How Far Do People Travel

[nuke11]

How far do they travel from their homes / settlements in their lifetime?

I know it wasn't unusual for people to not travel outside of the county they lived in let alone the state, but since the idea of a state doesn't really exist anymore in most cases.

To the next settlement, town, 10, 25, 50, 100 Km's away?

Then how do they travel? Foot, horse, wagon, stage, boat, vehicle?

Then I guess the next question would be why would they need to travel?

[RandyT0001]

Average speeds were about 4-5 km per hour by foot, horse or wagon. The choice of foot, horse or wagon depended on wealth and necessary carrying capacity required to conduct the business that was the purpose of the travel (reporting a crime to the sheriff, buying a few small packages, or buying lots of lumber, etc.). Of course, horses and wagons can travel slightly faster, maybe 5-7km per hour. A person would travel about six-seven hours during the shorter winter days and up to about nine hours during longer summer days. Travel times were adjusted so that one could spend a few hours in town to conduct business. One would travel half the total time, about 16-22km into town, conduct business, then travel the 16-22km back home within a day. This defined the size of counties in England and the US until the advent of the railroad and automobile in the 19th century. County seats were usually located at the center of the county. Because of this county seats tended to be the bigger towns. Counties were about 30 to 45 kilometers across with some adjustments made for terrain. Few people left the county into which they were born.

Traders could also move from one county seat to the next one within about a day's travel.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by nuke11

Then I guess the next question would be why would they need to travel?

I think that's actually the first question. Migrants, professional travelers, and occasional travelers are all going to have different modes of transport, loads they are hauling, and areas through which they are travelling, among other things.

My wife the historical archaeologist ballparked someone on horseback with a light load on dirt roads as covering 10-20 miles a day, typical of a circuit judge in the 1800's. Pioneers on the Oregon Trail covered about 10-12 miles a day with heavily-laden horse or ox-drawn wagons. A person on foot, carrying a decent load on their back can actually cover 25 miles a day for weeks on end... if they are in good shape, which most are not. 10 miles a day for most people on foot will be tough.

[kato13]

I was always told that as the US started to settle the west, a days travel was generally 40 miles by horseback.

That is why Chicago has 3 rings of major suburbs at 40, 80 and 120 miles respectively.

Edit
On thinking about it our incredibly flat landscape might skew those numbers upward.

[stormlion1]

Terrain plays a heavy part. East Coast most roads are were wagon trails from the 1700's put them. Why some roads meaner so heavily and a direct route isn't always direct. Give it 150 years and most roads will be gone and full of growth. There is a old ammunition factory from World War 1 near me, almost a 100 years old and the original roads are just gone completely filled up with tree growth and swamps. Only walls and foundations remain barely visible. Belcoville I think its called.

[cosmicfish]

You might travel twice as fast as your average speed on good, flat roads. Travel through the mountains or other difficult terrain could easily halve that. Regardless, travel is going to be much slower than we take for granted today.

[ArmySGT.]

Before the railroad, the average person died within 50 miles of the place they were born.