The document summarizes the history of logistics and transportation in Houston, Texas from the early European settlements in the 1700s to the modern Port of Houston. Key events include:
1) Stephen F. Austin established the first Anglo-American colony in Texas in the 1820s, focusing on entrepreneurs to develop trade and transport networks.
2) The 19th century saw improvements to roads, railways, and waterways to boost the economy, with Houston becoming a major railroad hub connecting products to Galveston port.
3) The 1900 Galveston hurricane prioritized expanding the Port of Houston, leading to dredging of the Houston Ship Channel starting in 1914 to accommodate larger ships and make Houston a
This is a revised version of the first Sea Power presentation. It only took me about 12 uploads to figure out why SlideShare couldn't print some/many of my hard-earned illustrations. Apologies to my followers. Here are the missing illustrations. Iwill be replacing all the defective ones thereafter.
The Port Delivers The Goods Curriculum Guideri1012
While I worked at the Port of Houston I was given the task to re-edit a 21 page spread for Community Relations. The words, drawings and sketches on Pages 12 and 13 were in visioned by me.
This document provides background information on Boston and its role within the British Empire in the mid-18th century. It describes how Boston had developed into a bustling port city largely due to its involvement in overseas trade. The city relied on its shipbuilding industry and maritime trades to export goods from New England like timber, fish, and livestock in exchange for imports from other colonies and countries. While trade created a prosperous merchant class, it also supported many artisans, shopkeepers, and laborers in Boston. By the 1760s, the city was well integrated into the British Empire through economic, political, and cultural ties, though new policies from Britain would soon threaten this relationship.
Houston grew rapidly in the 19th century due to the proliferation of railroads reaching in every direction from the city. Over 43 railroad names served the Houston area by the late 19th century, establishing Houston as a major railroad hub. The first railroads to arrive in Houston in the 1850s helped transport cotton and connect the city to markets, fueling its growth. By the early 20th century, 17 major railroads met in Houston, cementing its status as a key transportation center in Texas and the Gulf Coast region.
Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States. It was founded in 1836 and named after Sam Houston. Houston has a humid subtropical climate and is prone to flooding due to flat terrain. The city has a diverse economy and major industries include energy, manufacturing, aerospace, and transportation. Downtown Houston has one of the tallest skylines in North America.
The document discusses the early development of roads and transportation infrastructure in the United States from the colonial period through the early 20th century. It notes that early roads often followed Native American trails and that the need for reliable roads became evident during the French and Indian War. It describes how turnpikes, plank roads, and techniques like macadamization improved roads but that most travel was still by horse until the late 19th century. It also discusses the role of groups like bicyclists and farmers in advocating for better roads through organizations and publications that promoted good roads.
The document discusses some of the moral dilemmas Thomas Jefferson faced regarding the Louisiana Purchase. As a strict constitutionalist, Jefferson questioned whether the federal government had the authority to acquire foreign territory. The purchase also raised issues around governing the new territories and determining the status of Native Americans living there. Additionally, Jefferson had to decide whether or not to extend slavery into the Louisiana territory, which went against his personal views but angered slaveholders. The Louisiana Purchase fundamentally altered Jefferson's vision for the country and challenged his constitutional beliefs.
This preliminary feasibility study examines creating a National Slave Ship Museum in New Orleans. It received funding from the National Park Service. The museum would recreate the slave trade experience, preserve stories of slaves who passed through New Orleans, and serve an educational purpose. It would be located at the former Entergy power station and include a replica slave ship exhibit on the river. The study evaluates the historical background, proposed concept, education programs, site, market, and financial feasibility. An additional $350,000 is needed for a final feasibility study.
This is a revised version of the first Sea Power presentation. It only took me about 12 uploads to figure out why SlideShare couldn't print some/many of my hard-earned illustrations. Apologies to my followers. Here are the missing illustrations. Iwill be replacing all the defective ones thereafter.
The Port Delivers The Goods Curriculum Guideri1012
While I worked at the Port of Houston I was given the task to re-edit a 21 page spread for Community Relations. The words, drawings and sketches on Pages 12 and 13 were in visioned by me.
This document provides background information on Boston and its role within the British Empire in the mid-18th century. It describes how Boston had developed into a bustling port city largely due to its involvement in overseas trade. The city relied on its shipbuilding industry and maritime trades to export goods from New England like timber, fish, and livestock in exchange for imports from other colonies and countries. While trade created a prosperous merchant class, it also supported many artisans, shopkeepers, and laborers in Boston. By the 1760s, the city was well integrated into the British Empire through economic, political, and cultural ties, though new policies from Britain would soon threaten this relationship.
Houston grew rapidly in the 19th century due to the proliferation of railroads reaching in every direction from the city. Over 43 railroad names served the Houston area by the late 19th century, establishing Houston as a major railroad hub. The first railroads to arrive in Houston in the 1850s helped transport cotton and connect the city to markets, fueling its growth. By the early 20th century, 17 major railroads met in Houston, cementing its status as a key transportation center in Texas and the Gulf Coast region.
Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States. It was founded in 1836 and named after Sam Houston. Houston has a humid subtropical climate and is prone to flooding due to flat terrain. The city has a diverse economy and major industries include energy, manufacturing, aerospace, and transportation. Downtown Houston has one of the tallest skylines in North America.
The document discusses the early development of roads and transportation infrastructure in the United States from the colonial period through the early 20th century. It notes that early roads often followed Native American trails and that the need for reliable roads became evident during the French and Indian War. It describes how turnpikes, plank roads, and techniques like macadamization improved roads but that most travel was still by horse until the late 19th century. It also discusses the role of groups like bicyclists and farmers in advocating for better roads through organizations and publications that promoted good roads.
The document discusses some of the moral dilemmas Thomas Jefferson faced regarding the Louisiana Purchase. As a strict constitutionalist, Jefferson questioned whether the federal government had the authority to acquire foreign territory. The purchase also raised issues around governing the new territories and determining the status of Native Americans living there. Additionally, Jefferson had to decide whether or not to extend slavery into the Louisiana territory, which went against his personal views but angered slaveholders. The Louisiana Purchase fundamentally altered Jefferson's vision for the country and challenged his constitutional beliefs.
This preliminary feasibility study examines creating a National Slave Ship Museum in New Orleans. It received funding from the National Park Service. The museum would recreate the slave trade experience, preserve stories of slaves who passed through New Orleans, and serve an educational purpose. It would be located at the former Entergy power station and include a replica slave ship exhibit on the river. The study evaluates the historical background, proposed concept, education programs, site, market, and financial feasibility. An additional $350,000 is needed for a final feasibility study.
Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861 and signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862, which directed the construction of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. The railroad was built between 1863 to 1869 by thousands of Irish, Chinese, and black workers and connected the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, Nebraska to the Central Pacific Railroad in Sacramento, California. The completion of the railroad in 1869 transformed the United States by enabling mass migration westward and the growth of towns and cities along the rail line, including Cheyenne, Wyoming and San Francisco, California.
The construction of the Suez and Panama Canals greatly reduced travel time for shipping goods between regions by connecting bodies of water. The Suez Canal connected the Mediterranean and Red Seas through the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt. The Panama Canal connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Isthmus of Panama. Both canals had significant impacts on world trade and commerce by providing faster shipping routes. The document discusses the motivations and challenges in building each canal.
The American West Professor Mindi Sitterud-McCluskeyWest.docxlillie234567
The American West
Professor Mindi Sitterud-McCluskey
Westward Expansion
From the inception of the United States, the western frontier had been imbued with freedom and opportunity in the American mind as well as in the minds of many Europeans. The western frontier seemed to offer what the east coast and Western Europe did not by the mid-1800s: Land. Historically speaking, land signified empowerment. Land represented independence and opportunity, namely the possibility of becoming a truly “free man” through self-management, self-sufficiency, and claiming and benefitting fully from the product of one’s own labor.
Land figured prominently into the high ideals with which the American Revolution and Early Republic were imbued. For, to be a republic- for, by, and of the people, the United States would need to be a nation of truly free people. The United States seemed to have land enough to make this possible.
Empire of Liberty:
Inspired by republican notions of freedom, Thomas Jefferson had looked west and envisioned an “Empire of Liberty,” comprised of independent, self-sufficient, and self-managing small farmers.
Jefferson perceived agriculture as not just conducive to freedom but also uniquely virtuous. By contrast, he viewed the owning, investing, and banking class as corrupt and waged laborers as degraded, dependent and unfree.
Jefferson believed that by securing the western lands, the United States could better secure itself as a free republic and avoid the fate of industrial Britain: Armies of unfree wage-workers, “dark, satanic mills,” and urban slums.
Introduction
Inspired by republican notions of freedom and pushed by members of the working-class struggle and their abolitionist allies, the radical Republican Party of Lincoln passed the Homestead Act even as the Civil War entered its second year on the East Coast.
Homestead Act (1862)
Offered at least 160 acres of free western land to those who filed a claim, lived on the land for at least 5 years, and made improvements.
Open to anyone who had not taken up arms for the Confederacy, including women, blacks, and immigrants who had applied for citizenship
Goal: Rooted in republican notions of freedom, it intended to provide laboring people with land and, by extension, an opportunity to work their way into a condition of real freedom. It would be comparable to Washington DC, today, giving citizens the capital and resources needed to start a small business.
After being stalled by the southern states for years, the Pacific Railway Act also became passed by the Republicans as the war grinded on between the states in the east.
Pacific Railway Act: (1862)
The US government allocated unprecedent funds, grants, bonds and free land for the purpose of contracting with private capitalists to build a Transcontinental Railroad.
