transcontinental travel times

The History of Transcontinental Travel: The Unknown Horizon

By Ryan Price

John Gast was a painter based in Brooklyn when he was commissioned to paint this picture for George Crofutt, a publisher of a popular series of western travel guides. The images Gast put to canvas represent a historical timeline of transportation technologies up until 1872 when the painting was completed. The Indian travois, the covered wagons, Pony Express, overland stage and the three railroad lines are not only progressively pushing one another forward (from East to West) but also driving the indigenous inhabitants — buffalo, bear and Native Americans — almost literally off of the painting. In the wake of this expansion are the tall ships in the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Columbia (a personification of the United States) guides the way, holding a schoolbook in one hand while stringing telegraph wire with the other. The imagery is a vivid and dynamic telling of not only the history of westward expansion but the future of it as well.

Before the Lincoln Highway or Route 66 became household names, going west was a tangible mark of progression, one of those inalienable rights outlined within the concept of Manifest Destiny. The desire to lessen the time to travel between the East and West coasts of the continent has its roots deep in American history, long before editor Horace Greeley famously demanded: “ Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country. ”

And when the people ran out of West to go to, they found faster and quicker ways to get there from the East. So far, the quickest way from New York to Los Angeles will likely be via air travel for some time still (and probably surpassed by sub-orbit means in the future) but Ed Bolian’s recent exploits in his specially modified Mercedes (read about it  here ), although highly illegal, closed the gap slightly in the coast-to-coast race. However, ever since mankind bumped into the North American continent on the way to India, we have struggled to find ways around it, over it or through it.

Early Westward Travel Early trade routes avoided the North American continent altogether. Companies sent ships through the Strait of Magellan off of South America’s tip, or unloaded their cargo, traversed the malaria-infused Panama isthmus and reloaded the cargo onto waiting ships in the Pacific. The interior of North America was no place for casual travel, proven several times over with the catastrophic campaigns of Spanish explorers of the 1500s (Coronado, Cortez, De Soto, et al).

The American Revolution assured the newly minted country unfettered access to the interior regions as probing settlers had been occupying Indian territory for a couple of decades. Westward expansion defined mid-19th century America. The desire for more land drove nearly every aspect of United States politics, from domestic to foreign policy. The American people were likewise seduced by the adventure that seemed synonymous with the West. Thomas Jefferson’s deal with France in 1803 for the Louisiana Purchase, despite those who actually owned it, led the way to further expansion. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark headed The Corps of Discovery and were sent on an expedition to explore the newly acquired territory for a practical route to the Pacific for, in Jefferson’s words, “the purposes of commerce.” This was the first overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back, and it took them one year and six months to cross the country.

In 1810, John Jacob Astor outfitted an expedition under Wilson Price Hunt to find a safe passage to the Pacific to further Astor’s fur trading businesses. The Astor Expedition took a different route than had Lewis and Clark and information from their journey formed the basis for the famous Oregon Trail, to be used 30 years later. The journey from St. Louis to Astoria, Oregon, took a year and four months.

In 1826, Jedediah Smith became the first white man to traverse the continent, starting also from St. Louis and visiting much of California and the West. Other men, such as John Colter, Kit Carson, and John C. Fremont further traveled across the continent, paving the way for pioneers and settlers.

Pioneer, O Pioneer! Beginning in 1818, Britain and the United States agreed to jointly occupy Oregon Country. The area however, was dominated by the British, who established preeminent fur-trading posts, such as Fort Vancouver. “Oregon fever” quickly spread through the United States and thousands of Americans started their way to the lush Willamette Valley.

Emigrants followed what was known as the Oregon Trail, 2,000 miles long, starting in Independence, Missouri. Between 1846 and 1869, as many as 400,000 people used this trail. The California Trail, Bozeman Trail, and Mormon Trail all had their roots from the eastern portion of the Oregon Trail. Interstate 80 roughly passes through many of the towns that were started as a result of the Oregon Trail.

The idea to travel via covered wagon to California or Oregon wasn’t so much an adventure but more of a necessity, as the land between the United States and the West Coast was home to Native Americans. It was thought to be not much good for farming, but it still needed to be traversed. Behind them, pioneers left the economic downturn of 1837 and a huge malaria outbreak. The trip to California took more than two months in oxen-pulled prairie schooners across the Great Plains.

