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Archiver > IOWA > 2001-03 > 0983775060


From: "Deveron Shudic" <>
Subject: [IOWA]
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2001 22:51:00 -0800


Sandy in soggy,

You brought up an interesting point about the counties in your e-mail to Clara. I thought I'd put this out to the list because I have been thinking about the distances that my gp and ggp could travel in the late 1800's. Especially in farm land. You mentioned the counties were small but a short distance for me is probably different than for my gp who didn't have a car. Well, I don't know when they got a car - they had one for sure circa 1927 because I saw a picture of it. But I don't know when they *first* got a car. The train was running thru most major cities by 1880, I believe but there were still many small cities that relied on horses. Some cities in Iowa didn't get a train station until 1996 or later. So my question, for anyone who knows is, how far was considered normal travel for those living in 1898? Did they often saddle up the buggy and go to a friends house for dinner 30 miles away? I know my family thinks nothing of traveling 30+ miles for evenings out.!
My girlfriend drives 60 miles RT to work each day. When they went on vacation, where did Iowans go in the mid-1890's? Actually, I know alot about turn of the century vacation destinations in CA but what about IA?

Deveron in drenched CA

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