Turnpike - Project Algerine

Project Algerine explores the history of the Turnpike road in Erie, Pennsylvania, and how it was built out of necessity for safe travel routes and commerce in the early 1800s. The road was constructed by the Turnpike Company, which was formed by a group of men who realised the old road leading south was nearly impassable and not conducive to trade. The road was used to transport salt from Selena, New York, to Erie, where it was offloaded and carried by horse-drawn carts to Waterford before being loaded onto boats heading downriver to Pittsburgh.

Highlights
- The Turnpike road in Erie, Pennsylvania was built out of necessity for safe travel routes and commerce in the early 1800s.
- The road was constructed by the Turnpike Company, which was formed by a group of men who realised the old road leading south was nearly impassable and not conducive to trade.
- The road was used to transport salt from Selena, New York, to Erie, where it was offloaded and carried by horse-drawn carts to Waterford before being loaded onto boats heading downriver to Pittsburgh.
- The need for safe travel routes and established trade routes between towns and boroughs was in high demand, especially with the number of new immigrants growing larger each day.
- The construction of the Turnpike road was proposed after a demand for a specific mineral that was in short supply.
- The murders of a group of families traveling north from Carlisle to Erie in the late 1700s brought attention to the need for safe travel routes.
- Chaos theory suggests that a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects somewhere else, and Erie is not immune to this theory as seen in the retaliation by Native Americans to the attack by fur traders on their tribe.
All music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio