Wyoming Statutes, the 1910 and 1920 volumes. All the state's statutes, in one volume.
The 1945 statutes, five volumes.
Top shelf, the statutes today.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Sunday, November 16, 2014
HIstory in Advertising: Another Dodge Brothers Commercial
The Dodge branch of Chrysler continues to pay homage to their founding siblings, this time with an acknowledgment as to their departure from Ford Motors, society shunning them, and their early deaths. Interesting.
WHEELS THAT WON THE WEST®: 20 Mule Team Borax Wagons
WHEELS THAT WON THE WEST®: 20 Mule Team Borax Wagons: Throughout America’s history, there are certain early horse-drawn vehicles that have attained a legendary status… even among the gener...
I wonder how many of us had a Twenty Mule Team model? I did.
I loved models as a kid. I don't think building them is as common as it once was. Most of mine were military models, ground equipment and aircraft, but this one, a Twenty Mule Team, was an exception. Wish I knew where it was today.
Monday, November 16, 1914. Occupying Tsingtao
The twelve decentralized locations of the Federal Reserve System opened.
Japanese and British forces took over the port of Tsingtao.
The Austro Hungarian army commenced its third attempt to invade Serbia, choosing to cross the Kolubara River.
Russians Call Off Invasion of Germany
The Russian Army crossed the Aras River in Turkey and attacked Ottoman forces at dawn to arrest their advance.
British forces defeated Ottoman forces defending Saihan, Iraq, south of Basra.
French forces fought through rebel held territory to relieve their forces at Khenifra, Morocco.
Last edition:
Sunday, November 15, 1914. Ottomans cross the Russian frontier.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Sunday, November 15, 1914. Ottomans cross the Russian frontier.
Ottoman forces crossed into Russia and defeated a Russian column near Borchka.
Last edition:
Saturday, November 14, 1914. Declaring a holy war.
Our Egg Head Supreme Court?
Yesterday I posted a note about the 100th anniversary of the founding of The New Republic. One of the articles in that 100th anniversary issue is Dahlia Lithwick's article Nine of A Kind on the current United States Supreme Court. In it, she advances a position which I've maintained for quite some time, which is that its unfortunate that the U.S. Supreme Court has become the exclusive domain of Ivy League jurists. She takes that thought further noting that what really distinguishes this court, in her view, is that the nine justices all share a stunning degree of commonality in their experiences, or perhaps their lack of them, and therefore are much more alike than different.
I think she's right.
Now, in stating this, I have to admit that I also think that her point that this is the most intellectual court we've ever had is also correct, and that while I find some of their decisions bizarre, such as the one on zoning a while back, by and large I think this court actually is doing a really find job and that much of the criticism of it is unwarranted. It's decisions are often five to four, but usually the decisions are really well grounded in the law. That's what miffs people, and its why you'll find the same people praising one decision at one time, and criticizing another at another time, as most people think of the court politically, not legally. For instance, some of my more conservative friends were irate on the decision concerning the Affordable Health Care Act. Well, be mad at the act and its drafters if you wish, but the decision upholding it on a tax thesis was a pretty careful, legally well balanced, decision. No, that doesn't mean you have to like it, but disliking the opinion doesn't mean the court went off the rails. Likewise, Liberals who are in a constant state of denial on the firearms decision in Holder should get over it and realize that the decision is neither conservative or liberal, it's just right.
None the less, there's something really disturbing about the fact we now have a court that has so little experience in real life and so little experience in real law. A court that seems to have to be made up of Ivy League law school graduates is disturbing in and of itself.
Or perhaps not. They seem to be doing a pretty good job under Justice Roberts. I'd be less confident if some others were Chief Justice however. A little mix of some lawyers who have done something else in their life, anyhow, would seem well suggested.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Advertisements in History: Sainsbury Chocolates and the 1914 Christmas Truce
Sainsbury's chocolates take on the 1914 unofficial, soldier motivated, Christmas Truce.
The New Republic Turns 100 Years Old
The New Republic just issued its anniversary issue, which arrived in my mailbox yesterday. The magazines' first issue came out on November 7, 1914.
I've been a subscriber to the New Republic since May, 1986. The subscription was given to me as a birthday gift by a friend who thought the magazine reflected my politics, which it pretty much did at that time, my final year of being an undergraduate geology student at the University of Wyoming, interested in politics, and about to graduate into unemployment. Just as Jonathan Chait, who wrote about his personal history with the magazine in this issue, I used to read it cover to cover when it came, usually in a single sitting. It was a somewhat thinner magazine at that time, as it was a weekly, as it had been since November 1914. I was always amazed by the brilliant content of the magazine back then, and amazed that they were able to produce those results every week. I continued on to devour it that way throughout my resumed college career as a law student, and even thought about trying to submit some articles to it from time to time, in hopes they'd take notice of them. When the magazine endorsed Albert Gore the first time, when he was a free thinking, pro life, anti Gun Control, candidate for the Presidency, I followed that primary season eagerly.
Over time, I've become less enamored with the magazine, but that seems to be part of the history of the magazine itself. Founded by Herbert Croly, and Willard and Dorthy Straight (the financial backing), the 1914 magazine, which fits right into the time period this blog is focused on, was an unofficial organ of Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party, which seemed to also sort of reflect its views in the mid 1980s. Croly was a late blooming middle aged intellect at the time who was attracted to Progressive Politics and hence the really quite radical final effort of Theodore Roosevelt to regain the Presidency. The early magazine reflected his, and the Straights, Progressive Party views, even after the Progressive Party rapidly fell apart. That early history, when I learned of it, appealed to me, as I was a big fan of Theodore Roosevelt at the time. I'm less of one now (I've migrated more towards admiring the views of the founder he disliked, Thomas Jefferson), although I'm still a fan of him in many ways, and that's also true of The New Republic, except more so. That is, I'm much less of a fan of The New Republic today, but I still renew my subscription.
In fairness to myself, however, any student of the magazine knows that its particularly honest about the quirky history its had in terms of quality. The initial magazine yielded from being a Progressive organ to being a Liberal one in the 1930s. Probably reflective of the evolutionary nature of the time, it's interesting that a son of the Straights evolved out of the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party in to the Communist Party, where they became a spy for the Soviet Union. The magazine itself went bankrupt in 1924, at which time Croly ceased to be an editor, but he continued to contribute until his death in 1930. By that time, the magazine had become solidly left leaning, and was made up of an eclectic bunch of Progressives, Liberals, and hard left Liberals. That New Republic became very significant during the Great Depression, where it was virtually an intellectual organ of the more left wing New Dealers and influenced FDR's actions to a significant degree.
As the New Deal waned by the late 1930s, so did the magazines intellectual abilities. It tacked increasingly towards the left, and when Henry Wallace became the editor following his failure to secure a renewed spot on FDR's ticket, it became a hard left organ. One later editor of The New Republic has flat out stated that Wallace was a Communist, which is different, to say the least, from the more accepted view that he was a rather naive and unrealistic hard left Liberal. At any rate, Wallace nearly wrecked the magazine and the magazine seems to have been glad to see him go when he departed for his final Quixotic run for President.
After that, the magazine revived and it was in good shape, free thinking, not ideologically rigid and widely ranging when I first became a subscriber. It was neither liberal or conservative, in a true sense, but something else. By its own acknowledgment, it entered into a slump some time later and the final years of Martin Peretz' ownership did not seem to be good ones. Indeed, in the last years of that era the editor became so obsessed with Israeli politics that the flagship editorials or the comments in the back often seemed more appropriate for an Israeli weekly than an American one. If I recall correctly, there was at one time even an article on the mayoral race in Jerusalem, which is hard for an American reader to really care much about.
Since that time the magazine has sold, and it's now a monthly. It's thicker, and its resumed some of its eclectic nature. However, perhaps reflective of my own evolution in political thinking, or perhaps reflective of the fact that many who were once regarded as "Liberals", perhaps inaccurately, in the past no longer are, as they have no home in current Liberalism, or perhaps because the magazine seems so solidly Democratic Party Liberal, rather than Progressive Party Progressive, or whatever, I don't like it nearly as much as I once did, and I never read it cover to cover anymore. Indeed, I haven't for quite some time, probably since the mid to late 1990s. Some issues I'll hardly read a single article from, and in the last decade I've found at least a couple of the articles so offensive to certain views I hold, that I've thought about dropping my subscription. It sure doesn't interest me the way it once did.
But, achieving 100 years in a print magazine is quite an accomplishment. So, happy birthday New Republic.
Saturday, November 14, 1914. Declaring a holy war.
