This course explores the dynamic ways goods, people, and ideas moved across the young United States before the iron rails transformed the landscape. Together, these weeks offer a vivid portrait of a pre-railroad America in motion, where geography, technology, and human determination intertwined to knit the country together. Along the way, we will survey the sorts of quirky and fascinating characters who were at the forefront of innovation and change.

Session 1: “River Travel – Arteries of America” examines how rivers served as the lifelines of commerce and communication, shaping settlement patterns and regional economies, and creating a free-wheeling and rather lawless culture on river boats and in river towns.

Session 2: “The Canal Craze” dives into the ambitious wave of canal building — beyond the famous Erie Canal — that connected inland communities to markets and ports, fueling economic growth and engineering innovation, and revealing the human capacity, whether for good or ill, to profoundly alter the natural topography of this country.

Session 3: “The First Great Wagon Roads” traces the overland routes that linked towns and frontier outposts, revealing the challenges and ingenuity of early road building in a nation on the move, and showing the early power and draw of the ‘open road’ in American expansion.

Subject: history

Michael Stevens has a PhD in literature from the University of Dallas and has taught American literature and various writing courses in Grand Rapids for more than 25 years. With a passion for researching the westward expansion of the United States, he brings to life the dynamic and often contested process of American growth, helping others understand how the West was imagined, measured, and ultimately settled.