Between the Revolution and the Civil War, the story of speed was nowhere more evident than on the Mississippi River. It was a natural superhighway, extending 4000 miles with branches reaching within 800 miles of the Pacific Ocean. Western steamboat life was a racing life, a dangerous, delightful diversion. Racing steamboats became popular and competitive.
John Fitch made the first vessel to move by the power of steam in 1787. Twenty years later Robert Fulton's Clermont made the trip from New York to Albany in 32 hours. By the 1840s the spirit of steamboat travel in the West was characterized by racing.
When two steamboats happened to come alongside each other, the passengers encouraged the captain to race. Boilers intended for only 100 pounds of pressure were now operating at 150-200 pounds of pressure. Races were the cause of most steamboat explosions, yet it didn't seem to deter the love of steamboat racing.
How did steamboats evolve? From flatboats which were used to move pioneers by water from the East to the West. Once they arrived at their destination, the settlers would set their flatboat adrift or take them apart to use for shelter and fuel. The demand in New Orleans for timber to use for sidewalks and houses provided a thriving market for the used flatboats.
Pioneers began to want to get to their destinations faster...next time, Watt's steamboat engine.
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Today in Pioneer History: "On August 31, 1897, Thomas Alva Edison patents the kinetograph, the first movie camera. It was based on photographic principles discovered by still photographs pioneers . Edison was different in that it used celluloid film."
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