Science and Technology
The stage for steam transportation was set in the 1760s by James Watt, a Scottish inventor, who developed a successful steam engine for removing water from mines. This event is regarded by many as the opening of the Industrial Revolution. Applying steam power to boats was an important idea to many. Flatboats could float down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in about six weeks; the return trip, however, took four to five months of strenuous labor. American John Fitch adapted steam engines to boats and demonstrated a working model on the Delaware River during the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Fitch proved to be a successful boat builder, but never mastered the business side of his endeavor. It would be a later figure, Robert Fulton, who became known as the “father of the steamboat.” In 1807, Fulton teamed with promoter Robert Livingston to attract public attention to the voyage of the Clermont, which steamed up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany. Later, Livingston and Nicholas J. Roosevelt powered the New Orleans from Pittsburgh to the Crescent City at an amazing eight miles per hour. Steam-driven paddlewheelers were soon making the downstream trip in seven days and the return tip in a little more than two weeks. Steamships dominated traffic on America’s inland waters for much of the 19th century, but failed to capture traffic on the high seas. The superior speeds of the “clipper ships” assured the prominence of these wind-driven vessels until the 1880s.
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