Transportation
7
In the spring of 1903, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson became the first person to cross the United States in an automobile, traveling from San Francisco to Burlington, Vermont, in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car called "Vermont" with Sewall K. Crocker and a bulldog named Bud. At that time, only 150 miles of paved road existed in the country, and gas stations and road maps did not exist. The trip, made partly on a bet, turned into a race when the Packard and Oldsmobile companies sent cars from California hoping to pass Jackson and claim the distinction of making the first automobile journey across the U.S. Over 63 days, the journey followed portions of what is now US 30 in Idaho and Wyoming, joining the present-day route near Pocatello, Idaho, continuing into Soda Springs, Idaho, and finally into Granger, Wyoming.
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