During the 1850s, the desire to establish mail routes between the east and the west coasts was discussed in Congress and decided in 1857 that the US Postal system would be allowed to advertise for bids for an overland mail service from the Mississippi River to San Francisco. John W. Butterfield and his associates (including William Fargo) won over eight other bidders with their $600,000 a year bid. The route was divided into nine divisions totaling 2,795 miles, scheduled to take nearly 600 hours to complete via stagecoach — a solid month of traveling with minimal stops only to change horses and eat. The first stage left San Francisco on September 15, 1857, carrying mail and six passengers, and over the first three years, the Overland Mail made two trips a week. The fare from Memphis, Tennessee to San Francisco was $200.00 (roughly $5,200 in today’s money). The Butterfield Overland Stage Company employed more than 800 people, had 139 relay stations, 1800 head of stock and 250 Concord Stagecoaches in service.

Only the most intrepid travelers could handle it. Mark Twain’s book  Roughing It  recalls his perilous travels aboard a stagecoach in 1861 — as well as a witness to the Pony Express: “ Fort Yuma is probably the hottest place on earth. The thermometer stays at one hundred and twenty in the shade there all the time – except when it varies and goes higher. It is a US military post, and its occupants get so used to the terrific heat that they suffer without it. There is a tradition that a very, very wicked soldier died there, once, and of course, went straight to the hottest corner of perdition – and the next day he telegraphed back for his blankets. ”

After gold had been discovered in California in 1849, thousands of prospectors, investors and businessmen made their way to the new state California (in 1850). By 1860, the population had grown to 380,000, and the demand for a quicker way to get mail and other communications to and from this westernmost state became even greater as the American Civil War approached. Using mounted riders instead of stagecoaches, William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell proposed to establish a fast mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, with letters delivered in 10 days. The rates were steep, at $10.00 an ounce over the 1,900-mile route. California’s newspapers received word of Lincoln’s election only seven days and 17 hours after the East Coast papers, an unrivaled feat at the time, and one of the most famous riders was none other than William “Buffalo Bill” Cody.

The Pony Express announced its closure on October 26, 1861, two days after the transcontinental telegraph reached Salt Lake City and connected Omaha to Sacramento, and by then, the railroads were making their mark on the landscape.

The Iron Horse The railroad replaced the far slower, more hazardous and expensive stagecoach lines from Missouri to California.

Under the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, which provided for the construction of railroads from the Missouri River to the Pacific, the Union Pacific Company was incorporated on July 1, 1862. The massive amount of capital investment (over $100,000,000 in 1860 dollars) needed to build the railroad was received from selling government guaranteed bonds (granted per mile of completed track) and railroad company bonds and stock to interested private investors. Six years after the groundbreaking, the Central Pacific Railroad from the west and the Union Pacific Railroad from the east met at Promontory Summit, Utah. On May 10, 1869, the last spike was driven and the Missouri-to-California trip that used to take an arduous month via stagecoach could now be done in just one week by train.

But train travel wasn’t easy nor cheap. Until 1886, traveling by train from Chicago to Los Angeles cost a passenger $118 for a first-class ticket and $85 for second class fare. However, when the Aitcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad finally reached Los Angeles in 1886, it competed with the Southern Pacific Railroad, driving fares down to nearly $1. People clamored to come to California by the thousands. The Southern Pacific itself deposited 120,000 people at the Los Angeles station in the first year, running three or four trains a day from Chicago.

Inside the cars, especially the creaking wooden cars of the lower classes, passengers endured a long week of communal and highly uncomfortable living. The smell was atrocious and motion sickness rampant. Time tables weren’t reliable and stopping for meals along the way was sometimes impossible and cost prohibitive, so most lower-class passengers brought their own food, adding to the mix of international smells. An issue of  Harpers Weekly , describes the smells of train travel in 1887: “ Most of the passengers are little accustomed to ventilation or to cleanly habits; there are men and woman who regard dirt as part of natural protection against cold. Pipes are lighted, meals are spread in which sausage, cheese, garlic and sauerkraut are prominent elements ”

For the next 25 years, this was the most practical and quickest way to travel from coast to coast, but the invention of the car and the airplane would soon change all that.

