I. The Eastern river craft -- Logs and rafts from Maine -- Dories for Massachusetts fishermen -- Gundalows -- Keelboats in the Mohawk and Susquehanna -- The Chesapeake Bay log canoe -- The "Conner" -- Flatboats for the rice crop -- The South Carolina "patroon" -- Cotton-laden flatboats -- II. Early roads and turnpikes -- From horse trail to corduroy road -- Travellers over the corduroy -- The Plank road -- The Turnpike -- Roads bring an expanding horizon -- The McAdam turnpike -- The- Toll gate -- Advantages of the turnpike -- III. The Directing power -- Early river commerce -- Early plans for canals -- The Spirit of cooperation -- The Settlers need markets -- Robert Morris's reports -- The Force of the Constitution -- IV. Covered bridges -- Crossing streams at fords -- Single-plank bridges -- Problem of bridging wide streams -- Burr's king-post truss -- Toll bridges -- Roofs for bridges -- Bridges built to last -- V. The Cumberland-National Road -- Need for roads -- The General route laid out -- The Cumberland road in politics -- The Road extended west -- Conestoga wagons on the highway -- Conestoga horses and their harnesses -- The Old wagoners and their recreations -- The Stagecoach -- The Postilion -- The Stage driver a personage -- Inns and taverns on the road -- The Road carries America over the mountains -- VI. Great water highways into the west -- The Adaptable raft -- Pirogue, bateau, and keelboat -- Ark, flatboat, barge and packet -- Fitch's steamboat -- Fulton-Livingston partnership -- The Experimental steamboat -- The Clermont's first voyage -- Steamboats to New Orleans -- Clippers at sea -- VII. When canals had their day -- The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal -- The Pennsylvania Canal -- A "Canal trip" over the mountains -- Passengers on the canal -- The Erie Canal -- Population along the canals -- VIII. When trading was retail -- The Peddler -- The Old-time general store -- Barter and cash -- Beginning of specialty stores -- Advertising in the newspapers.

IX. What's new and the newspapers -- Newspapers of the early period -- Growth of newspapers -- Improved printing presses -- Hamilton's newspaper -- The Political press -- The Independent newspaper -- Cheaper newspapers -- The New York Sun -- The New York Herald -- Greely founds The Tribune -- X. Home-life : downstairs -- The Dining room and its furniture -- Hearty meals -- The Pantry -- The Kitchen -- Early cook books -- The Hall and the stairway -- The Dignity of the parlor and its furnishings -- The Study -- XI. Home-life : upstairs -- The Bedrooms -- Fireplaces and stoves -- From candlelight through lamp light to gas light -- The Bathroom -- Decoration -- The Daguerreotype -- Panoramic wallpaper -- XIII. Clothes and their material -- Flax and cotton -- Linsey-woolsey -- Weaving linen cloth -- Sheep-raising -- Sheep's wool into warm cloth -- The Stevens textile mills -- The Cotton gin -- Cotton manufacturing -- Cotton prints -- Fashions for men and for women -- The Sewing machine -- Mr. Butterick's first pattern -- XIII. The Leading metals -- The Mining industries -- Lake Superior copper -- Copper utensils and nails -- Various kinds of coal -- Prejudice against anthracite -- Mining and transporting -- The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company -- Coal a booming industry -- Smelting iron -- Coke -- The Bessemer process -- XIV. Horse-power in agriculture -- The Scythe -- The Cradle -- Binding sheaves by hand -- Threshing by flail and by horse -- Harvesting east and west -- Hussey's reaper -- The McCormick reaper -- XV. Steam in transportation -- Early roads -- The First "rail-roads" were horse propelled -- Oliver Evans's "Orukter Amphibolos" -- John Stevens's steam railroad -- The Pennsylvania Railroad -- The Baltimore & Ohio -- Peter Cooper's steam engine -- The New York Central develops -- Dickens on the American railroad -- The Idea of a transcontinental railroad -- Lincoln and the Union Pacific -- XVI. Celebrating a hundred years -- County and state fairs -- The Idea of an International Exhibition -- The Exhibition buildings -- Music at the exhibition -- The Opening and closing ceremonies.