Westward Expansion
Transcontinental Railroad
Constructed between 1863-1869
Eastward construction began near San Francisco under the Central P.
Modes of transportation in the United States improved significantly during the early to mid-1800s with the building of canals, roads, and railroads, as well as greater utilization of rivers. This transportation revolution made it possible to more easily transport goods, resources, and people across the growing nation and expanding frontier, enabling further economic development and westward expansion. Key developments included the Cumberland Road, Erie Canal, early steam engines applied to railroads, and Robert Fulton's successful first steamboat trip in 1807. With these advancements, interregional trade increased and regions grew more interconnected and dependent on one another.
The document discusses the history and impacts of the transcontinental railroad in the United States. It describes how the railroad connected the eastern and western parts of the country, facilitating travel, trade, and settlement of the West. The railroad was built between 1863-1869 by the Central Pacific and Union Pacific companies, with much of the Central Pacific portion constructed by Chinese immigrant workers. The completion of the transcontinental railroad transformed the US economy and way of life.
New York City is the most populous city in the United States, located in southeastern New York state. It has a population density and is a global center of commerce, finance, media and culture. The document provides details on New York City's geography, including that it is built on islands at the mouth of the Hudson River, which feeds into a natural harbor. A brief history is given, noting that New York was originally inhabited by Native Americans and was later settled by the Dutch, becoming a British colony called New York in 1664.
This document provides an overview of the Hispanic/Latino experience in Texas over the past 500 years. It discusses how Spanish explorers first arrived in Texas in the early 16th century and established settlements like San Antonio and Nacogdoches. Tejanos (Mexican-Americans in Texas) participated in the Texas Revolution for independence and helped draft the Republic's constitution. However, in the following decades, Tejanos faced discrimination and violence as Anglos increasingly settled in Texas. The document then outlines how Hispanic communities maintained their culture and contributed to Texas' economy as agricultural laborers and in urban centers in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, despite facing Jim Crow-like practices. The struggle for civil rights intensified in
This document summarizes the transformation of the United States from a rural, agricultural nation after the Civil War into a industrialized, urbanized country by the early 20th century. The industrial revolution, powered by new technologies like railroads, steamboats, and factories, dramatically changed the US economy and society. Massive industrial and population growth centered in cities, which became the hubs of manufacturing. By 1900, the US had become the world's leading industrial power and first modern society, though it still retained aspects of its original character.
Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the US, with a population of over 2 million. Founded in 1836 on land near Buffalo Bayou, it was named after General Sam Houston. Houston's growth was fueled by the port and railroad industry, and the discovery of oil in 1901 led to increases in population. It is now home to the Texas Medical Center and NASA's Johnson Space Center.
The document summarizes key developments in America during the 19th century. It describes changes in everyday life, technology, transportation, politics, the economy, art, education and immigration. America transitioned from a largely agricultural society to an increasingly industrialized and urbanized nation, while also expanding its territory and dealing with tensions over slavery. Education remained limited for many groups during this transformative period in American history.
How did the concept of strict constructionism affect the development.pdfamitseesldh
How did the concept of strict constructionism affect the development of banking and
transportation during the antebellum years?
Solution
TRANSPORTATION
Two canals were built in the 1790s: the Santee in South Carolina and the Middlesex in
Massachusetts. More, the most successful of which was the Erie, which connected between New
York City and the upper Midwest, were built later. Canals\' great advantage was that one work
animal could move as much freight as 50 could on land. They were, however, very expensive to
build and possible to build in only a few places. Their highfixed costs made them economic only
where the volume of traffic would be high. Fixed costs are costs which do not vary with the level
of output or (in this case) service. The higher is the level of output or service, the lower are fixed
costs per unit of output or service. Other costs are called variable costs. Technologically,
building canals were a challenge. Most of the money invested in canals was provided by state
and local governments, mostly with funds acquired via taxation Low cost transportation, of
course, boosted economic activity, and this is how spending this money was justified Atack and
Passel estimate that they drove the cost of transportation down from 20 cents per ton mile in
1810s to 2 to 3 cents per ton mile in the 1820s. The last canals built were failures.Another major
improvement in transportation was the development of the steamboat, which made it possible to
cheaply transport freight and people upstream and speed downstream trips. Prior to their
development the muscle power of humans or animals was required to drag boats upriver. Robert
Fulton demonstrated the first successful steamboat in 1807. In 1815, the feasibility of using them
to transport freight up the Mississippi was demonstrated. The removal of snags in rivers and
reductions in steamboats\' draft made more areas reachable. Night travel eventually became
possible. Larger steamboats reaped economies of scale. Boiler explosions and a short useful life
were problems. Competition became fierce, driving down price.
