The evening Republican., 1902-07-12
THE STEAMERS
& STAGE COACH
The Bulletin Says:

The Bulletin Says: '.-."s 5...-E.
| An esteemed correspondent {"A.
l.. VIZ has furnished me with some
interesting data concerning the
Whilldins and some ot their steam
boats on the Delaware at Il time
when the name Of the first Willmon
| Whilldin was almost AZ as we'll
known on the river as that of the
| first Cornelius Vanderbilt on the
Hudson. Indeed: itwas of Wander
/ bilt that Captain VIM. WhiIldin, Sr
bought the Sun. and brought it from
| the Hudson to the Delaware. where
| she was well known in the period
between 1910 and 1850 on the route
to Cape May and also on the route
to Burlington, Bristol and Trenton,
This. however. was only one of
| many transactions and enterprises
in which the WhilIdiu~ were con-
cerned before STEAMBOATS, on the
Delaware gave way to regular pass
enger traffic between New York and
I Baltimore to railroads. or when the
steamboats, and railroads We're both
necessary to journeys between Phil
adelphia and one or the other Of
| th ose cities. ....,
Thus when tire Camden and Am.
boy Railroad was opened the Bolivar
which had been another Of Wander
bilt'ssteamboats at New York, was
transferred to this city under the
command of one OF the Whilldlns as
a competitor to the new railroad,
anC 50 sharp was the rivalry that
passengers were carried to Burlin ton
at fares as low as six cents each,
alter hvlng previously been charged
half dollar. The steam boat tfattic
on the on the Delaware has in recent
years been comparaLlvely peaceful
and much Of it has been cond ucted
without compettiaH. Bns in those
days the rivaIries were sharp aud
often SENSATIONAL fares we're cut,
there was intense PRIDE over the
champ,onsEi for the fastest lime,
ana the fcuds among the captains
over these things were almost as
lively and with resnlts sometimes
almost as destructive as tile far.fam-
ed exploits Of bdier bursting naVlga-
tors on the MisSissnp!.
Tie first Captain Nillmnn Whildin
at one time, in partnership with the
first Cornelius Vanderbilt. WAS one .f
the earliest lavisaturS on the Dsia-
ware that commandeG steamboats,
lie had come to this city from Cape
May. where the family STOCK had been
long conspicuous in public Affairs aul
in prcsby tcrian zeal, Within . few
years after Fulton put the ClerInunt
on the Hudson, Wb!,din was ir cJm-
maGd Of the Delaware aud soOn be-
came the best known cautain II bis
day in the waters between PhllaIel-
phia and the caps There was
another Captain WhtIdin Of the same
name, his son, who followed closely
IN his footsteps as a Steamboat man:
and who made the NhiIidin name
even more famous IL steam nayiSa-
tiOn.
Probably tine first steamboat on
the Delaware which Captain Willmun
Whilldin, ST., commanded was th-
Delaware.
In 1872, when Fulton's success was
still the talk of the day, Francis
Grice, of kensingtcn, together with
Daniel Large, Il steam eDgine maker
who had his shop on Front street
about GermantoWr road. took out a
patent for Il steamboat and it. was
iii this year that Large BULL the en-
ginc for the second Steamboat, the
New Jersey, which il lSlt was put
on the lineto Baltimore. under COM
mand of Capt. Moses Rogers, who
was Il popular river commander i'll
those times. But psfore Whilldin
assumed command OF the Delaware
thele had been several steamboats,
on the Delaware waters. The ear
liest and most notable Of these was
the Phoenix, which -'ohn Stevens
sent from New Yort i~calIsa the
parents Of Fulton prevented him
from operating it there, and which,
III tnlS Journey DN|iiit9 "lSp We
firit steam craft thai verfnrea on
the Atlantic ocean.
This steamer subsequently was Ell
gagged for regular trips TO Chester
and to Bordentown where it made
connection with the stages for the
Raritan river, whence, or at New
Brunswick, the passenger took the
steamer. the fare for the entire trip
to New York being Si,25 This
route seems to have been the cause
of reduction of fares Oh the stage
coach routes on tho least desirable
of which a Philadelphia could be
taken to New York FOL 49, 80. It
was about the same time that John
Stevens planned line to Baltimore
by which passenger could b.
carried for $3. SO each to Whining
ton by steamboat, thence by stage
to the head of the Elk river to
Chesapeake Bay to Baltin ore y and
this was hailed by progressive men
of the time as q sign Of modArn