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Elihu Hoyt (1771-1833) traveled from Deerfield, Massachusetts, to destinations in New York on several occasions and recorded his observations in small hand-sewn booklets. In this small volume, he records that they traveled 500 miles in 5 days. He muses on the superiority of oxen to horses for farming purposes and upon the best route to New York State "trying to miss the ridges" and passing Hoosick Mountain "with tolerable care." He declares that a steamboat, which can travel at ten miles per hour, will speed travel immeasurably within the next thirty years.