The first railroads faced not only technological problems, but hostility from those associated with
competing forms of transportation. Also, some feared traveling over 20 miles per hour would kill
a person. Some didn\'t want these noisy, smoky things around. Decatur, Georgia, for example,
turned down the opportunity to have a rail line the State of Georgia was building from the
Tennessee River terminate there. As a result, it ended a few miles away, where a new town
called Terminus came into being. Today this town is the City of Atlanta. More fortunate than
Atlanta transportation wise was Chicago, a mid-continent, Great Lakes port that became a major
rail center. Railroads could travel uphill. They could reach inland areas not near rivers. They
could be built at a fraction of the cost of a canal. Their speed exceeded that of a wagon, and they
could transport a ton at a far lower cost th.
Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in .docxhanneloremccaffery
Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History.
(Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1894).
I
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRONTIER IN AMERICAN HISTORY 1
In a recent bulletin of the Superintendent of the Census for 1890 appear these significant words:
"Up to and including 1880 the country had a frontier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area
has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be a frontier
line. In the discussion of its extent, its westward movement, etc., it can not, therefore, any longer
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/turner/chapter1.html#foot1
have a place in the census reports." This brief official statement marks the closing of a great historic
movement. Up to our own day American history has been in a large degree the history of the
colonization of the Great West. The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and
the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development.
Behind institutions, behind constitutional forms and modifications, lie the vital forces that call
these organs into life and shape them to meet changing conditions. The peculiarity of American
institutions is, the fact that they have been compelled to adapt themselves to the changes of an
expanding people--to the changes involved in crossing a continent, in winning a wilderness, and
in developing at each area of this progress out of the primitive economic and political conditions
of the frontier into the complexity of city life. Said Calhoun in 1817, "We are great, and rapidly--
I was about to say fearfully--growing!", 2 So saying, he touched the distinguishing feature of
American life. All peoples show development; the germ theory of politics has been sufficiently
emphasized. In the case of most nations, however, the development has occurred in a limited area;
and if the nation has expanded, it has met other growing peoples whom it has conquered. But in
the case of the United States we have a different phenomenon. Limiting our attention to the
Atlantic coast, we have the familiar phenomenon of the evolution of institutions in a limited area,
such as the rise of representative government; into complex organs; the progress from primitive
industrial society, without division of labor, up to manufacturing civilization. But we have in
addition to this a recurrence of the process of evolution in each western area reached in the process
of expansion. Thus American development has exhibited not merely advance along a single line,
but a return to primitive conditions on a continually advancing frontier line, and a new
development for that area. American social development has been continually beginning over
again on the frontier. This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/turner/chapter1.html#foot2
...
This document provides a history of Natchez, Mississippi told from the perspective of a tour guide. It summarizes that the author was drawn to Natchez due to its historic aura and buildings. Natchez became prosperous due to its location on the Mississippi River for trade and its fertile lands for cotton agriculture, leading to the construction of many grand homes in the 1800s. The town's historic architecture was preserved through the efforts of the local garden club who began the historic home pilgrimage tours in the 1920s to raise money for preservation.
Massachusetts was founded in 1630 by English Puritans seeking religious freedom. It had a strict Puritan society with laws centered around the church. The economy relied on agriculture, fishing, and shipbuilding. Boston became the capital and largest city. In the colonial era, Massachusetts had a social hierarchy without nobility, and women had restricted roles. Communication was initially by horseback or ships, with the first postal service and newspaper establishing in the 1600s.
First a quick review of earlier forms of transport and then, the boom in railroads. The relationship between railroads and the Union Stockyards of Chicago and subsequent growth of the meatpacking industry. The beginnings of Chicago commercial architecture.
More Related Content
Similar to The-Texas-History-of-Logistics-by-Maria-Burns
Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861 and signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862, which directed the construction of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. The railroad was built between 1863 to 1869 by thousands of Irish, Chinese, and black workers and connected the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, Nebraska to the Central Pacific Railroad in Sacramento, California. The completion of the railroad in 1869 transformed the United States by enabling mass migration westward and the growth of towns and cities along the rail line, including Cheyenne, Wyoming and San Francisco, California.
The construction of the Suez and Panama Canals greatly reduced travel time for shipping goods between regions by connecting bodies of water. The Suez Canal connected the Mediterranean and Red Seas through the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt. The Panama Canal connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Isthmus of Panama. Both canals had significant impacts on world trade and commerce by providing faster shipping routes. The document discusses the motivations and challenges in building each canal.
The American West Professor Mindi Sitterud-McCluskeyWest.docxlillie234567
The American West
Professor Mindi Sitterud-McCluskey
Westward Expansion
From the inception of the United States, the western frontier had been imbued with freedom and opportunity in the American mind as well as in the minds of many Europeans. The western frontier seemed to offer what the east coast and Western Europe did not by the mid-1800s: Land. Historically speaking, land signified empowerment. Land represented independence and opportunity, namely the possibility of becoming a truly “free man” through self-management, self-sufficiency, and claiming and benefitting fully from the product of one’s own labor.
