Steamships were the quickest mode of water transportation, but waterways were also utilized by sailing sloops, barges, and ferries. The linking of Lake Champlain to the Hudson River via the Champlain Canal in 1823 served to increase all water traffic coming and going from Vermont. Steamships became bigger and more luxurious, though not always more comfortable. In the early days of railroads in Vermont, steamboats were an essential link in connecting rail lines on both sides of Lake Champlain. Steam is water that has been vaporized.
Water is heated until the liquid becomes an invisible, odorless gas.
It looks whitish and cloudy because there are tiny droplets of liquid water mixed in with the vaporized water, or steam. When water becomes steam it increases in volume 1,600 times. This enormous transformation in volume can be harnessed to operate mechanical devices.