Up next, part 2: The History of Transcontinental Travel: Wheels and Wings

Some people in your community may have a manifest destiny to maintain or service a vehicle, lead them to ChiltonLibrary! These subscriptions, designed respectively for do-it-yourselfers and professional technicians, can save many hours of frustration and pay for themselves as soon as they are used. ChiltonLibrary includes comprehensive service procedures, specifications, graphics, and wiring diagrams.

About the Author

Not only is Ryan Lee Price a freelance writer specializing in automotive journalism and a former long-time magazine editor, he is part of the technical editorial team that provides content for most all of the ChiltonPRO and ChiltonDIY products. He currently resides in Corona, California, with his wife Kara and their two children.

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The Transcontinental Railroad: Facts and Information

The First Transcontinental Railroad was built crossing the western half of America and it was pieced together between 1863 and 1869. It was 1,776 miles long and served for the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States to be connected by rail for the first time in history. The Transcontinental Railroad was also known as the Pacific Railroad for a while and later on as the Overland Route — after the main passenger transport service that operated the line.

The idea of building such a line was present in America for decades before the construction was authorized by the Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 and 1864. This was the time of the American Civil War and the southern Democrats who opposed the idea before were now absent from Congress so the Republicans used the opportunity to vote the construction of the transcontinental railroad without them.

They chose two independent companies, the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad and supported the project by issuing US government bonds. The land through which the railroad was supposed to pass was mainly worthless desert, although some portions of good farming land had to be crossed as well. The workers involved in the building operations were mainly army veterans from the Civil War and immigrants from Ireland. Engineers and supervisors were mostly Union Army veterans, experienced in operating and maintaining trains during the Civil War.

The Transcontinental Railroad was finished and opened for traffic on May 10, 1869. The transcontinental transportation network revolutionized the American economy because the transport of goods was made much faster, cheaper and more flexible.

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Travel time is the forgotten breakthrough of the past 200 years

by Phil Edwards

The classic Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States shows exactly how travel times across the United States have evolved over time. Back in the early 1800s, without easily navigable roads or railroads, even a journey from New York to Washington, DC, was a multi-day affair.

Map of travel times in 1800 and 1830. ( Hathi Trust )

Over time, that slowly improved. Construction on the National Road , which stretched from Cumberland, Maryland, across the United States, began in 1811 and continued through the 1830s. The advent of the steamboat also made it easier to use rivers.

The big advance, however, came through trains. By 1857, railroads had improved travel times significantly — culminating with the development of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. Even in 1857, travel was easier, thanks to the railroad system.

Map of travel times in 1857. ( Hathi Trust )

By 1930, railroads had successfully compressed travel times to a couple of days versus the many weeks it took in the 1800s.

Map of railroad travel times in 1930. ( Hathi Trust )

These maps don't just show the rapid pace of technological progress, however. They also show how that progress advanced unevenly, in fits and starts. Railroads didn't reduce travel times right away — they still required significant infrastructure investments, ranging from laying down tracks to building tunnels. That took decades.

The same thing happened to airline travel. This map of air travel times in the 1930 shows it was a huge advance on railroads. But it was still significantly slower than air travel is today:

Map of airline travel times in 1930. ( Hathi Trust )

Travel times may get shorter still. But a faster plane or train isn't enough to change it — the infrastructure has to be able to handle whatever invention comes along next.

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Impact on travel time from the transcontinental railroad and average transportation speeds

An exhibit at the Huntington Library called Visions of Empire: The Quest for a Railroad Across America, 1840-1880 had a display describing coast-to-coast travel time:

• 6 months – before the trans-continental railroad. ( I think that was before the stage coach lines were in place.)
• 1 week – after the railroad was completed

Twenty-six weeks versus one week. That would be a 96% reduction in travel time.

The exhibit also had a display listing the average speed of travel in miles per hour:

• 3 mph – foot
• 10 – horse – (obviously a single rider)
• 4-7 – wagon – (multiple passengers and a large load)
• 5-10 – ship (no further explanation on the display – presumably this would be for sail driven ships of the mid 19th century)
• 15 – train, mid-19th-century steam
• 20-70 – automobile (obviously this would be into the 20th century)
• 600 – airplane

The alternative to the train was a wagon.  An increase from 4 or 7 mph to 15 mph.  That is a doubling or tripling of travel speeds over an established route.

