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Dear JJ,
Riverboats and the mighty Mississippi. Indeed one of the most intriguing eras of American History. Full not only of romance, danger, excitement, Mark Twain, and much more, but of the story of the blossoming and growth of the Mid-Western United States. Now, it will be impossible to cover the subject with any depth in such a short time, JJ, but, let's see what we can do . . .
Necessity is the mother of invention. Out of the necessity for a better means of commerce, transportation, and communication in the vast interior of a young and growing United States, the steamboat flourished and grew. The steamboat was actually born and tested in the waterways of the eastern seaboard, but it's true destiny was to be realized on the great waterways of the Mid-West on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and their numerous tributary rivers.
As the birth of the steamboat is tied to the birthing of a nation, let's take a quick look at the reasons the steamboat was important and needed. To begin with, as long as the main population of the United States was concentrated along the eastern seaboard, access by sea-going vessels made commerce and transportation relatively easy by the standards of the day. But as the population pushed west across the Appalachian Mountains into the interior of the United States, it became increasingly difficult and expensive to transport supplies and products to the growing population centers. In the early part of the 19th century there was really no viable overland transportation system. The coming of the railroads was still many years away, thus, waterways and rivers were the main mode of transportation, commerce, and communication. Sailing vessels were of little to no use on the inland rivers. Lack of wind, winding and narrow channels, shallows, and strong currents made them impractical to useless. Unable to exploit the power of the wind, the only other power available was human or animal muscle power. This was at best an inefficient and a slow means of moving a vessel up river against the strong river currents. A new and more efficient source of energy was needed. Steam power was to prove the answer.
With the introduction of the steam engine into the United States, it's importance as a source of power for navigating on the inland waterways was immediately apparent to early experimenters. Men such as John Fitch, Oliver Evans, Robert Fulton, James Rumsey, and John Stevens were among the first to apply the steam engine to the navigation of rivers. As early as 1790, John Fitch operated a steamboat of his own design and construction between Philadelphia and Trenton. Continuous commercial operation of steamboats in the U.S. dates from the inauguration of service on the Hudson River in 1807 and 1808 by Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston and on the Delaware River in 1809 by John Stevens.
Whatever the success of the steamboat in the early years in the rivers along the eastern seaboard, nearly all of the early experimenters knew that the real destiny and worth of the steamboat would be found on the inland waterways of the vast interior of the United States. As early as 1785, James Rumsey wrote to George Washington that "boats of passage may be made to go against the current of the Mesisipia or Ohio river . . . from sixty to one hundred miles per day." Oliver Evans as early as 1785 sought to convince western investors to put up the funds to build a steam-propelled boat for use on the western rivers. They agreed and the steamboat was made ready for trial in the spring of 1803, but a flood carried the vessel half a mile inland leaving it high and dry. The steamboat could not be practically returned to the river so the steam machinery was removed to a sawmill.
Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston prepared to extend their use of steam navigation to the western rivers namely the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. But first they sought to obtain exclusive rights to steam navigation on the western rivers by petitioning the legislatures of the states bordering the rivers. Declaring that their vessels would carry goods in one-third less time and at one-third less cost than was customary at the time, they requested exclusive privileges for a twenty-year period as a reward for building one steamboat, with an extension of five additional years for each of the next two boats. Their requests were denied or ignored. Westerners viewed the schemes of Easterners with suspicion. Public sentiment, particularly in the West, did not take kindly to monopoly. A report of a committee of the Kentucky legislature wrote in rejecting the Fulton-Livingston petition - "It would . . . be dangerous and impolitic to invest a man or set of men with the sole power of cramping, controlling, or directing the most considerable part of the commerce of the country for so great a period." Despite all the rejection, however, there was one favorable response. It came from the Territory of Orleans which became Louisiana in 1812. With the aid of Robert Livingston's brother, Edward, a lawyer living in New Orleans, the Fulton group was able to convince W.C.C. Claiborne, the governor of the territory to urge his legislature to grant them a monopoly. The legislature responded with a grant of the desired monopoly for a term of eighteen years. This did not sit well with the other states to the north of Territory of Orleans. The Ohio and Kentucky legislatures passed resolution denouncing the monopoly.
Despite the protests, the Fulton group had their exclusive rights to the lower Mississippi. They proceeded with establishing their plan to run a steamboat service over the entire length of the rivers from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. Construction of the first steamboat was soon underway. Nicholas Roosevelt made a preliminary survey of the rivers as to navigation. In late October of 1811, their vessel, the New Orleans, with Roosevelt in command, left Pittsburgh on her 2000-mile maiden voyage to New Orleans. After various delays, she reached the city of New Orleans in January of 1812. Thereafter the New Orleans was placed in the New Orleans-Natchez trade, where she ran profitably for her owners until her loss in 1814 as the result of striking a stump. Within the next several years the Fulton group added three more steamboats to their service: the Vesuvius, the Aetna, and the second New Orleans.
Up to now, JJ, one could say that Robert Fulton must be given credit for bringing the steamboat to the mighty Mississippi, but there is another lesser known name that deserves as much if not greater credit, that of Henry M. Shreve. But, as I am almost out of space for this article, let me suggest that we continue this epic on steamboats in a future issue of JJ's News. I will tell you of how Henry Shreve helped to break the Fulton group's monopoly on the lower Mississippi. And of how he brought the steamboat, Washington, upstream from New Orleans to Louisville in a record time of twenty-five days demonstrating the viability of steam navigation to a western public eager for a faster and more efficient means of transportation.
Most sincerely yours,
Dr. Afflatus Xenognosis - Lhasa, Tibet
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