The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-04-01

board, and the frontiers were but a stones
throw to the westward. Western travel
and development were delayed because of
lack of efficient transportation facilities.
The "ClermOnt'
It was in August, 1907, that the "Cler-
mont" the steamboat perfected by Robert
Fulton, a young mechanical genius Of
Philadelphia, made her first successful trip
on the Hudson, and from the day of that
trip, steamboat navigation became an as
sured fact and the trade and travel of the
world entered upon a new era.
The success attending steamboat naviga-
ton on the Hudson Immediately turned the
attention of the principal projectors and
others to its application on western rivers.
The first to navigate the Ohio
river was built by John Fitch in 1913.
This, however, was not a success, because
he and his cOwOrkers lacked the necessary
capital to perfect their experiment. The
first boat to steam down the Mississippi
to New Orleans was the Comet. % tons,
built by Daniel D. Smith in 1909. In 1909
Nicholas J. Roosevelt, a relative of the
late Theodore Roosevelt, who had become
associated with Robert Fulton and Chan
cellOr Livingston, went to Pittsburg and
there built a boat, called the New Orleans.
Other boats of crude and imperfect con-
StructiOn followed the New Orleans on the
Mississippi, but such was the velocity of
the current of the river that it was i'm
possible for them to overcome this OBJ
~StructiOn until 1915, when imprOvd ma
chinery brought the speed up to a point
where the upstream trip was possible. Tn
Enterprise made the first successful triI
up the Mississippi in 1916.
Pushing Westward
up to 1917 there were only u boats or
the rivers west of the Alleghanies, but
traffic and facilities increased rapidly
thenceforth. On August 2, 1917, the steam
er ZebulOn NJ. Pike, a side-wheeler. steamed
up the river to st. Louis, being the frs
steamboat to land at that place.
On down through the decades the hOv
1 nj MMGCrCUTnnH nHnnn -. Ga n N
swelled in great volume. By 1880, 90
steamboats, had been built; and in 1894, tn
number Of steamboat arrivals in New Or
leans was 1900, indicative of that port
trade. Great thrOngS of argOnauts an
pioneers came west from New York by tn
Erie canal and by stages to Pittsburg
there to take the steamboat to their des
unat1On. In the two decades, 1910 to 1850
western rivers.
Mississippi Traffic
IN the neydey Of steambOating on tn
mississippi. palatial boats piled the water
We enc fr6 G9ts 9eG 81 OF A Rivers. Some Of thes
Erving Dayton, in Steamboat DAYS. yer
ably describes incidents akin to rive
transportation in the palmy LAYS. He says
LaICeLly the river steamboats, were FIRE
IRON reckless races which endangered lif,
when the safety valve was fastened dow
tne furnace stuffed with tar and pitch, an
the captain, rifle in hand, ready to shoe
~ PAOS VI al opposing steamer z
the critical moment when the least devis
ton IN the steering would lose a race. Th
DarDarous times passed with the frOntie
manners OF passengers. Sporting, drinl
ing, gambling and fighting Gave Mace I
rennements and wealth rolled M as a II
suit OF speedy. and cheapened steamboi
transportation"
Racing on the MississiDoi
Races on the great river have their on.
standing place in the epic of the Missi,
slppi. The greatest Of an these races
thus described by Dayton:
Ine long distance race between tW
~1aVOrite packets, the Robert .. Lee. ruI
ming out Of st. Louis, and the Natchez.
mail boat running between Vieksbur