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The 1900's

Watch Out, Here Comes a Horesless Carriage

Watch Out, Here Comes a Horesless Carriage
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.24

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    determined, prosperous, horseless, producer, inventive, internal, feasible, over-sized, tiller, promotion, reverse, sawmill, pursue, chief, decade, invest
     content words:    Robert Fulton, Mississippi River, Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company, Clara Bryant, Edison Illuminating Company, Motor Company, Highland Park, Eli Whitney

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Watch Out, Here Comes a Horesless Carriage
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     Before the 1900's, man had to pretty much depend on his own two feet or animal power to get from place to place. Advances in transportation had been made. Robert Fulton had invented a steam engine. This engine was now used to propel boats up and down the Mississippi River as well as on oceans. Using steam to propel a land vehicle had been a success on overland trains. But stoking a fire to make steam for a vehicle for personal use just didn't seem feasible. Inventors had tried with little success.
 
2     Henry Ford was a pioneer in trying to find a way to produce a vehicle that everyone could enjoy. As the founder of Ford Motor Company, he contributed many ideas that have remained a part of the automobile industry for over 100 years.
 
3     Henry Ford was born in 1863 on a farm in what is now Dearborn, Michigan. He was the first of six children in his family. His father was a prosperous farmer who intended for his son to follow in his footsteps. Henry had other ideas. He never did really like farming. He was more interested in taking things apart to see how they ran. His interest in machinery led him to leave home at the age of 16. He apprenticed himself to a machinist in nearby Detroit. He stayed there for three years learning all he could about machines. When he returned to Dearborn, he supported himself by getting jobs in factories, fixing and operating steam engines, and working on his father's farm equipment. In 1888, he married Clara Bryant and took a job as the manager of a sawmill.

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