Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-03-16
=. wHtTMORE,
Publisher and Proprietor
THE FIRST STEAMBOAT.
Death Of a VeFtIabla Heroine of the
mlBsiasippi.


Baltimore Sun. March 81
Mrs. Lydia M. Roosevelt, daugh-
ter of Benz. H. Latrobe, sr., who
founded the Maryland family of his
name, died at Skaneateles, New
York, Saturday last, aged eighty
six years. Her husband, Nicholas
j. Roosevelt, at the beginning Of
this century, was an enterprising
merchant Of New York, and it was
he who planned and built the first
steamer that piled the swift cur
rent of the Ohio and Mississippi.
Mrs. Roosevelt accompanied her
husband on his first trip down these
rivers, and the event Of her life Of
which she was proudest was that
she was the first woman that de-
scended those watersin steamboat.
Her death has revived the incidents
of the trip, and the connection of
Mr.. Roosevelt with the application
Of steam to water locomotion, both
of which ore matters Of historical
record.
1t is somewhat remarkable that
an article in this connection pub
Flished in New York, the home Of
the Roosevelt family, should have
been so full Of serious blunders as
that which appeared in the New
York World Of yesterday. The
first steamboat that piled these
waters was the New Orleans, and
not the Vesuvius as the World
stated. She was built at Pittsburg
by Mr.. Roosevelt in 1911, and cost
in the neighborhood of $4,000.
Whether steam could be employed
on the Western rivers was a ques-
ton, that its success between New
York and Albany, at that time, as
applied by Mr.. Fulton, was net re-
garded as having entirely solved,
and after the idea had been sug-
gested of building boat at Pitts
burg to ply between Natchez and
New Orleans it was considered nee.
essary that Investigations should be
made as to the currents Of the rivers
to be navigated in regard to the
new system.
These investigations Mr.. Reose-
velt undertook with the under
standing that if the report were
favorable, Chancellor Livingston,
Mr.. Fulton, and himself we're to be
equally interested in the undertak-
ling. Mr.. Roosevelt accordingly,
accompanied by his wife, made the
voyage to New Orleans in a fiat,
boat, floating with the current,
occupying a period of six months.
Returning they took passage fol
New York. The size and plan o.
the steamboat had been determined
on in New York, and had been fur.
nished by Mr.. Fulton. 1t was to be
116 feet long, with 20 feet beam
and 34-inch cylinder engine.
In September, 1911, Mr.. Roose
velt, accompanied by his wife, M.
dertook the voyage to New Orleans
The efforts of united friends were
unavailing to disauade her from the
perilous undertaking, which they
regarded as utter folly, if not abso.
lutte madness. There was a cap.
tain, an engineer named Baker,
Andrew Jack, the polot; six hands,
two female servants, a cook, man
waiter and an immense Newfound.
land dog named Tiger. Thu;
equipped the New Orleans began
the voyage, which may almost be
said to have changed the destiny oil
the West. The people Of Pittsbur2
turned ont en- masse, lining the
banks of the Monongahela to wit
ness the departure. Sometimes tho
Indians attempted to approach the
steamboat with apparently hostile
intentions, and on one occasion
gave hot chase, but steam had the
advantage of endurance. They
called the steamboat the "Pene.
lore" or sire canoe" and they
supposed it to have affinity with
the comet that had produced the
earthquake of that year. Like all
.o,,,o,,,os ,l,;o am sndad n, n n,ar.