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The New York Times

The learning network | may 10, 1869 | first transcontinental railroad is completed.

May 10, 1869 | First Transcontinental Railroad Is Completed

Historic Headlines

Learn about key events in history and their connections to today.

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On May 10, 1869, a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, signaling the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

The transcontinental railroad had long been a dream for people living in the American West. While there was a large network of railways built in the Eastern part of the country in the 1830s and ’40s, there were few in the West and none that connected with Eastern lines. The Western population boom following the California Gold Rush of 1849 made the need for a transcontinental line apparent. There was, however, the problem of finding a route through the unforgiving terrain of the West, particularly the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1860, the railroad engineer Theodore Judah uncovered a path through the Sierras using the infamous Donner Pass, where in 1846, a group of pioneers, known as the Donner Party, became trapped and were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive. Judah formed the Central Pacific Railroad and went to Washington for financing.

In 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act, which provided land and financing to the Central Pacific and a second company, the Union Pacific, to construct a Western line that would connect with the existing Eastern lines. Central Pacific began construction in Sacramento and moved east, while Union Pacific began in Council Bluffs, Iowa (bordering Omaha), and moved west. The two companies met in Promontory to complete the line.

The completion of the transcontinental railroad made the American West easily accessible, creating a boon of trade, business and population. The railroad also had a psychological effect of bringing the country together, a sentiment expressed by the May 11 New York Times : “The long-looked-for moment has arrived. The construction of the Pacific Railroad is un fait accompli. The inhabitants of the Atlantic seaboard and the dwellers on the Pacific slopes are henceforth emphatically one people.”

Connect to Today:

Today, Amtrak operates in 46 states. It runs more than 21,000 miles of routes on tracks shared with freight trains and another 363 miles on tracks shared with hundreds of commuter trains in the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston. Federal and state governments are debating how to continue to finance the nation’s network of rail lines, many of which have low ridership. In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama pledged $53 billion toward the construction of high-speed rail , but Congressional Republicans greatly reduced the amount of funding. Also, Republican governors in three states declined federal financing for railroads, fearing that the states would be financially responsible for unprofitable lines.

An April 2011 Times editorial said, “The agreement between Congress and the White House to virtually eliminate money for high-speed rail is harebrained. France, China, Brazil, even Russia, understand that high-speed rail is central to future development. Not Washington.” The editorial argued for financing to improve the profitable Amtrak Northeast Corridor, and the construction of a line between San Francisco and San Diego.

Why do think that high-speed rail is such a contentious topic in the United States? What do you think should be done to increase ridership throughout the country? Do you agree with the editorial that high-speed rail is central to future development? Why or why not? In your opinion, how should the U.S. government approach the financing of railways?

Learn more about what happened in history on May 10»

Learn more about Historic Headlines and our collaboration with findingDulcinea »

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we live in a visionless, cramped time when “homeowners” (they’re houses, and the bank owns ’em) won’t even allow a bike trail behind their houses. it’s a good thing our ancestors were kind enough to leave the railways behind for us.

Here’s another connect to today: the entire Overland Route from Chicago to the Bay Area is owned by one railroad, Union Pacific, that celebrates its sesquicentennial this year. That railroad has invested heavily in capacity for intermodal and coal trains, thus making a 60-mile-long traffic jam that takes days to clear up, the way China sometimes gets them, unlikely. The freight railroads sometimes get criticized for obstructing Amtrak and the higher-speed trains, but transportation policy will be more effective to the extent it treats those railroads as partners, not enemies.

Why would we invest in railroads? They are nearly as expensive as cars, even per passenger (and more expensive the faster you go), aren’t significantly better with pollution, and have to be government subsidized to be a reasonable price, ticket-wise. Gas is taxed because it’s relatively cheap. Our roads are LARGE and meant to be driven on. Converting to railways would be a HUGE monetary commitment that would lose money for a long time.

And if you look at planes, the numbers for trains become utterly laughable. If trains were cheaper, don’t you think freight companies would invest in trains, then allow passenger trains on them to further lower their costs? They don’t work well, even for Europe. And Europe’s invested in trains for hundreds of years.

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How hardcore mosquito experts fight summer’s most annoying pest

An Everglades wildlife biologist, adventure-travel pros and entomologists share their best strategies

As the weather warms up and humidity increases, mosquitoes are hatching in backyards across the country, eager to victimize innocent barbecue-goers and home gardeners everywhere.

