How far did people travel before the invention of railways and cars?

[Robert]

In the 1830s, when there were turnpikes, roads, horses, and oxen-driven wagons, but no cars or railways, how far would people travel (at most) from a small town located in, say, the Midwest of the United States, if they were living in an area with no canals or water transport?
By 'at most', I'm referring to 'how far would people travel at the furthest, not including explorers or trappers that moved west.'

 

[RocketMan]

Probably not further than their neighborhood.

 

[david]

The "roads" were mud ruts most of the time. Horses were slow (Ox, strong but even slower) so it took a lot of time and effort to travel. So there were no suburbs then town's were small and compact to cut down on travel. Also not everybody had horses back then. Next to a house, a horse was the most expensive thing you could own. So a lot (and there were a lot) of poor people had to walk to get around. Most people who lived on farms got into the nearest town maybe once or twice a YEAR just to sell their crop in the fall and buy seed and other supplies in the spring. Their were many, many people who never went more than 10-15 miles from their home in there lifetime.

It wasn't until the 1950's that we started a nationwide, federally funded highway construction program.