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In the spring of 1903, on a whim and a fifty-dollar bet, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson set off from San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car hoping to become the first person to cross the United States in the new- fangled "horseless carriage." Most people doubted that the automobile had much of a future.
Full Length
106m 46s
Full Length
Horatio's Drive
106m 46s
In the spring of 1903, on a whim and a fifty-dollar bet, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson set off from San Francisco in a 20-hor
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Archer, Wyoming
2m 21s
Horatio was stuck in Archer, Wyoming waiting for parts and missing his wife on their 4th anniversary.
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San Francisco
1m 46s
On May 23, 1903 Horatio started out in San Francisco on the first American road trip.
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Cleveland
4m 18s
The Winton Company offered to give Jackson support for the rest of the trip but he refused.
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Mt. Shasta
1m 50s
Horatio drove through beautiful countryside in Northern California.
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Bud
1m 57s
Horatio and his driver added a third member to the team in Caldwell, ID, a young bulldog named Bud.
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Lost in Wyoming
3m 19s
After fixing the car in Idaho, Horatio was optimistic that he would make it to Rawlins, WY. They proceeded to get hopeless
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New York
4m 9s
They crossed the Hudson at Albany to a cheering crowd and met up with reporters and Mrs. Horatio Jackson in Peekskill. The
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About the Film
In the spring of 1903, on a whim and a fifty-dollar bet, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson set off from San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car hoping to become the first person to cross the United States in the new- fangled "horseless carriage." Most people doubted that the automobile had much of a future.
Traveling with his co-driver Sewall K. Crocker and a bulldog named Bud, Jackson's trip would prove them wrong. Using a treasure trove of photographs, and relying on previously unpublished letters, Ken Burns and Florentine Films put viewers in the front seat of this historic — and hilarious — journey.
Premiered on PBS: October 6, 2003
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