Land figured prominently into the high ideals with which the American Revolution and Early Republic were imbued. For, to be a republic- for, by, and of the people, the United States would need to be a nation of truly free people. The United States seemed to have land enough to make this possible.
Empire of Liberty:
Inspired by republican notions of freedom, Thomas Jefferson had looked west and envisioned an “Empire of Liberty,” comprised of independent, self-sufficient, and self-managing small farmers.
Jefferson perceived agriculture as not just conducive to freedom but also uniquely virtuous. By contrast, he viewed the owning, investing, and banking class as corrupt and waged laborers as degraded, dependent and unfree.
Jefferson believed that by securing the western lands, the United States could better secure itself as a free republic and avoid the fate of industrial Britain: Armies of unfree wage-workers, “dark, satanic mills,” and urban slums.
Introduction
Inspired by republican notions of freedom and pushed by members of the working-class struggle and their abolitionist allies, the radical Republican Party of Lincoln passed the Homestead Act even as the Civil War entered its second year on the East Coast.
Homestead Act (1862)
Offered at least 160 acres of free western land to those who filed a claim, lived on the land for at least 5 years, and made improvements.
Open to anyone who had not taken up arms for the Confederacy, including women, blacks, and immigrants who had applied for citizenship
Goal: Rooted in republican notions of freedom, it intended to provide laboring people with land and, by extension, an opportunity to work their way into a condition of real freedom. It would be comparable to Washington DC, today, giving citizens the capital and resources needed to start a small business.
After being stalled by the southern states for years, the Pacific Railway Act also became passed by the Republicans as the war grinded on between the states in the east.
Pacific Railway Act: (1862)
The US government allocated unprecedent funds, grants, bonds and free land for the purpose of contracting with private capitalists to build a Transcontinental Railroad.
Westward Expansion
Transcontinental Railroad
Constructed between 1863-1869
Eastward construction began near San Francisco under the Central P.
Modes of transportation in the United States improved significantly during the early to mid-1800s with the building of canals, roads, and railroads, as well as greater utilization of rivers. This transportation revolution made it possible to more easily transport goods, resources, and people across the growing nation and expanding frontier, enabling further economic development and westward expansion. Key developments included the Cumberland Road, Erie Canal, early steam engines applied to railroads, and Robert Fulton's successful first steamboat trip in 1807. With these advancements, interregional trade increased and regions grew more interconnected and dependent on one another.
The document discusses the history and impacts of the transcontinental railroad in the United States. It describes how the railroad connected the eastern and western parts of the country, facilitating travel, trade, and settlement of the West. The railroad was built between 1863-1869 by the Central Pacific and Union Pacific companies, with much of the Central Pacific portion constructed by Chinese immigrant workers. The completion of the transcontinental railroad transformed the US economy and way of life.
New York City is the most populous city in the United States, located in southeastern New York state. It has a population density and is a global center of commerce, finance, media and culture. The document provides details on New York City's geography, including that it is built on islands at the mouth of the Hudson River, which feeds into a natural harbor. A brief history is given, noting that New York was originally inhabited by Native Americans and was later settled by the Dutch, becoming a British colony called New York in 1664.
This document provides an overview of the Hispanic/Latino experience in Texas over the past 500 years. It discusses how Spanish explorers first arrived in Texas in the early 16th century and established settlements like San Antonio and Nacogdoches. Tejanos (Mexican-Americans in Texas) participated in the Texas Revolution for independence and helped draft the Republic's constitution. However, in the following decades, Tejanos faced discrimination and violence as Anglos increasingly settled in Texas. The document then outlines how Hispanic communities maintained their culture and contributed to Texas' economy as agricultural laborers and in urban centers in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, despite facing Jim Crow-like practices. The struggle for civil rights intensified in
This document summarizes the transformation of the United States from a rural, agricultural nation after the Civil War into a industrialized, urbanized country by the early 20th century. The industrial revolution, powered by new technologies like railroads, steamboats, and factories, dramatically changed the US economy and society. Massive industrial and population growth centered in cities, which became the hubs of manufacturing. By 1900, the US had become the world's leading industrial power and first modern society, though it still retained aspects of its original character.
Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the US, with a population of over 2 million. Founded in 1836 on land near Buffalo Bayou, it was named after General Sam Houston. Houston's growth was fueled by the port and railroad industry, and the discovery of oil in 1901 led to increases in population. It is now home to the Texas Medical Center and NASA's Johnson Space Center.
The document summarizes key developments in America during the 19th century. It describes changes in everyday life, technology, transportation, politics, the economy, art, education and immigration. America transitioned from a largely agricultural society to an increasingly industrialized and urbanized nation, while also expanding its territory and dealing with tensions over slavery. Education remained limited for many groups during this transformative period in American history.
