The application of steam power to the purposes of navigation, forms the brightest era in the history of the West. It was that which contributed more than any other single cause to the advancement of Western prosperity. The amount of produce raised for soncumption, and for export was very great, and the people were, therefore, liberally disposed to purchase foreign products. The amount of commercial capital employed, as compared with the population was great. The introduction of the steamboat extended the channels of intercourse, and brought the different parts of the country more closely together.

"The first fruits of the enterprise were far from encouraging; failure after failure attested the numerous and embarrassing difficulties by which it was surrounded. For although all the early boats were capable of being propelled through the water, and although the last was usually better than those which preceded it, it was long a doubtful question, whether the invention could be made practically useful upon our western rivers, and it was not until five years of experiment and the building of nine expensive steamboats, that the public mind was convinced by the brilliant exploit of the Washington, which made the trip from Louisville to New Orleans and back in 45 days."[235]

The substitution of machinery for manual labor occasioned a vast diminution in the number of men required for the river navigation. A steamboat with the same crew as a barge, was able to carry ten times the burden,[236] and perform her voyage in a much shorter space of time.

The complete success attending the experiments in steam navigation made on the Hudson and the adjoining waters previous to 1809, turned the attention of the principal projectors to the idea of its application on the western rivers; and in the month of April of that year, Mr. Roosevelt of New York, pursuant to an agreement with Chancellor Livingston, and Mr. Fulton, visited those rivers, with the purpose of forming an opinion whether they admitted of steam navigation or not.[237] Mr. Roosevelt surveyed the rivers from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and as his report was favorable, it was decided to build a boat at the former town. This was done under his direction, and in the course of 1811 the first boat was launched on the Ohio.[238] It was called the New Orleans, and intended to ply between Natchez, Mississippi, and the city whose name it bore.[239] In October it left Pittsburg for its experimental voyage.[240] On this occasion no freight or passengers were taken. Mr. Roosevelt, his wife, and family, Mr. Baker, the engineer, Andrew Jack the pilot, and six hands, with a few domestics, formed her whole burden. There were no wood yards at that time and constant delays were unavoidable. Late at night on the fourth day after quitting Pittsburg, they arrived in safety at Louisville, having been but 70 hours descending upwards of 700 miles. The small depth of waters in the Rapids prevented the boat from pursuing her voyage immediately, and during the consequent detention of 3 weeks, in the upper part of the Ohio, several trips were successfully made between Louisville and Cincinnati. Then the waters rose, and in the course of the last week in November the voyage was resumed, the depth of water barely admitting the passage of the boat.[241] They reached their destina tion at Natchez, at the close of the first week in January, 1812,[242] having passed through a severe earthquake on the way. The Louisiana Gasette notices her arrival at New Orleans on January 11th.[243] This steamboat continued to run between New Orleans and Natchez, making her voyage average seventeen days. She was wrecked in 1813 or 1814.[244]

From 1812-1817, the following steam boats were built and launched upon the Ohio River. The Comet, a boat of 25 tons was built at Pittsburg. She descended to Louisville in the summer of 1813; reached New Orleans in the spring of the year 1814; made two voyages from thence to Natchez, and was there sold.[245]

The steamboat Vesuvius of 400 tons was launched at Pittsburg in December 1813, designed as a regular trader between the falls of Ohio and New Orleans.[246] In April, 1814, she sailed from Pittsburg, having been successfully tested in several trial trips of four and five miles up and down the Ohio and Monongahela.[247] Her voyage from Pittsburg to Shippingsport was made in 67½ hours, from Shippingsport to Natchez in 125½ hours, from Natchez to New Orleans in 33 hours, total 227 hours.[248] She was employed for some months between New Orleans and Natchez, and was finally destroyed by fire.[249]

The steamboat Enterprise, built on the Monongahela, arrived at Pittsburg in July, 1814, designed as a packet between that place and the Falls of the Ohio. She was tried against the current of the Monongahela, unusually high and rapid for the season, and made 3½ miles an hour, and then returned with the stream in ten minutes.[250] Having reached New Orleans, the Enterprise made five trips to the Balize, and one to the Rapids of Red River. One of the trips to Natchez was made in four days, a distance of 313 miles, against the strong current of the Mississippi River, without the aid of sails. Another trip from New Orleans, to Beardstown, 1500 miles against the current was made in 25 days.[251] In August, 1815, this steamboat reached Brownsville, in ballast, having discharged her cargo at Pittsburg. The Enterprise was the first steamboat that ever made the voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi and back. The voyage up the rivers, about 2200 miles, was made in 54 days, 20 days being employed in loading and unloading freight at the river towns.[252]

