Indiana Transportation:  A Webquest

by David Wagner

e-mail:  davwagner@juno.com

"Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go."

INTRODUCTION

If you had lived in Indiana in the early 1800's, travel would have been difficult and time consuming.  Early settlers knew that if they traveled very far they might well have to go over a river or through a forest.  During the first half of the nineteenth century, many changes came about in the way people traveled.   

TASK

You will begin by working in a group at least four students.  With that group you will discuss how transportation in early Indiana was different from today.  Then you will work individually to research one way that people traveled.  After you have done your research, you will again meet with your group to use your findings.

PROCESS

Begin by having a discussion with your group.  Discuss the following things.  Make a brief list of the ideas your group has.

*       What kinds of transportation do you use that the early inhabitants did not have?

*       What things that are a part of your everyday life would not have existed because travel was different?  (For instance, would there have been gasoline stations?)

*       What problems did the early settlers face that made it necessary to develop better ways to travel?  If you are not sure what problems early settlers might have faced, you might check the following books.  (These books are at the front of the room. Do not take them to your desk, because other groups will need to use them, too.)

*        . . . If You Grew Up with Abraham Lincoln, by Ann McGovern.  Read "How would you travel?" on pages 43-45. 

*       A Home in the Woods:  Pioneer Life in Indiana, by Oliver Johnson.  Read "Driving hogs to the river" on pages 108-117.  

Each person in your group must choose to research travel by land (either roads or railroads) or travel by water (either rivers or canals).  After you have done your individual research, get back together and do the following a activities:

*       Use the information you have gathered to form a timeline that will show when each kind of transportation first arrived in Indiana.

*       Choose two cities in Indiana (for example, Fort Wayne and Madison).  Pretend that you live in one of the cities in 1800.  What would be the best way to travel to the other city?  Do the same thing for the year 1825 and the year 1850.

*       Compare and contrast the different kinds of transportation by discussing as a group the questions you answered individually.

*       Look at a map of modern Indiana and compare it with the maps of early Indiana that you have. What effect do the early transportation routes still have on how we travel today?

LEARNING ADVICE      

Some of the writers you will read on the internet will use vocabulary words that you may not know.  Don't worry if you can't understand every single the author is saying.  Just try to grasp the main ideas.

CONCLUSION

You should know how early inhabitants of Indiana traveled; you should be able to see that each new kind of transportation came about because people wanted to get where they were going more easily and more rapidly; and you should realize that the routes the early settlers traveled and the problems they faced have a direct effect on the way you travel today.

Last updated February 2005 by Trisha Armstrong