Following up on something the Ottoman Emperor had already done, the state's religious leader (Sheikh-ul-Islam) declared a holy war against the Allies.
Interestingly, the prior Sheikh-ul-Islam had lost his position in 1913 and was exiled to Egypt for opposing the then coming war.
Last edition:
Friday, November 13, 1914. Moroccan setback.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Friday, November 13, 1914. Moroccan setback.
French colonial troops attacked Zaian rebels near Khenifra contrary to orders, and ended up in an engagement that would cause them to be annihilated.
France was attempting to negotiated a peace at the time.
Last edition:
Thursday, November 12, 1914. Wanted horses.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Riding Bicycles
Catholic Priest riding a bicycle in South Dakota, 1944.
Just recently I posted an item on walking. In that I noted that walking was the default norm for humans in terms of mobility, and the only way we got around for millennia. I also noted in that animal transportation is about 20,000 years old, give or take 5,000 years, but that, at least for the period of history which contains the history of our own country, walking was still the norm for most of that period in the western world. Most people didn't own horses, as they lived in cities or towns.
While I've addressed it elsewhere, in the Revolution in Rural Transportation thread, what I should also explore just bit, just as we did with walking, is what became a common means of transportation, but the view of which has evolved in the past century. This means of transportation was the first real alternative for most people to walking on a daily basis.
And it wasn't the car.
It was the bicycle.
I don't propose to offer a history of the bicycle here. I'm not going to go back to the first bicycles and take us forward over time, but we should note that the bike really came on after the American Civil War. There were early predecessors to the bike that existed prior to that time, but it was in the 1860s that the first practical bicycles first came on in the 1860s, for the most part. The first bikes were what are now sometimes inaccurately called velocipedes, but what were called penny farthings at the time, those being bikes that work a lot like tricycles still do, in that they had no chains and rather a big wheel was simply pedaled. As they lacked a chain, and hence a gear, the speed at which they could be operated was essentially determined by the size of the front wheel, leading to some of the rather odd looking big wheel bicycles of that era.
Penny farthings on starting line of race.
Penny farthings present certain obvious difficulties to the rider, but none the less they were extremely popular. None the less,t he problems of mounting and dismounting, combined with regulating the amount of gearing, more or less, via the bit wheel lead the mechanically minded to work on bicycle designs, which lead to the Safety Bicycle. These were soon bicycles driven by a gear and chain, basically the predecessor of the type of bicycle we have have today, but with a single gear. They were marketed on their safe features, for the simple reason that they really were considerably safer, and easier to use, than the penny farthing. They appeared in the 1880s.
Penny farthing left, Safety Bicycle right.
Bicycles took society in the western world by storm. Indeed, there was a bicycle "craze", and its no wonder. Bicycles offered to town dwellers what nothing else did, an alternative to walking you could keep in your house and that you didn't have to feed when you weren't using it. They were relatively cheap and easy to maintain as well. Suddenly, people could cut the time it took to travel a reasonable distance in less than half, easily. Indeed, I know that is to be true, as when I walk to work it takes me over an hour get there, while it takes me less than half an hour to ride my bike. The craze started in the 1860s, but the Safety Bicycle came on just in time to really accelerate it, and it continued on in to the 1890s. The craze saw its expression in song in 1892 with "Bicycle Built For Two", a song popular enough that it's still at least somewhat recalled today.
There is a flower
Within my heart,
Daisy, Daisy!
Planted one day
By a glancing dart,
Planted by Daisy Bell!
Whether she loves me
Or loves me not,
Sometimes it's hard to tell;
Yet I am longing to share the lot -
Of beautiful Daisy Bell!
Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle made for two.
We will go 'tandem'
As man and wife,
Daisy, Daisy!
'Peddling' away
Down the road of life,
I and my Daisy Bell!
When the road's dark
We can both despise
P'licemen and 'lamps' as well;
There are 'bright lights’
In the dazzling eyes
Of beautiful Daisy Bell!
Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won't be a stylish marriage,
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle made for two.
I will stand by you
In 'weal' or woe,
["weal" means prosperity] Daisy, Daisy!
You'll be the bell(e)
Which I'll ring you know!
Sweet little Daisy Bell!
You'll take the 'lead'
In each 'trip' we take,
Then if I don't do well,
I will permit you to
Use the brake,
My beautiful Daisy Bell!
