Steamboats now multiplied rapidly on the western rivers. In 1817, nine were building on the Ohio and Mississippi, sufficient to make the total number of twenty on those waters.[270] In 1818 there were about twenty-five boats,[271] and the Weekly Register of November 7, says, "Our Western papers inform us of the launching of several new steamboats, and they seem to be building by dozens."[272] The trade between New Orleans and the upper and adjacent country was carried on in this year, by twenty steamboats carrying about 4000 tons,[273] although about nine-tenths of the entire trade was still carried on in the usual craft.[274] Nuttall in 1819, says that there were at that period, about seventy-five steamboats upon the Mississippi and its tributaries, but that owing to the general and unfavorable fluctuation in the commerce of the United States, the number had become greater than their actual employment would warrant.[275] The boats ascending to a point below the Falls were from 300 to 500 tons burthen.[276] Of the 40 boats, built since 1812, 7 had been wrecked, burned, or abandoned, 33 were still plying from place to place, and 28 new ones were building in 1819.[277]

From this time on, the boats multiplied very rapidly; 72 were employed in 1821;[278] in 1826 the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio was carried on in 95 boats;[279] in 1827, 109 steamboats, averaging 170 tons were employed in the trade of these rivers;[280] and in 1829, about 200 boats, whose tonnage may be stated at 35,000 tons, were plying on these rivers.[281]

"The following is a list of the steamboats built on the western waters from 1811-1830."

Now RunningLost or Worn Out.
1811 -1
1814 -4
1815 -3
1816 -2
1817 -9
1818 -25
1819 -27
1820 -71
1821 -61
1822 -725
1823 -1358
1824 -1394
1825 -29264
1826 -52484
1827 -25223
1828 -31293
1829 -4242
Not Known25520
——————
321188133

"Add to this number 188, 15 boats finished this spring (1830) and now running, and 10 built in the last, and the whole number now running on the western waters will be 213. Of this number 86 were built at Cincinnati."

Of the 133 lost or worn out there were

Worn out—57
Lost by snags35
Burned14
Lost by collision2
By other accidents25
——
1331

1Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVIII., 97.

As the steamboats were perfected, their speed was greatly increased, rendering communication between the different ports easy and rapid. In 1817, a steamboat made the voyage from the Falls to New Orleans, with a full cargo, in seven days.[282] The steamboat Vesuvius, in the following year, made the passage from Louisville to New Orleans, 1600 miles, in the same space of time.[283] The average speed of a vessel heavily laden was about 60 miles a day.[284] In 1819, the James Ross, coming from New Orleans to Louisville, made the voyage in 14 days.[285] In 1824 the passage from New Orleans to Shippingsport was made in 11 days and 2½ hours, said to be the shortest passage by 12 hours that was ever made up to that time.[286] In 1826 the passage down was made in 6 days, as against 12 to 14 days in 1817; and from 10 to 14 days were required to come up stream as against 22 days in 1817.[287] The steamboat, Lady Washington performed a voyage, in 1827, from Pittsburg to Nashville and back, 2600 miles, in less than 17 days.[288] In The same year, the Huntress made the voyage from New Orleans to Louisville, in 8 days and 11 hours, having lost 10 hours in a fog.[289] The first boat ascending the Allegheny, 1827, proceeded up the river at four or five miles an hour, and returned at the rate of ten miles an hour.[290] A shipment made in 1827, from the port of New York via New Orleans, by the ship Illinois, reached St. Louis in 29½ days. The distance was 3300 miles, and there was a delay of probably two days at New Orleans while the goods were transferred from ship to steamboat.[291]