day and then have to row all of the next
day.
Steam-Powered Transportation
Inventors searched for a sustainable power source that would allow man to move around
with little to no effort, and steam power, the ability to heat water and use its force to push a
motor that would rotate a wheel and cause a vehicle to move, was welcomed by travelers
with great enthusiasm. Steam power still required mans effort (the fire that turned water
into steam had to be maintained), but at last a sustainable power source had been
introduced.
Most early steam engines were placed in trains. Since the sixteenth century, people had
known that putting carts on pre-set tracks made it easier for horses to pull the carts.
However, the horse-drawn carts could be used only to travel short distances. What if one
wanted to ride a cart from Nebraska to New York? This is where the steam engine came in.
With the invention of the steam engine, people could travel in a train, along a track,
propelled by an engine that had the power of 100 horseswithout it tiring. The iron horse
revolutionized transportation potential.
A train track that allowed people to travel from the East to the Westwithout having to take
months to traverse the dangerous West with its wild animals, unpredictable weather, and
aggressive Indianswas desperately needed. The construction of this track, called the First
Transcontinental Railroad, began in 1863. Two separate companies started building the
railroad on opposite sides of the country, one in Omaha, Nebraska, and one in Oakland,
California, progressing toward one another; this project took six years. Its completion and
subsequent success saved thousands of lives, not to mention thousands of hours of travel
time.
Steam power wasnt just for trains, though. It ushered in the steamboat, the automobile,
and even airplanes. What made steamboats remarkable was their ability to travel upriver. If

someone in Minnesota wanted to sell wood in Louisiana, he had to ride the Mississippi River
downstream, sell everything, and then travel by road back to Minnesota, which of course,
took a long time and was inconvenient. The steamboat allowed one to ride down the river,
sell everything, and then go back up that same river with ease.
The Automobile Age
Ferdinand Verbiest of Belgium is credited by some to have built the first self-propelled
vehicle, or automobile, during the 1670s. It was small with no room for a passenger, and it
was powered by steam.
Steam truly revolutionized mans ability to move, but the process was extremely
cumbersome, requiring large furnaces and fires in order to be effective. Plus, the manpower
and cost in coal (the fires fuel) was quite costly. People looked for a different power source
and engine type, and eventually, in 1769, Nicholas Joseph Cugnot, a French inventor, came
up with a better idea of converting the reciprocating motion of a steam piston into rotary
motion by means of a ratchet arrangement. The three-wheeled vehicle supported a steam
boiler and a driving mechanism, and it also turned out to be unstable. However, his
invention was recognized by the British Royal Automobile Club and the Automobile Club de
France as being the first automobile.
Automobiles represented a useful piece of technology because they required only a driver to
steer the vehicle. One could go driving for hours without needing to refuel or rekindle a fire.
However, automobiles were really expensive. Since most cars were made piece by piece by
specialized designers, only the wealthy could afford to purchase them. It wouldnt be until
businessman Henry Ford used factories to mass-produce the Model-T Ford that automobiles
became popular and accessible to the common man.
As the use of automobiles increased, roads had to be improved and fuel had to be found.
Hundreds upon hundreds of modifications were applied to the automobile, from the window
wiper to the seatbelt. Today, automobiles remain the most common form of transportation
in the United States.
The Flight Age
Man has always felt limited by the ground. Even in ancient days, man sought to gain the
ability to fly.
At Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1902, Orville and Wilbur Wright made hundreds of
successful flights in a biplane glider that featured a steering system, based on a movable
rudder, which solved the problem of controlled flight. Then, in 1903, the Wright brothers
were credited with making the worlds first powered flights when they used a twelve-horse
gasoline-powered engine to sustain controlled flight in a propeller-driven biplane. The
modern age of aviation exploded once people knew that flying was indeed a possible means
of transportation for humans.
The first viable aircraft were the biplanes of the 1910s. These planes initially seemed like
toys, but they proved their tactical value during World War I when they were used to carry
out reconnaissance and then quickly evolved into fighter planes. During peacetime, pilots
such as Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart demonstrated the long-range capability of
planes when they independently made history with successful solo flights across the Atlantic
Ocean in 1927 and 1932 respectively.
Following the Korean War, air travel became focused on space. The Space Race between the
Russian Soviets and the United States began in the 1950s when both countries set out to

put the first man in space. The Soviets achieved that goal one month ahead of the U.S. in
1961. The next major goal was to be first on the moon. The U.S. claimed victory in 1969
with the landing of Apollo 11; U.S. Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to step
onto the moon.
Today, the International Space Station, started in the 1990s, is a combined effort of the
U.S., Soviet/Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. It is a habitable artificial satellite that
serves as a space research laboratory and is funded until 2020.
Conclusion
The majority of mans major transportation advancements have been made in the last 250
years, and we keep on going. With the development of personal space travel and magnetic
trains, our means of travel continue to reflect continual improvement and ingenuity. As
progress is made in the field of transportation, let us not forget those who have contributed
to our comfort and freedom through their diligence and creativity.
Resources for Further Study
Age of Steam
The Steam Engine, Tamra Orr (6th 8th grade)
Steamboats, Karl Zimmerman (5th8th grade)
The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America, Christina Wolmar (High
schooladult)
Age of Automobiles
Henry Ford: Man of Ideas, Hazel B. Aird (3rd6th grade)
History of the Model-T Ford, David K. Wright (2nd4th grade) Age of Flight
The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the First Airplane, Russell Freedmen (4th12th
grade)
The Wright Brothers, Quentin Reynolds (4th8th grade)
The Race for Space: The United States and the Soviet Union Compete for the New
Frontier, Betsy Kuhn (5th12th grade)
Rocket Men, Craig Nelson (Age 9adult)
Chris Hutton is a young college student who graduated from a homeschooling home in
2011. Currently, he studies at the newly founded school, Rivendell Sanctuary. Chris is a
journalist who writes about modern-day topics. Please visit his blog: Blog Liter8 Ideas
Bibliography:
1. Nothing Like It in the World, by Stephen Ambrose (2001)
2. Transportation: From Walking to High Speed Rail by Elizabeth Raum
3. About.com (inventors/automobiles)
4. www.firstworldwar.com
5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_aviation#Lighter_than_air
6. inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bljjetenginehistory.htm
Copyright 2013, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in
the January 2013 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, the family education magazine.
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