4 ms·
Every American midwest town is on a river. Because the pioneers needed water, every day. Carrying water is a huge chore.
by JoeAltmaier 4y ago
Every American midwest town is on a river. Because the pioneers needed water, every day. Carrying water is a huge chore.
- s1artibartfast 4y agoIt is not only a huge chore, but you can only go a short distance from water before the time to transport is uses every productive hour of labor. No time to grow food or make things.
- bioemerl 4y agoWe still need water, and living on the river is still the most sustainable source of it, plus the incredible amounts of transportation you can do inland with rivers out matches roads by a thousand times. I would never not live on a river. The ocean is cool and all, but it's full of salt and you can't drink that.
- dredmorbius 4y agoRivers provided water, yes, but also transportation. Some prior to the development of steam, but especially with steamships, at which point major river systems, and most notably the Mississippi-Missouri, became the first great internal highway system. This is why the port of New Orleans was so significant in both the War of 1812 and the American Civil War: it controlled all commerce out of the North American / U.S. interior.