Road Tripping with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison Through Rural America In Beat-Up Model Ts

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Some of the most important moments in the lives of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison weren’t their inventions or business successes. It was their road trips through the most remote, rustic parts of America. Between 1916 and 1924, Ford, Edison, Harvey Firestone went on a number of camping trips. Calling themselves the Vagabonds, they set up campsites, took photographs, and fixed cars themselves. They were also joined by famous naturalist John Burroughs, an elderly writer with a large white beard who looked like a gold prospector.

The relationship began in 1913 between Burroughs, then 75, and Ford, nearly 50, and enjoying a banner year for the Model T. Both men were influenced by the writing of Ralph Waldo Emerson, but they disagreed about the role of the automobile in American life.

To Ford’s chagrin, Burroughs wrote in an article in Atlantic Monthly that the automobile “was going to kill the appreciation of nature”; Ford believed it would open up facets of America that most people could not access. In response, Ford sent Burroughs a new Model T, which indeed changed the old naturalist’s life by prompting him to set out on wide-ranging road trips beyond his Hudson River homestead. Meanwhile, Ford and Edison, who had both “imbibed” the rural values of the Midwest, and Firestone, “the head of the largest tire manufacturing concern in the country,” were long-standing friends, busy plotting numerous new business ventures.

Their road trips became increasingly ambitious to San Francisco, the Adirondacks of New York, and the Green Mountains of Vermont. Davis chronicles the memorable road trip of summer 1918, when the fast friends—who held wildly different views about the impending war—drove from the Allegheny range through West Virginia and into the “rustic magic of the Great Smoky Mountains,” all in the spirit of curiosity and exploration.

To discuss these journeys, and the long-lasting impact it had on Ford, Edison, and 20th-century America, is today’s guest Wes Davis, author of “American Journey: On the Road with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and John Burroughs.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In 1918, a group of friends went on a road trip through the Appalachian Mountains.
0:12.3	Their caravan included a few touring cars, a pair of Model T-Fords, and a white truck loaded
0:16.3	with their camping gear and cooking gear.
0:18.2	The cars were prone to breaking down as all cars were at the time, so they stopped at
0:21.4	a garage in rural Pennsylvania.
0:23.7	The mechanic didn't know how to fix the Model T, so one of the members of the group took
0:27.4	matters in his own hands and made the repair.
0:29.8	The reason he knew how to is because he owned the car and the company that built the
0:34.0	car.
0:35.0	The man was Henry Ford, and he was also traveling with Thomas Edison.
0:38.2	Edison and Ford went on many road trips in the 19 teens, and they were joined by John
0:42.4	Burrows, one of the most famous writers and naturalists of the 20th century.
0:47.1	Burrows originally thought that cars would kill the appreciation of nature, but Ford believed
0:51.7	it would open up parts of America that most people couldn't reach.
0:54.7	The two became friends, and they were later joined by Edison who had no Ford for a long
0:58.0	time.
0:59.0	For these trips, the groups saw many parts of rural America at a time where there were
1:02.7	no interstates and roads were a messy patchwork of unorganized routes, but it had long lasting
1:08.3	impact on the two industrialists as they considered how to develop the United States in a way that
1:13.2	would give everyone access to modern technology while at the same time not bulldozing America's
1:17.5	natural resources.
1:18.5	Today's guest is Wes Davis, author of the book, American Journey, on the road with Henry
	...

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