Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1903-01-10
Appropriation Wanted From w.
Va. Legislature.
TO BE AT SHEPHERDSToWN
Effort win be Made to Secure Funds Fo'
Erection Of Memorial to a Man Who
First bsed Steam For the Nayi-
CATION Of a Boat.
cation Of a Boat.

lDG session OF the WEST SlI%AHla 1tElSr
lature to secure an appropriation for
the erection Of a suitable monument
to james Rumsey, who, many claim,
has the right to the distinction Of
having first used steam as q motive
power in a boat.
Rumsey was d Marylander By birth,
the son of a Cecil county farmer. He
served through the Revolutionary War
as captain. After its close he engaged
in mercantile business at Is ath, or
Berkeley Springs, and in 1884 was as
soci ated with a Throekmorton, eon-
Quoting a boarding house OF the
Spring.
Perchance, the difficulty to get sup
plies at this out Of the-wav place sue-
gested the want Of better means Of
transport and set his inventive genins
to work on a plan to use the force OF
steam. as it was her known that this
powei was used in pumping in the
English mines. But he knew nothing
of the engine and must set to work
| from the beginning. Tradition says
that with an old copper teakettle he
made his first experiment. He came
to Mechlenbnrg, then a thrivi 3 town
which distributed goods even as far as
Kentucky and Tennessee, his brother
in-law residing there. and BY his PEI
| cuniasy assistance gave his entire work
and attention to his invention.
He was called by the townsmen
Crazy Rumsey, one who would find
perpetual motionl." He lived in a
small log cabin. but his favorite place
for study and meditation was a walk
alonR the river bank oyerhung and
shut away by high cliffs, ever since
called "Rumsev's Walk" Here he
paced to and fro-studied, dreamed.
As evidenced by a number of let
tiers, no was we'll known to Washing
ton. in fact. by the President. and
hadgbeen appointed superintendent to
improve the navigation of the Poto-
mac, as early as 1881, an Office which
stimulated his zest IN his invention.
He employed his brother .in-law, Jo-
seph Barnes, to build him a boat hull.
This was done at the mouth Of Sir
Johns Run and is the foundation Of a
claim from that point of being the
birth PLACID Of the steam boat. HIS
hull was taken down to Shepherds
town, there to receive its boiler and
maehionery. After many delays and
one wreck by freshet the experiment
was finally made on December 3, 1857.
The boat was run several TRIPS MP
and down the river IN the presence OF
q crowd of curious spectators. includ-
ing the notables of the time. The
trial being successful. Rumsey went
to Philadelphia. where a society was
formed. with Benjamin franklin as
president. to further the important in
vention BY very slim assistance he
was sent to England. .here to study
the steam engine and improve his
method of using it for the moving of
boats on the water. He then met and
was intimate with a young American
artist. Robert Fulton. who became
well acquainted with his plans, which
he afterwards perfected after vhe great
err part Of the WORK had been done by
Rumsey. However. as TO the very
first idea. it is asserted by KentuckiaDs
that Rumsey caught this from their
claimant, Fitch. in a ~colloquy at old
Winchester. in 1881 but the question
Of priority was settled at the time by
the New York legislature, which af-
ter making full legal inquiry before
granting patent, adjadged the choice
of Rumsev.
Never had any greater worker for
human progress such heroic struggle
with adverse fate as poor Rumsey.
In the face of poverty and a doubt
ing world. he worked on. using the
little o he could make upon mi
nor inventions TO build another boat
for the Thames. After working ana
worrying forward for three wears he
was on the verge OF success. His pro-
jects being noised about, he was re-
quested to lecture on his model at the
| Society OF Arts, ia the Adelhi, and
there was confronted with a metro
politan audience. which startled the
lonely dreamer from the forest wilds
of the Western Continent. Before this
ssemblv he was suddenly stricken
with apoplexv and was carried away
specifies, to expire the next day.
How Fulton was the recipient OF
his work and carried it o. to complete
success is well known to history. But
as Columbus should have given his
name of the new-discovered world in
stead of Americas. his follower, so
Rumsey should have had the first hon
/ AMr -. 49,. .w1x4.1.e fhof oh oH y cpn1