A pictorial cavalcade illustrating the early development of vehicular transportation.

pt. 1. America before wheels -- From water transport to planks and corduroy roads -- Architect of the nation -- Stage-Coaches, post roads and taverns -- Fast mail and slow progress -- The turnpike takes its toll -- Beyond the Alleghenies -- The "accommodation" and the "sociable" wagons to the west -- The coach that made Concord famous -- "Neither snow, nor rain nor heat ..." -- The wagons go to war -- Celebrities and carriages -- Wheelwrights and fine fellows -- Styled for the carriage trade -- Iron men and wooden wagons -- R.F.D., U.S.A. -- Coaching days and coaching ways driving for prestige and pleasure. pt. 2. All aboard! -- The first practical inventors -- America's first trains on tracks -- Boxes and coaches on wheels -- The "John Bull" and the "DeWitt Clinton" -- The railroads meet the packets -- Evolution of the steam engine -- The rail-splitter at the capitol -- Serving the blue and gray -- The joining of the rails -- Pullman provided comfort and luxury -- Meals on wheels -- Private cars -- Mail by rail -- The immigrants headed west -- Locomotives against blizzards -- Bridges and trestles -- Railroad disasters -- Switches, semaphores and safety -- Freight yards and rail junctions. pt. 3. Omnibuses on iron rails -- Street railways spread -- Pity the poor horses -- Heyday of the horse car -- It started in San Francisco -- But ... will the cable hold? -- Edison electrifies the rails -- New York plans an elevated -- Rapid transit inspires inventors. pt. 4. A-Wheeling we'll go -- Straddle your saddle -- More power by pedaling -- "Boneshaker" into bicycle -- Velocipede mania takes hold -- Dicycles and trycicles -- Big wheels of wheeling -- Bicyclists and bicycle clubs -- Gibson Belles in bloomers -- Motorization completes the cycle.