Horatio Nelson Jackson

Horatio Nelson Jackson (March 25, 1872 – January 14, 1955) was a Canadian-American physician, Army medical officer, businessman, and automobile pioneer. In 1903, he and his hired mechanic and driving partner Sewall K. Crocker became the first people to drive an automobile across the United States, a road trip from San Francisco to New York City, with additional miles travelled to his home in Vermont.

Jackson served in World War I and was a key organizer of the American Legion, where he held the position of Vice Commander. He was also the owner of the Burlington Daily News, president of the Burlington Trust Bank, and owner of the first local radio station WCAX. He was nicknamed "The Mad Doctor."

Jackson was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on March 25, 1872, a son of Samuel Nelson Jackson (1838–1913) and Mary Anne (Parkyn) Jackson (1843–1916). His siblings included J. Holmes Jackson, who served several terms as mayor of Burlington, Vermont and S. Hollister Jackson, who served as Lieutenant governor of Vermont until his death in the great Vermont flood of 1927. Horatio N. Jackson also maintained a close lifelong relationship with his cousin, Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn, who was the founder of The Chicago School of Psychology.

Jackson attended the schools of Toronto and Toronto's collegiate institute. He graduated with an MD degree from the University of Vermont in 1893, and became the House Surgeon in the Mary Fletcher Hospital until 1895 when he became a physician at the Brattleboro Retreat also known as the Vermont Asylum for the Insane. He then practiced private medicine in Burlington until 1900, when health issues led him to retire from active medical work.

Besides his medical practice, Jackson was an auto enthusiast who differed with the then-prevailing wisdom that the automobile was a passing fad and a recreational plaything. While in San Francisco's University Club as a guest on May 18, 1903, he agreed to a $50 wager (equivalent to $1,792 in 2025) to prove that a four-wheeled machine could be driven across the country in less than 90 days. He accepted, even though at age 31 he did not own a car, had practically no experience driving, and had no maps to follow. Jackson and his wife planned to return to their Burlington, Vermont, home in a few days, and both had been taking automobile driving lessons while in San Francisco. She returned home by train, allowing him to take his adventure by automobile.

Having no mechanical experience, Jackson convinced a young mechanic and chauffeur, Sewall K. Crocker, to serve as his travel companion, mechanic, and backup driver. Crocker suggested that Jackson buy a Winton car. He bought a slightly used, two-cylinder, 20 hp Winton, which he named the Vermont, after his home state, bade his wife goodbye, and left San Francisco on May 23, carrying coats, rubber protective suits, sleeping bags, blankets, canteens, a water bag, an axe, a shovel, a telescope, tools, spare parts, a block and tackle, cans for extra gasoline and oil, a Kodak camera, a rifle, a shotgun, and pistols.

Heeding the failed attempt by automobile pioneer Alexander Winton (founder of the Winton Motor Carriage Company, which manufactured Jackson's car) to cross the deserts of Nevada and Utah, Jackson decided to take a more northerly route through the Sacramento Valley and along the Oregon Trail. This allowed them to avoid the higher passes in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains.

On May 23, 1903, the car was transported by ferry from San Francisco to Oakland and pointed eastward. But only 15 miles (24 km) into the journey, the car blew a tire. Jackson and Crocker replaced it with the only spare they had, in fact, the only right-sized spare tire they could find in all of San Francisco.