The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1883-04-26

God bless your home;
Send from above
The light Divine,
Which makes home Heaven
And Heaven hol..e.
EARLY STEAMERS.
The First Steamboats, to PlOW the
Lakes and Rivers ofthe Great West.
Admiral George Henry Preble's re-
cently-pnblished "1Iistory of Steam
Navigation" contains not few notes OF
interest upon the early navig .tion of the
western rivers and lakes by steam YES
sells. The first idea of employing steam
on these waters seemed to have been
entertained by John Fitch about 1865
He also intended to build his lake steam
boats with two keels to act as runners,
and with toothed or spiked wheels on
both sides, SO that when the lakes or
rivers were frozen over the boat could
be lloisted upon the ice and run at the
rate of 80 miles an hour: In 1890, after
the company which had acquired
an interest in Fitch's invention
had built the fourth steamboat ever con-
structed in the United States, it was
thought sufficient to call her "The steam
boat" as there was no other craft ofthe
sort in the world. Its members under
took to- build % ton schooner rugged
vessel, the Perseverance, for the nayiga-
ton of the Mississippi. Ere she was
quite finished she broke adrift from her
moorings and was blown ashore at Pet
TVS island in the Delaware, and the
company ruined itself in an attemptto
simplify the machinery. In 177 Morse,
in his Gazetteer, made the very sounding
prediction, referring to the northwest
territory: at is probable STEAMBOATS,
will be found of infinite service in all
our extensive river navigation and
year later Fitch made a successful ex-
pertinent upon the creek at Bardstown,
feet in length. In 1902 Oliver Evans
lucky and Louis Valcourt, to build
steamboat to ply between New Orleans
and Natchez. The boat was constructed
in Kentucky and the engine-high pres
| sure-at Philadelphia, and both were sent
| to New O.leans, but ere the craft could
be fitted it was destroyed bya hurricane,
| and the engine set to do uselnl though
inglorious seryice-sawing timber. This
| was five years before Fulton's successful
Clermont ascending the Hudson. Oliver
Evans was confident Of the success of his
engine, and insisted, 81 have no doubt it
will propel boats against the current of
the Mississippi, and carriages on turn
pike roads with great profit"
The western steamboat was launched
al Pittsburg March II, 1911. Her build
ers were Fulton and Livingston's agent
Mr.. N. J. Roosevelt. OF her first trip
interesting account. The New Orleans
was built on the site of the Pittsburg and
Connellsville railroad depot at cost OF
$38, 1000. She WAS 116 feet long and 20
feet beam, with 34-inch cylinder; she
| was a stern-wheeler and was painted of
a BLUSH color. Mr.. Roosevelt was Sc
verely censured for permitting his wife
to accompany him OIL the periious trip,
it being very justly observed that, how.
ever reckless be might he of his own life
he had no right to peril
hers. They were the only passengers,
and the crew consisted Of the
captain, the engineer, Andrew Jack, the
pilot, six hands, two female servants, q
cook, waiter, and Newfoundland dog.
All Ptttsburg turned ont Ell Inasse To
cheer the daring travellers, and Mr.. and
Mrs. Roosevelt were SO much excited
that they could not sleep, but spent the
first night on deck. watching the banks
fly past ct the rate of eight and even ten
miles an hour. On the second ni"ht out
they cast anchor ut Cincinnati, levees
and wharf boats being things Of the flu
md al
come, though nobody believed they
could ever ret the boat ,1p stream again.
At midnight on the first of October, 1911,
the New Orleans reached Louisville,
where the glare Of her furnace and the
escaping steam inspired the townsincn
with the belief that the comet had fallen
into the river-the comet of 1911 being,
it will be remembered, particularly
formidable celestial vlsitant. All were
delighted at seeing a steamboat, but
there was deep regret ut the reflection
that the New Orleans would never be
able to force her way up stream. This
dependency was dispelled when, while
luncheon party vas on board,
Mr.. Roosevelt ran the boat up
the river, to the CONSERVATION Of the
guests, who at first feared that she had
broken from her mOolinys and was
drifting to destruction. Afterward he
took the boat up to Cincinnati to wait
Louisville could be run safely. The first
shock of the gseat earthquake of 1911
vas felt as tho Nav Orleans was lying
below Louisville, having made the pas
sage of the falls, and they accompanied
canoe manned by Indians came out and
chased the New Orleans: at New Madrid
Mo-, which had been nearly swallowed
up in the "convuIsions of nature" of
that eventfnl year, half the people beg
gad to be taken of, and the other half
ran way and hid, the spectacle of the
steamboat proving too much for nerves
already unsettled by the comet and the
earthquake. The earthquake had go
changed the channel of the river that it
was by luck rather than by knowledge
that the pilot could take the boat down.
In due course the New Orleans ar
rived at Natchez to meet with an enthu-
siastic reception, and by way Of ending
the romance of the trip the captain was
married to Mrs. Rooscvelt's maid as
soon as the boat had been tied up. The
New Orleans ran fora long time between
New Orleans and Natchez. In 1914 she
carried Gen. Coffee down with reinforce
ments for Jackson, another steamer, the
Enterprise, taking part in the defense
of the city. The Enterprise was yes
sci of IS tons burden and was the fourth
steamer launched on the Ohio, and was
the first that ever assembled the two
streams. She made the return voyage
to Pittsburg in 1915 in % days, but as
| the water vas high and the pilot took
her through cutoffs and over inundated
fields, her feat did not convince the pub
lie that it was possible to ascend the
Mississippi when the food vas confined
| within its banks. That fact, however,
was demonstrated when Capt. Henry N.
Shreve (who afterward built the first
enag boat took the Washington from
New Orleans to Louisville in Is days.
At banquet given in his honor in
April, 1917, Capt. Shreve Dredicta1 t1 r.
: -: =. Is wuur.1 yet ue made in 10 days:
| q prediction that was regardless as vision
ary, though the prophet might have
| taken six days of the ten. All Louisville
turned out, when, in 1923, a steamer ar
rived III Is days and six hours, and her
captain modestly admitted that perhaps
the trip would yet be made in IS days,
In 1928 the Tecumseh made the ,48O
miles up stream in eight days four hours.
| Meanwhile, in 1918, the Oldest steamboat
company in the world had been organ
+ ized-the United States mail line, be-
lt$een Cincinnati, LouisvilIe and St,
Ibpn. The first packet ofthis company,