The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-08-01
THE FIRST STEAMBOAT.
q miniseenc,s of the Trial Trip Of Fulton
"Clermont" BY the Only Surviving Pas
senger. I

Just after the noble steamship City Of
Para had glided from her stocks into the
Delaware, a spectator, watching the inn
mense vessel rs she fioatcd gracefully in
midstream, remarked that Fulton, like
Columbus and Copernicus, died ignorant OF
the real grandeur and Importance of his
discoveries, and had he foreseen men like
Roach turning out every few weeks q float
ing iron palace capable of carrying craft
almost as large as the Clermont, at its
davits, and of cutting through the waves
nearly ms rapidly as q locomotive steams
over the mil, he might not nave died pre-
maturely from anxiety and ~fretfulness, OF
at least, would nave passed away in greater
serenity, assured of a benefited and appre-
ciative posterity. :.
Three-score md thirteen years have
rolled by since Fulton died. at the age Of
forty-nine, eight years after the trial trip
of the Clermont on the Hudson river, from
New York to Albany-the first practical
demonstration that steam could be applied
to the propulsion OF vessels with entire
success. Generations have since passed
away. Few now live who rave n personal
recollection of the inauspicious starting Of
the first steam packet in the world from
the North river wharves on Sept. is, 1907.
OF those who enjoyed the privilege of being
oA bAc OACAihonb . QtCk UcAOft Lu6 tI8EI,
during the trip or Just after the arrival at
Albany. there is but one alive, and he was
carried in his mothers arms at the time,
being only two years old. His personal
remembrance of the event, Of course, does
not amount to much, but he has, neverthe-
less, a store of information concerning the
trip not in the possession of anybody else,
for rs soon as he became old enough to re-
alize the Importance of the matter, he
naturally sought, with more assiduity than
q person less directly interested would ex-
hibit, for facts pertaining to the occasion.
This gentleman is the Rev. Frederick Rey-
nolds Freeman, n Baptist clergyman Of
Illinois, now, with his wife and children,
IN q visit to this city. 31
THE ONLY SURVIVOR.
Mr.. Freeman is in his 73d year, white
haired, but fresh.looking and vigorous, his
age, like Adams" in as You Like 1t,
being % frosty but kind and all, he says,
because Sin the days when we were pio-
neersn the intellect was not so generally,
as now, pampered at the expense of the
body, young Freeman being required to
follow the plow 10 wooden bull" by the
way) on his father's farm, near Albany,
when he was but twelve years old. He
was the youngest of thirteen children, all
of whom except himself are dead. His
father, Elisha Freeman, before retiring to
q farm, was q sea captain and for that
reason was invited with q small number of
other persons, including municipal officials
of Albany, to go aboard the Clermont upon
Its arrival. Capt. Freeman went accord
ingly, taking with him his wife and little
Freddy. 1.-THE event is like q dream to
me-" says Mr.. Freeman. Probably my
memory would now be unable to reach It
but for the constant rehearsals of the
scenes and incidents made to me in my
youth. These wildly impressed the whole
upon my mind, and, together with my faint
personal recollection of the occasion, left q
more faithful picture than unassisted ira
dition or history could paint upon q memo
ry less allied to the circumstances.
when Columbus, prior to his voyage of
discovery, walked the streets in Spain
meditating upon his project, which had be-
come generally known, men and even small
boys, would significantly point their fingers
at their foreheads and exchange. smiles.
Just SO was Robert Fulton treated before
he turned the laugh upon a whole country
Of ~scoffers. Few favored him, but fortu-
nately there was one, Robert Livingston,
who had been American ambassador at
Paris, and who SO much appreciated Fulton's
efforts that he furnished him with funds
enough to build the Clermont in the Spring
of 1907. The first steam packet (of 140
feet keel and 16t feet beaml was trim and
handsome enough, excepting the boilers,
machinery, and smoke-stack, which were
rude, cumbrous, and Of extremely formula
BILE appearance.