Strong insect repellent may never go out of style, but it’s far from the only option for combating summer’s most annoying interlopers. We asked seasoned mosquito experts — from entomologists to adventure-travel gurus — how they fight mosquitoes in their own backyards. Here’s what they advise.

Layer on the protection

“I’m going to sound like a boring entomologist and suggest what the CDC recommends,” says Louisa Messenger, a medical parasitologist and entomologist who teaches at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. “Personal protection,” she says, is your first line of defense, including EPA-approved insect repellent containing 25 percent DEET and wearing long-sleeve shirts and pants that have been treated with insecticide, “usually permethrin.”

Richard Campbell, the founder of adventure travel company 10Adventures, agrees that nothing beats covering up. He and his family spend the summer months deep in the Canadian Rockies, where the mosquitoes can get surprisingly vicious. Since they lay eggs near or in water, in the mountains “you have almost perfect breeding grounds,” with all the lakes, rivers and boggy areas, explains Campbell. In some areas, especially just below the tree line near water, he says, “most bug spray is useless.” The trick, then, is to not leave any skin exposed, particularly in the most vulnerable spots. “They love my ankles,” he says, which is why he often wears two pairs of socks.

Down in the swamps of Florida, protective measures can get even more extreme. Pete Corradino, a wildlife biologist and owner of Everglades Day Safari, says the tour groups that his company leads are encouraged to load up on DEET repellent and wear hats with nets over them to cover the face and neck. Outside of that, it’s a matter of adapting — by now, Corradino says, “a couple of mosquito bites for me is something I can tolerate.”

Dump or treat standing water

If you’ve battled mosquitoes, you surely know that even the tiniest amount of standing water — where the females lay their eggs and the babies develop — can harbor the enemy.

Messenger says homeowners with pools should chemically treat the water with the standard course of chemicals, including chlorine. When not in use, pools should still be maintained and cleaned regularly, as “mosquitoes are much less likely to breed in clean water without any debris,” she says.

People with outdoor planters that gather water, “need to dump those out or potentially treat them with insecticide,” though Messenger says to be wary of chemical treatments as they could also impact the plant’s health.

For people with ponds, bird baths and even puddles on their property, Daniel M. Parker, an associate professor of public health at the University of California at Irvine, offers another solution: Small fish such as guppies and dragonfly larvae are natural predators to mosquito larva. Adding some to the water will help with population control.

Choose plants wisely

Parker also cautions against keeping certain plants in your garden. Varieties such as bromeliads, pitcher plants and certain types of hollow bamboo can hold small bodies of water on their leaves or in crevices and are therefore a favorite home for mosquito larvae.

David Price, an entomologist and director of technical services at pest-management company Mosquito Joe, says he avoids boxwoods, evergreen shrubs and sunshine ligustrum shrubs, all of which can harbor mosquitoes. He advises pruning back any thick bushes in your yard, which offer mosquitoes protection as well as a possible place to lay their eggs.

Your coolest summer

Make some dietary changes

Starchy vegetables, salty and spicy food — these may all make you more attractive to the feasting insects. “Mosquitoes aren’t attracted to the food itself,” says Nicole Carpenter, president of Black Pest Prevention in Charlotte, but they may be attracted to the changes in body chemistry that comes from eating certain things. “For example, spicy foods make your body produce more carbon dioxide.” And the carbon dioxide we exhale is how mosquitoes locate us. “Drinking alcohol, especially beer, also contributes to releasing more carbon dioxide,” Carpenter says. Plus, it can make you run a bit hotter, and elevated body temperatures are yet another thing that can attract mosquitoes, says UNLV’s Messenger.

Be careful about scents

Letisha Guerrero, founder of the Nouveau Lifestyle, a wellness and travel blog, has ample experience traveling internationally, often to places known to be buggy. One time in Honduras an allergic reaction to mosquito bites led to hospitalization, so now Guerrero is hypercautious. She reports that ditching sweet-smelling soaps and lotions in favor of lemongrass and citronella-scented products has made her less of a draw. She says using essential oils like Murphy’s Natural lemon eucalyptus oil spray and Nantucket Spider Original Bug Repellent for People have helped her keep mosquitoes at bay.

