Roger McCoy In the early years of the nineteenth century the increasing demands for transport of cargo, and movement of people turned many inventors’ attention to the practical use of steam power for river navigation. Their goal was to achieve speedier means of transportation. A few efforts to invent a steamboat in the eighteenth century proved to be more experimental than practical. One such effort was that of John Fitch who built a 45-foot boat that steamed up the Delaware River in 1787. His boats utilized ranks of paddles that worked in unison on both sides of the boat similar to a big canoe. Fitch’s boat was operational mechanically, but was so expensive to build that he failed to interest investors who saw little chance for adequate return. Fitch failed to pay sufficient attention to construction and operating costs and was unable to justify the economic benefits of steam navigation. He soon had to abandon his project. James Rumsey also designed a functional steam-powered riverboat in 1787, the same year as Fitch, and twenty years before Fulton. Unfortunately, Rumsey died before he had raised enough money to build the boat. Clearly the time for riverboats had arrived by the end of the eighteenth century. Robert Fulton (1765-1815) built his first boat after Fitch's death, and it was Fulton who became known as the inventor of the steam-powered riverboat. This boat, the Clermont, was both reliable and practical. Thus, Robert Fulton was the first to achieve success by building a practical steam-powered riverboat suitable for carrying both cargo and passengers. Fulton was born on a farm in Pennsylvania in 1765. When a very young man, he moved to Philadelphia where he painted portraits and landscapes. He did well, was able to send money to his mother, and eventually bought a farm near Pittsburgh where he lived with his family and his mother. At the age of twenty-three, Fulton traveled to Europe, where he lived for the next twenty years. He went to England in 1786, carrying letters of introduction from prominent Philadelphians. He had already corresponded with American artist Benjamin West, a close friend of Fulton’s father. West was the chief historical painter under the patronage of King George III. West took Fulton into his home, where Fulton lived for several years and studied painting. He gained many commissions painting portraits and landscapes, which allowed him to support himself. At the same time he continued to experiment with mechanical inventions. While in England Fulton also noticed the active canal system that carried all kinds of cargo throughout the country, and he became caught up in the English enthusiasm for canals. At that time the British canal boats were towed by horses or mules, and Fulton saw the potential for using the steam engine which had been invented by James Watt a few years earlier. His interest in art soon gave way to an interest in improving canal navigation. When he returned to America, Fulton focussed his interest in canal transportation on creating a boat suitable for river transportation. For this ground-breaking effort he became famous. In 1803, only four years before Fulton built his new boat, a Frenchman built a steam-powered river boat which broke in two and sank from the weight of the engine and machinery. Fulton went to Paris to help raise the sunken boat and study its flaws. On returning to America Fulton received money from a rich benefactor, Robert Livingston, and proceeded to design and build a boat that could bear the weight of the machinery and also carry cargo. He called his new boat the Clermont after the name of Livingston’s home on the Hudson River. The Clermont measured 130 feet long and eighteen feet wide. It had a mast and sail for addition push during good wind conditions. On each side of the Clermont, fully exposed paddle wheels fifteen feet in diameter propelled the boat through the water. One morning in August, 1807, a throng of expectant people gathered on the banks of the Hudson River at New York, to see the trial of the Clermont. Most people thought Fulton’s idea was unworkable and they expected failure. People had all along spoken of Fulton as a crackpot dreamer, and had called the Clermont "Fulton's Folly.” One quote at the time was, “Any man with common-sense knows it won’t work.” So while Fulton was waiting to give the signal to start, the crowd was making wisecracks and poking fun at his certain failure. Finally at the signal, the Clermont moved slowly, and then stood perfectly still. Skeptics jeered his failure and made “I told you so” remarks. But they spoke too soon, for after a little adjustment of the machinery, the Clermont steamed proudly up the Hudson River. As the boat continued her journey crowds of people stood along the river watching the strange sight. Some reports say that when other boatmen on the Hudson, heard the clanking machinery and saw the great sparks of fire and the volumes of dense, black smoke rising out of the funnel, they thought an evil thing had happened. One man told his wife that he had seen the devil coming up the river on a raft. The Clermont traveled 150 miles from New York to Albany in thirty-two hours. Success had at last rewarded Robert Fulton for his strong common-sense and determination. The Clermont was the first steamboat of real practical use ever invented. From that time men soon saw the immeasurable advantage of steam navigation for commercial transport on lakes and rivers. The Clermont was Fulton's last work. Fulton died in 1815 in New York City from tuberculosis, then called consumption. He had been walking home on the frozen Hudson River when one of his friends, fell through the ice. In rescuing his friend, Fulton got soaked with icy water. He is believed to have contracted pneumonia. When he got home, his sickness worsened. He was diagnosed with consumption and died at 49 years old, eight years after rendering an untold service to the industrial welfare of his country.
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