The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-06-21
"FULTON'S FOLLY"
50 It Was Called By the Skep-
tics.
some Interesting "reminiscences of Early
Steamboatng Days on the Hud-
son The First American
Steamboat.

Steamboat.
It is difficult in these days of rapid
ocean travel, says George P. Hasbrouck
in brakes Magazine, to realize that in
the beginning of the century, people
were wondering over strange new
thing in navigation, boat moved by
steam. That the application of steam
to boats as motive power had been
considered by many minds as matter
certain of accomplishment long before
it became an actual fact, admits of no
doubt, and just as the names of Treve-
thick, Hackworth and Stephenson must
be bracketed together in connection
with the locomotive, so must those OF
Fitch, Stevens, Fulton and others be
associated with the invention of the
steamboat.
That the name Of John Fitch stands
prominent at the head of the list, there
:an be no question, for while it must be
admitted that numerous models were
made of steamboats,, accompanied by
illustrations of their working, both in
Franco and England prior to Fitch's
time, there is nothing to show that he
benefited by the work which preceded
his, and it is an absolute fact that no
boat moved by steam, of any practical
value, ever existed until Fitch launched
the first steamboat on the Delaware on
the Goth of June, 17S6. This boat made
the then remarkable speed of seven
miles an hour. In 17S7 the legislature
secured ito John Fitch the sole right
and advantage of using the steamboat
lately invented by him" and in this an
the following years his boats ra.
regularly on the Delaware. 1t was nd
until 1896 that New York had her firt
exhibition of steam boat, screw pD-
pellor built by Fitch beirg placed on a
fresh water pond called the Collet,
near Canal street.
1t has been the fate of pioneers to sw
for others to reap, and John Fitch, he
inventor of the steamboat. so far as tbs
continent is concerned, adds anotherto
the list.
1.-The day will come" he said, sadly,
"when some more powerful man Will
y
Confident in the result of his work, he
struggled bravely against adverse cir
cumstances until, in 1898, he filld
nameless grave in Kentucky.
BY this time the seed which theun-
fortunate and unappreciated inventor
had sown had begun to terminate, and
che work of experimenting was carried
on by Morey, RumSey, Rooseyeldt,
Stevens and Fulton, a boat built by
Stevens coming from Hoboken to New
York in 1904. Robert Fulton's expert
ments in the early part of his career
seem to have fallen far below what had
been already achieved, and of this he
after his failures in France, he was
taken at the rate of eight miles an hour
by William Huntington in his steam
yacht on the Firth of Forth (Which
dragged two vessels, each over seventy
tons, on the canal in 1902.
That Fulton, whose name was after
wards to be associated with the success
full introduction of steamboats,, profted
immensely by the work of others, can
not be questioned; indeed, he was bit.
terly assaulted by Captain Morey for
adopting his ideas. Unlike Fitch, he
was so fortunate as to find the financial
support necessary to the carrying out OF
his plans, and in 1907 he launched the
Clermont, which stands the twelfth on
the list of American steamboats,, but the
first to navigate the Hudson. The en-.
gines were of English manufacture and
were held for some time by the agent
for non-payment of freight, from which
it may be assumed that the capital OF
the firm was limited.
The progress of the boat was viewed
with wonder and alarm; the bold stood