Steamboat
Robert Fulton's steamboat was a turning point, transporting people, materials and goods easier and faster than before. The steamboat increased exploration and settlement in America by opening up two-way river travel. It played a key role in the American industrial revolution. |
Fulton began "experiments with a view to discover the principles on which boats or vessels should be propelled through the water by the power of steam engines."(Robert Fulton 1802) Fulton built the North River Steamboat, later known as the Clermont, when he returned to America. People thought it was a crazy idea because it was so different from sailing ships. The noisy boat looked like a rectangle with paddlewheels and smokestacks. Many thought it would explode and called it Fulton's Folly.
In 1807, Fulton successfully launched the North River. The ship traveled from New York City to Albany in 32 hours. The trip took sailing ships four days. This trip made Fulton famous. "The power of propelling boats by steam is now fully proved." |
Not everyone was happy. Fulton used a monopoly on the Hudson to prevent competition. Sailing ship owners lost business and tried to destroy the steamboat by ramming it.
Fulton built "New Orleans", a turning point in Mississippi River travel when it became the first steamboat to travel from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. Hundreds of steamboats would follow. "It will give a cheap and quick conveyance to merchandise on the Mississippi, Missouri, and other great rivers, which are now laying open their treasures to the enterprise of our countrymen" (Robert Fulton 1807). Fulton used other steamboats as ferries. |
“Henry Ford did not invent the automobile; Samuel Morse did not invent the telegraph; nor did Robert Fulton invent the steamship. But like Morse and Ford after him, Fulton used his insight and energy to turn a challenge of engineering into a large scale commercial success, thereby transforming the world.” (Inventor of the Week June 2000)