Before 1883, the US had over 100 time zones. If you were on a cross-country train trip, you had to adjust your watch by 1 minute every 12 miles to keep up with the local (sun) time.
FDR had the US on "war time", essentially a permanent Daylight Saving Time, 24 hrs/day. The motive was said to be to conserve oil. I wish they would keep DST year-round.
Richard
George Harris Member # 2077
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quote:Originally posted by yukon11:Before 1883, the US had over 100 time zones. If you were on a cross-country train trip, you had to adjust your watch by 1 minute every 12 miles to keep up with the local (sun) time.[/QB]
It was far worse than that. Time could vary county by county or even town by town, depending upon what was the designated setter of the time, most usually the county courthouse clock, or the town bank clock. Then if you went to the railroad station, they might be on another time, usually that at the railroad company headquarters. It was common for the railroad to send a time signal over the telegraph lines at noon so that there was a consistent time for their operations.
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