INTRODUCTION
The Benz Patent Motorwagon changed the world. Created by Karl Benz around 140 years ago in 1886, it is widely regarded as the world’s first true automobile. Today there are over one and a half billion cars in the world.
And every one of these cars has a unique story – and I mean every car. From the very first sputtering horseless carriage to the sleek machines of today, each vehicle carries the story of adventures, journeys, and moments that changed lives.
Here at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, 500 magnificent old automobiles stand like time capsules, each one whispering tales of the journeys they’ve made and the roads they’ve traveled and the history they’ve witnessed.
But there is one car’s story that is absolutely extraordinary.
Picture this: In San Francisco’s prestigious University Club, the evening of May 18, 1903. California’s elite – mining barons, business tycoons, political powerbrokers – are discussing gold strikes, railway deals, and election prospects. But then there is one topic that electrifies the room, the latest craze that’s capturing everyone’s imagination: the automobile.
Among them was Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, a wealthy thirty-one-year-old physician from Vermont who was intrigued with the automobiles that were beginning to appear on city streets.
At the time, these ‘horseless carriages’ were still considered a passing fad by most Americans, or expensive playthings for the wealthy with little practical value beyond short jaunts through the few paved city streets.
The debate that evening reflected the prevailing scepticism about automobiles. They were noisy, unreliable, expensive to maintain, and required constant attention. Someone at the table scoffed at the very idea that a car could travel any significant distance.
The American frontier, they reasoned, was too vast, too wild, too unforgiving for such delicate machinery. Cross the continent by automobile? Impossible!
A BOLD CLAIM
But Horatio Jackson disagreed. “I’ll bet fifty dollars,” Jackson declared, “that I can drive a car from San Francisco to New York City in less than ninety days.” Now, fifty dollars in 1903 was not an insignificant sum, but hardly worth risking one’s life over.
Perhaps it was the spirit of adventure that had taken him to Mexico and Alaska seeking mining opportunities. Perhaps it was the confidence of a man who had never encountered an obstacle he couldn’t overcome.
Whatever the reason, when challenged to prove the automobile’s potential, he didn’t hesitate. It was about vision, about proving that the future belonged to the automobile; about demonstrating that American ingenuity and determination could conquer any challenge.
It was a bold claim from a man who didn’t even own a car, had virtually no driving experience beyond recent lessons in San Francisco, and possessed no maps for such a journey. The few maps that existed showed railroad routes and major cities, but the roads between those cities, if they could be called roads, were largely undocumented.
But Horatio Nelson Jackson was not a man to back down from a challenge. The bet was accepted, and history was about to be made.
Join me as we follow the tyre tracks of Horatio Jackson on an incredible journey across America – and the very first by car.
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AMERICA IN 1903
Now, to understand the audacity of Jackson’s wager, we must understand the America he proposed to cross. In 1903, there were approximately 32,920 registered automobiles in the entire United States, a nation of more than 80 million people.
That’s one car for every 2,430 people. Cars were concentrated almost exclusively in major cities where the roads were paved. Beyond city limits, America was connected by dirt tracks, wagon trails, and the remnants of old pioneer routes.
No gas or petrol stations existed along the roadside. No garages offered repairs. No road maps showed the way across the vast plains, deserts, and mountains that separated the coasts. The infrastructure for automobile travel simply didn’t exist.
America in 1903 was still transitioning from the horse-and-buggy era to the industrial age. Small towns dotted the landscape, connected by rail lines that had made cross-country travel possible in just days.
The transcontinental railroad had been completed in 1869, making it possible to travel from coast to coast in about three and a half days of comfortable rail travel.
But traveling by car? Well, that was another matter entirely! The few who had attempted it had failed spectacularly.
In 1901, Alexander Winton, founder of the Winton Motor Carriage Company in Cleveland, Ohio, attempted to drive from San Francisco to New York but became hopelessly stuck in a Nevada sand drift and had to abandon the journey completely.