The Buffalo, of 285 tons, was launched at Pittsburg in July 1814, designed to ply between that place and Louisville, once a month.[253] The Despatch, owned as well the Enterprise, by the 'Monongahela and Ohio steam-boat Company ' was built at Bridgeport in 1815, and was expected to pass through the water at the rate of nine miles an hour.[254] The Etna, in 1816, performed a voyage from the Falls of Ohio to New Orleans in 15 days.[255] The Oliver Evans, built at Pittsburg in 1816, was intended for the conveyance of passengers and goods on the Ohio and Mississippi.[256] The Washington, built at Wheeling in 1816,[257] was the boat which made the voyage from Louisville to New Orleans and returned in 45 days, convincing the public that steamboat navigation on the western waters would succeed.[258] Her boilers were on the upper deck, and she was the first boat on that plan.[259] The James Monroe, the Franklin and the Harriett, were also built at Pittsburg.[260]

That the importance of the steamboat to the commerce of New Orleans was clearly recognized as early as 1815, is shown by the following newspaper article. "We have had undoubted proofs of the good effects of the steamboat navigation between this city (New Orleans) and Natchez, and why not extend its beneficial effects to the Ohio and to the different navigable streams emplying into that river. The want of public spirit, properly directed has retarded the salutary object so long. If enterprising men would propose and form associations and companies for building steamboats on the different navigable waters west of the Allegheny mountains it is reasonable to suppose that few men of capital would withhold their support ... surely interest most clearly points out something like the foregoing plan to immediately operate in favor of the trade of the rivers Ohio and Mississippi. The steamboats now in use cannot carry one twentieth part of the goods that might be in demand from this city.... Experience alone will establish what size of boats, or draught of water will be best for the navigation of both rivers ... it appears very reasonable, however, to suppose that the boats of small draught of water would be best calculated for the Ohio, taking into consideration the different stages of the water and how subject that river is to fall very low.... To the commercial interest of New Orleans the steam navigation is of immense consideration, the vast sums of money annually paid in Philadelphia and Baltimore for goods, and carried over the mountains in wagons, would concentrate here. View the course of trade. The merchants of Cincinnati, Lexington, Nashville, and the small towns in the western states, after the extreme labor, anxiety and expense of getting their goods carried from the seaboard by land, are obliged to receive produce in payment, which is floated down to this city, and converted into money for the coffers of the New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore importers—whereas, if the steamboats were in complete operation, the whole western states could be supplied with every kind of goods here, and on better terms than they now are from Philadelphia and Baltimore ... but certainly it is not chimerical to say that if exertions are not made by individuals, or companies through views of gain or otherwise to bring more steamboat tonnage into use for the western trade, it would have been better (as it relates to that trade) that the steam boats had never been in operation—then the old laborious, tedious barging would have continued in full vigor."[261]

The steamboats, making occasional trips up and down the river, created great excitement along the banks, and at the towns and villages their arrival and landings were great occasions.[262] These boats were a queer style of water craft, as they had not assumed the forms that were afterward found to be suited to the river navigation. Their builders copied the models of ships adapted to deep water, and the boats all drew too much water to be available in the dry season, so that they could not be used on the upper Ohio more than about three months in the year. They looked just like a small ship without masts. Some of them were of peculiar models, and all of them had very little power in comparison with boats built later. The first boats had no more decking than a common sailing vessel. Very few of them could make over 2 or 3 miles against the stream when it was strong.[263]

When Fulton commenced steamboat building, be patented the side paddle wheels, and held a monopoly of that form of boat. Niles notes the following incidents arising from this monopoly. "Mr. Livingston of New Orleans under a patent of the State of Louisiana, as the assignee of Fulton and Livingston's exclusive right to navigate the Mississippi and its waters, by steam, so far as respects the navigation from New Orleans to and up the Red River, has prevented the steamboat Despatch, of Pittsburg, from taking a return cargo at New Orleans, though it appears she is worked by machinery quite distinct from that under the aforesaid patent. He has, however, permitted her to go out of the limits of the State without incurring a penalty. The procedure appears likely to create much sensation in the "western world."[264] "The Louisville Correspondent" announces a second attempt of the Livingston steamboat company to interrupt the steam navigation of the Mississippi by boats not under their charter. The procedure excites much sensibility in the western world."[265] "The question of Fulton and Livingston's privilege is again agitated by a suit brought in the federal court of New Orleans, against the steamboat Constitution. We wait with anxiety the result of a question involving the most prominent interests of W. America."[266] The evasion in many of the western boats consisted of placing a wheel on each side of the keel at the stern of the vessel, so that the wheels were out of sight from behind.[267]

