Don Wildman

Thanks for joining us.

Excellent.

So firstly, let's discuss the context of the times surrounding the beginning of this new innovation.

What was happening at the time of the steamboat's invention?

It's interesting, you know, making appointments, having a schedule is all the advent of the industrial age.

That's the ability to call your own shots.

You know, tourism, as a matter of fact, begins because of the steamship, really the ability to go out to the thing and the railroad, of course.

But once we have that power, it's a fascinating new world.

Louisiana Purchase, of course, 1803, has a huge impact on this story, adds the port of New Orleans and the Mississippi River itself, the superhighway of the 19th century.

This is going to supercharge the development of this new kind of design, isn't it?

It's important to realize that the design of these boats, and I'm talking about the old, you know, showboat type of thing.

We've all seen mock-ups of this in the modern age, this sort of flat bottom boat, very wide, very shallow draft.

All of this design was really to adapt to those river conditions, wasn't it?

Because there was so much difficulty in navigating them.

You mentioned the New Orleans.

First successful steamboat on the Mississippi launched 1811 to 12.

That was her maiden forage was in there.

Left from Pittsburgh to New Orleans via the Ohio and then the Mississippi.

One needs to remember that these are massive rivers that all connect.

And that was really what was the remarkable aspect of the middle of the country, that these highways existed.