Getting from point a to point b can be challenging when your GPS tells you to turn down a road that is really someone’s driveway.  Our ancestors had even more challenges when they could not even be certain of where point b would be.  Many immigrants came to the new world with a place name and vague instructions how to get there.

The reality of no accessible transportation caused many immigrants to stay where they were or work on finding another point b.  In Canada the development of the railway versus using water ways (canal systems between St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes) allowed individuals to a destination that may have been inoperable due to ice.

With the transportation lines open to the south (United States), many intended Canadian became Americans upon arriving in the new world.

A Traveller’s History of Canada by Robert Bothwell discusses the historical transportation options available throughout Canada.