The road to the Great Salt Lake was not an easy one.
There was a reason the northwest was so sparsely populated. Vast stretches of wilderness lay everywhere, making travel between places extremely difficult. Even the railway connected only a few major cities-which was why Li Wei had chosen the Phantom No. 2.
When he had gone to Clover Town, Li Wei had only needed to take an airship and then ride in a carriage for a few hours.
But to reach the Great Salt Lake by train, he would have needed to spend another ten-odd days in a carriage afterward.
He might as well drive there himself.
Thank goodness this era had no need for anything as troublesome as gasoline. One crate of coal essence was enough for the entire journey, and water was no problem either. Ever since the steam industrial revolution began, the Empire had built its roads as close to water sources as possible, so anyone who ran out could find some nearby in an emergency.
That was also why the northwest was so sparsely populated. Most of it was parched wilderness with no water at all. Without enough water to keep it running, a steam car would lose power and become a heap of scrap metal.
As an aside, although this world had no gas stations yet, it did have Waterworks that supplied water to steam trains and steam cars.
The devices used to fill steam trains were called water cranes. They looked like a numeral seven planted upright in the ground. When a train needed water, the upper arm would be swung over the locomotive's water tank. Someone would climb up, open the lid, position the crane's spout over the tank, and then open the valve to fill it.
Filling a steam car was