NICHOLAS ROOSEVELT'S 1811 STEAMBOAT NEW ORLEANS
Early Steamboat Travel on the Ohio River, by Leslie S. Henshaw

extracts from
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Vol 20 No. 4 (Oct 1911) pp 378-402
Early Steamboat Travel on the Ohio River
by Leslie S. Henshaw, Cincinnati, Ohio

October, 1911, marks a centennial of considerable importance to the Western country, for it was in that month in 1811, that the first steamboat on Western waters, passed down the Ohio River. The boat, a "side-wheeler", [footnote 1: Liberty Hall, September 20, 1814.] was built at Pittsburgh, under the direction of Nicholas J. Roosevelt of New York, an agent of Fulton, the inventor, and Livingston, the financial aid, and was called the "New Orleans." [footnote 2: Liberty Hall, November 21, 1811] It passed Cincinnati on the twenty-seventh of October [footnote 3: Liberty Hall, October 30, 1811] and arrived at Louisville on the twenty-eighth. [footnote 4: Liberty Hall, November 21, 1811] The Cincinnati newspaper "Liberty Hall", in its issue of Wednesday, October thirtieth, 1811, adds a small note to commercial and ship news to the following effect: "On Sunday last, the steamboat lately built at Pittsburgh passed this town at 5 o'clock in the afternoon in fine stile, going at the rate of about 10 or 12 miles an hour." The water was too low to allow passage over the falls, so as to prove that it could navigate against the current, the boat made several trips between Louisville and Cincinnati in forty-five hours from the falls. [footnote 5: Liberty Hall, December 4, 1811] When the water rose, the "New Orleans" proceeded on its way towards its destination and arrived at Natchez, late in December [footnote 6: Liberty Hall, February 12, 1812] and plied as a regular packet between Natchez and New Orleans for several years.

Following the "New Orleans", a group of boats was built at Pittsburgh; the "Comet" under the French plan; the "Vesuvius" and the "Aetna" on the Fulton plan. In the meantime, Brownsville had entered the field as a steamboat building town, for the "Enterprise" was constructed there and later, the engine for the "Washington," under the supervision of Captain Henry M. Shreve, while the boat itself was built at Wheeling. This boat by its voyage in 1817, from Shippingport [an island in the Ohio River at Louisville KWD] to New Orleans and back in forty-five days, convinced the skeptical public that steamboat navigation would succeed on Western Waters. [footnote 7: Liberty Hall, May 5, 1817] In 1816, Cincinnati built its first boat, the "Vesta," which was followed by the "Comet," the Eagle," the "Hecla," the "Henderson," the "Cincinnati," the "Perseverance," the "Paragon," the "General Pike," the first boat on Western Waters for exclusive use of passengers. [footnote 8: Liberty Hall, March 16, 1818] The industry made inevitable advances and Drake and Mansfield in their book "Cincinnati at the Close of 1826," estimate the number of steamboats that have navigated on Western Waters as 233; 143 then existing; 48 being built at Cincinnati, 35 at Pittsburgh, 10 at New Albany, 7 at Marietta, 5 at Louisville and 4 in New York.

The beginning of the steamboat trade for passengers as well as freight, was a record of many disheartening circumstances. Contrary to what one might expect, after the advent of the steamboat, the old and slow method of carrying freight on flatboats and keels increased as it was cheaper and considered surer. The lack of confidence shown by the people, themselves, which seems to be inevitable at the commencement of any new industry and enterprise, was only one of the serious obstacles sin the way. Not only was the river bed uneven and dotted with dangerous snags, gravel and sandbars but the falls at Louisville practically cut river navigation in two, for, save at short periods during the year when the water was high enough to permit boats to pass over them, all traffic stopped above and below them, necessitating slow and expensive transportation around the falls. Gradually, however, the river bed was cleared, and, after a long, hard fight for a canal, one was eventually put through and the river trade, still existing, traveled rapidly to its zenith before the advent of railroads turned channels of trade into other directions.

