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September \| October 2003 Volume 77 Issue 5

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Horatio's Drive: Day-to-Day Itinerary
by Dayton Duncan

Much of the nation became enthralled in 1903 by the news that an automobile was slowly making its way across the entire nation. A lot of the attention came out curiosity about this relatively new contraption — and surely some of it was stoked by the fact that a goggle-wearing bulldog was along for the ride. But shortly after Jackson's trip was finished, a prescient editorial writer for The Boston Herald discerned something much profound in his achievement:

"August 4, 1903. What is admitted to be the greatest automobile performance of the year was the transcontinental tour of Dr. H. Nelson Jackson and his chauffeur, from San Francisco to New York. . . . The trip is considered as a signal triumph for the comparatively new means of travel.

"It was one that would test the powers of endurance of a railway express locomotive to run an average of 12 hours everyday for two full months, but this is the feat performed by the automobile which carried [them]. "The journey was made purely for pleasure and to satisfy an enthusiastic motorist that it could be accomplished. But it has demonstrated much more than this. It has shown the possibilities of the automobile, even with the generally disreputable highways which are characteristic of nearly every rural district in the country.

"But when good roads shall be the rule, instead of the exception, in every state, it may be predicted with confidence that such journeys as that made by Dr. Jackson will be far from extraordinary."

Day-to-Day Itinerary

Date	Itinerary
May 23, 1903	San Francisco to Tracy, California
May 24	To Sacramento, California
May 25	To Oroville, California
May 26	To Anderson, California
May 27	To Montgomery, California
May 28	To Bieber, California
May 29	To Alturas, California
May 30	Delayed in Alturas
May 31	Delayed in Alturas
June 1	Delayed in Alturas
June 2	To Lakeview, Oregon
June 3	Delayed in Lakeview
June 4	Delayed in Lakeview
June 5	Delayed in Lakeview
June 6	To SL Ranch, Oregon
June 7	To Silver Creek, Oregon
June 8	To Buchanan's Ranch, Oregon
June 9	To Vale, Oregon
June 10	To Ontario, Oregon
June 11	To Caldwell, Idaho
June 12	To Orchard, Idaho
June 13	To somewhere east of Mountain Home, Idaho
June 14	Stuck somewhere east of Hailey, Idaho
June 15	To Pocatello, Idaho
June 16	To Soda Springs, Idaho
June 17	To Montpelier, Idaho
June 18	To Diamondville, Wyoming
June 19	Stuck somewhere near Opal, Wyoming
June 20	Lost near the Green River
June 21	To Rock Springs, Wyoming
June 22	Stuck west of Bitter Creek, Wyoming
June 23	To Rawlins, Wyoming
June 24	Delayed in Rawlins
June 25	Delayed in Rawlins
June 26	Delayed in Rawlins
June 27	Delayed in Rawlins
June 28	Delayed in Rawlins
June 29	To somewhere west of Laramie, Wyoming
June 30	To Laramie, Wyoming
July 1	To Cheyenne, Wyoming
July 2	To Archer, Wyoming
July 3	Delayed in Archer
July 4	Delayed in Archer
July 5	Delayed in Archer
July 6	Delayed in Archer
July 7	Toward Nebraska
July 8	Through Julesburg, Colorado, and Ogallala, Neb.
July 9	Through North Platte, Nebraska
July 10	Somewhere in central Nebraska
July 11	Through Kearney and Columbus, Nebraska
July 12	To Omaha, Nebraska
July 13	Through western Iowa
July 14	Through Marshalltown, Iowa
July 15	Through Clinton, Iowa
July 16	Through Dixon, Illinois
July 17	To Chicago
July 18	To South Bend, Indiana
July 19	To Toledo, Ohio
July 20	To Cleveland
July 21	To Buffalo, New York
July 22	To somewhere west of Rochester, New York
July 23	To Syracuse, New York
July 24	To Little Falls, New York
July 25	En route to New York City without overnight
July 26	Arrive New York City

Horatio Nelson Jackson story sources

All the material in this article can be found in Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip, by Dayton Duncan, published by Alfred A. Knopf in July.

In addition to the previously unpublished letters of Jackson to his wife from the road, some of the other sources for that book are:

General:

"The First Car Across the U.S.", Yankee magazine, Feb. 1952, pp. 6-9
The Mad Doctor's Drive, Ralph Nading Hill, Stephen Greene Press, 1964
Coast to Coast by Automobile: The Pioneering Trips, 1899-1908; Curt McConnell, Stanford University Press, 2000 (Chapter 2; pp 59-94) "Ocean to Ocean in an Automobile Car," Stephen W. Sears, American Heritage, June/July 1980
"Col. Nelson Jackson: The Man Who Spent $8,000 to Win a $50 Bet," Martin Sheridan, Finance, 9/15/51
"It's History Now," Burlington Daily News, 6/26/44 (Jackson's retelling of his story)

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