And bikes came on into use not only for private citizens, but in official and commerce use as well. Bicycle deliveries became common for groceries. Bicycle messengers came into business use, and of course still exist. Police departments in big cities, which retained mounted patrols, introduced bicycle mounted patrols. And nearly every western army introduced bicycle infantry, including the U.S. Army, although our experimentation with it was brief.
U.S. bicycle troops, which existed only exceedingly briefly. Given the role of the U.S. Army at the time, bicycle troops made next to not sense in comparison to cavalry.
French bicycle troops, World War One.
German bicycle troops during World War One. The Germans also used a lot of bicycles in a patrol role during World War Two, where they basically filed the same role that motorcycles and horses did in other formations. Bikes increased in importance during World War Two as Germany retreated, as its road system was very extensive and good, thereby reducing the need to rely on horses.
But the ascendancy of the bicycle was itself also brief. Lasting from the late 1860s until the 1910s or so, the peak of the bicycle era saw the birth of the automobile. At first bikes held on, as cars were extremely expensive and beyond the means of many. And, indeed, bikes have continued to hang on in those areas where automobiles remain beyond the reach of city dwellers, such as in much of Asia. But in North America, Henry Ford took the step that would end the ascendancy of the bicycle in 1903, by introducing his Model T, the first care to be purposely made to be affordable by the average man. After that, year by hear the automobile cut into the domain of the bicycle and the horse. It didn't displace either immediately, but it began to crowd both out in some roles fairly quickly.
In North America, some bike use as transportation lingered on into the 1940s, and the Army encouraged bicycle use for awhile on base in the United States to conserve fuel. But, by and large, bikes were on their way out by the 1920s, as adult commuter vehicles. In Europe this was less true, as automobiles remained expensive for the average European until after World War Two. At the same time, bikes went out as police vehicles as cars came in, although the horse managed to continue on. Military use of bicycles continued, but by World War Two they were very much on the way out with the more mechanized armies, such as the British (which were a significantly more mechanized army by the start of the war than generally imagined). Some armies, particularly the Germans and Japanese, still relied on large numbers of bicycles, and did throughout the war, but other armies had nearly completely eliminated them by the end of the war. Only the Swiss retained bicycle troops into the 21st Century in Europe, making bicycle troops much less common than horse mounted troops now, which themselves are not common.
British military bicycle, World War Two.
So, by the 1950s, bikes were mostly the transportation of children and almost regarded as a toy. The exception seemed to be the people who "toured" with bikes, and college students. Schwinn, which was the major American bicycle manufacturer, didn't call its ten speed bicycle the "Varsity" for nothing.
But for some, they never went away, and they retained them in the old use. And for a few others, sporting bicycles retained a major fascination.
Then, in the 1970s, something began to happen. Sporting bikes began to grow in appeal and even though bicycle racing was a minor sport by any definition it was sufficiently popular that two popular moves, Breaking Away and American Flyers came out about the sport in 1979 and 1985. In the 1980s high grade racing bikes began to show up in fairly common adult use. Mountain Bikes, a brand new type of bike made for rugged use, appeared at this time and opened up the trails to bikes in a way that only rugged Swiss bicycle troops had been able to endure before. And mountain bikes proved so popular that they soon displaced touring bikes nearly entirely and became the bike of choice for thousands of urban and suburban bicyclist.
Now, bikes have sort of regained their intellectual hold as a means of transportation for everyday use, although they aren't anywhere nearly extensively used as they once were. Cities and towns are accommodating them, however, and in some localities free bicycles are available for use by those in urban areas.
Thursday, November 12, 1914. Wanted horses.
Sheridan rancher O. O. Wallop, a member of British royalty, was advertising for horses. . . for British remounts.
And civil war seemed to be breaking out in Mexico.
South African troops under Louis Botha defeated Boer rebels under Christiaan de Wet.
Botha as a Boer commander during the Boer War.
Boer Rebel De Wet Defeated at Mushroom Valley
Last edition:
Wednesday, November 11,. 1914. Cavalry at Ypres.
Wyoming Fact and Fiction: Wyoming Winter
Wyoming Fact and Fiction: Wyoming Winter has an interesting post on winter, and dwellings in this part of the country in the past. It's an interesting topic, and another one of those things we don't think a great deal about, but which reflect a real change in people's daily lives.