Messenger says there’s no evidence to support certain scents making you more — or less — prone to bites. However, “if you’re putting lotion on, it’s changing the composition of bacteria on your skin,” and that process, rather than the perfume within a certain product, “[can alter] how you smell to mosquitoes,” making you more or less of a magnet for them.

Schedule outdoor time wisely

Tracy Ellis, a San Diego-based entomologist with FarmSense, an agtech company, avoids exercising outdoors at dusk or dawn. “I try to get my stuff done when I’m not a perfect victim,” she says, pointing out that mosquitoes have an easier time finding you when you’re “sweaty and dirty and breathing hard.” Even if you’re just going out for a walk on a humid summer evening, Ellis suggests showering first and bringing repellent. She agrees that a product with DEET works best, but says the botanical, all natural stuff is still better than nothing.

Corradino, the owner of Everglades Day Safari, echoes that going outside in the evening really should be avoided in super buggy areas like his Fort Myers, Fla., neighborhood. “Once it’s dusk, then you usually head indoors because that’s when the mosquitoes can get pretty bad,” he says.

Sometimes, you just have to let the mosquitoes win.

Stacey Lastoe is a writer in Brooklyn who covers lifestyle topics.

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This Day In History : June 4

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Express train crosses the nation in 83 hours

A mere 83 hours after leaving New York City , the Transcontinental Express train arrives in San Francisco .

That any human being could travel across the entire nation in less than four days was inconceivable to previous generations of Americans. During the early 19th century, when Thomas Jefferson first dreamed of an American nation stretching from “sea to shining sea,” it took the president 10 days to travel the 225 miles from Monticello to Philadelphia via carriage. Even with frequent changing of horses, the 100-mile journey from New York to Philadelphia demanded two days hard travel in a light stagecoach. At such speeds, the coasts of the continent-wide American nation were months apart. How could such a vast country ever hope to remain united?

As early as 1802, Jefferson had some glimmer of an answer. “The introduction of so powerful an agent as steam,” he predicted, “[to a carriage on wheels] will make a great change in the situation of man.” Though Jefferson never saw a train in his lifetime, he had glimpsed the future with the idea. Within half a century, America would have more railroads than any other nation in the world. By 1869, the first transcontinental line linking the coasts was completed. Suddenly, a journey that had previously taken months using horses could be made in less than a week.

Five days after the transcontinental railroad was completed, daily passenger service over the rails began. The speed and comfort offered by rail travel was so astonishing that many Americans could scarcely believe it, and popular magazines wrote glowing accounts of the amazing journey. For the wealthy, a trip on the transcontinental railroad was a luxurious experience. First-class passengers rode in beautifully appointed cars with plush velvet seats that converted into snug sleeping berths. The finer amenities included steam heat, fresh linen daily and gracious porters who catered to their every whim. For an extra $4 a day, the wealthy traveler could opt to take the weekly Pacific Hotel Express, which offered first-class dining on board. As one happy passenger wrote, “The rarest and richest of all my journeying through life is this three-thousand miles by rail.”

The trip was a good deal less speedy and comfortable for passengers unwilling or unable to pay the premium fares. Whereas most of the first-class passengers traveled the transcontinental line for business or pleasure, the third-class occupants were often emigrants hoping to make a new start in the West. A third-class ticket could be purchased for only $40–less than half the price of the first-class fare. At this low rate, the traveler received no luxuries. Their cars, fitted with rows of narrow wooden benches, were congested, noisy and uncomfortable. The railroad often attached the coach cars to freight cars that were constantly shunted aside to make way for the express trains. Consequently, the third-class traveler’s journey west might take 10 or more days. Even under these trying conditions, few travelers complained. Even 10 days spent sitting on a hard bench seat was preferable to six months walking alongside a Conestoga wagon on the Oregon Trail .

Railroad promotions, however, naturally focused on the speedy express trains. The arrival of the Transcontinental Express train in San Francisco on this day in 1876 was widely celebrated in the newspapers and magazines of the day. With this new express service, a businessman could leave New York City on Monday morning, spend 83 hours in relaxing comfort, and arrive refreshed and ready for work in San Francisco by Thursday evening. The powerful agent of steam had effectively shrunk a vast nation to a manageable size.

