Spoiler: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 (click to show/hide)Benjamin Frankin, in 1753, in his capacity as deputy postmaster for the northern colonies, appointed by the crown. His mechanical odometer measured distances by counting the rotations of a wheel on his carriage. He spent ten weeks traveling along the Boston Post Road, which linked Manhattan to Boston, marking each mile with a wooden stake. A crew following him replaced his stakes with engraved mile-marker stones.
