Between 1800 and 1900, the way Americans moved around their world changed drastically.

In 1800, the only practical way to travel and trade across long distances was along the nation’s natural waterways. As a result, settlement clung to the nation’s coasts and rivers. A few roads connected major cities, but travel on them was difficult and time consuming.

One hundred years later, railroads sped along thousands of miles of track. Large ships moved passengers and freight across the oceans and smaller boats plied the nation’s rivers, lakes and canals. Bicycles, carriages and wagons rolled over thousands of miles of roads. Seventy-five million people lived coast to coast, many in towns and cities that had sprouted up along the new routes.

One of the fastest growing of these young cities was Chicago. In 1800 the state of Illinois didn’t exist; by 1900, its largest city was an economic powerhouse with over 1.6 million residents. Located at the intersection of river, lake and railroad routes, Chicago’s industrial, manufacturing and commercial life depended on the boats and trains traveling into and out of the city. Lake steamers carried coal and iron ore to Chicago’s steel mills. Railroads brought livestock to the city’s stockyards and shipped sides of beef, pork, and lamb to the rest of the country.

Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward—both Chicago firms— sold everything including the kitchen sink and guaranteed delivery to the nation’s doorstep, or at least to the nearest railroad station.
By 1900, the average American had come to depend on far-flung places for the basic staples of life. Fruit from California, furniture from Chicago and clothes from New York now criss-crossed the country with a speed and ease unheard of a century earlier.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/themes/story_48_1.html

Did Americans ride Bison and any other weird animals? Did they ever have camel riders? It seems most of the articles only show urban transport but omit what cowboys and farmers used to ride.