Transportation and the Location of Cities 
In spite of its many railroads 
radiating outward like the 
spokes of a wheel, and its 
steamship lines radiating to 
all parts of the world, Boston 
cannot rival New York. When 
the Hoosac Tunnel was cut 
through Hoosac Mountain in 
the northwestern corner of 
Massachusetts in 1874, thus 
shortening the distance by rail 
between Boston and the Mo- 
hawk valley, it was thought 
that the grain and meat of the 
fertile Middle West would be 
brought to Boston on their 
way to the European market. 
Only small quantities of these 
products, however, are sent through Boston, although the route from 
Chicago to Europe is 180 miles shorter via Boston than via New York. 
The heavy railroad grades between Boston and the Hudson-Mohawk 
valley explain a part of Boston’s disappointment, while the rest is 
largely due to New York's better harbor and to that city’s location 
nearer to the food-producing plains of the West and South. 
Why Philadelphia is the third largest city in the United States. 
Let us answer two questions in regard to Philadelphia: (1) Why has 
it grown to such great size? (2) Why is it not so large as New York? 
One reason for Philadelphia’s growth is its position on a good river 
harbor at the head of Delaware Bay. Another reason is that this 
harbor is the most convenient from which to ship the soft coal of west- 
ern Pennsylvania to the manufacturing cities of the New England 
coast. The hard coal of the Scranton and Wilkes Barre region in east- 
ern Pennsylvania can go to New York as easily as to Philadelphia, but 
the soft coal comes to Philadelphia, chiefly over the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, which crosses the Appalachian Mountains in the level valley 
of the Susquehanna. This Susquehanna route has more to do with 
Philadelphia’s present prosperity than has the city’s location at the 
junction of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. 
Three geographical reasons have helped to prevent Philadelphia 
from becoming as large as New York. First, although the Susque- 
hanna River provides a good route through the ridges of the Appala- 
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