"Real Stories From Our History" by John Faris,
published in 1916. Here's the story of the journey of
first steamboat on the Ohio River - interrupted by the
famous New Madrid earthquake of 1811. (!)//
Until 1811 transportation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers was by
means of keelboats, barges and flatboats. The keelboat is described
as being "long and slender, sharp fore and aft, with a narrow gangway
just within the gunwale, for the boatmen as they poled up the stream"
when they were unable to use their oars. Sometimes a low house
covered the keelboat, and it was then called a barge. The flatboat was
"an unwieldy box, and was broken up for the lumber it contained on
its arrival at its destination." Of course it was useful only in going
downstream. Many of the early immigrants loaded their goods on
flatboats, traveled by water as far as possible, then sold their means
of transportation, and completed their journey by land.
The success of Fulton's Hudson River steamboat led many people
to wonder if boats could not be constructed for use west of Pittsburgh.
The fact that ever-increasing multitudes were seeking new homes in
the West made steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi seem very
desirable. But those who knew the rivers best felt that owing to the
treacherous currents and the shifting channels, steamboat traffic would
be impossible.
Finally it was decided by Nicholas J. Roosevelt, Chancellor Livingston
and Robert Fulton ot make a careful study of these currents and if the
results were favorable to build a boat run by steam. In 1809 Roosevelt,
who agreed to make the necessary investigations, floated on a flatboat
to New Orleans, carrying on his investigation as he went. Mrs.
Roosevelt, who accompanied her husband, said of the trip:
The journey in the flatboat commenced in Pittsburg, where Mr.
Roosevelt had it built; a huge box containing a comfortable bedroom,
dining room, pantry, and a room in front of 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 row
boat was a large one, in which Mr. Roosevelt went out constantly
with two or three of the men to ascertain the rapidity of the ripple or
current.
Mr. Roosevelt stopped at Cincinnati, Louisville and Natchez, then the
only places of any importance between Pittsburgh and New Orleans.
To the leading men of these towns he stated his belief that steamboats
on the Ohio and Mississippi could be run successfully. River men as
well as businessmen laughed at him, declaring that he was an idle
dreamer.
But he went ahead with his arrangements, for he had made up his
mind to build a steamboat on his return to Pittsburgh. So confident
was he of the ultimate success oof the project that he purchased and
opened coal mines on the banks of the Ohio and arranged that heaps
of coal should be stored on the shore, in readiness for the vessel he
was sure would need the fuel for its engines.
From New Orleans he went to New York by sea. There, capitalists
were interested in his report. In 1811 he found himself in Pittsburgh,
ready to work on the steamboat. Men were sent to the forests to cut
timber for ribs, knees and beams. These were rafted down the
Monongahela to the shipyard. Planking was cut from white-pine logs
in the old-fashioned saw pits. A shipbuilder and the mechanics
required were brought from New York.
Curious visitors watched the growth of the frame and prophesied
failure. But Mr. Roosevelt smiled at their doubts. At last the boat,
one hundred and sixteen feet long, was ready and was christened
the New Orleans. There was a ladies cabin containing four berths
and Mrs. Roosevelt announced her intention to occupy one of them.
Friends in Pittsburgh appealed to her to give up the dangerous
project but she insisted that there was no danger - she believed in
her husband.
Mrs. Roosevelt's brother J.H.B. Latrobe wrote that "Mr. Roosevelt
and herself were the only passengers. There was a captain, an engineer,
the pilot, six hands, two female servants, a man waiter, a cook and an
immense Newfoundland dog. Thus equipped, the New Orleans
began the voyage which changed the relation of the West - which
may almost be said to have changed its destiny."
Eager watchers at Pittsburgh saw the vessel swing into the stream
and disappear round the first headlands; their prophesies of disaster
at the very start had not been fulfilled. The pilot, the captain and
the crew had their misgivings but these were soon set at rest by
the behavior of the boat.
At Cincinnati, which was reached on the second day after leaving
Pittsburgh, an enthusiastic crowd welcomed the vessel. But still
there were doubters. "Well, you are as good as your word. You
have visited us in a steamboat but we see you for the last time.
Your boat may go down the river but as to coming up it the very
idea is an absurd one."
The doubters in Cincinnati were convinced when the boat returned
from Louisville, having been stopped by the lack of sufficient water
to carry it over the Falls. When the stage of water was right, though,
Louisville was safely passed. Then began days of anxiety, not due
to the steamer's failure to mind her helm but to the great earthquake
of 1811 (New Madrid), which struck terror into the hearts of thousands,
changed river channels and worked other transformations in the
physical appearance of the country for hundreds of miles.
At New Madrid, Missouri, scores of people begged to be taken on
board the steamboat. They reported that the earth had opened and
that many houses and their inhabitants had been swallowed up.
Other settlers hid from the boat, thinking that its appearance was
a part of the calamity that had overtaken the town.
Indians, too, were frightened at the approach of the steamer.
They felt that the smoke from her stacks had something to do with
the heavy atmosphere which accompanied the earthquake and that
she was to be accounted for in much the same way as the great
comet that had appeared in the heavens. Once, when the sound of
escaping steam was heard, it was thought that the comet had fallen
into the river.
One night the New Orleans anchored just below an island. In the
morning the vessel was in the middle of the river. At first it was
thought that she was adrift but it was found that the hawser with
which the vessel had been moored still held. Then it was evident
what had happened: during the night the island had disappeared,
having been broken up by an earthquake.
At last, the New Orleans passed out of the field of the earthquake
and Natchez and New Orleans were reached in good time, ending
the first voyage of a steamboat on the Ohio and Missippi rivers.
Nicholas J. Roosevelt (1767-1854)
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