Rivers, Bridges, Stagecoaches, and Settlement System Development in early Nineteenth Century Maine

Transcription

1 Rivers, Bridges, Stagecoaches, and Settlement System Development in early Nineteenth Century Maine Donald G. Janelle University of California, Santa Barbara A T h i n k S p a t i a l presentation 30 April 2013

2 a work in progress (slowly) 1967 Northwestern University Transportation Library; Moscow 1976; Maine 2010 The general research problem: What is the developmental response of settlement systems to changing transportation technologies and infrastructure? How do settlement and transport systems evolve spatially in frontier settings of rapid change?

3 Places and the settlement system Competition among places for regional and continental dominance Competition among places for information Extending networks to capture hinterlands How do settlement systems accommodate technological transitions in transportation and communication? Historical transportation geography of the United States: Donald Meinig, The Shaping of America (3 vols) James Vance, Jr, Capturing the Horizon: The Historical Geography of Transportation since the Transportation Revolution of the 16 th Century George Taylor, The Transportation Revolution: Edward Chase Kirkland, Men, Cities and Transportation: A Study in New England History,

4 Page 1, first sentence: Are there laws which determine the number, sizes, and distributions of towns? 1933

5 Mercantile Model James Vance Sequence of development Taaffe, Morrill & Gould

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7 B B P

8 S B W B A

9 Alan K. Philbrick Dimensional Regions of Coastal Maine in DG Janelle (ed.) Geographical Snapshots of North America (NY: The Guilford Press, 1992), pp

10 Alan K. Philbrick Dimensional Regions of Coastal Maine in DG Janelle (ed.) Geographical Snapshots of North America (NY: The Guilford Press, 1992), pp

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12 Settlements

13 Bridges Rivers for transportation and communication Fording crossings and ferry services for landlocked and tidewater regions Bridges and the head of navigation/resource access The Kennebec River: Competitive struggle for the first bridge--sets the head of navigation Struggles for a bridge seaward of the first bridge Bridge technology and settlement Swing bridges and lift bridges

14 Historical Context: Maine in the 1820s Why the 1820s? Rapid frontier expansion (demand for resources & land; accommodating immigration) Industrialization / demand for both power and access Population: K to K (+33%) Statehood (1820) selection of new capital at Augusta Transition in transportation/information The turnpike and canal eras, and the dawn of steam power Issues: Uncertainty over the northeastern boundary dispute with Great Britain Bridges and jockeying for position on the river (Kennebec)

15 Goodrich, A. T. The Northern Traveller. Containing the Routes to Niagara, Quebec, and the Springs, with the Tour of New England and the Route to the Coal Mines of Pennsylvania, 2n ed, improved and extended. New York, A. T. Goodrich, J & J Harper, Printers, 1826.

16 Badger, W., and Porter, R. The Stage Register. Containing a Full Account of the Principal Lines of Stages, Steamboats and Canal Packets in the New England States and the State of New York. No. XXIII. Boston: Press of the American Traveler, 1829.

17 Stagecoach Network Maine Derived from: Goodrich, A. T. The Northern Traveller. Containing the Routes to Niagara, Quebec, and the Springs, with the Tour f New England and the Route to the Coal Mines of Pennsylvania, 2n ed, improved and extended. New York, A. T. Goodrich, J & J Harper, Printers, 1826.

18 Stagecoach Network Maine Derived from Badger & Porter s:

19 Stagecoach Networks Maine

20 Stagecoach Networks Maine 1826

21 Stagecoach Networks Maine 1829

22 Bangor stage arrivals and departures Sun Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Sat 1826 Weekly Totals Arrivals Departures Arrivals Departures

23 Layover time (hours)* at Augusta 1826 Departing stage Arriving stage A B C D E Row Totals Augusta & Bangor (A) Augusta & Belfast (B) Maine Stage Augusta & Waterville (C) 8½ 8½ 32½ ½ 69½ Maine Stage Portland & Augusta (D) Portland, Hallowell & Augusta (E) Column totals *Average delay between arrival and departure

24 Layover times for stage connections at principal transfer centers Maine, 1826 and 1829 Average layover (hours) Augusta Bangor Bath Belfast Brunswick Paris Portland Saco Waterville Wiscasset

25 Discrepancies Goodrich Burley & Arnold Sun none A to B Mon B to A B to A Tues none A to B Weds A to B B to H Thurs B to A H to B Fri none B to A Sat A to B none A = Augusta B = Bangor H = Hallowell