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6 Beaches for Budding Swimmers, Surfers and Castle Builders

For families with children, we found half a dozen beaches in the United States and Mexico, each tailored to a particular summer activity.

By Freda Moon

A family beach vacation is an American classic. But depending on their children’s ages and inclinations, some families may be drawn to different kinds of shorelines: those featuring clear, calm water for snorkeling and learning to swim; or, for shell collectors and young naturalists, sandy stretches carpeted with seashells or bordered by tide pools. For castle builders, fine sand is a must, while would-be surfers need tidy waves, ready to ride. Here are six great beaches in the United States and Baja California for family-favorite summer activities.

For castle builders: Mission Beach , San Diego

San Diego’s temperate climate allows for barefoot beach days year-round. For those who’d rather build with sand than lie in it, Mission Beach has another advantage: San Diego Sand Castles and the sand sculptor JT Estrela. Mr. Estrela, a former math teacher, offers lessons in the art of sand castle construction on this family-friendly Southern California beach, where the sand is perfect for castle building: The grains are fine but not too silty, clean below the tide line, free of shells and rocks, and pack hard.

In his two-to-three-hour sessions (starting at $160 for two people, $20 for each additional person), Mr. Estrela works with families to build elaborate five-foot-tall castles. The goal is for participants to “feel like this insider of arcane knowledge,” he said.

While the best sand in the San Diego area is at the offshore city of Coronado in San Diego Bay, Mr. Estrela prefers working with families at Mission Beach. Known for its boardwalk amusement park, Belmont Park ; historic beachfront swimming pool, the Plunge ; and excellent playgrounds, it’s particularly fun for kids. The smell of cotton candy and hot dogs hangs in the air, mingling with shrieks from the Giant Dipper, Belmont’s 1925 wooden roller coaster, squawking sea gulls and salt spray. Its biggest downside is its popularity, which means parking can be a challenge.

For new swimmers: Onekahakaha Beach Park , Hilo, Hawaii

In an archipelago known for spectacular beaches, Onekahakaha Beach Park , on the rugged, volcanic coast of the Big Island, may seem a counterintuitive choice. At Onekahakaha, with its two large, sandy-bottomed ocean pools enclosed by lava rock walls and backed by palm trees and an expansive grassy lawn, the sand is mostly below the surface.

Separated from the Pacific Ocean’s notoriously powerful waves and rip currents, the seawater within the pools is warm and placid, protected and shallow, which makes it excellent for little kids learning to swim, as well as for older kids to snorkel. It’s also home to nonthreatening marine life (no sharks here), including green sea turtles.

Though the water is only about waist-deep on an adult, there are lifeguards, adding to Onekahakaha’s reputation for safety. And without a wide swath of sand between the pools and the shoreline path, the water is accessible for strollers and wheelchairs. There’s also a swing set, picnic tables and proximity to the lush Hilo area.

As long as you’re on the Big Island, the site of several active volcanoes, visit the thermal pools alongside some of its beaches, including Pohoiki Black Sand Beach at Isaac Hale Beach Park , 40 miles south of Onekahakaha. The ocean there may be a bit rough for young swimmers, but it’s a great place to show children a fresh lava flow.

For would-be surfers: Wrightsville Beach , N.C.

Wrightsville Beach is considered by many surf historians to be the home of East Coast surfing and one of the first places outside Polynesia and the Pacific Rim for the sport to catch on .

It also has some of the best beginner’s breaks in the United States , said Sean Griffin, 37, a surfing instructor and the father of a 5-year-old, who started riding the local break when he was 8.

He points out that Wrightsville is the only surfing beach in the state that has clear, blue water. Being able to see one’s hands and feet and the sandy bottom “makes anyone feel more comfortable in the ocean,” he said.

At Surf With Sean , Mr. Griffin offers private 90-minute lessons ($95 to $120) to surfers as young as 3 and into their 80s, as well as surf camps for kids ($425 per week). “There’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to learn or give it a shot,” said Mr. Griffin, who provides all gear in all sizes, including adaptive equipment.

There’s more to the area’s kid appeal than its waves. Mr. Griffin points to Johnnie Mercers Fishing Pier , at the center of the beach, where his son “loves seeing all the salty fisherman pulling in fish,” and the big, modern playground at Wrightsville Beach Park .

