He then hired a partner/mechanic, Samuel Crocker, who was a successful bicycle racer to accompany him on his journey east. Somewhere near Caldwell, Idaho, Jackson and Crocker obtained a dog, a bulldog named Bud. LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- On May 23, 1903, Horatio Nelson Jackson was just two days into his grand adventure of becoming the first person . Horatio's letter to Bertha | May 31, 1903 . After suffering a flat tire on the bicycle, he returned with 4 US gallons (15L) of fuel (which Jackson complained cost him "nearly twenty dollars"), and they returned to Burns to fill up.[6]. He twice ran for Governor of Vermont. There had to be an easier way to win a $50 bet. The technology nevertheless began to catch on, slowly. Constitution Avenue, NW When the travelers reached Omaha, Nebraska on July 12 they were able to stitch together a few paved roads in between the stretches of older wagon trails. Over a hundred years after Jacksons trip, I can still relate to some of his experiences. Having resupplied the best they could, they struck back out onto the open roader,open range. Jacob Murdock and his family drove from Pasadena to New York City in just 32 days. Mr. Crocker is a devotee of the new machines and expert as a chauffeur. Everything that can break has broken already.". We only made 45 miles in our direct route. H. Nelson Jackson, a physician and businessman from Burlington, Vermont, captured the nations attention when he and Sewall K. Crocker, a mechanic, drove from DriveBestWay.com is a route planner for car travelers, providing a lot of travel-related calculations like road distance, driving time, fuel cost Online route planner for car travelers - United States and worldwide - DriveBestWay.com Churning dust irritated Buds eyes, and Jackson purchased this pair of goggles for him. Following the war, he became one of the founders of theAmerican Legion, and twice ran forGovernor of Vermont. At 4:30 a.m. on July 26, 1903, Jackson and Crocker crossed the Harlem River into Manhattan to their final destination of the Holland House Hotel. Press Clipping from Horatio Nelson Jacksons road trip across America. "Ocean to Ocean in an Automobile Car," Stephen Sears, Bud grew so accustomed to his riding goggles that "he would not begin the day's drive without them. Documentary film maker Ken Burns produced a film, Horatio's Drive, for PBS. Be inspired! Ken Burns takes 'Horatio's Drive'. The documentary focuses primarily on Horatio Nelson Jackson and his Winton car, the Vermont; along with his companions Sewall K. Crocker, his pet pitbull Bud and frequent correspondence with Jackson's wife Bertha Richardson Wells (called "Swipes" by Jackson). Horatio Nelson Jackson, a physician and automobile pioneer, and Sewall Crocker arrive in New York on July 26, 1903, completing the first continental crossing by car, a journey prompted by a. After Cheyenne, Jackson and Horatio both knew that the hard part of the journey was now behind them. Jackson was unable to buy a new tire, but purchased some used inner tubes. There are no maps, no roads, no repair shops. This is a bad start for our first eleven days out. But only 15 miles (24km) into the journey, the car blew a tire. Occasionally horses and cars gave her The rough trek towards Oregon required them to haul the car across deep streams with the block and tackle. While crossing the Rocky Mountains, they were moving boulders by hand out of their path. [6] The duo was also assisted in Sacramento by bicyclists who offered them road maps. The thick coating of mud gave evidence that it had been somewhere and that somewhere a long way off. "Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip", Learn how and when to remove this template message, He'd Have to Get Under Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile), The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God, Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Horatio%27s_Drive:_America%27s_First_Road_Trip&oldid=1107453344, Documentary films about United States history, Articles needing additional references from May 2019, All articles needing additional references, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 30 August 2022, at 02:26. "They were the visionaries and crackpots, which is sometimes the same person. Jackson and Crocker face obstacle after obstacle on their trip. Crocker of Seattle, both of whom are at the Palace ready for the journey. Postcard from the mid-1920s of a scene near Pocatello, Idaho before the road was officially named U.S. Highway 30.; (map on right) Route of Horatio's journey, arriving in Soda Springs June 16, 1903. Just 4 days after declaring his intentions, he had found a car and a chauffeur. The trip, sparked by a $50 gentlemen's wager, took 63 days. He remained on duty until severely wounded by high-explosive shells, when he was obliged to evacuate.[16]. Horatio Nelson Jackson (March 25, 1872 - January 14, 1955) . "[Horatio Nelson Jackson], My darling Girl: We have crossed the mountains & dont expect to come to anymore until we get into Idaho. A series of American university professors of history provided background information. There are a few windmill museums in the world and Ive been lucky enough to visit one. The travelers eventually reached Omaha, Nebraska, on July 12. Subsequently, their mileage took a sharp increase andtheir rate of trail damage sharply decreased. Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History, NearSoda Springs in Caribou County, Idaho , Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, June 22, 2017. African American History Curatorial Collective. Heeding the failed attempt by automobile pioneer Alexander Winton (founder of the Winton Motor Carriage Company, which manufactured Jackson's car) to cross the deserts of Nevada and Utah, Jackson decided to take a more northerly route through the Sacramento Valley and along the Oregon Trail. The Jackson party left Chicago at noon Saturday and arrived in Cleveland at 5:00 p.m. Monday, remarkably good time for notoriously bad roads which had been rendered worse by continued hard rains. On July 26, 1903, Horatio Nelson Jackson, a 31-year-old Vermont doctor, and his 22-year-old mechanic, Sewall Crocker, became the first to cross the United States in an automobile. But, 2 days after the bet, Horatiofinalized the purchase of his first car, a Winton that he dubbed The Vermont after his home state. Jackson is a "wealthy Vermont gentleman" who bet $3,000 on trip. Despite mud, washouts, breakdowns, and a lack of roads and bridges in the West, they finished their trip in 63 days. Captions: (left) Horatio Nelson Jackson (driving), Sewall K. Crocker (right), and Bud in the "Vermont. On July 21, they set out from Cleveland, Ohio, to finish the last leg of the journey. On June 9, outside of Vale, Oregon, the Vermont ran out of oil. Between June 20 and 21, all three of them got lost in Wyoming, and went without food for 36 hours before finding a sheepherder who gave them a meal of roast lamb and boiled corn. Americans have driven millions of miles back and forth across the country over the years but someone had to be first. But relief would not comfort them since they soon heard that competing corporate sponsored teams from both Packard and Oldsmobile were chasing them down hoping to steal the crown of first across the US in a motor car. Packard had secretly been planning their journey for months before Horatios fateful 50 dollar bet, and Oldsmobile had hoped to show the world what assembly line manufactured cars were capable of. At one point he was ticketed for exceeding the 6mph (9.7km/h) speed limit in Burlington. took Jackson 63 days, cost him $8,000 and left a transcontinental trail littered with broken parts, tools, clothes, flat tires and tears. This spur-of-the-moment trip, partially based on a bet, unknowingly turned into a race. I am not much of a hand to write love letters: you didnt give me a chance for much practice, but you know dear how I feel. Director Ken Burns Writer Dayton Duncan Stars Keith David (voice) Tom Hanks (voice) Adam Arkin (voice) Sponsored by the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the trip began and ended in New All day yesterday it was visited by admiring automobilists, and curious passersby peeped in upon it. Long distance travel was done by train. $8,000 on the trip, including hotel rooms, gasoline, tires, parts, supplies, food, and the cost of the Winton. Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps. Sign up for my occasional email updates! Traveled at 40 mph, and "said they sometimes spurted up to 60 miles an hour.". Sign up to get updates about the film and future projects from Ken Burns and Florentine Films. Crocker made repairs, but a fuel leak caused them to lose all of their available gasoline, and Jackson rented a bicycle for Crocker to travel 25 miles (40km) to Burns, Oregon, for fuel. They removed the backseat to make more room for gear and spare parts. , At the time of Horatio Jackson's trek, only 150 miles of paved road existed in the country, and gas stations and road maps were non-existent. The running time to Alturas was five and a half days; about 125 miles per day, without accident or incident worthy of mention. In 1903, H. Nelson Jackson and Sewall K. Crocker completed the first motor trip across the United States in this car, which Jackson named for his home state. My sense of humor gets me through life. "Discovering their loss, Jackson and Crocker determined that living off the countryside or starving was less to be feared than a return trip," wrote Jackson's friend Ralph Nading Hill in his book "The Mad Doctor's Drive. After repairing the flat, they stopped again inSacramento, CA to replace & upgrade their all too dim headlights and met some friendly cyclists who offered them road maps to the local area. At this point, the trio became celebrities. It has been an awful long time to us and I shall be mighty glad when we are on the way again and unless another serious accident happens we ought to be able to make good time across these plainsWell, tomorrow is our anniversary & I wish I could be with you. Many days of the journey, especially in the beginning, were spent parked in a town awaiting replacement parts to arrive via stagecoach or train so they they could continue on. My darling Swipes. It had no windshield and no top. At a time when few women owned or drove cars, taking the wheel was a powerful symbolic act. When Im writing something, I want to use the perfect word to get my meaning across. Here we slept under our carriage. Then the caption about the first ever cross-country road trip sealed the deal. At their next stop, Jackson had to wire his wife to send them money to Cheyenne, Wyoming. On a visionary whim and a $50 bet, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson became the first person to drive an automobile across the continent. The first effort to cross the country in 1899 ended inauspiciously for the car. Incidentally, half a ton of Nebraska clay, which it has gathered during the past few days, will be removed Monday Eve.Darling Swipes:While I think of it I want you to order two full sets more of the kodak pictures & have one set sent to Mrs. B. D. Crocker Tacoma, Wash. Keep the other set for me & bring all pictures & photos to N.Y. when you come to meet me there that is if you care to come.Well old girl I have brought the car to its birthplace & a great reception it got. In addition to the effect the rough roads had on their possessions, it also took its toll on the Winton and their equipment.