In 1889, Thomas Curtis Clarke opened his essay on "The Building of a Railway" with these words: "The world of today differs from that of Napolean more than his world differed from that of Julius Caesar; and this change has chiefly been made by railways." Little did he know how transfigured our world would become by the twenty-first century, first by the multiplying transportation routes, and later by communications.Not too long ago I read a book by Stephen Ambrose about the building of the transcontinental railroad, the most ambitious engineering feat of the 19th century. Before the railroad there were three routes to California: overland, across the Panama Isthmus, and around South America's Cape Horn. The overland route was tedious, time consuming and dangerous. But travelling by sea proved no better. New York to California by boat, via Cape Horn, was a 196 day trip that included storms, seasickness, bad food and occasional shortages of water. The young, fit and ambitious who attempted to take the Panama shortcut had to risk life threatening fevers, and hope that a boat was waiting on the other side when they sloshed on through.
Financiers, engineers and an army of workers built the railroads. The nation reaped its benefits. The United States and her territories finally became acquainted. The size of our country began to shrink and become manageable. Relatives who went west no longer disappeared forever. They were eventually only days away.
In the last half of our century we've seen a further shrinking of our nation and the world. Airplane travel has become commonplace. California, once half a year's journey, was now less than half a day, once you include layovers. Indeed, the world keeps shrinking.
And frankly, I'm glad of it. Because last year my son got married and took his sweetheart to San Francisco. Thank goodness for email, cell phones and airplanes.