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Fuel. All the early boats, beginning with the "New Orleans" on her first journey, used wood for fuel. [footnote 9: Latrobe, Rambles in North America, Vol I] Stuart, in 1830 wrote: -- "The stopping place for wood was occupied by a tenant who pays $400 an acre of yearly rent for a few acres of ground. The most of his money is made by cutting and preparing wood for steamboats. 'The Constitution' (400 tons) uses about 26 cords of wood per day, a cord consisting of about 128 cubic feet, selling for $1.50 to $3.00 per cord. The average price in Western rivers is rather above than below $2.00 per cord. On the Ohio, the wood is proportionately cheaper, about $1.50 and in some places $1.25 a cord." Later in that same year, he wrote: -- "The wood for these vessels going up this part of the Ohio (from Cincinnati) is placed in boats, lashed to the side of the steamboat, so wood is got into the boats while proceeding on the voyage; as soon as the wood is taken out of the wood boat, it is set at liberty and the current carries it home." [footnote 10: Stuart -- "Three Years in North America" Vol II (1833)]

Shirreff in 1835, said: -- "The vessels on the waters of the valley of the Mississippi, burn wood and supplies are found everywhere on the banks of the rivers, which are speedily conveyed on board, with the assistance of deck passengers, who are bound to aid in the operation. I was surprised at the vessels not using coal, which is very abundant in many places on the banks and could be transported to a place where it is not. None of the furnaces are, at present, constructed for burning coal." [footnote 11: Shirreff -- "A Tour through North America" (1835)]

Evans Lloyd in "Travels in the Interior of North America by Maximilian, Prince of Wied" (1843) stated that "in many places stacks of wood were piled up for steamboats and some were already in boats. Cords of wood for steamboats were lying ready piled upon the bank, stating the price and quantity."

According to the Latrobe account in the "Rambles in North America," the crew of the "New Orleans" on her first voyage had to go ashore and cut the wood that they needed but, after the steamboat trade was well on its way towards organization and success, the use of wood for fuel was systematized and there were regular stopping places, with wood ready for use, as told in the diaries, just quoted from.

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Experiences at the Falls. Edwin James in his "Account of an Expedition to the Rocky Mountains" (1819-1820) said: "At Louisville, we stopped to procure a pilot to conduct our boat over the rapids. Two or three pilots appointed pursuant to an act of the Legislature of Kentucky, reside at Louisville, always holding themselves in readiness to go on board such boats as are about to descend the rapids and leaving them again at shipping port and receive two dollars for each act or raft. Large boats ascend the rapids at the time of the spring floods by the aid of a cable, made fast to a tree or some other object above, and taken in by the capstan. Large steamboats ascend as far as shipping port, several of them remain at this place during the months of summer, when the water is too low to admit their passing up and down the river."

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Accidents. One of the most striking characteristics of the early steamboat trade is the attitude of practical indifference to the frequent accidents, of varying degrees of seriousness. Indeed, an accident was accepted as a mere matter of course. Liberty Hall, September 20, 1814, contained a testimonial, dated New Orleans, July 26, signed by the passengers, which stated the cause of the accident that destroyed the first boat, the "New Orleans." The boat stopped to take on wood, the evening of July 13: "The night was so dark and rainy that the captain considered it most prudent to secure the boat for the night. He then commenced taking in wood and repaired the machinery which had been disordered. After the wood was on board, he sounded all around and found plenty of water. She appeared to lay along side of a steep bank and from the apparent safety and security of the situation, all the passengers retired to rest, free from apprehension or fear of danger. Early in the morning, preparations were made for departing, and, at daylight, the engine was put in motion but the vessel would only swing round and could not be forced forward by the steam. The water had fallen during the night from sixteen to eighteen inches; the captain then concluded she had lodged on a stump and endeavored to push her off with a spar against the bank, but without effect. He immediately satisfied himself it was a stump and found it by feeling with an oar, about fifteen or twenty feet aloft the wheel on the starboard side, [footnote 39: "A Side-Wheeler"] he then ordered the wood thrown overboard, got an anchor out of starboard quarter and with the steam capstan, hove her off, when she immediately sprung a leak which increased so rapidly that time was only allowed to make fast again to shore, the passengers to escape with their baggage and crew with assistance from shore, saved a great part of the cargo, when she sunk alongside the bank.

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Extracts from Bibliography

9. Howe, Henry -- "Historical Collections of Ohio" (Cincinnati, 1848)

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1. Thwaites "Early Western Travels"

A. Bradbury, John -- "Travels in the Interior of America, 1809-10-11." (London, 1819) Vol. V


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