How did the concept of strict constructionism affect the development.pdfamitseesldh
How did the concept of strict constructionism affect the development of banking and
transportation during the antebellum years?
Solution
TRANSPORTATION
Two canals were built in the 1790s: the Santee in South Carolina and the Middlesex in
Massachusetts. More, the most successful of which was the Erie, which connected between New
York City and the upper Midwest, were built later. Canals\' great advantage was that one work
animal could move as much freight as 50 could on land. They were, however, very expensive to
build and possible to build in only a few places. Their highfixed costs made them economic only
where the volume of traffic would be high. Fixed costs are costs which do not vary with the level
of output or (in this case) service. The higher is the level of output or service, the lower are fixed
costs per unit of output or service. Other costs are called variable costs. Technologically,
building canals were a challenge. Most of the money invested in canals was provided by state
and local governments, mostly with funds acquired via taxation Low cost transportation, of
course, boosted economic activity, and this is how spending this money was justified Atack and
Passel estimate that they drove the cost of transportation down from 20 cents per ton mile in
1810s to 2 to 3 cents per ton mile in the 1820s. The last canals built were failures.Another major
improvement in transportation was the development of the steamboat, which made it possible to
cheaply transport freight and people upstream and speed downstream trips. Prior to their
development the muscle power of humans or animals was required to drag boats upriver. Robert
Fulton demonstrated the first successful steamboat in 1807. In 1815, the feasibility of using them
to transport freight up the Mississippi was demonstrated. The removal of snags in rivers and
reductions in steamboats\' draft made more areas reachable. Night travel eventually became
possible. Larger steamboats reaped economies of scale. Boiler explosions and a short useful life
were problems. Competition became fierce, driving down price.
The first railroads faced not only technological problems, but hostility from those associated with
competing forms of transportation. Also, some feared traveling over 20 miles per hour would kill
a person. Some didn\'t want these noisy, smoky things around. Decatur, Georgia, for example,
turned down the opportunity to have a rail line the State of Georgia was building from the
Tennessee River terminate there. As a result, it ended a few miles away, where a new town
called Terminus came into being. Today this town is the City of Atlanta. More fortunate than
Atlanta transportation wise was Chicago, a mid-continent, Great Lakes port that became a major
rail center. Railroads could travel uphill. They could reach inland areas not near rivers. They
could be built at a fraction of the cost of a canal. Their speed exceeded that of a wagon, and they
could transport a ton at a far lower cost th.
Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in .docxhanneloremccaffery
Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History.
(Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1894).
I
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRONTIER IN AMERICAN HISTORY 1
In a recent bulletin of the Superintendent of the Census for 1890 appear these significant words:
"Up to and including 1880 the country had a frontier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area
has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be a frontier
line. In the discussion of its extent, its westward movement, etc., it can not, therefore, any longer
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/turner/chapter1.html#foot1
have a place in the census reports." This brief official statement marks the closing of a great historic
movement. Up to our own day American history has been in a large degree the history of the
colonization of the Great West. The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and
the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development.
Behind institutions, behind constitutional forms and modifications, lie the vital forces that call
these organs into life and shape them to meet changing conditions. The peculiarity of American
institutions is, the fact that they have been compelled to adapt themselves to the changes of an
expanding people--to the changes involved in crossing a continent, in winning a wilderness, and
in developing at each area of this progress out of the primitive economic and political conditions
of the frontier into the complexity of city life. Said Calhoun in 1817, "We are great, and rapidly--
I was about to say fearfully--growing!", 2 So saying, he touched the distinguishing feature of
American life. All peoples show development; the germ theory of politics has been sufficiently
emphasized. In the case of most nations, however, the development has occurred in a limited area;
and if the nation has expanded, it has met other growing peoples whom it has conquered. But in
the case of the United States we have a different phenomenon. Limiting our attention to the
Atlantic coast, we have the familiar phenomenon of the evolution of institutions in a limited area,
such as the rise of representative government; into complex organs; the progress from primitive
industrial society, without division of labor, up to manufacturing civilization. But we have in
addition to this a recurrence of the process of evolution in each western area reached in the process
of expansion. Thus American development has exhibited not merely advance along a single line,
but a return to primitive conditions on a continually advancing frontier line, and a new
development for that area. American social development has been continually beginning over
again on the frontier. This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/turner/chapter1.html#foot2
...
This document provides a history of Natchez, Mississippi told from the perspective of a tour guide. It summarizes that the author was drawn to Natchez due to its historic aura and buildings. Natchez became prosperous due to its location on the Mississippi River for trade and its fertile lands for cotton agriculture, leading to the construction of many grand homes in the 1800s. The town's historic architecture was preserved through the efforts of the local garden club who began the historic home pilgrimage tours in the 1920s to raise money for preservation.
Massachusetts was founded in 1630 by English Puritans seeking religious freedom. It had a strict Puritan society with laws centered around the church. The economy relied on agriculture, fishing, and shipbuilding. Boston became the capital and largest city. In the colonial era, Massachusetts had a social hierarchy without nobility, and women had restricted roles. Communication was initially by horseback or ships, with the first postal service and newspaper establishing in the 1600s.
First a quick review of earlier forms of transport and then, the boom in railroads. The relationship between railroads and the Union Stockyards of Chicago and subsequent growth of the meatpacking industry. The beginnings of Chicago commercial architecture.
Similar to The-Texas-History-of-Logistics-by-Maria-Burns (16)
1. Houston became known as a railroad hub for many types of goods and produce.
Map from the Houston Texas Club courtesy of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center.
A Texas Tale of Logistics and Transport in the Land
“Where 17 Railroads Meet the Sea”
By Maria G. Burns
A tribute to the forerunners of the Port of Houston, the fathers of the Texas trade and transport, the ones
who endured hardships and overcame great obstacles, the ones who dreamed of making Texas all the things
that it is today: A blessed land, and the global capital of energy, maritime, and logistics.
The art of Logistics pertains to the movement, coordination, and supply of humans, troops, and
commodities. Its practice entails: warfare and military strategies; survival, i.e. emergency response/
contingency planning; and sociopolitical and economic sustainability. Contrary to popular belief, global
logistics, trade, and transport were not invented in the 1800s. Instead, these millennia-old practices were re-
invented over the history of mankind after significant technological, scientific, and sociopolitical changes.
The story of Houston, Texas, is one of persistence and overcoming adversities, all connected with
logistics. From the founding of the first European settlements in Texas to the creation of transportation
networks in the mid-1800s to the opening of the Houston Ship Channel in 1914 to the current state-of-the-
art Port of Houston, transport and logistics have played a critical role in the region’s development and will
continue to do so in the millennia to come.
The First European Colonies
In the early 1700s, the earliest European colonies in Texas consisted of Spanish missionaries who
established San Antonio as a hub point. At the time, Texas was a sparsely inhabited land, due to its remote
location from other Spanish or European settlements, unfavorable weather conditions, and wild flora and
fauna. From the dawn of the eighteenth century, French merchants from New Orleans had penetrated the
2. undiscovered land from the west bank of the Mississippi River moving north of Galveston Bay along the
Trinity and Colorado Rivers to trade with Native Americans, such as the Orcoquiza Indians.1
By the 1790s,
Native Americans, Hispanics, and Anglo-American hunters and traders called Texas home.
In the early 1820s, Stephen F. Austin created the first Anglo-American
colony in Texas, consisting of 307 parcels of land, or 200,000 acres, located near
Colorado and Brazos Rivers. Austin focused on recruiting educated family men,
with trading and entrepreneurial skills, capable of making Texas a prosperous,
industrious land. The majority of the men among the 297original families were
entrepreneurs who could read and write, a factor that determined the future of
the settlement in comparison to most settlements where only one out of twelve
men was literate. Their high competency level helped them prosper, and by the
late 1820s, they had established an active trade and transport center.2
Stephen F. Austin, shown at left.
Nineteenth Century Logistics Networks
Once Texas became an independent republic in 1836, improving the state's trade and transport
networks became a compelling need. The early settlers faced almost insurmountable challenges without
local road systems or infrastructure. The cost of wagon transport to carry three bales of cotton was twenty
cents per ton-mile, yet due to the poor road conditions, wagons could only travel for a few miles per day
with significant delays and deviations. Therefore, the state mainly relied on its waterways to transport
cotton, logs, livestock, textiles, and numerous other commodities in the region. Water routes were the only
reliable means of transportation, and the coastal townships located in the vicinity of the sea or rivers grew
substantially faster than isolated mainland settlements. It became evident that to boost the local economy,
it was necessary to invest in transportation and logistics networks, and community leaders introduced
initiatives to improve the roads,
railways, and waterways.
Subsequent to the Civil
War, the Houston Ship Channel in
the absence of funds for deep-
water dredging, focused on its
regional railroad center. Even
though the First Congress of the
Republic of Texas had chartered
the Texas Rail Road, Navigation,
and Banking Company, the state
had less than 500 miles of track in
1870. Within twenty years,
though, railroad companies had
added 8,000 miles of track. The
railroads running through Houston
bringing products for transport to the port in Galveston caused the city to be nicknamed the Hub City. By the
1910s, Houston was dubbed the city “Where 17 Railroad Meet the Sea.”3
The nineteenth century introduced the Industrial Revolution and its most innovative technology, the
steam engine, used by industries and transportation modes alike. Steam railroads and steam paddleboats
surged, boosting the regional and national trade and transport networks. Steam-powered technologies
gained increasing popularity for both the transport of passengers and commodities. While steam navigation
The Main Street Bridge over Buffalo Ba you.
