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N0KFQ > TODAY 07.10.14 15:34l 55 Lines 2544 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 37566_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 7
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IV3SCP<IW0QNL<IW2OHX<IQ2LB<F1OYP<PI8SNK<N0KFQ
Sent: 141007/1330Z 37566@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.60
Oct 7, 1816:
First double-decked steamboat, the Washington, arrives in New
Orleans
On this day in 1816, a steamboat with a design that will soon
prove ideal for western rivers arrives at the docks in New
Orleans. The Washington was the work of a shipbuilder named Henry
M. Shreve, who had launched the steamboat earlier that year on
the Monongahela River just above Pittsburgh. Shreve's cleverly
designed Washington had all the features that would soon come to
characterize the classic Mississippi riverboat: a two-story deck,
a stern-mounted paddle wheel powered by a high-pressure steam
engine, a shallow, flat-bottomed hull, and a pilothouse framed by
two tall chimneys.
Perfectly designed for the often-shallow western rivers like the
Mississippi and Missouri, the Washington proved itself on its
inaugural voyage the following spring. Steaming upriver against
the current with full cargo, the Washington reached Louisville in
only 25 days, demonstrating that the powerful new generation of
steamboats could master the often-treacherous currents of the
mighty western rivers. Soon the Washington began to offer regular
passenger and cargo service between New Orleans and Louisville,
steaming upstream at the then dizzying speed of 16mph and
downstream at as much as 25mph.
With the brilliant success of the Washington, other similarly
designed steamboats followed. At the peak of the era of the
paddle wheelers in 1850, 740 steamboats regularly moved up and
down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, carrying three million
passengers annually. Had it not been for the ready availability
of this rapid transportation technology, settlement of the
western United States would undoubtedly have been far slower.
Many emigrants setting out for the far western part of the U.S.
often cut the first stage of their long journeys short by booking
passage on a steamboat to the overland trailheads at
Independence, Saint Joseph, and Council Bluffs. Gold seekers
heading for Montana after 1867 could even take steamboats all the
way up the Missouri to Fort Benton, just below the Great Falls,
cutting months off the time required for an overland journey.
By the late 19th century, though, the golden age of the western
steamboat was over, a victim of cheap rail transport and
diesel-powered towboats and barges. But in its era, the steamboat
was as important as any explorer or trailblazer in opening the
American West to widespread settlement.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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