Steam : The Untold Story of America's First Great Invention

by Andrea Sutcliffe

• ISBN13: 9781403962614
• ISBN10: 1403962618
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2004-07-16
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

n 1790, the first passenger steamboat in America-and the world-plied the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Trenton. Its inventor was not Robert Fulton, but a silversmith named John Fitch, whose reward was constant ridicule and poverty. Considering there was not a single working steam engine in America in the 1780s, this steamboat's development within just five years was nothing short of remarkable. But Fitch faced competition from the start, and he and several other inventors fought a string of bitter battles, legal and otherwise, beginning in 1786. In the end, Fulton-using a mail-order British steam engine-ended up with the credit and the glory nearly two decades later. This book tells the fascinating story behind America's first important venture in technology, the persevering men who made it happen, and how their inventions moved the new nation westward.

Author Biography

Andrea J. Sutcliffe is an independent scholar and writer who has published nine books including Mighty Rough Times I Tell You, an edited compilation of narratives from former slaves, Touring the Shenandoah Valley Backroads, and The New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. xi
Stream-boats and Steamboats	p. 1
A Ridiculous Idea	p. 17
Brother Saintmakers	p. 35
The War of the Pamphlets	p. 53
The Columbian Maid	p. 71
Lord High Admirals of the Delaware	p. 89
The First and True Inventor	p. 101
"All Further Progress Is in Vain"	p. 119
Leeches and Sharks	p. 133
Mother Clay	p. 147
The French Connection	p. 161
Steamboat Collisions	p. 179
John Fitch's Ghost	p. 201
Epilogue	p. 219
Chronology	p. 227
Notes	p. 231
Bibliography	p. 253
Index	p. 261
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