FERRY-BOATS AND RIVER-BOATS
The few remaining years in Robert Fulton’s life were very busy ones. In
1809 he formed a stock company to finance the building of steam ferries
to run from New York to Jersey City, and so thoroughly was Fulton trusted
that the entire construction of the new boats was left solely to him.
Before this time there had been rowboat and sail-boat ferries, and a
“horse-boat,” propelled by paddles which were turned by the feet of four
blind horses walking a tread-mill.
We can imagine how welcome were Fulton’s steam ferries. He called
them “twin-boats” because he built each boat with two complete hulls,
connected by a bridge or deck, which provided a wide platform for
carriages and passengers. The ends were rounded, just as they are in
present-day ferries, so that the boats could cross and re-cross the
river without turning; and floating docks were built to receive them,
also “fenders,” to avoid any shock from collision when the boats came to
shore. It has been said that if steam navigation had been applied to no
other purpose than to move these “floating bridges,” over streams where
no other bridge could be built, he who applied it would deserve to rank
among the great benefactors of mankind.
Fulton called his first ferry-boats _York_ and _Jersey_, and the one
he built in 1812 for the East River was named _Nassau_. As traffic
increased between the New York terminals a new street was opened between
the ferries, in 1816-18, and was appropriately named Fulton Street. The
ferry over the East River, where thousands of persons daily crossed to
Brooklyn and other points on Long Island, also honored the inventor, and
was called “Fulton Ferry.”
These busy years of Fulton’s life were harassed by lawsuits over patent
rights; for as soon as steam navigation was proved a success, certain
unscrupulous speculators rushed in to try to make money by the new
invention. Fulton called them “mental pirates” because they tried to
steal the riches of his mind, and in many cases they succeeded in making
more money from the invention than Fulton himself ever gained.
You may remember that during his stay in France Fulton had been impressed
by the splendid possibilities of opening navigation on the great
Mississippi River. This idea came to him when the United States purchased
Louisiana. As soon as the _Clermont_ was established as a passenger
boat on the Hudson River, the partners, Livingston and Fulton, decided
to engage the services of a third person who was interested in steam
navigation, namely, Nicholas J. Roosevelt, a personal friend of both men
and an experimenter, as early as 1781, with an original, although since
abandoned, plan for a steamboat.
At this point comes in an interesting story. Fulton and Livingston
thought it proper and necessary, before launching their new boat upon
western waterways, to write for permission to the governor of the new
state of Louisiana. The fact that they did so would never have been known
had it not been for the discovery of two small boys who went to play, a
few years ago, in an unused loft in Galena, Illinois. There they came
across a box containing papers yellowed by age. Some were written in
French, and these they did not understand, but a few were in English, and
the boys, fresh from school, recognized the well-known names Livingston
and Fulton, when they saw them signed at the end of a letter. So they
tucked that piece of paper into a pocket, and some time afterward,
when it came to light, they told a grown-up person about their find. He
realized at once the value of the old papers and went in search of them,
only to find that the loft had been cleaned since the boys’ visit there
and all the papers cast out and burned by some ignorant person who did
not suspect their value. The documents and letters had belonged to a man
who had been clerk under an early governor of the state. This letter
shows how keenly Livingston and Fulton realized, in spite of doubters,
the advantages which were sure to follow the establishment of steam
navigation:
CLERMONT, STATE OF NEW YORK,
August 20th, 1810.