The General Pike, built at Cincinnati in 1818, and intended to ply as a packet between Maysville, Cincinnati, and Louisville, is said to have been the first steam boat constructed on the western waters for the exclusive convenience of pass engers. The length of her cabin was 40 feet, the breadth 25 feet, in addition to which there were fourteen state rooms.[268]

The Post-Boy, built at New Albany, in 1819, was intended for the conveyance of mail between Louisville and New Orleans, under an act of Congress, passed March, 1819. This was the first attempt on western waters to carry the mail in steam boats.[269]

Steamboats now multiplied rapidly on the western rivers. In 1817, nine were building on the Ohio and Mississippi, sufficient to make the total number of twenty on those waters.[270] In 1818 there were about twenty-five boats,[271] and the Weekly Register of November 7, says, "Our Western papers inform us of the launching of several new steamboats, and they seem to be building by dozens."[272] The trade between New Orleans and the upper and adjacent country was carried on in this year, by twenty steamboats carrying about 4000 tons,[273] although about nine-tenths of the entire trade was still carried on in the usual craft.[274] Nuttall in 1819, says that there were at that period, about seventy-five steamboats upon the Mississippi and its tributaries, but that owing to the general and unfavorable fluctuation in the commerce of the United States, the number had become greater than their actual employment would warrant.[275] The boats ascending to a point below the Falls were from 300 to 500 tons burthen.[276] Of the 40 boats, built since 1812, 7 had been wrecked, burned, or abandoned, 33 were still plying from place to place, and 28 new ones were building in 1819.[277]

From this time on, the boats multiplied very rapidly; 72 were employed in 1821;[278] in 1826 the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio was carried on in 95 boats;[279] in 1827, 109 steamboats, averaging 170 tons were employed in the trade of these rivers;[280] and in 1829, about 200 boats, whose tonnage may be stated at 35,000 tons, were plying on these rivers.[281]

"The following is a list of the steamboats built on the western waters from 1811-1830."

"Add to this number 188, 15 boats finished this spring (1830) and now running, and 10 built in the last, and the whole number now running on the western waters will be 213. Of this number 86 were built at Cincinnati."

Of the 133 lost or worn out there were

1Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVIII., 97.

As the steamboats were perfected, their speed was greatly increased, rendering communication between the different ports easy and rapid. In 1817, a steamboat made the voyage from the Falls to New Orleans, with a full cargo, in seven days.[282] The steamboat Vesuvius, in the following year, made the passage from Louisville to New Orleans, 1600 miles, in the same space of time.[283] The average speed of a vessel heavily laden was about 60 miles a day.[284] In 1819, the James Ross, coming from New Orleans to Louisville, made the voyage in 14 days.[285] In 1824 the passage from New Orleans to Shippingsport was made in 11 days and 2½ hours, said to be the shortest passage by 12 hours that was ever made up to that time.[286] In 1826 the passage down was made in 6 days, as against 12 to 14 days in 1817; and from 10 to 14 days were required to come up stream as against 22 days in 1817.[287] The steamboat, Lady Washington performed a voyage, in 1827, from Pittsburg to Nashville and back, 2600 miles, in less than 17 days.[288] In The same year, the Huntress made the voyage from New Orleans to Louisville, in 8 days and 11 hours, having lost 10 hours in a fog.[289] The first boat ascending the Allegheny, 1827, proceeded up the river at four or five miles an hour, and returned at the rate of ten miles an hour.[290] A shipment made in 1827, from the port of New York via New Orleans, by the ship Illinois, reached St. Louis in 29½ days. The distance was 3300 miles, and there was a delay of probably two days at New Orleans while the goods were transferred from ship to steamboat.[291]

