In 1856, he traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and purchased a steamboat, which he navigated down the Ohio River, up the Mississippi, to the Wisconsin River, and was the first boat to pass through the completed locks on the Fox River after the improvements had been completed that year. He made the same trip again in 1857, after building another steamboat in Pittsburgh, the Appleton Belle, which he then sold in Oshkosh. He then began building steamboats in Wisconsin, building and operating the Fountain City and Bay City, which traveled a route between Berlin, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac and Green Bay.[1]
In 1861, he sold his interests on this existing transportation route and relocated to Gills Landing, Wisconsin, and became involved in the warehousing business there, and constructed a tannery. He continued to operate the steamboat Berlin City, on a route between Green Bay and New London, and, in 1863 and 1864, manufactured two new boats, the Northwestern and Tigress.[1]
In 1866, he moved to Racine, Wisconsin, and began a partnership with Martin E. Tremble to enter the lumber industry. Tremble and Doud owned significant forested lands and operated a mill on the Big Suamico River, near Green Bay. He built two schooners, the Reuben Doud and M. E. Tremble, and purchased a third, Rainbow.[1]
