We are so used to taking a car to where we need to go that we can’t fathom the logistics required to get to someplace as remote as St Mays in the 1840s from the coastal cities of an infant country.
This is a great study! Elk County is still wilderness today with a population of less than 50,000 people and an area larger than Philadelphia. I can picture the entire trip and shudder to think of what it was like. I also have two sets of German Catholics who came over in 1844/5 - one landed and stayed in Philadelphia, the other landed in NY and went to Schuylkill County to work in the mines.
Rainey- It's been a minute since I read all things Lewis-Clark, so this is a pleasant find. Thanks for sharing. Hope you're well this week. Cheers, -Thalia
I've always thought it would be an amazing tool if someone created a website where the user could plug in a date, starting point and end point to see what the path and mode of travel would have been. Sounds like you've gathered some of the details to create that tool! Fascinating stuff!
What a great subject. I have always been astonished at the tenacity of early settlers, and how they were prepared to cover such huge distances, over such inhospitable terrain. Once they settled they knew they were days away from ‘civilisation’ or medical help.
One of my great aunts died of appendicitis because the hospital was 50 miles away (in the Highlands of Scotland), and the journey took about 12 hours in a horse and carriage.
This is a great study! Elk County is still wilderness today with a population of less than 50,000 people and an area larger than Philadelphia. I can picture the entire trip and shudder to think of what it was like. I also have two sets of German Catholics who came over in 1844/5 - one landed and stayed in Philadelphia, the other landed in NY and went to Schuylkill County to work in the mines.
Rainey- It's been a minute since I read all things Lewis-Clark, so this is a pleasant find. Thanks for sharing. Hope you're well this week. Cheers, -Thalia
I've always thought it would be an amazing tool if someone created a website where the user could plug in a date, starting point and end point to see what the path and mode of travel would have been. Sounds like you've gathered some of the details to create that tool! Fascinating stuff!
What a great subject. I have always been astonished at the tenacity of early settlers, and how they were prepared to cover such huge distances, over such inhospitable terrain. Once they settled they knew they were days away from ‘civilisation’ or medical help.
One of my great aunts died of appendicitis because the hospital was 50 miles away (in the Highlands of Scotland), and the journey took about 12 hours in a horse and carriage.