To his Excellency, The Governor of Upper Mississippi;
SIR;
Wishing to extend the benefit of steamboat navigation to
the Mississippi River, a capital approaching to two hundred
thousand dollars will be required, which capital must be raised
by subscription; but subscribers cannot be obtained until an
effectual law presents a fair prospect of securing to them
such exclusive right as will return emolument equal to the
risk and trouble. In this point the patent law of the United
States is at present imperfect, hence after the example of
encouragement granted by the State of New York we have applied
to the different governments bordering on the Mississippi for
their protection and patronage and thus take the liberty to
transmit to you our petition. To improve the navigation of
the Mississippi by transporting goods for three fourths of the
sum which is now paid and in three fourths of the time; to
render such an establishment periodical, uniform and secure is
an object of such immense importance to the states bordering
on the Mississippi, a work of so much labor and hazard to the
undertakers as we hope will excite the most lively feelings
of patronage and protection both in your Excellency and the
Honourable, the Legislature of Upper Louisiana. On the receipt
of these papers we shall esteem it a particular favor to be
honored with an answer from your Excellency, expressing your
opinion on this subject.
We have the honor to be respectfully,
Your Excellencies most obedient,
ROBT. R. LIVINGSTON.
ROBT. FULTON.
The interest of this letter prompts a warning to all lovers of history to
keep any fragment of possible value; even if old papers have no charm for
you, there is probably somebody searching somewhere for just the bit of
information there recorded. Don’t burn old papers merely because they are
old. Read them and pass on their message.
But let us return to the story of Mr. Roosevelt. In 1809 he had married
Miss Lydia Latrobe, of Baltimore, whom we must confess a brave bride. As
soon as Fulton and Livingston had engaged Mr. Roosevelt’s services, he
went to Pittsburgh, ordered a flat-boat to be built, and undertook the
voyage to New Orleans to study the tides and river depths, and report
their condition to Fulton so that he could decide whether a steamboat
could make the journey down the long river against the strong currents.
Mr. Roosevelt did not travel alone, he took his young bride on the
strange honey-moon trip. Flat-boats or rafts were quite common on the
Mississippi. Mrs. Roosevelt has thus described theirs:
“There was a huge box containing a comfortable bedroom, dining-room,
pantry, and a room in front for the crew, with a fireplace where the
cooking was done. The top of the boat was flat, with seats and an awning.
We had on board a pilot, three ‘hands’ and a man cook. We always stopped
at night, lashing the boat to the shore. The rowboat was a large one,
in which Mr. Roosevelt went out constantly with two or three men to
ascertain the rapidity of the ripples or current.”
It was a six months’ voyage. Mr. Roosevelt carried letters of
introduction to prominent citizens of Cincinnati, Louisville, and other
cities, and found that these gentlemen listened with respectful attention
to his account of the success of the _Clermont_ on the Hudson River,
but none would encourage him to hope that a steamboat would prove a
safe venture for the rapid current of the western river. However, Mr.
Roosevelt took soundings of depths, made maps to show the position of
sand-bars, and compiled a record of the swift flow of tides and of the
general weather conditions. He was thought, as Fulton had been considered
in New York, a mad enthusiast, whose plan would prove a total loss to
any persons unwise enough to spend money in building a boat for the
Mississippi.
They did not arrive at New Orleans until the first of December, from
which port they took passage in a sailing vessel for New York. They had
a hard voyage, for their captain fell sick and there was an outbreak of
yellow fever on board. At Old Point Comfort they decided to leave the
ship, and they made the remainder of the journey by stage-coach, arriving
in New York about the middle of January.
We may imagine how eagerly Fulton and Livingston studied the charts and
listened to Roosevelt’s recital. The adverse criticisms of people living
on the shores of the Mississippi were set aside by the facts noted by Mr.
Roosevelt in his journal, or “log-book,” of the strange voyage. Fulton’s
optimism was always ready to surmount any barrier. It was agreed that
Mr. Roosevelt should immediately return to Pittsburgh to superintend
the building of the first steamboat for western waters. Fulton drew the
plan, which was very different from those he had made for the Hudson
River boats, because the conditions were so unlike those in the east. And
he decided to make the steam engine much more powerful to cope with the
heavy currents.
