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Steamboats played a major role in the 19th-century development of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, allowing practical large-scale transport of passengers and freight both up- and down-river. Using steam power, riverboats were developed during that time which could navigate in shallow waters as well as upriver against strong currents. After the development of railroads, passenger traffic gradually switched to this faster form of transportation, but steamboats continued to serve Mississippi River commerce into the early 20th century. A small number of steamboats are still used for tourist excursions in the 21st century.

Golden age of steamboats

The historical roots of the prototypical Mississippi steamboat, or Western Rivers steamboat, can be traced to designs by easterners like Oliver Evans, John Fitch, Daniel French, Robert Fulton, Nicholas Roosevelt, James Rumsey, and John Stevens.^[1]^[2] In the span of six years, the evolution of the prototypical Mississippi steamboat was well underway, as seen by the introduction of the first vessels:

New Orleans, or Orleans, was the first Mississippi steamboat.^[3] Launched in 1811 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a company organized by Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton, her designer, she was a large, heavy side-wheeler with a deep draft.^[1]^[4]^[5] Her low-pressure Boulton and Watt steam engine operated a complex power train that was also heavy and inefficient.^[1]
Comet was the second Mississippi steamboat.^[6] Launched in 1813 at Pittsburgh for Daniel D. Smith, she was much smaller than the New Orleans.^[7] With an engine and power train designed and manufactured by Daniel French, the Comet was the first Mississippi steamboat to be powered by a lightweight and efficient high-pressure engine turning a stern paddlewheel.^[8]
Vesuvius was the third Mississippi steamboat.^[9] Launched in 1814 at Pittsburgh for the company headed by Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton, her designer, she was very similar to the New Orleans.^[10]
Enterprise, or Enterprize, was the fourth Mississippi steamboat.^[11] Launched in 1814 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, for the Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company, she was a dramatic departure from Fulton's boats.^[1] The Enterprise - featuring a high-pressure steam engine, a single stern paddle wheel, and shoal draft - proved to be better suited for use on the Mississippi compared to Fulton's boats.^[1]^[12]^[13] The Enterprise clearly demonstrated the suitability of French's design during her epic voyage from New Orleans to Brownsville, a distance of more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km), performed against the powerful currents of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.^[14]
Washington was launched in 1816 at Wheeling, West Virginia, for Henry Shreve and partners.^[15] George White built the boat and Daniel French constructed the engine and drivetrain at Brownsville.^[16] She was the first steamboat with two decks, the predecessor of the Mississippi steamboats of later years.^[12] The upper deck was reserved for passengers and the main deck was used for the boiler, increasing the space below the main deck for carrying cargo.^[12] With a draft of 4 feet (1.2 m), she was propelled by a high-pressure, horizontally mounted engine turning a single stern paddlewheel.^[12] In the spring of 1817, the Washington made the voyage from New Orleans to Louisville in 25 days, equalling the record set two years earlier by the Enterprise, a much smaller boat.^[17]^[18]

Boiler explosions

Between 1811 and 1853, an estimated 7,000 fatalities occurred as a result of catastrophic boiler explosions on steamboats operating on the Mississippi and its tributaries. Due to a combination of poor boiler construction and unsafe operation, steamboat explosions were a frequent occurrence. Charles Dickens commented on the issue in his 1842 travelogue American Notes, writing, "...[American] steamboats usually blow up one or two a week in the season."

Boilers used in early Mississippi steamboats were constructed from many small pieces of riveted cast iron, as the process to produce larger, stronger sheets of metal had not yet been developed. Most suffered from poor workmanship in their construction and were prone to failure. The inherent danger of these boilers was further compounded by widespread unsafe practices in their operation. Steamboat engines were routinely pushed well beyond their design limits, tended by engineers who often lacked a full understanding of the engine's operating principles. With a complete absence of regulatory oversight, most steamboats were not adequately maintained or inspected, leading to more frequent catastrophic failures.^[19]