3. was desirable, Buffalo Bayou and most Texas rivers had draft restrictions, making them too shallow or wide
for safe and sustainable transportation.
Transforming Buffalo Bayou into the Houston Ship
Channel
In 1874, Commodore Charles Morgan, a dynamic,
enterprising businessman contributed to Houston’s
development of a deep-water port. At the time, he was
actively involved with Gulf Coast steamships and was a
major stakeholder of railroad trade between Houston and
New Orleans. While he had established long-term
partnerships in other parts of the Gulf region, he was
dissatisfied with the high municipal taxation rates, high
pilotage, long layovers, and quarantine procedures that
resulted in time delays and increased cost. Hence, he chose
to relocate his business from the lower Mississippi, New
Orleans, and Galveston to the Port of Houston.4
When Galveston was ravaged by the 1900 hurricane, the Port of Houston's expansion was
prioritized to handle all regional cargoes that would otherwise navigate through Galveston. Determined
local leaders argued for the necessity of dredging the Houston Ship Channel, but their efforts were
unsuccessful until oil was discovered in 1901 at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas.5
As the Port of Houston's cargoes shifted from timber and cotton to global oil trade, the ship channel
required deep-water dredging to accommodate larger vessels. U.S. Congressman Tom Ball, Mayor H.
Baldwin Rice, and other business leaders proposed a revolutionary plan whereby the dredging cost would be
equally shared between Houston and the federal government.6
Congress accepted the "Houston Plan," and
its concept was implemented in multiple U.S. ports. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt authorized
funding for the ship channel, and in 1914, the dream became a reality.
The Houston Ship Channel Logistics in the Modern Era
Now established as the energy capital
of the world, Houston ranks first in U.S.
international commerce, and the Port
of Houston is the tenth largest global
port. As the Houston Ship Channel
celebrates its centennial, its role in the
history of Texas and the nation seems
more notable than ever. The modern
port is presented with tremendous
opportunities for growth and
development: rapid growth in energy
and containerized cargoes, increased
offshore-related activities; rapid
population increase; and new
technologies, new commodities, new
trade agreements, and enhanced supply chains to connect the port with nodal logistics points.
The Port’s centennial coincides with the Panama Canal’s centennial and initiates an era of increased
ship traffic activities. This is an era where new generation ships are built, from the triple-E mega containers
By 1873, when Charles Morgan of the Morgan Lines
owned the Houston Direct Navigation Company, it
comprised of six steamers, forty barges, and five tug
boats. In addition, Morgan owned the Buffalo Bayou
Ship Channel Company and other channel
acquisitions.
4. to the LNG / dual fuel burning ships, and, in the future, alternative energy ships that will use solar and wind
power.
Will the Port of Houston be able to cope with this rapid growth? You bet! After all, this is Texas!!!
Maria G. Burns is the director of the Center for Logistics & Transportation Policies in the College of
Technology at the University of Houston and serves as chair of education at the Houston Maritime
Museum. She is the author of Port Management and Operations.
1
Julia Kathryn Garrett, “Dr. John Sibley and the Louisiana-Texas Frontier, 1803–1914,” Southwestern
Historical Quarterly (January 1942-April 1946), 45–49; Frederick Webb Hodge, ed., Handbook of American
Indians North of Mexico (2 vols., Washington: GPO, 1907, 1910; rpt., New York: Pageant, 1959).
2
Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers (3 vols., Washington: GPO, 1924–28); Lester G. Bugbee, “The Old
Three Hundred: A List of Settlers in Austin's First Colony,” Quarterly of the Texas State Historical
Association 1 (October 1897); Maria G. Burns, Port Management and Operations (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Taylor
& Francis Publishers, 2014); T. R. Fehrenbach, Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans (New York:
Macmillan, 1968); Christopher Long, “Old Three Hundred,” Texas State Historical Association, Handbook of
Texas Online, www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/umo01; World Port Source, Port of Houston,
2013, www.worldportsource.com/ports/review/USA_TX_Port_of_Houston_60.php.
3
Randolph B. Campbell, Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State (New York: Oxford University Press,
2003); Frances Dressman, “Visions for Houston: Booster Literature, 1886-1926,” The Houston Review of
History and Culture of the Gulf Coast 9, no. 3 (1987): 137-154.
4
“Connecticut farm boy was father of Houston ship channel,” Port of Houston Authority, April 1989.
5
Maria Burns, Port Management and Operations (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Taylor & Francis Publishers, 2014);
World Port Source, Port of Houston, 2013,
www.worldportsource.com/ports/review/USA_TX_Port_of_Houston_60.php; “Connecticut farm boy was
father of Houston ship channel,” Port of Houston Authority, April 1989; The Museum of Houston, 2013.
6
Houston Ship Channel 50th Anniversary Collection, 1926-1964.