FOUR DAYS’ PREPARATION
Well, Horatio Jackson had just four days to prepare for his epic journey. He enlisted the help of Sewall K. Crocker, a twenty-two-year-old bicycle racer and mechanic who had been working in a gas engine factory. Crocker would serve as mechanic, navigator, backup driver, and companion on this mad adventure.
Jackson purchased a slightly used 1903 Winton touring car for about $3,000 – more than he should have paid, but his options were limited. He named it the ‘Vermont’ after his home state.
The Winton was a two-cylinder, 20-horsepower machine with worn rear wheels and an open-air design. There was no roof, no windshield, nothing to protect its passengers from the elements.
The car was loaded with an astonishing array of supplies: coats, rubber protective suits, sleeping bags, blankets, canteens, a water bag, an axe, a shovel, a telescope, tools, spare parts, a block and tackle, extra cans for gasoline and oil, a Kodak camera, and an arsenal that included a rifle, a shotgun, and pistols. They removed the backseat to make room for all these provisions.
CHOOSING A ROUTE
Learning from Alexander Winton’s failure in the Nevada desert, Jackson chose a more northerly route. Instead of heading directly east, he would drive north through California’s Sacramento Valley, into Oregon, and then turn east along what would later become known as the Oregon Trail.
This route would avoid the highest passes of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, though it would add considerable distance to the journey.
On May 23, 1903, with a crowd gathered to witness the departure, Jackson and Crocker pointed their machine northeast-ward and began their journey into the unknown. They made it 24kms or fifteen miles before their first breakdown, when a tire blew.
Northern California greeted them with beautiful countryside and challenging roads. The car twisted and bounced over dirt tracks that were barely more than wagon trails. They drove through the Sacramento Valley, past Mount Shasta’s majestic peak, and into the high desert country of northeastern California.
MIXED DIRECTIONS
Progress was slow and painful. The roads, when they could be called roads at all, were rutted, rocky, and treacherous. Dust clouds followed them everywhere, coating everything and everyone in a fine, choking powder.
They navigated using incomplete cycling maps and directions from locals, some of whom had never seen a map and could only point vaguely in the direction of the next town.
In one memorable incident, a woman deliberately gave them wrong directions, sending them more than 160kms or about 100 miles out of their way so that her relatives in another county could have the thrill of seeing an automobile.
Jackson and Crocker took the deception in their stride, understanding that to these frontier families, the sight of their motor car was a once-in-a-lifetime wonder.
MORALE BOOSTER NEEDED
Near Caldwell, Idaho, they added a third member to their expedition: a Pit Bull puppy they named Bud. For fifteen dollars, the little dog became their constant companion and morale booster.
The open car and dusty roads soon bothered Bud’s eyes, so Jackson fashioned a pair of driving goggles to fit the dog’s face. The image of Bud sitting between the two men, sporting his goggles, became one of the iconic images of the journey.
Near Mountain Home, Idaho, they became local celebrities, with people lining up to see the car and its crew. But fame didn’t make the roads any better. They encountered sand drifts that required them to create a 100-foot or 30m path of sagebrush, drive the car over it, then move the sagebrush forward and repeat the process for many miles.
In Wyoming, while waiting for parts in the town of Archer, Jackson missed his fourth wedding anniversary; his beloved Bertha had chosen to return to Vermont by train. The railroad network still provided the real transportation infrastructure of America, and the parts for the car had to arrive by train.
The cyclometer – that’s the device that measured their speed and distance – fell off somewhere in Idaho, leaving them with no accurate way to track their progress for the remainder of the journey. And so now they were navigating largely by instinct and the kindness of strangers.
Wyoming tested them severely. On the road to Cheyenne, they got lost and ran out of money. For thirty-six hours, they went without food, pushing and coaxing their machine across a landscape that seemed designed to defeat them.
Cowboys with lassos, or lariats, pulled them out of sand drifts. Ranch wives traded home-cooked meals for the privilege of a ride in the ‘Vermont Machine’.