Today, when I got up, the temperature was -18F. That's really cold. And it's emphasized all the more as I'm enduring the cold in an old fashioned way. The batteries (plural) of my diesel truck died the first morning of the cold snap, and I haven't been able to replace them. The hood of the truck is frozen shut, from the snow on the first day. I haven't had a car battery die due to cold weather in ages, although the batteries in this case are seven years old and have seen a lot of hard use.
But, while -18F is cold, it isn't unusual for this part of the country. Psychologists say that people's weather memory is only about three years in extent, and that must be true, because there's all sorts of people saying "this isn't normal" for this region. Oh. . yes it is. This is the norm. Winter here used to typically arrive no later than October and as early as September. When I was a kid I distinctly recall that I always worried it would arrive the week of sage chicken season, which is the second week of September, as we couldn't get up to the high country if it did. And that worry was fairly frequently realized. Arctic Novembers were quite common when I was a kid, as were very snowy ones. That people think they are unusual shows how things have been different recently.
The news media, on the other hand, should know better. Even in places like snowy Colorado they seem surprised by winter. How a state that depends on winter ski tourist can be baffled by snow is beyond me.
Anyhow, it's worth doing what Neal has done in his post, and ponder heating of the past. I've lived in gas and electrically heated houses my entire life, but coal for heat wasn't unusual in this part of the country prior to World War Two. Indeed, just recently a post on the conversion of the Shoreham Hotel from gas to coal, during World War Two, has been very popular here, showing how that was still done fairly late, and also that people are looking into that topic for some reason. Still, that's heat. In the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, plenty of people here, in this wood scarce region, were heating with wood, which is not terribly efficient when simply burned in a stove, or a fire place. You'd want to be pretty near the stove or that fireplace.
And the houses were poorly insulated in many instances too.
This doesn't even begin to consider how aboriginal people endured, but they did. Nights in teepees in weather like this must have been pretty long ones, and you'd certainly learn how to bring in adequate fuel, or have it close at hand, so that it was readily available.
Old Picture of the Day: Hunting in the Adirondacks
Old Picture of the Day: Hunting in the Adirondacks: Today's picture shows a couple of men in a successful deer hunt. The picture was taken in 1903 in the Adirondacks. I am a little co...
Old Picture of the Day: Hunting Dogs
Old Picture of the Day: Hunting Dogs: This picture is from the late 1800's and shows a man with his hunting dogs. It looks like a double barrel shotgun he is using. Not...
Old Picture of the Day: Skinning Deer
Old Picture of the Day: Skinning Deer: This is a great picture of a hunting camp from 1907. After shooting a deer, it must be skinned and cut up. We are seeing that process...
Old Picture of the Day: Bear Hunting
Old Picture of the Day: Bear Hunting: Today's picture shows a successful bear hunt. Looks like we had three hunters and a gun. The picture was taken near Saltese, Monta...
Mid Week At Work: Joining the Navy, World War One.
A famous World War One vintage Navy recruiting poster, still widely reproduced today, which at the time was both cute and intended to send a subtle message (girls would pin yellow ribbons on young men not entering the service, at the time, to indicate that they viewed them as cowards), and which now is both ironic and anachronistic.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Random Snippets: Winter isn't unusual
It's November 11, Veterans Day, and we had snow. We also had really arctic weather (and the batteries on my truck died).
To listen to the news you'd think that this is an "early" winter storm nationwide.
Baloney.
November 11 isn't early for a winter storm, even with arctic temperatures. In fact, winter weather has arrived here about a month late.
And snow and cold weather in regions that get it every year isn't a big shock.
To listen to the news you'd think that this is an "early" winter storm nationwide.
Baloney.
November 11 isn't early for a winter storm, even with arctic temperatures. In fact, winter weather has arrived here about a month late.
And snow and cold weather in regions that get it every year isn't a big shock.
Veterans Day: Some Gave All: Park County War Memorial, Cody Wyoming
Some Gave All: Park County War Memorial, Cody Wyoming: This is the original war memorial in Cody Wyoming. I'm uncertain of the dedication date, so I'm unsure if it was intende...
Wednesday, November 11,. 1914. Cavalry at Ypres.
The Germans broke through allied lines to advance on Zwarteleen, 3,000 yards east of Ypres, There, they were checked by a British cavalry brigade. More on this:
And some fools feel that cavalry played no role in the Great War. It very much did.
Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire, who held the position of Caliph, albeit it was not universally accepted, declared jihad on the Allies, which would seem to have ultimately undermined his position as it was certainly the case that the Central Powers were no more in league with Islam than the Allies.
On the same day Ottoman troops attempted to ambush British troops marching on Basra, but failed.
The Ottomans also, however, counterattacked the Russians, forcing them into a retreat.
Last edition:
Sunday, November 8, 1914 Landings at Fao
Monday, November 10, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Walking
For the overwhelming majority of human history, if a person wanted to get somewhere, anywhere, they got there one of two ways.
They walked, or they ran.
That's it.
Saddle horse, indeed a Saddlebred, saddled and ready to go. People have been riding horses for maybe 20,000 years or so and they remain a significant mode of transportation in some areas and for some things today. From our A Revolution In Rural Transportation thread.
Indeed, some might note how in Italy there are a large number of dioceses, whereas in the U.S. this tends not to be true. Wyoming or Montana, for example, have one Catholic diocese for the entire state. In Italy, the next town might have its own diocese and its own Bishop. Why? Well, when those diocese were set up, which might be as long ago as the 1st or 2nd Centuries, the Priests had to walk. Generally, the extent of a Diocese was defined by how far those operating from the Cathedral could walk in some reasonable number of days. In England, this was done in a similar fashion with the Priest living in a central community within a days walking distance of a variety of places they served, and then returning to their central community.
They walked, or they ran.
That's it.
Businessmen, Washington D. C., 1940s. Walking.
Alternative modes of transportation didn't even exist for much of human history. The boat was almost certainly the very first one to occur to anyone. Or rather, the canoe. People traveled by canoe before they traveled by any other means other than walking.
Nez Perce Canoe. This type of canoe is basically the prototype for all watercraft.
Animal transport as an alternative to walking happened a long time ago, and gets pushed back further and further, in an example of Holscher's First Law of History. We probably took up riding horses no later than 15,000 years ago, and in all likelihood probably earlier than that. Maybe 20,000 years ago. According to some, riding horses actually followed riding reindeer, and it may have been an observation of horse herding people, who were doing that from the ground, upon encountering reindeer herding people, who riding reindeer for the same purpose. Something along the lines of "hey. . . .that looks easier than chasing horses. . . "
Imperial Russian soldier riding a reindeer. Some students of the topic believe that people probably rode reindeer before any other animal. I don't know if any culture rides them today, but they were still used as a mounted transportation animal in Siberia within the past century.
It was never the case, however, that people rode horses by default. The school age myth that "everyone rode horses" prior to the automobile, is just that. It's a myth.
Saddle horse, indeed a Saddlebred, saddled and ready to go. People have been riding horses for maybe 20,000 years or so and they remain a significant mode of transportation in some areas and for some things today. From our A Revolution In Rural Transportation thread.
We've dealt with this topic at length before, in our A Revolution In Rural Transportation thread, but that dealt with the topic in a different fashion. What we didn't emphasize there is the simple fact that prior to the automobile, most people walked in most places. Even in the rural West, people who lived in towns and cities, and that was most of the population, walked. Keeping a horse in town is expensive, and most people didn't do it, anywhere.
Black Horse Livery Stable, South Pass City Wyoming, from HABERS study, Library of Congress. Livery stables were sort of the combo gas station/parking garage of their day, as you boarded your horse there while visiting a town or city.
The average working man, in the pre-automobile era, in the US walked seven miles to work, according to Henry Fairlie's "The Cows Revenge". That's quite a hike, and that tells us a lot about conditions and how people lived, and how they viewed walking, prior to the car. Simply put, the introduction and acceptance of the automobile has bizarrely impacted everything about this topic. It's impacted when we walk, how we view walking, how we build our cities, and even our health.
Crowd walking to work in 1916.
Living in a world that was afoot, the default means of getting anywhere for everyone was shoe leather. So, for most men, to get to work everyday, they walked. So what you may ask? Well, that tells us a lot about how they lived. As noted above, they tended to live within walking distance of their work. For the more well to do, that tended to mean that they lived within walking distance of the heart of the city or town, as that meant that they had the luxury of walking less. If they were poorer, they lived further out, unless they were industrial workers, in which case they often lived right next to the plants or mines they worked in. The other day here, we had a thread up on Salt Lake City depicting "Greek Town", which is where working class Greek immigrants lived, right next to the industrial are of Salt Lake City at that time.
