Consider the following:
On December 14, 1799, when George Washington died, it took the information seven days to travel 240 miles from northern Virginia to New York . The speed with which information travelled was largely determined by the speed of transportation. News traveled only as fast as people, whether by messenger, the mail, or the shipment of newspapers.
Excerpted from: The First Tycoon, The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles.
I highly recommend this book.
