Editing Steamboat (section)

====Origins====
The era of the steamboat in the United States began in [[Philadelphia]] in 1787 when [[John Fitch (inventor)|John Fitch]] (1743–1798) made the first successful trial of a 45-foot (14-meter) steamboat on the [[Delaware River]] on 22 August 1787, in the presence of members of the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|United States Constitutional Convention]]. Fitch later (1790) built a larger vessel that carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and [[Burlington, New Jersey]] on the Delaware. His steamboat was not a financial success and was shut down after a few months service, however this marks the first use of marine steam propulsion in scheduled regular passenger transport service.

[[Oliver Evans]] (1755–1819) was a [[Philadelphia]]n inventor born in [[Newport, Delaware]], to a family of [[Welsh people|Welsh]] settlers. He designed an improved high-pressure [[steam engine]] in 1801 but did not build it<ref name="Semmens, 97-99" >{{cite book
 |last1=Semmens |first1=P.W.B.
 |last2=Goldfinch |first2=A.J.
 |title=How Steam Locomotives Really Work
 |year=2003 |orig-year=2000
 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford
 |isbn=978-0-19-860782-3
 |ref={{harvid|Semmens|Goldfinch|2000}}
 |pages=97–99
}}</ref> (patented 1804).<ref name="Thomson2009">{{cite book
|last=Thomson | first=Ross
|title=Structures of Change in the Mechanical Age: Technological Innovation in the United States, 1790–1865
|url=https://archive.org/details/structuresofchan0000thom |url-access=registration |year=2009
|publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press
|isbn=978-0-8018-9141-0 }}</ref>
The Philadelphia Board of Health was concerned with the problem of dredging and cleaning the city's dockyards, and in 1805 Evans convinced them to contract with him for a steam-powered dredge, which he called the ''Oruktor Amphibolos''. It was built but was only marginally successful.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Kimes |first=Beverly
|title=Standard catalog of American Cars 1805–1942
|year=1996
|publisher=Krause publications
|isbn=0-87341-428-4
}}</ref> Evans's high-pressure steam engine had a much higher [[power to weight ratio|power-to-weight ratio]], making it practical to apply it in locomotives and steamboats.{{sfn|Thomson|2009|p=34}} Evans became so depressed with the poor protection that the US patent law gave inventors that he eventually took all his engineering drawings and invention ideas and destroyed them to prevent his children wasting their time in court fighting patent infringements.

[[Robert Fulton]] constructed a steamboat to ply a route between New York City and [[Albany, New York]] on the [[Hudson River]]. He successfully obtained a monopoly on Hudson River traffic after terminating a prior 1797 agreement with [[John Stevens (inventor, born 1749)|John Stevens]], who owned extensive land on the Hudson River in New Jersey. The former agreement had partitioned northern Hudson River traffic to Livingston and southern to Stevens, agreeing to use ships designed by Stevens for both operations.<ref name="Turnbull 1928, p. 243">{{cite book |first=Archibald D. |last=Turnbull |title=John Stevens, an American record |url=https://archive.org/details/johnstevensameri00turn |location=New York |publisher=The Century Co |date=1928 |page=[https://archive.org/details/johnstevensameri00turn/page/243 243]|isbn=978-0-8369-6994-8 }}</ref> With their new monopoly, Fulton and Livingston's boat, named the ''Clermont'' after Livingston's estate, could make a profit. The ''Clermont'' was nicknamed "Fulton's Folly" by doubters. On Monday, 17 August 1807, the memorable first voyage of the ''Clermont'' up the Hudson River was begun. She traveled the {{convert|150|mile|km}} trip to Albany in a little over 32 hours and made the return trip in about eight hours.

The use of steamboats on major US rivers soon followed Fulton's 1807 success. In 1811, the first in a continuous (still in commercial passenger operation {{as of|2007|lc=y}}) line of river steamboats left the dock at [[Pittsburgh]] to steam down the [[Ohio River]] to the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] and on to New Orleans.<ref>{{cite web |website=Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh |url=http://www.carnegielibrary.org/locations/pennsylvania/history/pghsts3.html |title=Pittsburgh World Firsts: By Event |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714001640/http://www.carnegielibrary.org/locations/pennsylvania/history///pghsts3.html |archive-date=2007-07-14}}</ref> In 1817 a consortium in [[Sackets Harbor, New York]], funded the construction of the first US steamboat, ''Ontario'', to run on [[Lake Ontario]] and the Great Lakes, beginning the growth of [[Lake steamers of North America|lake commercial and passenger traffic]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Cumberland |first=Barlow |title=A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38542/38542-h/38542-h.htm#Page_18 |year=1913 |page=18 |location=Toronto |publisher=The Musson Book Company, Limited |access-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> In his book ''[[Life on the Mississippi]]'', [[river pilot]] and author [[Mark Twain]] described much of the operation of such vessels.