Lawyer walking in early 20th Century New York.
That tells us something right there about how cities and towns were laid out, as opposed to now. If people were largely walking to work, and the wealthiest lived closest to their businesses in the heart of the town, the current "suburban" and "bedroom" community natures of so many of our cities simply didn't exist. The very wealthy had country homes they'd retreat to in the summer, when they also could afford to be away from their businesses, but otherwise people generally lived in much more compact neighborhoods than they do now, and they didn't want to live in a place which wasn't within some reasonable walking distance of their occupations. Indeed, while there's been a trend in recent years towards trendy city centers, the post World War Two trend of the middle class and wealthy living away from the city center with those who are less well off living towards it was the opposite of the historic norm, although there were always poor neighborhoods within cities.
For women, as conditions generally meant that they worked at home as a rule, it meant that they tended to walk to and from those areas strongly associated with their daily tasks, such as markets. This meant, of course, that local markets were common, as there was no advantage to having a large store with a large parking lot, obviously, if people had to walk to it. Such small stores were the norm. Today they are the exception. And grocery stores within residential districts were also very common. This city had at least three such grocery stores at one time, and now has a single one, which has become somewhat of a specialty store.
For women, as conditions generally meant that they worked at home as a rule, it meant that they tended to walk to and from those areas strongly associated with their daily tasks, such as markets. This meant, of course, that local markets were common, as there was no advantage to having a large store with a large parking lot, obviously, if people had to walk to it. Such small stores were the norm. Today they are the exception. And grocery stores within residential districts were also very common. This city had at least three such grocery stores at one time, and now has a single one, which has become somewhat of a specialty store.
Young workers returning to work, on foot, after break for noon meal.
Small shops, normally family run, tended to mean that the people who ran them, who usually worked very long hours, often lived in the shop. People lived above their stores, which saved money on lodging, but also saved time hiking. If you had to be in your grocery at 4:00 am, you probably didn't want to have to start walking by 2:30 everyday, particularly in the winter. You just walked down the stairs instead.
Lumberjacks walking home after work. 1944
And it even impacted how and where people worshiped. I've noted here before, in a different thread, how many Catholic churches there are in Denver. Some of them are not really very far from one another. Why is that? Well, if you had to walk to Mass on Sunday, they would be far. Now people think nothing of driving ten or more miles to a church. If you had to walk that distance very Sunday, it would. And that would be considered by the denomination as well.
Holy Ghost Catholic Church, downtown Denver.
St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church, Denver.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Cajetan Catholic Churches, Denver Colorado, as viewed from the Embassy Suites.
The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, downtown Denver.
Indeed, some might note how in Italy there are a large number of dioceses, whereas in the U.S. this tends not to be true. Wyoming or Montana, for example, have one Catholic diocese for the entire state. In Italy, the next town might have its own diocese and its own Bishop. Why? Well, when those diocese were set up, which might be as long ago as the 1st or 2nd Centuries, the Priests had to walk. Generally, the extent of a Diocese was defined by how far those operating from the Cathedral could walk in some reasonable number of days. In England, this was done in a similar fashion with the Priest living in a central community within a days walking distance of a variety of places they served, and then returning to their central community.
Service people often also walked, although not exclusively. Many policemen, for example, operated out of a district office and covered their "beat" on foot. This wasn't for more effective local policing, as is so often the case today, but because walking was the default norm for everyone. Some were mounted of course, and that was for more effective coverage of an area. Most soldiers, in an era before extensive logistical support, were infantrymen, as most combat solders remained, and they walked everywhere as a rule. Officers, of course, rode, but because they were officers.
Pedestrians, New York City, 1897. Policeman to far left.
And when I mean infantrymen walked, they walked. When we read of infantrymen during the Revolution walking from one northeastern location to another, that's what they did. When we invaded Quebec during the war, most of the American troops walked in, and walked out. Hundreds of miles. And we read of the Mexican War, in which the United States gathered and entered Mexico with one army, and then switched out to a second as call ups expired, we're reading about men who walked all that way to and from Mexico, for the most part.
French infantry, 1914.
