The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-10-07
MOREY THE INVENTOR

Charge Made That His Plans Were
Stolen for FultOn's SteambOat-An-
cient Craft at the Bottom of Lake
MOrey.
The Boston Journal is making an
effort to prove that Robert Fulton
was not the inventor of the steam
boat, but that the honor belongs to
Capt. Samuel Morey, plain Ver-
mont farmer. In the course of an
article on the subject the Journal
makes the following quotations from
The Concord, N. H., Patriot of March
16, 1888.
Evidence now in the hands of in-
terested parties, shows conclusively
that the plans Of Robert Fultons
boat were stolen from Mr. Morey
and that the boat then in use by Mr.
Morey was scuttled and sunk in the
pond at Fairlee, VT, where it now
lies, by Fulton's emissaries."
The Journal, which may have ov.
, erlooked the fact that the commit
tee in charge of the Hudson-Fulton
celebration in New York does not
claim that Fulton was the first man
to launch steam-propelled craft,
commercial success, says:
Almost coincident with the great
/ u,leop D;uar oo1ahrot;or, IN honor pf
Robert Fulton, evidence tending to
show that he was not the real inven-
tor of the steamboat, though eXtolled
a ssuch, comes to the Journal from
those believing fully in the claims of
Capt. Samuel Morey, a plain farmer
whose home was in Failee, Vermont,
that his little steamboat, the Aunt
Sally, was built and put into opera
ton on the Connection River in 1793
IA years before Fulon's famous Cler-
mont ever wet her hull in the Hud-
son.
THAT the Clermont indeed was
merely an enlarged duplicate of Nor
ey's tiny craft is the contention OF
his supporters, who further declare
that his plans were stolen from him
after he had gone to New York at
the bidding of Fulton and other sci
entists of the time, and shown his
model
For many years has the Vermont
inventor lain almost unremembereC
in a country churchyard, but the
merits of his claims have now fresh
significance in the light of the great
honor that this and other nation:
have Just been paying Fulton in New
York. The Clermont made it's tria
trip up the Hudson in 1907, as the
histories tell but from number o
sources facts have been brought t.
ligh to prove that one Sabbath da.
in 1793-or it may have been 1892
Captain Morey was seen making hi
way up the Connecticut river at ;
point between the little settlement
of Fairlee, VT, and Oxford, N. H.. il
an odd-loking steam-craft, which sue
cessfully prevailed against the cur
rent at a speed of about four mile
an hour. Gray headed Vermonter
tell today of having heard their faith
ers describe the establishment ant
incredulity that prevailed along thu
river at the sight.
REV Cyrus Mann, son of one o
. the original settlers, writing of tn
incident some time before his death
stated that in his boyhood he wit
messed this trip of the Aunt ally, I
little boat, as. he described 1t, jus
large enough to contain its one pas
senger, the rude machinery connect
ed with the steam boiler and hand
: full of wood for a fire.
Satisfied as to the practicabilit
4. of his invention, Captain Morey sc
about to secure a patent. That h
:, went to New York and demonstrat
ed his model to the leading scien
lists there is shown by letter writ
ten by Captain Morey himself in 1S1
. to William A. Duer, prominen
> member of the New York Legisla
n ture. This letter was called forth 4
o connection with the grant of exclu
= sive rights to navigate the waters @
,. New York, 1t was published in tn
Grafton County Register, printed q
4 Haverhill, N. H., January 2S, 1887.
: After stating that as nearly a
he could recollect it was as early a
1880 that he turned his attention I