Horatios Drive: Americas First Road Trip

Horatios Drive: Americas First Road Trip, a new film by Ken Burns, follows Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson on his adventurous and often hilarious drive from San Francisco to New York City in 1903

On the evening of May 19, 1903, in the exclusive University Club in San Francisco, a debate raged over the reliability of the new horseless carriages that had been showing up on the streets of major American cities. Horatio Nelson Jackson, a 31-year-old retired doctor from Vermont who was passing through San Francisco, accepted a wager. Under the terms of the bet, Jackson would win 50 dollars if he made it all the way to New York City, something no one else had every done before, in less than three months.

Four days later, Dr. Jackson and a 22 year-old bicycle repairman, Sewall K. Crocker, set off from San Francisco in a 1903 Winton Touring Car. Along the way they picked up a third member, a bulldog named Bud. Like Jackson, Bud wore drivers goggles, since the vehicle lacked a windshield or roof or sides, for that matter.

For all its lightheartedness, Horatios Drive also tells a larger story about America. One hundred years earlier in 1803, Meriwether Lewis got his marching orders from President Thomas Jefferson to find out what the 15 million dollars hed spent for the Louisiana Territory had bought.

Horatio and his companions, knowingly or not, seemed to be traveling in the shadow of Lewis and Clark. On July 12, for instance, after covering an astonishing 250 miles through Nebraska, they rolled into Omaha near the place where Lewis and Clark, a century earlier, had held their first meeting with a handful of American Indians.

Horatios Drive captures the nation at a moment of change. In 1900 there were 8,000 cars in America compared to 14 million horses. Most Americans rarely traveled more than 12 miles from home. And there were only 150 miles of paved roads, most of them in large cities.

The vehicle was a cherry red, 1903 Winton tour car, already more than a month old and with over 1,000 miles on it. Nonetheless, Jackson paid $3,000 for the car, $500 more than the list price. The Winton had a two-cylinder, 20-horsepower engine underneath the drivers seat, with a chain drive, capable of speeds up to 30 miles per hour. The steering wheel was on the right and there was no top or windshield. Jackson removed the back seat to make room for the piles of equipment he purchased for the journey, including a block and tackle with 150 feet of hemp rope, a shotgun, rifle, pistols, ammunition and a small Kodak camera to record his trip. He named the vehicle Vermont, in honor of his home state.

Jacksons first day out brought immediate problems. And the trip continued with nearly daily difficulties. At one point, the Vermont had to be towed by a cowboy and a horse. Partway through his improbable journey, he learned that his spur-of-the-moment trip had turned into something of a race. First the Packard company and then the Oldsmobile company dispatched their own autos from California in the hopes of passing him and gaining the publicity of being first across the nation.

Also, as he worked his way across the country, more and more people were drawn to the vehicle. In small towns, hundreds would line up to see the horseless carriage. Even in larger cities, as word spread of this cross-country trip, thousands would line up to meet Jackson, Crocker and Bud.

At 4:30 in the morning on Sunday, July 26, Jackson and his traveling partners crossed the Harlem River into Manhattan. Jackson had made it from San Francisco in 63 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes well within his wager of 90 days. A few weeks later, on August 7, he arrived home. Just as he drove the Vermont into the stable, the drive chain snapped in two. He never collected his 50 dollars.

The year 1903 was remarkable for the movement of people and information. A cable was laid across the Pacific Ocean the last link in a web of wires for a round-the-world telegraph and Marconis new wireless also made it possible for President Theodore Roosevelt to send a New Years greeting across the Atlantic to Englands King Edward VII. The same year, the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane over the beaches at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Keith David narrates.Tom Hanks is the voice of Horatio Nelson Jackson. Other third person voices are provided by Adam Arkin, Tom Bodett, Philip Bosco, Kevin Conway, John Cullum, Murphy Guyer, Amy Madigan, George Plimpton and Eli Wallach.

The Vermont

Horatio made his trip in a cherry red, 1903 Winton tour car, already more than a month old and with over 1,000 miles on it. He paid $3,000 for the car, $500 more than the list price. The Winton had a two-cylinder, 20-horsepower engine underneath the driver’s seat, with a chain drive, capable of speeds up to 30 miles per hour. The steering wheel was on the right and there was no top or windshield. Horatio removed the back seat to make room for the piles of equipment he purchased for the journey, including a block and tackle with 150 feet of hemp rope, a shotgun, rifle, pistols, ammunition — and a small Kodak camera to record his trip. He named the vehicle Vermont, in honor of his home state.