In more modern wars, railroads entered the picture, and automobiles about a century ago, but still infantry largely walked. German infantry in World War Two, for example, remained largely of the old type. Walking everywhere. When we see photos of German infantrymen in Russia during World War Two, those troops were largely on foot the entire time, some rail transportation notwithstanding.
This changed, for Americans anyway, only fairly recently, as the automobile really came in. Other forms of transportation added to that, of course, but as cars were fully adopted, and adapted to, Americans came to the idea that they should drive everywhere, and they largely do. This too has changed everything about everything, how we view our cities, how we view transportation, and even how we view ourselves.
Unemployed, Great Depression, walking towards Los Angeles.
But it didn't change it for everyone, at least not completely. Some walkers of the old type hung on, and do even today. If you are one of them, the change tends to be self evident, even if you don't conceive of it in that fashion.
I was one of the walkers, that is one of the people who kept walking for daily transportation. My mother was, and perhaps because of the way I grew up, or the fact that I am just cheap, I continued to be and still somewhat am. When I was a kid, we still walked to get where we were going, normally. My mother was a terrible driver anyway, and if we asked her for a ride, it was due to something exceptional going on. Walking within a couple of miles was the norm for anything we wanted to do that was that close, including going to school. Riding a bike was the norm beyond that. When I went away to college, and every dime counted, I went fully over to walking. I always walked to school, to church, to nearly everywhere, unless I needed to carry something or was going more than a few miles away. When I returned home to work, I walked to work and back everyday until I got married, at which time I moved a greater distance from downtown. During the summer I'll still ride a bike to work, however, if the weather is nice.
Given that prospective, some interesting observations nearly have to occur to you. One thing is that Americans now tend to view walking as a form of "exercise", rather than something that just is.
There's no doubt that it is exercise, and as people like to point out, it's "good exercise". But its actually exercise that we would have normally gotten just by living. The automobile has not only caused us to forget that, it's helped make us unhealthy and fat to some degree, as we sit and ride where formally we would have walked. But even while accurate, the idea that walking is "exercise" is a peculiar thought, if you tended to walk to get somewhere anyhow.
And how it exhibits itself as exercise is interesting. People buy clothing and shoes just for walking. Walking shoes, in fact, have existed for a long long time but that there are "walking shoes", when walking is the default means of transportation, is odd. Walking clothing, on the other hand, is downright odd.
In any prior era, when people walked somewhere, including to work, they simply wore what they were wearing for whatever other activity they were doing. Not now. Now walkers dress in some cases like runners, in special athletic clothing. Its not necessary and a little peculiar, as walking is simply something that humans do, or at least in most eras in most places it was something that they simply did.
For those who have retained the old ways, this is particularly striking. When I lived in Laramie, every Saturday night I walked to Mass, a round trip of about six miles, and then the next morning I walked another round trip of six to buy a newspaper. In doing that, I sometimes ran into an elderly couple that was headed in the same direction, probably to church, and an exercise walker who took that course on their exercise beat. I just wore what I wore. The elderly couple was dress appropriately for church. The exercise walker was wearing exercise clothing. The irony was that the elderly couple and I typically passed the exerciser and out paced him, probably because we were more used to routinely walking. I always wondered about the special clothing, as I wasn't working up a sweat, but the fact that the exercise walker felt compelled to wear special clothing made you feel as perhaps you should too. Was I sweaty and didn't know it?
Not that walking in prior eras didn't also impact clothing, it did, and even the change in this is very noticeable to those who have experienced the change, which has continued to develop even in our own time.
Students of costume often note how heavily people dressed in prior eras, and how common hats were. Well, hats were common as everyone spent part of their days outdoors, even if that only meant walking to work. If you had to walk a mile when it might rain, you'd wear a hat. And probably a real hat, rather than a cap.
You'd also wear enough clothes to protect you from the elements. Presently, if you go by any place their are young people, you'll notice some wear light clothing, including shorts, even in the dead of winter. You wouldn't do that, and couldn't do that, if you had to walk to school a mile or more. That's a byproduct of modern heating, and transportation.
Walkers who simply walk also will find that almost everyone else in American society finds that odd and resists it. If you walk because you'd prefer to, you're going to be offered rides. I've sometimes found that the same people will repeatedly offer you rides, convinced that you can't possibly prefer walking, and they can be quite persistent about it. It's a fairly surprising thing, given as sidewalks are everywhere and walking is our design norm. Psychologically, however, it seems eccentric to many.
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