26 Changes in Stage Network Flows: Total Absolute Percent Rank* Weekly Change Change Departures Augusta Bangor Bath Belfast Brunswick Bucksport China Gorham Gray Hallowell Hampden Kennebunk Orrington Paris Portland Saco Standish Thomaston Vasselboro Waldeboro Waterville Wiscasset Total* *Totals/Ranks include 1829 departures for Farmington 3, Fryeburg 2, Kennebunkport 6, Norridgewock 6, Parsonfield 2

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28 Daily directional biases of network connectivity (Gamma Index) Maine stage-coach system, network of 18 places Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Portland-directed Periphery-oriented network of 18 places* Portland-directed Periphery-oriented * Gamma Index = e/(3(v-2))(100), where e is the number of edges and v equals the number of centers (18 in this case). Interpreted as the percentage of observed number of stage lines to the maximum possible number of links for a network of v places. - Highest gamma values for the directed networks are underscored.

29 Shortest scheduled trip times in hours (one-way, either way) Maine stagecoach system 1826 Augusta Ban. Bath. Bel. Brun. Buck. Gor. Par. Port. Saco Thom. Wat. Bangor 16 Bath 9 30 Belfast Brunswick 6½ Bucksport Gorham ½ 47 Paris Portland 11½ 39½ Saco Thomaston Waterville 3½ ½ Wiscasset

30 Shortest scheduled trip times in hours (one-way, either way) Maine stagecoach system 1829 Augusta Ban. Bath Bel. Brun. Buck. Farm. Gor. Ken. Ken-p Nor. Paris Pars. Port. Saco Thom. Wat. Bangor 8 Bath 7 28 Belfast Brunswick Bucksport Farmington Gorham Kennebunk 15 31½ ½ 35½ 10½ Kennebunkport15½ 32 11½ 33½ 10½ ½ Norridgewock ½ 34 Paris ½ Parsonfield ½ Portland ½ Saco 14 30½ ½ 1 32½ 34½ 12 2 Thomaston ½ ½ Waterville ½ ½ 47 Wiscasset ½

31 Changes in stagecoach accessibility for places in Maine Avg. travel Absolute Change time* (hours) convergence in (hours) trip times Augusta Bangor Bath Belfast Brunswick Bucksport Gorham Paris Portland Saco Thomaston Waterville Wiscasset *Average travel time required to go from each place to all other 12 places

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33 Defining the Core of Maine s Settlement System Numbers = percent of all places that each town has access to without need for overnight lodging. Core defined: as less than 1-day access without overnight delays for at least half of all places in the system at least once per week and for all centers within the core on any day of the week Augusta Bangor Bath Belfast Brunswick Bucksport Farmington - 6 Gorham 8 47 Kennebunk/Kb-p - 47/47 Norridgewock - 12 Paris 17 6 Parsonfield 41 Portland Saco Thomaston Waterville Wiscasset 33 71

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35 Summary: the Maine settlement system Volatility in frontier settlement access Frequent changes in schedules (trial and error) Changes in settlement connectivity Discontinuity of space and time (periodicity) Stability and reinforcement of places and routes Persistence of Portland as dominant center/gateway Emergence of interior corridor from Portland to Bangor Emerging centrality of Augusta (accessibility gains, convergence) First bridge (1797/1819), head of navigation, and capital conferred centrality Technology transitions (competition, complementarity, hegemony)

36 Landscapes of Uncertainty (economic, environmental, weather, accidents, technology, information accuracy, etc.) Unanswered Questions Will these findings persist through transitions from stages to rail, to improved roads/limited-accesshighways, air, and the era of instant communications? How might qualitative insight be documented and added to quantitative assessments?: Experiential (diaries/stories/anecdotes) Motivation of transportation entrepreneurs Motivation of travelers Role of information Leading centers and their information hinterlands Content analysis of newspapers and legislative debates

37 Stage entrepreneurs Decisions on where and when to enter the market, scheduling, coordination (with ferries, teams, drivers, lodging, seasonality, advertising) Coordination with other stage providers, river boats, rail The role of information / information providers Transition to railroad era feeder-lines/competition The role of places

38 Consumers of stage services Who travelled and for what purposes? Trip preparation accessing information Trip experience (dis)comfort, social context, Uncertainties

39 Some generalizations In a developing landscape, technological shifts in transportation tend toward a thinning out of active settlement nodes Chance and the sequencing of events plays a role Distributional patterns for new transport technologies tend to reinforce patterns of existing advantage and disadvantage among places

40 Thank you Don Janelle

41 Impression of Stagecoach Travel on the Airline Road (Maine), by a New York Illustrator in 1860