Shawneetown, Illinois, made its first appearance in 1805 and 1806, and increased considerably for some time. Great fleets of Keel boats concentrated at this point, engaged in the salt, and other traffic, and diffused life and energy to the new colonies.[232] Cuming says, 1807-1809, "there were several trading boats, and more appearance of business than I had seen on this side of Pittsburg."[233]
Brownsville, on the Monongahela, and McKeesport on the Youghiogheny carried on an extensive boat-building business, in 1803, furnishing craft for the emigrants.[234]
Such was the beginning of the early rivers towns of the West, many of which were destined, as agriculture, manufactures, and trade developed, to become great commercial centres.
CHAPTER I.
THE COMING OF THE STEAMBOAT.
The application of steam power to the purposes of navigation, forms the brightest era in the history of the West. It was that which contributed more than any other single cause to the advancement of Western prosperity. The amount of produce raised for soncumption, and for export was very great, and the people were, therefore, liberally disposed to purchase foreign products. The amount of commercial capital employed, as compared with the population was great. The introduction of the steamboat extended the channels of intercourse, and brought the different parts of the country more closely together.
"The first fruits of the enterprise were far from encouraging; failure after failure attested the numerous and embarrassing difficulties by which it was surrounded. For although all the early boats were capable of being propelled through the water, and although the last was usually better than those which preceded it, it was long a doubtful question, whether the invention could be made practically useful upon our western rivers, and it was not until five years of experiment and the building of nine expensive steamboats, that the public mind was convinced by the brilliant exploit of the Washington, which made the trip from Louisville to New Orleans and back in 45 days."[235]
The substitution of machinery for manual labor occasioned a vast diminution in the number of men required for the river navigation. A steamboat with the same crew as a barge, was able to carry ten times the burden,[236] and perform her voyage in a much shorter space of time.
The complete success attending the experiments in steam navigation made on the Hudson and the adjoining waters previous to 1809, turned the attention of the principal projectors to the idea of its application on the western rivers; and in the month of April of that year, Mr. Roosevelt of New York, pursuant to an agreement with Chancellor Livingston, and Mr. Fulton, visited those rivers, with the purpose of forming an opinion whether they admitted of steam navigation or not.[237] Mr. Roosevelt surveyed the rivers from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and as his report was favorable, it was decided to build a boat at the former town. This was done under his direction, and in the course of 1811 the first boat was launched on the Ohio.[238] It was called the New Orleans, and intended to ply between Natchez, Mississippi, and the city whose name it bore.[239] In October it left Pittsburg for its experimental voyage.[240] On this occasion no freight or passengers were taken. Mr. Roosevelt, his wife, and family, Mr. Baker, the engineer, Andrew Jack the pilot, and six hands, with a few domestics, formed her whole burden. There were no wood yards at that time and constant delays were unavoidable. Late at night on the fourth day after quitting Pittsburg, they arrived in safety at Louisville, having been but 70 hours descending upwards of 700 miles. The small depth of waters in the Rapids prevented the boat from pursuing her voyage immediately, and during the consequent detention of 3 weeks, in the upper part of the Ohio, several trips were successfully made between Louisville and Cincinnati. Then the waters rose, and in the course of the last week in November the voyage was resumed, the depth of water barely admitting the passage of the boat.[241] They reached their destina tion at Natchez, at the close of the first week in January, 1812,[242] having passed through a severe earthquake on the way. The Louisiana Gasette notices her arrival at New Orleans on January 11th.[243] This steamboat continued to run between New Orleans and Natchez, making her voyage average seventeen days. She was wrecked in 1813 or 1814.[244]