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VOL. 37. CLEVELAND, JANUARY 16, 1908. NEW YORK No. 3 OLD STEAMBOAT DAYS ON THE HUDSON RIVER. David L. Buckman has written a, high- ly entertaining book entitled "Old Steam- boat Days on the UHudson Riv- er,' which has been published by the Grafton Press, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York. In this work he has preserved a great deal of histori- cal data of value that otherwise would have been lost. His sources of informa- tion have been at first hand and his fa- ther for many years commanded the old North America, and his grand uncle long before that commanded the sloop Robert Burns. Mr. Buckman certainly begins at the very beginning of steam- boat days because he begins with Cler- mont. Incidentally he refers to experi- ments with steam navigation prior to Fulton's invention. Incidentally also he tells much that is interesting of Fulton himself, who was a man of many parts. Fulton began life as a portrait painter and supported himself abroad for a number of years by the practice of this profession. Mechanical science was in his early days merely an avocation with him, for we find him devoting his spare time in Paris to the study of mathematics and chemistry. He turned his mind to the production of torpedoes and invented a submarine boat which underwent a suc cessful test in the harbor of Brest. Both the French and English governments considered his inventions, but gave him no practical aid. Meanwhile in conjunction with many others he had conceived the idea of pro- pelling boats by steam. Among the others was Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York who was so sure that he had solved the idea that he secured the passage of an act by the New York legis- lature giving him the exclusive right of navigating boats by steam on the waters of the state for 20 years, provided that he produced a boat within one year that could make four miles an_ hour. Livingston failed and later went to France as United States minister, where he met Fulton. Together they built a boat on the Seine in 1803 and equipped it with an engine, but so light did they make the craft and so heavy the ma- chinery that it fell through the bottom of the boat. They decided to pursue their subsequent experiments in the United States. Livingston was no ordinary man. He was a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. He administered the oath of office to George Washington as first president of the United States and he negotiated the purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon. Fulton and Livingston became fast friends and Fulton later married Living- ston's daughter. Before returning to America Fulton, after making the con- tract with Livingston to build the boat on the Hudson, hastened to England, where an order was placed for the machinery. The machinery was built at Birmingham and shipped to the United States. The hull. was built on the East River, New York. When completed she was named Clermont, in honor of _Livingston's country seat on the east shore of the Hudson. On Aug. 1/7, 1807, the Clermont left New York for IMiogpwase, somalia eve ones hn hours. The New York legislature ac- cordingly granted to Livingston and Ful- ton the exclusive privilege of running steamboats on the waters of New York state for 20 years, and thereby laid the foundation of a very great mischief which vexed the people of the United States for many years until it was effect- ually quieted by Chief Justice Marshall of the United States Supreme Court in one of those clear and splendid decisions which are the bulwarks of the American constitution. Were this country to build a monument as high as huge Olympus to John Marshall it would be but as a mole hill compared with his acts. After her first season the Clermont was enlarged and renamed the North River. As soon as the success of steam navi- gation was demonstrated by 'the Cler- mont Fulton turned his attention to steam ferryboats on the North and Fast Rivers. The Jersey was put on the riv- ers in 1812 and the York in 1813. These took the place of old ferryboats which were propelled by driving two and four horses around and around in the hold of the boat. The horses were attached to a pole connected with a gear movement that rotated the paddle-wheels. Fulton also developed the pontoon of floating bridge dock that rises and falls with the tides and makes it possible for wagons to drive on and off the boats substantially as they do today. Fulton died in 1815 after having built the steamers Car of Neptune and Paragon and having design- ed the Chancellor Livingston. He did not live to see the Livingston, however. The succeeding chapters are crowded with interesting reminiscences which it is impossible to repeat in a brief review, but which are of absorbing "interest. The reminiscences are not alone of steamers but. of their masters, and some of them certainly were odd char- acters. One of the steamers, the A-:- menia, had installed upon her a steam calliope and was considered quite re- markable when she first came out. It was soon discovered, however, that the demand of the calliope upon the boilers for steam was so great that the boat could make little progress while the calflftope was playing. The calliope was accordingly taken out and sent to the junk shop. The exclusive grant to Fulton and Livingston before it was declared un- constitutional, provoked no end of trouble between the states of New Jersey and New York bordering on