Under a bluff called Boyd’s Hill, close to an iron foundry, the new
boat, named the _New Orleans_, in honor of the city of her destination,
was built. Timber was scarce and the ribs and beams for the hull had
to be floated down stream from the upper forests. The local workmen
could not understand the plan, and skilled ship-builders and machinists
from Fulton’s New York yards had to be sent to finish the work. This
boat, like that on the Seine, suffered mishap, for one night a heavy
freshet caused the water to rise, set afloat all the valuable timber
and backed the whole ship-yard up stream. Not once, but several times,
the high water threatened to launch the boat before she was ready. But
perseverance conquers all, and finally the finished boat was successfully
afloat upon the waters of the Ohio River.
History repeats itself, as the old adage says. Again the scoffers
gathered by the dock and river bank, laughed at the queer construction
and predicted that the boat would never reach New Orleans.
When it became known that Mrs. Roosevelt intended to accompany her
husband she was warned of her folly; indeed, Mr. Roosevelt was openly
reproved for allowing his wife thus to imperil her life. The boat was
supposed to carry passengers, but none appeared. Nevertheless, plans were
carried out and during the autumn of 1811, on a bright October day, the
_New Orleans_ triumphantly steamed forth from Pittsburgh, in the presence
of a great crowd of people. They cheered as the boat went _down_ the
river, but they openly prophesied that she could never come _up_!
From city to city the steamboat made its brave way. When, during the
fourth night out, Louisville was reached in bright moonlight, the steam
whistle aroused the sleeping town and the people hurried to the river,
thinking that the comet of that year had fallen into the stream! When
morning dawned and they could see that Mr. Roosevelt’s promised steamboat
had arrived, the citizens complimented his perseverance and gave a
banquet in his honor. But they all agreed that the queer vessel never
could go up the river against the current, no matter how successfully she
could steam down.
So Mr. Roosevelt played a good joke on them. He invited a number of
friends to a dinner in the cabin of the boat. While the feast was at its
height, a strange rumbling brought the frightened guests to their feet;
they rushed up on deck to discover that the boat had cast off from the
dock, had turned in the river, and was actually steaming _up stream_, in
spite of all their warnings that it never could!
After they had passed Louisville, while they waited for the water to rise
high enough to pass through the rapids, Roosevelt took the time to turn
the boat back as far as Cincinnati, to show doubters in that city that
the feat was quite possible. The voyage through the rapids was exciting
but the boat darted like an arrow through them and again accomplished the
so-called “impossible.”
The year 1811 was one of strange happenings. A comet blazed in the skies,
a flood covered the lands in the valley, causing an epidemic of sickness,
and earthquakes shook the whole region from the Missouri to the Gulf of
Mexico. Small wonder that the Indians who lived in the forests along the
Ohio and Mississippi paddled away in fright from the steamboat as it
approached. They thought it was an evil thing.
The voyage came to an end, and a happy incident marked its close, for
just before the steamboat reached the city of New Orleans, a tiny
passenger arrived on board to give it final blessing, for a little child
was born to Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt.
The boat was kept at New Orleans to use as a packet between that city
and Natchez, but as pioneer it had proved the possibility for other
steamboats to navigate the big river successfully, and they rapidly
multiplied. Within twenty years after the voyage of the _New Orleans_
hundreds of steam-propellers were paddling their easy way up and down the
river. Steam navigation was a proved fact upon the Mississippi.
In this connection it is interesting to read the following extract from a
letter Fulton wrote to his friend Thomas Jefferson, on April 7th, 1813.
It outlines a still more extended system of steam navigation:
“I am not idle as to torpedoes but secrecy is necessary.
When peace returns, or in four or five years from this date,
I shall have a line of steamboats from Quebec to Mexico and
to St. Mary’s; the route is up the St. Lawrence, over Lake
Champlain, down the Hudson to Brunswick, cross the Delaware to
Philadelphia; by land carriage to Pittsburgh, down the Ohio
and Mississippi to Red River, up it to above Natchitoches: the
total land carriage about five hundred miles, the other route
to St. Mary’s land carriage not more than two hundred miles.
The most of these boats are now constructing.”