THE OLD AND THE NEW
Jackson and Crocker encountered pioneers in horse drawn wagon trains who were still making the westward journey that had defined American expansion for generations. The contrast was stark: these families traveling at about three miles per hour in covered wagons; and Jackson’s automobile, when it was working well, capable of around 25 mph, or 40 kmh. Old America and new America, the past and the future, met on those dusty trails.
The Winton broke down constantly. They waited for parts. They improvised repairs. They enlisted the help of local blacksmiths, who had never seen an automobile but understood machinery well enough to help. The journey consumed more than 600 gallons or 2,270 litres of gasoline, [or] petrol, purchased in small quantities from general stores and hardware shops.
Jackson’s improbable adventure hadn’t gone unnoticed. When parts were shipped to him by train from the Winton company, they realized what he was attempting. Word spread, and soon other automobile manufacturers saw an opportunity for publicity.
THE RACE BEGINS
The Packard company dispatched their own automobile from San Francisco, determined to pass Jackson and claim the glory of being first across the continent. An Oldsmobile followed soon after. What had begun as a gentleman’s bet had become a race – a serious competition!
Once they crossed into Nebraska on July 12, everything changed. Paved roads became more common. Suddenly, they could cover 400kms, or 250 miles, in a single day instead of struggling for around 50kms, or 30miles. They sped through Iowa, their spirits soaring as the distant finish line beckoned ahead.
In Chicago, Jackson was met by his cousin, Herbert A. Parkyn. For a brief moment, they could rest among family and friends, celebrating how far they’d come. The worst was behind them – or so they thought.
Just east of Buffalo, New York, disaster nearly struck. The Vermont hit a hidden obstacle in the road at speed. Jackson, Crocker, and Bud were thrown from the car. It was their only accident of the entire journey, and miraculously, none of them were seriously injured. They picked themselves up, checked the car, and continued eastward.
VICTORY AT A COST
At 4:30 a.m. on July 26, 1903, after 63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes of travel, Horatio Nelson Jackson and Sewall K. Crocker crossed the Harlem River into Manhattan. Bud sat between them, still wearing his goggles – the first canine celebrity of the automotive age.
They had covered approximately 10,000kms or 6,000 miles. Unfortunately the exact distance was unknown since the cyclometer had fallen off. They had traversed deserts and mountains, crossed rivers and plains, survived breakdowns and accidents, endured hunger and exhaustion. They had proved that the automobile was more than a toy, and certainly more than just a passing fad.
The automobile manufacturers who had sponsored the competing cars never caught them. Jackson had won the race he didn’t even know he was running!
The financial cost was staggering. Jackson estimated that he had spent $8,000 on the journey, equivalent to about US$260,000 today. The $50 wager seemed laughably small in comparison, and they never collected it anyway. But Jackson had won something far more valuable than money. He had won a place in history.
The news spread across the nation through telegraph wires and newspaper headlines. The ‘Mad Doctor’ who had departed San Francisco on what many considered a fool’s errand, had arrived triumphantly in New York. Suddenly, the automobile wasn’t just a rich man’s toy. It was the future of American transportation.
NOVELTY TO NECESSITY
The journey helped shift public perception of the automobile from novelty to necessity. If a car could cross an entire continent, surely it could handle daily trips to town, visits to relatives, or business travel?
The publicity generated by Jackson’s success was exactly what the fledgling automobile industry needed. Orders for Winton cars increased dramatically. Other manufacturers rushed to sponsor their own cross-country attempts, hoping to capture similar publicity and prove their vehicles’ reliability. By 1907, there had been eleven successful transcontinental automobile trips.
The routes improved as drivers learned from those who went before. The cars became more reliable as manufacturers addressed the weaknesses revealed by these gruelling tests. The time required decreased dramatically, from Jackson’s 63 days to just 33 days by 1904, and eventually down to weeks, then days.
When World War I broke out, Jackson served with distinction as a captain in the Medical Corps and received medals for his service, proving once again that obstacles were merely challenges to be overcome.
