Crossing the Continent: The Stories of Transportation Trailblazers

It has been a while since we updated you on our writing activities, so expect a few new Blog posting in upcoming days. Norm is working with a publishers agency to promote his book,Crossing the Continent: The Stories of Transportation Trailblazers. With a release date of January 1, it can now be ordered on Amazon Books.

The publisher’s promotion…

The world knows the United States as the home of growth, innovation, and technology, but a few components have played a crucial role in making it one. Transportation is one element that made the country what it is today. The development of railways, highways, and the aviation boom turned America into a global economic hub.

The Canal Era: Waterways as America’s First Superhighways

Transportation became a formidable challenge in the early 19th century as the United States began stretching beyond its 13 colonies. The Appalachian Mountains stood as a significant obstacle to expansion.

It was the likes of George Washington who acknowledged the immediate need for navigable rivers to bring the nation together. Washington’s untiring commitment to push for the Patowmack Canal became the foundation for later projects.

The Erie Canal was one of these projects that became a monumental achievement. Inaugurated in 1825, it connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, turning New York City into a busy trade hub and opening the floodgates for settlers heading West.

An operational Erie Canal opened the doors of new opportunities, offering traders and farmers a path that could fuel their livelihood, securing the nation’s future.

The Railroad Revolution

The middle years of the 19th century saw the rise of railroads as the new arteries of the nation. The Transcontinental Railroad was the jewel in the crown of America’s rail system. This network brought the country together, allowing goods and people to travel faster and further. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad was a physical manifestation of the American belief in overcoming the impossible.

The Rise of Automobiles and Highways

The rise of automobiles in the 20th century changed how Americans travel. The National Road became the torchbearer for future cross-country highways. The country will witness the Interstate Highway System’s development in the coming years, transforming how Americans move from one place to another.

It was now that their fellow citizens could experience their homeland’s greatness in all its glory, and for many, the road trip became a rite of passage. Like the railroad, the highway became the thread that wove the country together, connecting people and places in ways never imagined.

Airlines and the Modern American Dream

Modern America was all about innovation and turning the impossible around. The rise of the aviation industry changed the way Americans look at distance. It was the determination of Cal Rodgers, who made the first cross-country flight, and William Boeing, who revolutionized passenger flight and opened the skies to the public.

Soon, air travel was not just limited to those with money. Commercial airlines shrank the nation even further. Families could unite in hours, and businesses could expand operations globally. It was the beginning of a revolution that changed the world forever.

Today, we stand at the crossroads of new transportation technologies like electric vehicles, hyperloops, and space travel. But it’s essential not to forget about those pioneers who made it all a reality.

Norman Tyler’s Crossing the Continent: The Stories of Transportation Trailblazers is an ode to those who made it all possible. The book delves deep into America’s aspirations for a fully functional transportation system. It also pays homage to the efforts that turned the country into a business and technology hub.

An article in the February 4, 2024 Sunday New York Times described how one of the three pyramids at Giza had originally been clad in granite to create a smooth, rather than a stepped, surface. Egyptologists were not sure what had happened to the surface stones of the smaller Menkaure Pyramid over many centuries. Some were laying at the base, some were likely buried in the sand, and some were scavenged for reuse at other sites. The museum leaders are now debating whether the granite should be collected and returned to the site to recreate a “restored” pyramid.

This has been a classic argument among preservationists for many decades. We discussed it in the Introduction of our book Historic Preservation: A Guide to Its History, Principles, and Practice. The following excerpts recount the diverse opinions of nineteenth century preservation philosophers John Ruskin and Viollet le Duc.

“Writer and critic John Ruskin posited older buildings should not be restored. A society has no right to improve, or even restore, craftsmanship of another era. As he explained in his classic book, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, “It is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture. Old buildings should be left to look old….The greatest glory of abuilding is not in its stones, or in its gold. Its glory is in its Age.”

“In contrast, Viollet-le-Duc’s restoration philosophy was based on the principle that important monuments should be rebuilt….To restore a building is not only to preserve it, to repair it, or to rebuild, but to bring it back to a state of completion such as may never have existed at any given moment.”

We reflected further in our book with a classic case from early America: “It could be argued that the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg subscribed loosely to Viollet-le-Duc’s philosophy in the sense that all post-1775 changes and additions to the original town were planned to be removed. Whether Williamsburg is an example of a site being brought back to a state of completion such as may never have existed at any given moment has been the subject of debate for many preservationists.”

Should we restore or grow old gracefully? An interesting question we could apply to ourselves personally as well.