In 1818, rates for passengers from New Orleans to the mouth of the Ohio was $95; from New Orleans to Shawneetown $105; to Shippingsport $125; children from 2 to 10 years at half price; children under two at one fourth price; and servants at half price.[292] The passage up the river to the Falls, in 1819, cost $100, including provisions; from Shippingsport to New Orleans the cost was $75.[293] The passage up the river to Cincinnati from New Orleans in 1823 was $50; Cincinnati to New Orleans, $25; Cincinnati to Louisville, $4; Louisville to Cincinnati, $6; Cincinnati to Pittsburg, $15; Pittsburg to Cincinnati, $12; Cincinnati to Wheeling, $14; and from Wheeling to Cincinnati $10.[294] In 1827 the passage up the river to Louisville was about eight pounds, which included every expense of living. Many of the vessels carried seven hundred passengers, besides merchandise.[295] A year later, the regular charge for a cabin passenger was $35 from New Orleans to Louisville; for a deck passenger the rate was $10, $2 being struck off, if they were willing to assist in carrying wood.[296] By 1830 passage from Louisville to New Orleans and back was reduced to $30 each way.[297]

Steamboats with their safety barges in tow were to be seen on the Ohio. The Merchant from Pittsburg to Cincinnati, having in two her safety barge with 95 passengers, in 1826, was the first attempt of the kind. The barge had 52 berths and 3 cabins. The steamboat had 2 cabins.[298]

Goods were carried, about the year 1818, at 6¼ cents per pound weight,[299] by 1820 the increase of craft, together with the decreasing quantity of goods imported, had lowered the freight from New Orleans to the Falls of the Ohio to 2 cents per pound.[300] In 1829-1830 goods were delivered at the wharf of Cincinnati for one dollar per hundred pounds, from Philadelphia by way of New Orleans.[301]

The larger boats, on account of the shallowness of the water, usually ascended no farther than Shippingsport.[302] The navigation of the Ohio was often obstructed part of the year by large masses of floating ice.[303] From the middle of February or the first of March to the end of June, and in October or November were the best seasons for navigating the Ohio.[304]/

The steamboats were in constant danger from Planters, Sawyers, and Wooden Islands in the river. A Planter was a tree rooted fast to the bottom of the river and rotted off level with the water. Sawyers were less firmly rooted, and rose and fell with the water, being more dangerous when they pointed down stream. Wooden Islands were logs accumulated against planters.[305] From 1822-1827, the loss of property on the Ohio and Mississippi by snags alone, including steam and flat boats, and their cargoes, amounted to $1,362,500. The losses on the same items, from 1827-1832, were reduced to $381,000 in consequence of the beneficial action of the snag boats.[306] These boats, constructed under the direction of the government, were successful in removing these obstacles at small expense, and with great facility.[307]

As the settlements and business of the valley of the Ohio increased, the danger, delay, and expense of passing the Falls of that river, became a subject of general solicitude. Men of intelligence and enterprise, who were engaged in the river trade at Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and the intermediate towns, having been subjected to the inconvenience and expense caused by that obstruction, from the first settlement of the country, began to discuss the question, whether the difficulty could not be removed. William Noble, an enterprising merchant of Cincinnati, found that, at the time when the commerce of the West was in its infancy, the loss sustained by traders residing above the Falls, amounted in one year to $80,000, including storage, drayage, cooperage, commissions, and the wages of hands during the delay.[308]

The Falls were impassable for steamboats, except during the high floods which usually occurred in the spring and continued for a few days only at a time. They were passed by means of a laborious and expensive portage, extending from Louisville to Shippingsport, a distance of two and a half miles.[309] To remedy these inconveniences, the Louisville and Portland Canal was built round the Falls.[310] The first steamboat that passed through the Canal was the Uncas, on December 21, 1829.[311] This work,which was intended as a great benefit to the commerce of the West, seemed to have failed in accomplishing that purpose, for the following reasons: I. During the greater part of the year it afforded the only outlet for the productions of the larger portion of the Ohio Valley, and the only channel of ingress for the valuable imports of the same region. It was found that boats of great length were those of the greatest speed, and best suited to the navigation of the rivers, and the character of the trade. The length which was found most convenient was greater than the dimension of the locks of the Canal, and thus the boats best adapted to the trade between Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and other ports on the upper Ohio, and St. Louis or New Orleans, were excluded from that commerce, and a smaller class of boats, which were much less profitable, were exclusively employed.[312]

II. The width of the Canal was such that steamboats could not pass each other within it, nor could a loaded boat work her way through, but by a great effort, which occasioned a great loss of time.

III. Excessive tolls were levied, thus imposing an unjust burden upon the owners of the boats navigating the Ohio. The government, as a stockholder, participated in these profits.[313]

In spite of these various adverse conditions, steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rapidly increased, and gradually took the place of the slower and more clumsy draft which had formerly enjoyed a monopoly of the carrying trade on those rivers.