The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1930-08-08
'1o0A or 1ZIHS S1,EAZBoAz
HO invented" the
steamboat?

! ] !: !: !: :
sWEsMr HO invented the
A steamboat?
Ask ten Americans
M WIN that question and the
MW w chances are that nine
IVA out of the ten, remem-
! bering few outstand-
ing names in their
school histories, will
answer Robert Fulton" thereby prov
ing once more what strange tumble
of fact and fiction is the average
Americans conception of the history
of his country. For the question OF
who deserves credit for ''inventing"
. the steamboat has recently started an
other of those controversies over his
torical matters, which sometimes re-
suits in clearing up certain disputed
points in the annals of our nation.
More often it does not, principally be-
cause the partisans never seem able
to agree upon strict definition of
terms, without which it is virtually
impossible to settle such disputes con-
clusively.
In this particular case the word
''inventor" is the crux of the situation.
While popular opinion accords that
distinction to Robert Fulton, and in
1900 he was elected to the Hall Of
Fame at New York university as ''the
inventor of the steamboat" being the
first inventor and the ninth American
chosen to membership among "Amer-
ica's Immortals," his right to that title
has been challenged on behalf of no
less than eight other Americans. Out
standing among these claims is that in
behalf of Lieut.. John Fitch. who, it is
asserted, made a successful trip on the
Delaware river in a steamboat which
he had designed more than 20 years
before Fulton's historic voyage up the
Hudson in the Clermont.
Fitch's right to the title Of "inven-
tor" is supported by his descendants
who are members Of the Fitch Family
association. They have nominated his
name for inclusion in the Hall of Fame
at New York university with the de-
mand that either the name and bust of
Fulton be removed or that those of
Fitch be added. They are planning a
nationwide celebration in 1885 to
mark the one hundredth and fiftieth
anniversary of "the invention of the
steamboat by Fitch in 1885," and they
ask that this celebration be given rec
ognition by the government and that
public agencies and national patriotic
societies cooperate in 1t as they did
in the Hudson-Fulton celebration Of
1907.
They base their contention that
Fitch rather than Fulton was the sin
ventor" of the steamboat upon certain
official acts of the government. the
chief one being that both houses of
congress by unanimous vote, APP
proved on February IL. 1926, an ap-
preparation of $4,000 for a suitable
monument to Fitch as "the first in
the worlds history to successfully APP
ply steam propulsion of vessels
through water" This memorial was
unveiled May 81. 1927, in the public
square in Bardstown, Ky, where
Fitch died July 2. 1903, in poverty and
despair of proving to an unbelieving
world the practical value of steam
boat.
They point out, too, that the labels
on the models of steamboats, in the
Smithsonian institution bears out their
contention that he was the Inventor"
These labels read as follows:
JOHN FITCH'S STEAMBOAT
'Designed by John Fitch, built in Phil
adelphia in 1856, and first tested on
the Delaware river July 81 of that
year, when a successful public trial
was made. EquippAIi with steam
engine which. connected by geared ma