{"id":573889338,"date":"2016-06-15T22:09:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T03:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573889338"},"modified":"2017-01-17T14:38:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T20:38:52","slug":"transcontinental-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2016\/06\/15\/transcontinental-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Transcontinental history"},"content":{"rendered":"

“A dramatic era in transportation was born.”<\/p>\n

And if you keep reading after that it is worth it: <\/p>\n

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We took my mother-in-law back to the airport for her flight home yesterday. I saw that plaque and the propeller reproduction above it. I’ll give you two guesses which one I saw first. <\/p>\n

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But think of that, in 1929, the trip across the country was cut from four days to less than two. I know people who were alive then. I wonder if it seemed like a wonder to their contemporaries. Ahh, this is what it was like<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Think of it as they did. It would take between four to six months to ride a horse<\/a> from coast to coast — depending on your circumstance, and that’s if you knew the proper route. And then along came the transcontinental railroad. <\/p>\n

So anytime before 1869 it was months. When the transcontinental railroad was completed<\/a> you could be on the other coast in three-and-a-half days. And then, just sixty years later, less than two days. Today, of course, you can fly from New York to Los Angeles in five hours. A bit less if the jet stream doesn’t interfere. But to take trains and planes in 1929, and be on the west coast in two days, man what a marvel.<\/p>\n

Alas, the Transcontinental Air Transport, built by “the father of commercial aviation in America” Clement Melville Keys, was hit by the Depression, lower-than-expected demand, political manueverings and one high profile air tragedy. They lasted less than a year and would get bought and gobbled up in a series of mergers. <\/p>\n

Today, you can watch an entire loop around the country in five minutes. I wonder what Keys — a teacher, a journalist, a business man and, finally, an aviation mogul — would think of that?<\/p>\n