Transportation

Transportation. . , Transportation is the movement of people or goods from one location to another. Long before the Europeans first came to this area in the 1500s, the native peoples were engaged in transportation. On foot they followed trails that had been cut by buffaloes and other large animals as they moved to good water and grass. The natives hunted the animals, raided their enemies, and traded goods with other peoples. , When Europeans brought horses in to the area, a revolution in transportation occurred. Now people could travel more quickly across the great distances of the Plains. They also could carry more goods. Therefore trade among native peoples and with Europeans became common. Spanish, French, and, eventually, American traders exchanged manufactured goods for precious furs gathered by the native peoples. , As the Americans became more aware of the riches of the West, especially the land, they began to move through this area in great numbers. By the 1840s several of the old trails had been linked together to form a route from Missouri to new settlements in the Oregon country. This was the famous Oregon- California Trail that carried thousands of settlers and miners and tons of goods to locations from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. It also brought disease and other miseries to the native peoples, including the loss of land and the destruction of the buffalo herds. , Wagon trains carried most of the people and goods. But after the late 1850s, stagecoaches provided greater comfort and speed for travelers who could afford the fare. They also assured the safe and timely delivery of the great amounts of mail that now were being hauled across the continent. , Then came the Pony Express in 1860 and 1861. Riders whisked special letters and telegraph messages from station to station, covering the old trail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, in less than half the time required by a stagecoach. But the telegraph soon could send messages across the country at the speed of electricity, and the Pony Express died. , The Oregon-California Trail sank into nothingness in the 1860s and 1870s as it was replaced by the railroads. The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific followed the old trail along the Platte River and on into California. The Kansas Pacific and the Denver Pacific captured the traffic from the southern trail loop through northeastern Colorado. Then the St. Joseph and Denver City cut through northeast Kansas, generally following the St. Joseph branch of the trail. , In turn, the railroads have seen most of their passengers and much of their hauling business taken over by automobiles and trucks as new road systems have been built. People and goods now are transported down straight, paved roads rather than the winding paths, trails, and tracks of the past.