For tide pool explorers: Carkeek Park , Seattle

Naomi Tomky — a lifelong Seattleite, author of “ The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook ” and mother of two daughters, 6 and 8 — recommends Carkeek Park in Seattle for an immersive experience in Puget Sound marine life. At low tide, Ms. Tomky said, the narrow beach “just goes out for ages,” exposing tide pools filled with starfish, sea snails, anemones and “many, many crabs, from the size of your fingernail to the size of your hand.”

Unlike tide-pooling elsewhere on the West Coast, where the powerful Pacific Ocean requires caution because of dangerous sneaker waves , Puget Sound is rich with life but calm enough for Ms. Tomky to let her daughters explore on their own.

Just 30 minutes from downtown Seattle, Carkeek is part of the Seattle Aquarium’s Beach Naturalist Program , which sends naturalists to various shorelines around the area.

Along with the below-the-tide-line intrigue, Carkeek is also known for an annual spectacle: spawning salmon. In the fall, it’s possible to stand over the park’s Piper’s Creek and watch the fish — a sacred Indigenous symbol of the Pacific Northwest — on the run.

“It’s one of the coolest things you can see,” said Ms. Tomky, “to understand how these fish share the city with us as they swim back into their former home.”

For shell hunters: Tigertail Beach , Marco Island, Fla.

Sanibel Island, a barrier island just off Fort Myers, Fla., is one of the most famous shelling destinations on the planet. That popularity comes with a downside: It’s often picked over by enthusiasts who hit the shoreline at dawn. The island is also still recovering from Hurricane Ian, which badly damaged its infrastructure in 2022.

As an alternative, the shelling guide Evan Kuperman (a.k.a. Captain Evan) recommends Tigertail Beach on Marco Island, about an hour south.

Mr. Kuperman, a Florida master naturalist , operates Sand Dollar Shelling Tours . His tours ($125 per adult, $90 per child, and families of up to six people for $650) take guests by boat to places like the Ten Thousand Islands , a mangrove mud flat habitat and National Wildlife Refuge.

For visitors unable to join one of his trips, Mr. Kuperman said that Tigertail, a publicly accessible beach ($8 parking fee), offers exceptional shelling.

Marco Island is more built up than Sanibel, but Tigertail, at the island’s north end, is a county-owned park with a lagoon and a position facing the Gulf of Mexico that lends itself to accumulating seashells, including rare and striking ones, like the spiny ornamented lace murex and reddish brown banded tulip .

But everyone is hoping for a junonia, or Juno’s volute, a sea snail that has to travel far in churning waters to reach the beach intact. “You don’t find it,” said Mr. Kuperman, “it finds you.”

For young snorkelers: Playa el Chileno , Los Cabos, Mexico

About halfway between bustling Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo, Playa el Chileno is no longer an undeveloped local secret. Now backed by the sprawling Auberge resort Chileno Bay Resort & Residences , the beach remains public and comparatively tranquil. Awarded the Blue Flag certification for meeting stringent environmental standards, Chileno is exceptionally well maintained.

While catamaran snorkeling tours come and go from Chileno Bay, it’s also possible to reach the reef from the shore, which makes it good for inexperienced snorkelers who might find it intimidating to leap into deep water without easing their way in. High Tide Sea Expeditions offers snorkeling excursions via kayak that start at nearby Playa Santa Maria, hug the coast and arrive at Chileno by water. For younger kids and anyone who prefers more time in the water, there’s a guided two-hour tour that visits both beaches by car ($95 to $130 per person, including equipment).

Among the roughly 50 species of fish that snorkelers might encounter along Chileno’s rocky outcroppings and coral reef, there are large tuna, sea turtles, puffer fish, Panamic green moray eels, Cortez angelfish and blacknosed butterflyfish — among many other colorful creatures. The coral here is less vibrant than some places, but the number and variety of fish are thrilling.

Freda Moon, a frequent contributor to the Travel section, lives on a boat in San Francisco Bay with her husband and two kids. Her upcoming National Geographic book with the coauthor Ashley Harrell, “100 Beaches of a Lifetime,” will be published next year.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

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A Famous Massachusetts Inn: A writer returns to a classic Nantucket hotel, where he worked 50 years ago, to ponder how he, the island, and the newly refurbished inn have changed .

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