The canal, the road not taken

n my opinion, one of the wrong turns we made, as we stumbled up through history, was away from canals and toward roads and railroads for long distance goods transport.

Yep we can move goods faster via truck train or plane but many of our day to day needs can be transported slower (and far far cheaper) without any harm to the goods (Rice, Portland cement, lumber, etc., etc., etc.)

Consider: According to ‪A dictionary of science, literature, & art,‬ By William Thomas Brande, Joseph Cauvin 1872, A single horse and cart, could move about one ton (907 kilograms) from point A to point B, all day long and be happy doing it.

Now consider: If you put the horse on a towpath next to a canal, run a rope from his harness to the canal boat he can comfortably draw 50 times that load (50 tons or 45,000 kilograms!).

Now today, if we still had/used canals for goods transport, it wouldn't matter if we put a horse on the towpath or a one horsepower engine on wheels, we could still draw 50 tons!

Oh yea, the picture: Done with a three color palette (red, yellow and Prussian blue) on Canson's 140 pound cold pressed watercolor paper, 9 by 12 inches.