Due to the vast superiority riverboats then held over all forms of land transportation, passengers were willing to accept the high risk of a boiler explosion. Boat operators were not required to carry any kind of insurance and were not held liable for accidents, and so had little incentive to improve safety. Only after a great number of tragedies did this situation change. In 1825, the explosion of the Teche killed 60 people. In addition, the Ohio and the Macon both exploded the following year in 1826, the Union and the Hornet in 1827, the Grampus in 1828, the Patriot and the Kenawa in 1829, the Car of Commerce and the Portsmouth in 1830, and the Moselle Archived July 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine in 1838.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Hunter, Louis C. (1993). Steamboats on the Western Rivers, an Economic and Technological History. New York: Dover Publications.
^ Johnson, pp. 1-16
^ Lloyd, James T. (1856). Lloyd's Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western Waters... Philadelphia: Jasper Harding. p. 41. In 1811, Messrs. Fulton and Livingston, having established a shipyard at Pittsburgh, for the purpose of introducing steam navigation on the western waters, built an experimental boat for this service; and this was the first steamboat that ever floated on the western rivers." "The first western steamboat was called the Orleans.
^ Dohan, Mary Helen (1981). Mr. Roosevelt's Steamboat, the First Steamboat to Travel the Mississippi. Dodd, Meade & Co.
^ Dohan (1981), p. 19. An image of a model replica of the New Orleans reveals her form.
^ Lloyd (1856), p. 42. "The second steamboat of the West was a diminutive vessel called the 'Comet.' Daniel D. Smith was the owner, and D. French the builder of this boat. Her machinery was on a plan for which French had obtained a patent in 1809."
^ Miller, Ernest C. "Pennsylvania's Oil Industry". Pennsylvania History Studies (4). Gettysburg, PA: Pennsylvania History Association: 69. In the summer of 1813, Daniel D. Smith altered a river barge at Pittsburgh, using an engine invented by Daniel French. The craft, called the Comet, was sent down to New Orleans and also made a few trips to Natchez, but apparently was unsuccessful in the trade...
^ Hunter (1993), p. 127. "The first departure from the Boulton and Watt type of engine was the French oscillating cylinder engine with which the first three steamboats built by the Brownsville group were equipped- the Comet (25 tons, 1813), the Despatch (25 tons, 1814), and the Enterprise (75 tons, 1814). The first of these was not a success, and the Despatch made no name for herself; but the Enterprise was one of the best of the early western steamboats."
^ Lloyd (1856), pp. 42–43. "The Vesuvius is the next in this record. She was built by Mr. Fulton, at Pittsburgh, for a company, the several members of which resided at New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. She sailed under the command of Capt. Frank Ogden, for New Orleans, in the spring of 1814."
^ Hunter (1993), p. 70. "The first steamboats were too heavy and required too much power and too much depth of water to be practicable on most parts of the Mississippi-Ohio River system."
^ Lloyd (1856), p. 43. "The Enterprise was No. 4 of the Western steamboat series."
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Maass, Alfred R. (1996). "Daniel French and the Western Steamboat Engine". The American Neptune. 56: 29–44.
^ Maass (1996), p. 39. "She had a shallow draft; Latrobe, inspecting a shoal the Enterprize passed daily, wrote [to Robert Fulton on 9 August 1814] that no boat of greater than 2' 6" could pass in low water."
^ American Telegraph. Brownsville, PA. July 5, 1815. Arrived at this port on Monday last, the Steam Boat Enterprize, Shreve, of Bridgeport, from New Orleans, in ballast, having discharged her cargo at Pittsburg. She is the first steamboat that ever made the voyage to the Mouth of the Mississippi and back. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ Hunter (1993), pp. 12–13.
^ Steubenville Western Herald. November 10, 1815. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)^{[full citation needed]}
^ Hunter (1993), p. 127. "Not only was the Washington the largest steamboat on the western rivers at the time of her construction, but she outperformed all previously built steamboats and established a high reputation for herself and for Shreve."
^ Hanson, Joseph Mills. The Conquest of the Missouri: Being the Story of the Life and Exploits of Captain Grant Marsh, pp. 421-2, Murray Hill Books, New York and Toronto, 1909, 1937, 1946.
^ Young, David (January 12, 2003). "Roiling on the river". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2020.

Cramer, Zadok (1817). The Navigator: Containing Directions for Navigating the Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers (9th ed.). Pittsburgh: Cramer, Spear and Eichbaum.
Johnson, Leland R. (2011). "Harbinger of Revolution", in Full steam ahead: reflections on the impact of the first steamboat on the Ohio River, 1811-2011. Rita Kohn, editor. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press, pp. 1–16. ISBN 978-0-87195-293-6
Maass, Alfred R. (1994). "Brownsville's Steamboat Enterprize and Pittsburgh's Supply of General Jackson's Army". Pittsburgh History. 77: 22–29. ISSN 1069-4706.
——— (2000). "The Right of Unrestricted Navigation on the Mississippi, 1812–1818". The American Neptune. 60: 49–59.
Twain, Mark (1859). "Life on the Mississippi". Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. 75 (10): 1001. doi:10.1097/00001888-200010000-00016. PMID 11031147.