Bud, the goggle-wearing Pit Bull who had charmed America, lived out his days in peaceful retirement in Burlington, Vermont, with Jackson and Bertha. He became a local celebrity, with people visiting just to see the famous dog who had crossed America. Bud died in 1921, having lived a life more adventurous than most humans could claim.
SYMBOL OF FREEDOM
The Winton ‘Vermont’ that had carried them across the continent was preserved and eventually donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where it remains on display today.
The car stands as a testament to American innovation, pioneering spirit, and the willingness to attempt the impossible. Jackson’s journey foreshadowed the development of the American highway system that would transform the nation. The Lincoln Highway, conceived in 1913 as America’s first transcontinental highway, would follow roughly the same route Jackson had pioneered.
Eventually, the Interstate Highway System, authorized by President Eisenhower in 1956, would make crossing America a comfortable, predictable experience taking just a few days of highway driving.
Jackson’s journey helped establish the road trip as an American tradition. The idea that one could simply get in a car and drive across the country, experiencing the vast diversity of American landscapes and communities, became a symbol of American freedom.
When Horatio Nelson Jackson accepted that fifty-dollar wager in a San Francisco club, he had no idea what lay ahead. He owned no car. He had no experience. The roads were unmapped, and success seemed impossible. Yet he said yes to the challenge, trusting that the journey would reveal the way.
A JOURNEY OF FAITH
Now, when you think about it, isn’t that exactly what God asks of us when He calls us to faith?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
When we trust in God, [He] rarely shows us the entire route from beginning to end. Instead, He asks us to trust Him for the next step, to move forward even when the way ahead is unclear. Here’s what the Bible says:
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith is not a destination. It’s a journey. And like every great journey, it begins with a single step taken in the direction of something you cannot yet fully see.
Now, every journey of faith starts at the same place: the honest recognition that we cannot find our way alone. We have wandered, made wrong turns, and built our lives on foundations that were not stable.
But if we choose to come to God, we find there is no judgement. Rather He is waiting with arms outstretched for us to return. God’s grace and forgiveness is totally unexpected, undeserved, and absolutely transforming. And it is that moment of surrender that the journey of faith truly begins.
A PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION
But let nobody promise you that the road is easy. Scripture never does. Jesus himself warned that the way is narrow and the path sometimes hard.
The wilderness of life strips away what you don’t need. The valley teaches you to trust what you cannot see. The mountain teaches you that with God, nothing is impossible. The journey itself transforms you.
Here is what every weary pilgrim needs to hear: you will not be abandoned on this road. The journey of faith is about direction; it is about trusting the One who does.
But here’s the challenge: how often do we abandon God’s calling at the first sign of difficulty? We pray for direction, take a step of faith, encounter an obstacle, and immediately assume we’ve heard wrong, or God has changed His mind. But sometimes God allows obstacles, not to stop us, but to test our commitment and build our character.
KEEPING ON KEEPING ON
We’re called to be faithful in the journey. Consider the challenges Jackson faced. He broke down 24kms, or fifteen miles, from his starting point. Fifteen miles! Most people would have taken that as a sign to quit, proof that the journey was foolish from the start. But Jackson didn’t interpret early setbacks that way. He fixed the car and he kept going. Now, listen to what the Bible says:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2-3)
Faith requires courage to begin without seeing the end, perseverance to continue through obstacles, wisdom to accept help from others, and trust that God can use our obedience in ways far greater than we imagine. And here’s some brilliant advice and guidance from God’s Word:
“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The question is not whether the road ahead is difficult – it will be. The question is rather, whether we’ll have the faith to begin the journey anyway, trusting that the God who calls us will also sustain us and carry us through it.
SPECIAL OFFER AND CLOSING PRAYER
Now, if you’re curious about faith and the blessings it can bring you, and if you want to explore what God is really like, then I’d like to recommend the free gift we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers today.
It’s the booklet, What is Faith? This booklet is our gift to you and is absolutely free. I guarantee there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. So, make the most of this wonderful opportunity to request your free copy today.
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Be sure to join us again next week, when we will share another of life’s journeys together.
