Transportation
“In the late eighteenth century, primitive methods of travel were still in use in America. Waterborne travel was uncertain and often dangerous, covered-wagon and stagecoach travel over rutted trails was uncomfortable, and all types of travel were very slow. Americans were aware that a transportation network would increase land values, stimulate domestic and foreign trade, and strengthen the American economy” (Aboukhadijeh). The steamboat made transportation fast and efficient. In 1814, steamboats traveled, on average, 8 miles-per-hour downstream and 3 miles-per-hour upstream. “In 1816, Henry Miller Shreve launched his steamboat Washington, which completed the voyage from New Orleans to Louisville, Kentucky in twenty-five days. Vessel design continued to improve, so that by 1853, the trip to Louisville took only four and one-half days” (Bellis, “The History of Steamboats”). Steamboats carried hundreds of passengers and tons of freight annually between cities such as New York City and Albany.
“Steamboats were also much more comfortable than other forms of land transportation at the time. The General Pike, launched in 1819, set the standard for luxurious steamers with marble columns, thick carpets, ornate mirrors, and plush curtains. Luxury steamers evolved into floating palaces where passengers could dine, drink, dance, and gamble as they traveled to their destinations.” (Aboukhadijeh).
Also, “it was not unusual to take aboard enlisted men and officers of the Confederacy and Union armies for transport to the fighting fronts. This also included horses, animal feed, weapons and ammunition. The Federal government, in the case of Union soldiers, paid as much as five dollars for enlisted men and 10 dollars for the transportation cost of officers to the steamboat companies” (Stevenson).
“In the late eighteenth century, primitive methods of travel were still in use in America. Waterborne travel was uncertain and often dangerous, covered-wagon and stagecoach travel over rutted trails was uncomfortable, and all types of travel were very slow. Americans were aware that a transportation network would increase land values, stimulate domestic and foreign trade, and strengthen the American economy” (Aboukhadijeh). The steamboat made transportation fast and efficient. In 1814, steamboats traveled, on average, 8 miles-per-hour downstream and 3 miles-per-hour upstream. “In 1816, Henry Miller Shreve launched his steamboat Washington, which completed the voyage from New Orleans to Louisville, Kentucky in twenty-five days. Vessel design continued to improve, so that by 1853, the trip to Louisville took only four and one-half days” (Bellis, “The History of Steamboats”). Steamboats carried hundreds of passengers and tons of freight annually between cities such as New York City and Albany.
“Steamboats were also much more comfortable than other forms of land transportation at the time. The General Pike, launched in 1819, set the standard for luxurious steamers with marble columns, thick carpets, ornate mirrors, and plush curtains. Luxury steamers evolved into floating palaces where passengers could dine, drink, dance, and gamble as they traveled to their destinations.” (Aboukhadijeh).
Also, “it was not unusual to take aboard enlisted men and officers of the Confederacy and Union armies for transport to the fighting fronts. This also included horses, animal feed, weapons and ammunition. The Federal government, in the case of Union soldiers, paid as much as five dollars for enlisted men and 10 dollars for the transportation cost of officers to the steamboat companies” (Stevenson).
 (Source: "The North River Steam Boat"; American Citizen) An 1807 Advertisement of the
North River Steamboat (Clermont) |
 (Source: "Travel Times from New York"; Columbia University in the City of New York.) Comparison of the Travel Time from NY in 1800 and 1830
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"My steamboat voyage to Albany and back, has turned out rather more favorable than I had calculated. The distance from New York to Albany is one hundred and fifty miles; I ran it up in thirty-two hours, and down in thirty. I had a light breeze against me the whole way, both going and coming, and the voyage has been performed wholly by, the power of the steam engine. I overtook many sloops and schooners beating to windward and parted with them as if they had been at anchor. The power of propelling boats by steam is now fully proved."
- Robert Fulton (August 22, 1807)
"Dating back to 1938, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, the concept of a transcontinental Great River Parkway along the Mississippi River was developed by the governors of the 10 river states. Wishing to conserve precious resources - among them land, time and dollars - it was decided that rather than building a new continuous road, the existing network of rural roads and then-fledgling highways that meandered and crisscrossed the river would become the Great River Road." (The Great River Road).
Source: ("About the Great River Road - History and Overview of the National Scenic Byway along the Mississippi River")
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10 River States linked with the Transcontinental Great River Parkway (includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi |
