Page:America's Highways 1776–1976.djvu/45

 Although this appears to be an exaggerated condition of early roads, it was a common enough occurrence that the Good Roads magazine in May 1892 published the following guide on “What to do When A Horse Falls”: Jump down and hold the animal’s head, to prevent his dashing it about to his own injury. Loosen the check-rein (if you are so foolish as to use one) and the parts of the harness which fasten on the vehicle Back the carriage so as to get the shafts and traces clear. Steady and support the horse’s head, and excite and encourage him, with hand and voice, to rise. When you have got him up pat and further encourage him, and see if he is wounded or otherwise injured. Let him stand still a short time and recover himself, and then proceed gently and with greater caution than before.

The high cost of transport from the farms was also a tax on the people of the cities who were forced to pay higher prices for locally grown food and farm products. In 1901 fruit from California could be shipped to Raleigh, North Carolina, by rail for less than farmers living only 15 miles away could deliver their fruit to the Raleigh markets.

"You see by this that the railroads enable the fruit growers of California to compete with the fruit growers of your own county towns. . . . The way to successfully compete with these people is to build good roads so as to enable us to get to market at any time and carry a full load, thereby reducing cost of transportation. . . . A bad road is a relentless tax assessor and a sure collector."

According to the 1900 census, there were 161 cities of more than 25,000 inhabitants. Of these, 27 had populations in the 100,000 to 300,000 range and 11 had more than 300,000 people.

The ability to move goods freely from place to place was absolutely necessary to the prosperity of these cities. Industry, powered by steam, used great quantities of coal which had to be hauled over the streets from the docks and railroad yards to the factories and mills. Similarly, the hauling of raw materials and finished goods to and from the factories, warehouses, docks and railroads generated a tremendous volume of truck and dray traffic. Outside of the industrial areas, city dwellers depended on their streets for deliveries of coal, ice and groceries.

A typical 3-horse truck of the 1890’s weighed 7,000 pounds empty and could carry a 10-ton pay load, and horsedrawn trucks and drays capable of hauling 18-ton net loads were fairly common in large cities. These vehicles ran on steel tires which pulverized all but the hardest pavement surfaces. Consequently, the main streets of the large cities were built very heavily and surfaced with granite blocks or hard paving bricks. The minor business streets and residential streets were commonly of macadam or gravel, and in the 1890’s many of these were made dust-free by asphalt surfacing.

For the most part, city dwellers enjoyed excellent local transportation. Even comparatively small cities had horsecar lines, some of which persisted into the early 1900’s. About 1873 cable railways were introduced in the larger cities, but in the 1890’s these, as well as most of the horsecar lines, were converted to electric propulsion. “By 1890 more than one hundred American cities had installed or were in the process of installing electric street railways.”

Small towns on the peripheries of the large cities were tied to the cities by steam railroads and after about 1894, by electric interurban railroads as well. Frequent schedules on these railroads made it convenient for thousands of the more prosperous city workers to live in the suburbs and commute to work.

Concentrated populations, trade and industry built a fruitful base for property taxation in the cities. These taxes, supplemented by special assessments, provided the funds for thousands of miles of improved 39