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Elihu Hoyt (1771-1833) traveled from Deerfield, Massachusetts, to spots in New York several times and recorded what he saw in small hand-sewn booklets. In this small book, he wrote that they traveled 500 miles in 5 days. He comments on how oxen are better than horses for farming and writes about the best route to New York State "trying to miss the ridges" and passing Hoosick Mountain "with tolerable care." He declares that a steamboat, which can travel at 10 miles per hour, will speed travel greatly within the next 30 years.